Gran Lux
Gran Lux was a galactic-scale trade conglomerate operating across Cosmoria from 8780 CE to 9856 CE. The organization was essentially a sovereign state in its own right, controlling rogue planets across the Anemoi Line, a sizeable population, and had official diplomatic standing with many nations. Occupying dozens of rogue planets at its height, Gran Lux had access to large sums of capital, impressive military might, and a monopoly on speedy trade across the center of Cosmoria. As trade grew, Gran Lux became increasingly wealthy.
Lulls in intergalactic trade were often disastrous and the loss of their lucrative monopoly spelled the end of this organization. As the Hex Drive, Gran Lux's premier form of travel, finally became reproducible, it lost its edge. This forced Gran Lux to greatly decrease the fees associated with shipment, further digging into its profit margins. The tipping point was 9856 CE, when Sagittarium released the blueprints for its military Hex Drive, allowing for merchants to privately own and produce the craft instead of rent them from Gran Lux. Two years later, Gran Lux dissolved as its various leaders split the conglomerate's assets and went their separate ways.
History
Background
The origins of Gran Lux are shrouded with mystery. Due to various conflicts during the time it formed, little can be gleaned from historical records. Worse, virtually all the planets where it could have emerged had most of their surfaces destroyed during ancient nameless conflicts between nameless factions fighting over forgotten ends.
What is known is that a small detachment of Lentomos escaped the destruction of their world. Anywhere from one to two hundred, the last of their species, fled into interstellar space. This detachment brought with it thousands of artifacts from their home-world ranging in size from small trinkets to entire ships. One of these artifacts, the GLS Midpoint was a Triumvirate-designed spacecraft capable of speeds in excess of nearly every other method at the time. Its main use came from its ability to traverse Cosmoria's core, the Lux Aeterna. Such an ability cut down on travel times by weeks to months, especially with the old-style fusion drives at the time.
The Midpoint would prove useful as the basis for survival of the Lentomos. Beginning as a small operation transporting refugees across wide tracts of space quickly, the Lentomos created Gran Aylathiya Shipping, a small company employing the entire species. Able to charge exorbitant prices for one-way trips anywhere in Cosmoria, the species soon gained the capital to begin research into duplicating this device. Diving deep into Thaumaturgy, they discovered Grimoires, computers capable of using one specific aspect of Thaumaturgy. Far ahead of their time, they would mass-produce these devices and created hundreds of prototypes. Using nothing but guess-work, they annihilated whole continents as ships moving at ultra-relativistic speeds collided with them. Nearly finishing the job of their ancient enemies themselves, they would create the GLS Planetes, the first fully functional Hex Drive. While slow, the Planetes opened up trade across the core once believed to be impossible.
By 8750 CE, they had over one hundred of these devices shipping megatonnes of material daily. They would gain contracts from across Aylathiya shipping anywhere in half the time. Zalanthium would be one of the largest destinations as trade between the its nations and Aylathiya began developing. Improvements to the Hex Drive, still beyond the means of any nation in the universe at the time, would give Gran Aylathiya Shipping a total edge over its competition.
Gran Lux formed in 8780 CE as the Lentomos established a new headquarters on the planet Tchruv. Gran Aylathiya Shipping was a para-state organization ran like a corporation in which the entire Lentomo people owned the company; Gran Lux was a para-state organization ran like a government in which each of the Lentomo received a portion of the profits but only the elites had a say in the operation of the company. Gran Lux had well over two billion employees, far more than the one million Lentomos that existed across the entire universe.
Lobbying
As Gran Lux gained power it gained influence. In nations where merchants had full protection from extortion and were traded fairly, Gran Lux charged decreased rates for shipment. This put pressure on nearly every government to cultivate favorable conditions for trade, allowing other merchants to gain a footing. With more trade going on, there was more shipment that needed to take place, benefiting Gran Lux. Trade with the Providence Union would begin falling drastically right around the creation of Gran Lux, hurting the organization.
Modern History
Major Worlds
Species
