#Lore24 – Entry #354 – Sci-Fi Month IV #19 – The Growth of the Corporate Empires, Power in the New Paradigm
Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum
AG: “So, Miss Volcarri, following your victory over Emperor Halaxaes and the dissolution of the Elvish Dominion, did you immediately return to your studies of draconic history, or did you immediately move towards forming DSM?”
RV: “Now that my name was again on the stage, I was forced to involve myself with the political machine. There were a multitude of obstacles to overcome relating to the former Imperium and specifically the Great Houses and the animosity many systems and countless peoples felt toward them. My name had already been forgotten by most of the shorter-lived races save perhaps those who were chroniclers, but I changed it to its current form then, and pushed forward with an effort to rebuild, reform, and reemerge. It helped that I had been witnessed to have slain Halaxaes by Lila Darius herself, for her word carried some weight, and though I couldn’t stand the woman, I am capable of putting my hatred of her aside for a time when there are larger concerns. It was rather unfortunate that this particular incarnation would have a shorter life than some, so damaged by Halaxaes’ final assault was she. I very much would have liked to have studied her; it may have advanced my research some centuries if I had the opportunity.
But, duty called, and I answered. I began a push for reformation of the Great Houses into what would evolve into their current form, focusing each upon a different aspect of what would necessarily have to become the new paradigm in the galaxy if some semblance of stability and control were to be maintained. Many of the systems which we had civilized and advanced were reluctant to become entangled with a centralized power, but still required some amount of support from other worlds for information and the supplies they could not provide for themselves.
So, being the forward thinker I am, I first directed the Great Houses to offer reasonable reparations to some worlds that had been most severely affected by the Imperium’s actions, and, as a show of our willingness to participate on an equal level, oversaw the dismantling of the space citadels and disarming of most of the Imperium’s remaining warships. Most would need to be refitted and repaired before they would be fully functional as vessels of war anyway, so it was little effort to convince the galaxy at large to allow us to keep a token defensive force while the bulk of the ships were recycled.
It would take nearly two centuries, but with the good works I had directed the elves toward, and the heavy amount of propaganda I saw spread throughout the civilized worlds to regain some semblance of trust, about as much as most were willing to give my kind before the Imperium, anyway, I could once again return to something of my original plans. I originally formed DSM as a transportation business, for interstellar trade was indeed booming during this period, but rapidly grew the company in a handful of decades to encompass multiple other companies that we had either formed through the Great Houses or had engineered to be taken over. And thus you have what would become the DSM of today.”
AG: “Did you meet with any resistance to the initial growth of DSM and the takeover of so many smaller companies?”
RV: “About as much then as we have now. When you’re the largest company out there, there is little that stands in the way of you getting what you want. Once we had been firmly established, and others had started to follow our model, the members of the Big Four for example, and some others who have become institutions outside of the Andyllion Core, everything seemed to be moving exactly as I had wished it to. There were bumps in the road, so to say, but they were relatively minor and dealt with via decisive action.”
AG: “DSM is known to be the leading developer of arcane technology, and has been said to be responsible for the fact that arcane magic has survived to the modern day due to the efforts of your Arcane Research & Development department. I take it the loyalty of the arcanists you bolstered during your and Ruvaen’s coup against Halaxaes remained?”
RV: “Yes, that’s quite right. Though it seems that many peoples are trying to push themselves to be rid of magic altogether, its never going away. The underlying power that fuels sorcerous magic is literally everywhere, and has recovered greatly with its diminished use over time, and denying it is to our detriment as civilized peoples. One doesn’t deny the power of the gods, so why deny the power of the arcane?”
AG: “Some would say the power of the gods have diminished as well, for much of what once required their blessing to perform can be performed by science now.”
RV: “True, their has certainly been a decrease in the faithful over the centuries, but that too is an inevitability. They will simply have to seek out more uncivilized worlds in other regions of the galaxy that we’ve yet to claim if they want to cling to the old ways. I’m sure they’re well aware of just how many of these worlds are out there.”
AG: “Was a driving force in your creation and expansion of the AR&D division your interest in the draconic histories?”
RV: “That’s accurate, yes. I had much to decipher yet, and found myself a few centuries behind, so delegating some of my research was the next logical step. I could not always trust those beneath me to do things as I wished, and when failures happened, those responsible were dealt with swiftly, but overall, I must say that bringing them into the fold was a marked improvement. And with our prevalence throughout space, we could study even more sites and uncover more relics of the past. I suppose we should move on to the meat of this conversation, my personal obsession with dragons and what remains of them. I’m sure that’s what you’re really after, isn’t it? Well, out of respect for the Goldeneyed Librarian, I will certainly indulge you.”