Shinra, Inc

Shinra is the mega-conglomerate that basicly owns the world. They own the army, the vehicles, and all of the world's power supply. The type of power they harness is called Mako, and it is drawn from massiv powerplants that suck the energy right out of the Earth itself. Their capital City is Midgar, which is divided into sectors, each sector having a Mako plant. Nearly all of the residents of Midgar live in poverty, in the slums beneath massive plates that cover the city. These plates block out the sunlight, casting the residents into darkness to fend for themselves.

Shinra has also come to mean the president of Shinra, Inc, commonly referred to as "the Shinra." This man is a greedy, uncaring man that will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He is the main target of AVALANCHE. In order to eliminate AVALANCHE, he blew up the supports of the sector 7 plate, killing hundreds of people. He then blamed the tragedy on AVALANCHE. It is this action that forced Cloud, Barret and Tifa to attack Shinra headquarters, leading up to the fateful encounter with Sephiroth and Jenova.