Latest revision as of 11:07, 19 May 2017

The Eridani Trust is a corporate manorialist coalition of super-companies formerly based in Epsilon Eridani on Janus. It owned the planets Janus and Gaia as well as settlements in Tau Ceti. Most of the company was taken over in a coup by the Sirius Military Consulate during the Sirius Conflict. Today most of the trust's holdings in other systems have broken up into separate companies or have been bought up by other trusts and its future remains greatly in doubt. James is a member of the Eridani Trust.

History

Beginnings on Janus

The Eridani Trust began as one of the first private speculative ventures into other solar systems. Thanks to new astrological evaluations made by Sirius Station, an Earth-like planet with a high probability of liquid water was estimated to be in orbit around the star Epsilon-Eridani. After the 9 years and 142 days, Daedalus 4 arrived at Epsilon Eridani to discover that it had an abundance of a lichen-like bacteria that provided a breathable oxygen atmosphere. The Eridani Trust now owned the only wormhole, and effectively the planet. This planet was christened Janus, as it would provide an astrological staging area for future jumps beyond Sirius, opening new doors for the Trust.

Settlement of Tau Ceti

Main Article: Tau Ceti.

Due to the detection of heavy metals in orbit around the star, Tau Ceti was the next target of the Eridani Trust. After a 6 year voyage, Tau Ceti Station was established and use to communicate with the many small communities set up to mine heavy elements from the stars orbit, especially iridium, palladium, platinum, and tungsten. Tau Ceti remained a profitable asset for the Eridani Trust up through the Sirius Conflict, which enabled it to engage in a protracted war with superior reserves of vital resources. Due to its importance as a staging area for the mining of asteroids and dust clouds orbiting Tau Ceti, it has the distinction of being the only wormhole in free orbit around its star despite being in the presence of planetoids with atmospheres.

Acquisition of Gaia

Main Article: Gaia.

The first exoplanet to support native plant life, Gaia's flora and fauna provided organic solutions in many sectors including agriculture, textiles, energy, and construction. The planet quickly became lucrative property for the Eridani Trust, catapulting its stock and making it one of the largest corporations in the inhabited universe. Gaia soon became home to a wealth of squatters operating a black market within the planet itself, which the Trust permitted so long as nothing was sold to the outside worlds. Gaia quickly became one of the most populous worlds outside of Earth.

Settlement of Proserpina

Main Article: Proserpina.

Sirius Conflict

Main Article: Sirius Conflict.

Fueled by years of discontent with the Trust's stranglehold on resources and its failure to address the needs of its planet's inhabitants, the timely destruction of the Sirius-Janus wormhole was seized upon by the Military Defense Force of Eridani in a violent coup lasting almost 5 years known as the Sirius Conflict. This civil war spanned all three solar systems under the control of the Eridani Trust and eventually led to its surrender and dissolution in the Sirius corridor. The wormhole engineers who reconnected the Sirius corridor from Sirius Station were quickly kidnapped by SMC forces waiting in orbit around Janus and their wormhole seized. The rest of the inhabited universe, up until that point unaware that a civil war had even existed, suffered unprecedented economic collapse across its solar systems from the surprise, from which they have not fully recovered 5 years later.

Pre-Sirius Worlds and Aftermath

After the successful coup by the SMC, the Trusts holdings are now effectively limited to businesses it owned outside of the Sirius corridor, many of which relied on the resources of their parent company in order to remain competitive. As a result, many of these businesses have been sold, and only a fraction remain under the umbrella of the shriveling Eridani Trust. Due to the sheer efficiency of scale enjoyed by other corporate manorialist entities, it is likely the Eridani Trust will be relegated to the history books by 2323.

Culture