Atlas

The Atlas Corporation is a large weapons manufacturing corporation located on Pandora. Weapons manufactured by the Atlas Corporation may be randomly generated in Borderlands, their signature feature being their pearl handles.

Atlas Armaments
These guns tend to have high damage and fire rate, without sacrificing magazine capacity and reload. Indeed, Marcus Kincaid sometimes says, "Buy an Atlas, and you too will know what it is like to hold the power of the gods in your hands!" Atlas guns tend to be among the rarest guns in the game; it is unlikely you will find many Atlas guns, compared to how many you will find made by other manufacturers. However, despite their overwhelmingly powerful portrayal in the game, this does not mean Atlas guns are always the best choice.

Background
The Atlas Corporation was the first company to discover alien technology, on the planet Prometheus, and reverse engineer it in order to manufacture more traditional weaponry with the benefits of this new technology. This project brought Atlas to the forefront of weapons manufacturing, and was extremely profitable. The immense success of the Atlas Corporation's venture inspired other gun companies to explore other frontier planets, like Pandora, in search of more alien technology and similar resources. Not all such ventures were successful, as the case of Pandora shows, even though items of value still exist on the planet.

Crimson Lance
The Crimson Lance is the highly trained private military group of the Atlas Corporation that disregards law and order. It can be assumed by Crimson Lance involvement that the Atlas Corporation has an interest in accessing the Vault to capitalize on their monopoly of alien weapons technology, but the story leaves this matter unclarified. The Lance operation has also been indicated to have been abandoned by Atlas and the continued stay on Pandora could be simply a power grab by its Pandoran leader, Commandant Steele.

Products
The following are produced by Atlas:

Named Weapons: Legendary Weapons: Class Mods: Grenade Mods Shields
 * Repeater Pistol - Krom's Sidearm
 * Revolver - Patton
 * Combat Rifle - Ogre
 * Repeater Pistol - Troll
 * Revolver - Chimera
 * Shotgun - Hydra
 * Sniper Rifle - Cyclops
 * Berserker - Centurion, Titan
 * Siren - Mercenary, Tormentor
 * Rain - Explosive, Corrosive, Incendiary, Shock
 * Shock Resistance - Grounded, Anionic, Cationic

Quotes
"Buy an Atlas, and you too can see what it feels like to hold the power of the gods in your hands!" - Marcus Kincaid

"Atlas spares no expense in making guns that excel in every area!" - Marcus Kincaid

"Give us your hungry, and we'll give them our leftovers! Give us your poor, and we'll give them a job that might pay! Give us your weary, and we'll make them sing us a song! We are Atlas!" - Atlas propaganda announcement.

Trivia

 * Like a number of other major weapons manufacturers in the game, there is an ancient Greek mythological tie in with the Atlas corporation. Atlas was a Titan who was punished by the Olympian conquerors after the war, with the task of dividing Gaia and Ouranos by holding the sky aloft (this fits in with the rest of the major weapons manufacturers).
 * Many rare Atlas guns seem to be named after mythical beasts from Greek mythology.
 * Some Atlas guns come as the pearl edition (example: ZPR300 PEARL MATADOR). These weapons have a white with grey/blackish texture. These weapons are often more powerful and have more accuracy added to them but this also makes them rarer and harder to find.
 * 'Atlas' was the name of the somewhat helpful 'guide' on Bioshock, another game published by 2K.
 * It also seems Atlas is in the dog food industry, as in the "Earl Needs Food...Badly" quest, the cans of Skag Meat have "Atlas" on them.
 * Acording to the Lance Probes fought in The Secret Armory of General Knox, Atlas also makes coffins

Sales Pitch
"It is said that the Greek god Zeus fought for 10 long years against the titans, only to have the battle end in a draw. We at Atlas like to believe Zeus could have won the fight in half the time if only he had one of the guns from our legendary line of firearms. All Atlas guns offer exceptional rate of fire, damage, and an epic level of high technology. Regardless on your god, you need not look to the heavens for salvation from adversity. Atlas weaponry can answer your prayers and grant you a power few mortals have ever experienced. Prove yourself as a true believer. Join the select ranks of Atlas owners and become a god among men!" (From the official Borderlands guide)