The Commonwealth

The Commonwealth was a megacorporation that held control of several sectors of the Nostrom Cardinal Galaxy, including the Amer Prime System.

Origins
The Commonwealth was founded on the planet Eiel Britonica by a group of Britonican cyborgs, formed to complete the construction of Eiel Britonica's terracity. Sometime afterwards, they took control of Eiel Britonica's government, replacing its monarchy with their corporate rule. They expanded their influence to many systems beyond their own, gaining Theraphosia and Refeeron, along with their native races, the aristocratic arachnid Theraphosians and the highly intelligent squid-like Cephloids, as allies. However, the Theraphosians were in a much closer alliance than the Cephloids, who merely took on the alliance to create and expand intergalactic commerce routes and open up new flows of information to their planet. While many worlds joined the Commonwealth willingly, most were conquered or pressured into joining. The Commonwealth stretched several galactic sectors, gaining business beyond those sectors and in intergalactic fields, most often by supplying interstellar wars or forcing states to become reliant on their services.

Revolutions and dissolution
Upon reaching the Amer Prime System, expeditionary force leader Bartiman Rik used deceitful diplomacy to gain control of Amer and Ica, saving resources and lives while placing the worlds under Commonwealth control. Amer remained under Commonwealth control for some time, and during that time, the Commonwealth fought against the Hieron System for the world of Cavor, the leader of a multi-system coalition that resisted Commonwealth annexation for three decades. Amer launched a revolution against the Commonwealth, successfully liberating their system and stealing a fleet's worth of Commonwealth munitions. The United Republic of Amer Prime was formed, and in its wake, Commonwealth forces were divided by various subsequent revolutions across their space, all launched in response to Amer's success. The Commonwealth was forced to dissolve, their leaders and allies being killed, arrested, or running to private extragalactic resorts. The Commonwealth had been in operation for almost four thousand years.

Legacy
Although the Commonwealth was destroyed over a four-year period long before URAP's contact with the Trans-Galactic Government, their influence is still visible across the Nostrom Cardinal Galaxy. Almost all the technology used throughout the galaxy was either inspired by or directly taken from the Commonwealth. The historic texts, older infrastructure, and monuments of URAP worlds and Eiel Britonica still contain many documentations of the Commonwealth. Authentic Commonwealth products gained high value in the later years, and hyperlanes drilled out by Commonwealth hyperdrills still link much of the galaxy together. Unknown to most, several heavily modified Commonwealth executives have survived the fall of the corporation, and despite their incredibly advanced ages, have set up successor corporations or crime rings in other galaxies. Many Cephloids, who live for incredibly long periods of time, also remember the Commonwealth or worked with them. Surviving Commonwealth executives, such as Lord Director Bartiman Rik, attempted to recapture Eiel Britonica over 400 years after the fall of the Commonwealth with the use of demonic forces, but were either killed or trapped on the planet Reaper.