Oradian Shipping Conglomerate

One of the Imperium’s major sources of revenue was the monopoly on interstellar transport. This monopoly was enforced via the Ministry of Transportation’^1^’, and for much of the Imperium’s history, it retained that tight hold on interstellar trade, granting monopolies on certain routes to the highest bidder. Unfortunately as the High Imperium period begin to wind down, this bidding system broke down and corruption set in. Between Ministry of Transportation bureucrats, members of the Imperial Congress and the office of the Emperor itself taking bribes, this once profitable system was threatened with collapse. The direct budget of the Ministry of Transportation was so effected that the updating of route maps, once the single most important task of this branch of government, was neglected.

One of the key reforms of Durin Bonish during the early Imperial Interregnum in an attempt to stave off the potential collapse of several smaller routes was to split the Ministry of Transporation’s tasks between a government body and a private corporation. The government body became the Route Mapping Commission, which proved as ineffective at managing route maps as the old Ministry. The transportation monopoly was sold wholesale to a number of corporations and aristocratic families for a substantial sum’^2^’. The new transport company was called the Oradian Shipping Conglomerate (OAC).

Durin Bonish did not live long enough to see his bold new idea crumble, though even during his time in power, OAC started tearing up the old monopolistic contracts, some dating back to the early Imperium. However, rather than more fairly distributing routing contracts or even opening them up (as some had hoped), it simply began using its clout and, during the reign of the third Premiere, the incompetent Qadan Rom, managed to get legislation passed that permitted it to buy at firesale prices the remaining contracted transport companies, thus rendering the reforms initiated by Durin Bonish completely moot.

Needles to say OAC simply became a feeding ground for all sorts of corrupt individuals, placing all sorts of taxes on routes and then simply directing the funds into various politicians, aristocrats and merchants’ pockets. This key Imperium revenue was lost, and greatly accelerated the general collapse, and ultimately allowed even the Imperial Interregnum to descend into the horrible depravity that marked its end.

‘^1^’[-Formerly the Cel-Tainu Astrophysical Research Corporation, before it was nationalized-].

‘^2^’[-Some scholars and economists believe that this sudden increase in the size of the Imperium’s coffers may have produced the illusion of an improvement in the general economic financial picture. This would have greatly aided Durin Bonish’s regime by disguising the deep fiscal weaknesses of his government.-]

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