Shinra is Cloud's world. They control everything, they are the government, they are all powerful, or so they thought. Shinra is a bunch of power hungry maniacs who will do anything to basically take over this world, including destroy it. The president had Mako Reactors made, whih sucked the life force out of the planet. Shinra built a magnificent city above the old slums of Midgar using Mako Energy. The President ran Shinra, but Sepiroth killed him, and a cruel son took over, who's name was Rufus. Rufus will do anythiung to take over this world, and right now, Avalanche is the only thing that is in his way, so they got to go. He controls Soldier, their most elite fighting team. Rufus prefers the shotgun, as his weapon of choice. Above is the Shinra chain of command.