Terran Mercantile Community
The Terran Mercantile Community was a historical organization.
- It grew out of the Terran Confederation and the Rule of Man.
- It ceased trading over two thousand years ago.
Market Ticker Code
This business entity was traded under the following interstellar market code/s:
| Market Ticker Code | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Code | Type | Charter | Remarks | |
| Terran Mercantile Community | TBD | 4 to 12 alphanumeric character | LIC | None | |
Description (Portfolio)
The Terran Mercantile Community (commonly abbreviated to TMC) was a loose trade association formed in -1862 by Terra and her closest ex-colonies that later grew into a huge Corporate Polity.
At its formation its declared area of operations was the former territory of the Terran Confederation. It gradually expanded and shrank over time, at its height having interests and active assets on hundreds of worlds lying across fourteen sectors. Though it claimed nominal control of vast regions, much of that space was uninhabited wilderness, and even populated systems often had no direct contact with the Mercantile Community for periods of years. As the Long Night deepened the organization gradually contracted, becoming the Old Earth Union by -1110.
(Charts sourced from Traveller Map)
- Areas with Terran Confederation colonies are marked in yellow.
The exact locations of these worlds is fundamentally conjecture – the few historical sources that survive are vague and often contradictory. Heated arguments rage amongst historians about the exact locations of Terra's first major colonies. - The Mercantile Community's declared core area of operations (shown in purple) closely matched the borders of the former Terran Confederation.
- The Mercantile Community did operate beyond those borders, though only sporadically, and the majority of this territory was uninhabited. Systems and worlds mentioned in surviving historical records are marked in blue.
- The region that became the Old Earth Union is marked in red. Terra is circled in bright red.
- The region dominated by the Vegans, a regionally important minor race, is marked in green.
Regional Interests
To coreward lay Vilani-dominated regions that had seen centuries of fighting during the Interstellar Wars. Old hostilities tended to linger and the Mercantile Community found itself unwelcome in these areas. To spinward and trailing were lightly settled former frontier provinces of the Ziru Sirka. They had generally good relations with the Terrans, especially following massive Terran intervention in the waves of epidemics that followed first contact, and were keen to trade. To rimward lay empty space, an endless wilderness filled with incredible opportunities and unknown dangers that beckoned to many adventurous souls.
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.
In 588 the Old Earth Union was annexed by the Imperium.
The Imperium also claimed all of the former territories of the Mercantile Community, which had ceased to exist about 1,600 years before. The Mercantile Community hadn't really had a territory, instead claiming rights to trade and resources within broad regions, and few of the worlds within the region had any tangible link to it, having been settled more than a millennia after its demise. However, it gave a degree of legitimacy to the Imperial claim and allowed it to move its border adjacent to the Aslan Hierate without breaking the terms of the Peace of Ftahalr.
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]s|-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 was best known for frequenting the markets of the following sectors:
- Aldebaran Sector.
- Alpha Crucis Sector.
- Canopus Sector.
- Daibei Sector.
- Dark Nebula.
- Diaspora Sector.
- Hinterworlds Sector.
- Magyar Sector.
- Neworld Sector.
- Old Expanses Sector.
- Reaver's Deep|.
- Solomani Rim.
- Spica Sector.
- Ustral Quadrant.
World Listing
Comprehensive Second Survey data for all worlds that have associations with this organization is available.
- The primary source material for all data is Traveller Map.
- Other sources may differ: some elements of the data may be contradictory or incorrect.
- Data is occasionally updated as new information becomes available.
AAB library archives contain expanded data about the following systems:
| startbacknext(200 listed / 904 left) |
Note that some Second Survey data, though only 40 years old, may already be out of date.
- Scouting missions gathering reliable, verified data can receive substantial payment.
References & Contributors (Sources)
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This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it. |
- Classic Traveller Solomani (Alien Module)
- Author & Contributor: Hans Rancke-Madsen