Terran Mercantile Community
(-1862 to -1110): Terran Mercantile Community (TMC). Loose trade association formed in -1862 by Terra and her closest ex-colonies that later grew into a corporation.
Market Ticker Code
This business entity is traded under the following interstellar market code/s:
Market Ticker Code Name Code Type Charter Remarks Corp Name TBD 4 to 12 alphanumeric character LIC None
Description (Portfolio)
No information yet available.
Goals
Ostensibly a purely commercial organization, it was actually a means of circumventing Rule of Man prohibitions against member planets having their own navies.
History & Background (Dossier)
When the Rule of Man in the form of the Rim Province collapsed in -1690, The Terran Mercantile Community had a space fleet to patrol its systems and to replace the now gone Second Empire fleets. The TMC's merchant fleet cushioned the blow of the Long Night and made it possible for Terra to survive in relative comfort.
When the Easter Concord in -1112 severed its economic ties to the TMC and other worlds began talking of forming their own unions, the TMC decided to cut its losses. In -1110 the corporation formally transformed into the Old Earth Union, abandoning all worlds outside the Union to their own devices, and becoming a small, tight group instead of a large, loose one.
Government & Politics (Leadership)
The TMC took over many of the functions of the Rule of Man (though abandoning the extreme edges of the old Rim Province), but was careful at first not to assume the mantle of government. By avoiding the appearance of ruling it avoided alienating the other planets and driving them into forming their own unions. Relying on the protection of the TMC ships were cheaper than building their own, and the TMC itself took pains not to be perceived as a threat.
- For several centuries the TMC managed to maintain this delicate balance, but the steadily worsening commercial climate eventually forced them to retrench. Like the Rim Province before it, the TMC found the strain of protecting the furthest worlds too much of a burden. From -1500 on other Rule of Man successor states in Alpha Crucis, Dark Nebula, Magyar and Reavers' Deep routinely raided worlds on the fringe of the TMC sphere, but although this was a contributing strain, it was not the primary factor for the eventual dissolution of the TMC. The Reaver Era ended before the end of the TMC, and Reaver attacks in any case concentrated on fringe worlds that had already been abandoned by the TMC and lost interstellar technology. The primary factors were economic depression and a widespread trend toward isolationism, causing a shift to planetary self-reliance at the expense of interplanetary trade.
Technology & Trade (Economy)
No information yet available.
Military & Intelligence (Force Projection)
Ostensibly a purely commercial organization, it was actually a means of circumventing Rule of Man prohibitions against member planets having their own navies.
- The TMC built a merchant fleet that toed a very fine line between commercial ships and naval vessels.
- The ships carried enough armament to protect themselves from pirates and raiders, but not enough to classify them as naval vessels.
- Their merchant fleet made Terra and her fellow worlds in the TMC a formidable commercial force.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)
This business is best known for frequenting the markets of the following worlds and systems:
Charted Space:
Facilities Data
This business is known to host facilities in the following locations:
World Listing
This business can be found on the following worlds and systems:
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References & Contributors (Sources)
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