Zym Cartels
The Zym Cartels are only a shell of the former power that once dominated the Outer Rim before the Age of Silence. Formed out of the corruption and bloat that permeated the Zym Hegemony, the Zym Cartel now reaches its tendrils outwards, trying to reclaim the influence and power they once held onto so dearly.
Many scholars studying the inner workings of the Cartels will find the process at the same time frustratingly difficult, but incredibly simple. When stripped down to its bare bones, the Cartels to many, are a system designed around funneling wealth, power and land to the top of its rigid caste society.
With one of the largest populations and some of the most resource rich systems in the galaxy, the Zym Cartels are one of the fierciest and most threatening entities in the galaxy. However, the Cartel rarely is able to move in one direction. The dictators, oligarchs and demagogues who control the cartel are as likely to fight one another as they are to turn towards their outside neighbors. While this leaves them disorganized, they are quick to respond to outside threats that begin to encroach on their own territory.
Most often, the Cartels operate as an entity of destablization in most other galactic regions. They are happy to sell arms to both sides of any conflict, and are quick to look for oppurtunities to exploit systems for their material wealth. The Zym also renowned for exploiting their culture throughout the settled systems, people.
Structure
While the cartel is painted as a rogue state by the likes of the Colonial Earth Empire, it more closely resembles to corporatocracy, where the most powerful indsutrial Cartels control the various aspects of society.
Their balance of power is a careful one. The top of the heirarchy are the Particians. They make up the executive boards, robber barons, shogun and warlords that control the various cartels. They all find their way to Proxima Zym, where they maintain a regular palace or manse. They all maintain power through a combination of wealth, and physical muscle ready to strike at one another. The Princeps sit under the Particians in the cartel structure, and usually carry out their will around the edges of the expanding cartel space. The cartels are highly decentralized and most planets in cartel space have various different cartels vying for control over the planet at the same exact time.
The cartels takes all kinds, and the inner workings of its governenance is intentionally obtuse and complicated. Each planet under cartel control is subject to all manner of charter, contract and agreement. These laws are subject to constant change, depending on what oligarch has control over the local politicians. This also has to be backed up with muscle, and brushfire wars regularly breakout between rival cartels within their own space. However, any over extension will weaken the overall cartel and opens it up to attack from another rival power. This constant churn keeps the cartels decentralized, violent, and chaotic. This also serves to keep the oligarchs in power, with the constant violence fueled by the blood and wealth of the laboring people in the cartels.
This highly decentralized structure means that they are easily penetrated, but difficult to control. They lack the ability to fully extend their territory, they can only really hope to destablize planets to the point where they cannot resist cartel infiltration. The cartel's oligarchs are happy to work behind the scenes as well, utlizing groups like the Mud Dogs to insert themselves on planet's outside of cartel control.
Culture
The culture of planets under the control or influence of the Zym Cartels is varied and wide. Proxima Zym, and its nearby systems like Aquatolis keep the traditions and visuals of the old Hegemony. They emulate the nobility and panash of the myths, trying to unify the people. However, the silence affected this area of space more than most. Through years and years of isolation, the various systems became fiercely individualistic. The further away from the core, the less likely there is for royal propoganda of the hegemony. Insteady, it is much more simply the carrot of food, housing and entertainment versus the stick of cartel muscle.
The further from the core, the more likely uprisings are likely. This is instigated constantly by outisde agiators, like Vingolf, Vallhalla, the Union, the dragons and the federation. Most of the times, these planets see the cartels as simply companies, come to exctract specific resources from their planets. The silence is a constant reminder of the chaos of the chaos and the cartels, at the very least, maintain a level of stability across their space that is marginally better than the silence.
History
The story of the Zym Cartel begins with the Flight of the Lost. One of the original ten destinations, Proxima Zym, became home to what would become an intergalactic power that could rival the might of the Colonial Earth Empire. The initial colonization of Zym was quick, and the people soon began to spread rapidly throughout their section of galaxy, colonizing the Mid and Outer Rim under the Zym Hegemony.
With the invention of the Fusion Drive and arrival of the United Republic, the Zym Hegemony was slow to adapt, their aging noble structure, bloated with inefficiency, nepotism and corruption. The First Gate War with the United Republic caused a series of cascading failures. The Hegemony, with thousands of worlds under their yolk, kept losing systems over hundreds of years. Many fled to the republic, and many gained their own independence. While the Hegemony could survive the intial onslaught of the Empire, they could not survive the Age of Silence. The Zym Hegemony was only down to a handful of systems by the end of their life, holding onto the decedance from hundreds of years before.
The aristocrats and greedy demagogues tried to carve out mighty kingdoms of their own when the Silence fell, and the Mechanicus Jihad tore them apart even further. Years of chaos ensued, only to be rescued by a collective of enterprising capitalists who had partnered with a coalition of former Hegemony military officers, and a smattering of desperate neo-liberal fledgling polities.
The Zym Cartels came about through a series of aggressive mergers, aquisitions, and takeovers that essentially created the overarching structure that you now see. Former congolomerates, noble houses and rogue-military assets were brought under the control of the cartel during the span of the Age of Silence. They were able to bring first the core systems around Proxima Zym to heel. However, many of the Hegemony territories in Free and Sovereign Space were out of their reach during the silence.
When the Interstellar Gates began to come back online, the Cartel looked at the galaxy with a hunger for growth. They quickly went about to expanding their influence, and now a good chunk of Wild Space is under cartel control. They now reach its tendrils out with a "softer" touch. What they lack in direct military power, they have in widespread influence among the gangs and criminal underground of the entire Orion Arm.
Founding Date
192
Type
Illicit, Cartel
Capital
Government System
Corporatocracy
Power Structure
Confederation
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Related Ethnicities
