Molnsa Trade Guild

The Seven Star Kings

   The Molnsa Trade Guild was the oldest of the great houses, preceding the others by a more than a thousand years. While mankind was clawing its way through the muck of feudalism, seven so-called Star Kings signed the first Guild Treaty at the Conclave of Suftas on Berasha 5 in the Molnsa Constellation. These seven  Suftas were “T'eng Fan, a wealthy Borthan trade merchant, Chutteari Grequat, the Partak merchant lord, Toos Fa Indarei, the Biha Serjaum trader of the Northern Core, Amafir Kish, the Hagadorn Arms trader of the Inner Reaches, Pasasha Numa, the Kratek Slaver,  Booker Raman, the Smuggler Chief, and Tsthechan the Q'kwagat Raider Lord.”

   These Suftas employed a wide variety of tactics to bring new systems and routes under their sway. Toos Fa Indarei searched out worlds deficient in sources of Serjaum, making them virtually dependent on the suftas for this vital fuel. Tsthechan traded at cutthroat prices and bullied his way past rivals, employing heavily armored transports that could fight just as well as a military vessel. Amafir Kish was eager to trade weapons for different weapons, spreading technologies among warring nations and, through his pursuit of profit, ensuring the development of more lethal and sophisticated weapons systems.

   For the next millennium, Molnsa was the undisputed giant of interstellar trade. They controlled the major trade routes throughout Estra. Their agents insinuated themselves in their respective governments, pushing policy changes among the Naplians and Borthan that did away with cumbersome tariffs and gave Molnsa unrestricted access to the star systems of those empires. Any group that stood in their way was either brushed aside, cowed through brute force, or subsumed through outright acquisition. From their home territory to the north-northeast of the galactic center, Molnsa ships could reach any portion of the galaxy.

   The crude repair of a few foldgates expanded their reach to the five galaxies of ancient Radnia. However, conflicts between the suftas and with hostile races kept the guild from meaningful expansion into the other galaxies. By the 1800s, corruption in the highest ranks of the Molnsa led to an outright civil war among the guild races. It dragged on for nearly a century. The losses suffered in the conflict weakened the Suftas. Pirates kept the guild from further expansion, so much so that Molnsa spent the next few centuries merely fortifying their holdings and rebuilding their military arm to save the most profitable shipping routes.

Then came the humans...

Next...The Guild and Stelltron Clash

END TRANSMISSION

By Sarah Beach

Artwork by Camilo Aldana & Dmitri Borodin

Copyright 2018 Kgruppe LLC