Board Thread:Custom Lore Development/@comment-26535281-20170825163119

Conglomerates, within the Empire, are massive and rather powerful corporations and monopolies dominating trade in certain sectors, resources, or production. They tend to come from semi-modest blood lines, for example most dynasties started out as simple merchants/Mercators and then expanded others are rich Senatorial families using their political power to gain economic power. The Conglomerates at times even act as their own mini states dominating certain, ports, moons, and even some worlds (Trade worlds info to come latter). Here they pretty much rule as they seek fit with the dynasty only required to pay small tithes to the state in income and what ever they produce or manage other then that they are pretty much free. Generally this leads to Conglomerate held areas to have many shady institutions like brothels, fighting pits, and so on as well as high class establishments for the dynasty itself, their rich friends, and visiting merchants or nobles.

The Conglomerates themselves are really just massive corporations and businesses as well as some being large space mafias and in some areas criminal enterprises (really depends on the area as in some nations certain things are completely legal). Each conglomerate is expected to have it's hands in as many jars as possibly, but is also expected to have two or three major jars from which they get most of their profits.

The Leadership of Conglomerates are groups of families called Dynasties with one main family at it's head leading the major business ventures and the minor families running the minor affairs. At times certain families will either break away to make their own Conglomerate or be exiled by the larger family for either interfering in other's affairs, bringing shame to the family, or shedding light on the Dynasties shadier dealings to the governments of the universe.

This break up and exiles leads to a lot of angry and disgruntled families wishing too settle the score with their once 'family' this leads to the Dynasties buying assassins, mercenaries, and forming into unions with the rivals of said family. Generally these turf wars are kept small with most affairs settled by duels, but at times families will wage literal wars over the ownership of a trade world or over a trade lane. Generally the larger state just cuts off the world from the larger Empire and only lets the warring families enter so they can solve their differences while not causing too much harm to the larger Empire.

These wars also provide training, experience, and good pay for the mercenaries and private armies they employ. The state also sees these wars as fun testing grounds giving both sides experimental weapons to get field results and to possibly sway a turf war for a dynasty the Empire likes or has been payed to like.

Some major Dynasties are as follows:

- the Valeria Dynasty is known for it's wide spread market spread out across hundreds of trading stations with most outside of the Empire's boundaries. They mainly sell exotic goods like perfumes, clothing, and antiques/collectibles. They employ a whole host of merchants, artists, and grave robbers to obtain their goods. They also dabble in the slave trade with mainly exotic 'pure breed' slaves being their main products.

- the Servilia Dynasty is known for it's vast slave markets and entire moons dedicated to the processing, display, and sale of slaves from across the universe. They employ a whole host of kidnappers, pirates, raiders, and slavers within their family seeking both vast amounts of slaves and some of the more 'pricey' slaves.

- the Aquilia Dynasty are one of the oldest dynasties being, for thousands of years, controllers of vast banking networks. While they do not openly trade as the other families they instead fund the other families who in turn fund the bank. The bank employs a host of enforcers, debt collectors, and loan sharks to, as it puts it, 'It's just dues."

- the Hostilia Dynasty is one dedicated to war and blood shed. They have vast private armies and legions of troops which they sell off to the other families war's. They also provide many fighting pits and arenas their gladiators and beasts both natural and created.

- the Nautia Dynasty is another family that does not trade directly instead they own vast trade routes and provide protection fleets and soldiers in exchange for payment and tariffs. They employ vast private armies to defend it's trade routes and clients as well as a sizable private fleet (mainly made up of ex-pirates) 