The Eridani Corporate Alliance, often referred to as Eridani for short, is a series of relatively independent Solarian systems that enjoy almost total economic and relative military freedom from the rest of the alliance of states that forms Sol. Eridani can instead be considered a form of special economic zone that exists due to its convenience for the rest of the Spur, which in turn allows the corporations within to largely skirt past criticisms of their human rights violations and caste system by virtue of being economically beneficial to the rest of the Orion Spur.
History
Originally sold for the purposes of establishing a port and warehouse to Charon Shipping Services in 2203, initial surveys of Epsilon Eridani appeared grim for profit. Only one planet was confirmed to have existed, the gas giant Aegir with a sole moon. While another planet was theorised, upon arrival this was proven not to be the case, however a much more important discovery was made by the Charon Eridani Fleet: The moon of Aegir was, in fact, habitable. A rudimentary biosphere had led to an atmosphere equivalent to the top of a tall mountain, ever-so-slightly thinner than average.
With this discovery came immediate colonisation by Charon, who in turn contacted numerous notable corporations with the intent to sell plots of land, mineral rights and shipping services. Many historians theorise that this was done in an attempt to legitimise the relative newcomer to space amongst its new peers, as well as create ties that would form the foundation of the new system’s unique status in Spur-level politics.
While initially colonised with the intent to be owned by Charon Shipping Services, the growing corporatocracy quickly found itself growing too large and complex for a single, relatively junior corporation to effectively manage. While logistics may have been the speciality of Charon, they lacked the political clout or hard power to enforce their claim upon the planet. In their place, and to avoid the minor skirmishes between security forces related to various corporations that were beginning to erupt in 2228, The Council of Eight was formed. This council of eight positions, dictated by the ownership of regions of land on the moon of Aegir, became the de-facto government for the planetoid.
Over time, The Council of Eight has had a series of small scale wars erupt between corporations for the seats of power in which it contains, with vast swathes of land being economically repurposed in arbitrary treaties that the inhabitants had little to no say in. To combat this turmoil, eventually The Council of Eight elected that positions are eternal, and may only be opened through either purchase or the forced removal of a seat by a unanimous vote of all other council seats. The last time the seats changed was in 2490, giving the largely run-down southern arctic region of District 8 to Einstein Engines. This transfer was met with controversy from much of the dreg population, with fears of the heating infrastructure going even further unmaintained under new leadership leading to a borderline revolution.
During what is now referred to as the Thermostat Revolution, the transfer of power between Einstein Engines and Zeng-Hu collapsed due to the total lack of military power owned by either corporation. In an attempt to prevent the budding revolution from potentially spreading further, the corporations that made up The Council of Eight put aside their differences temporarily, redirecting every mercenary group under their employment to suppress riots, arrest organisers and violently put down the revolution in such a manner that any non-corporate entity would be brought up on various human rights violations. Following this, The Council of Eight voted unanimously to create a semi-regulated body for the employment of mercenaries, who in times of no-contract would act as the de-facto military for the Eridanus Cluster.
“The modern Eridani Corporate Alliance is not too alien from the Corporate Alliance of the past, in a form of simultaneous stagnation and inflation. The more things change, the more entrenched certain conventions become; dregs remain the oppressed underclass, corporates remain in splendour and the corporations that influence every aspect of life become nations unto the worker. The Thermostat Revolution may soon become a distant memory, rather than a cultural touchstone of the Dreg Worker.” - Julian Bertrand, Philosopher and Economist, 2540
Government
Eridani’s government is largely represented by the Council of Eight - Eight representatives from various megacorporations. Each seat in the Council is tied to a sector, which the chairman’s corporation has full control over. While discussions have been made in the past to expand the number of sectors, this naturally has not come to fruition out of fears of decreased power on the moon. Each sector has also been given an informal name to make conversation easier. Currently, each sector is assigned to the following corporations:
Sector 1 (Luxembourg) - Idris Incorporated
Sector 2 (Canaria) - Hephaestus Industries
Sector 3 (Monaco) - Idris Incorporated
Sector 4 (Panama) - Charon Shipping Services
Sector 5 (Trinidad) - Hephaestus Industries
Sector 6 (Grenada) - EPMC - Zavodskoi Interstellar joint venture
Sector 7 (Seychelles) - Zeng Hu Pharmaceuticals
Sector 8 (Faroe) - Einstein Engines