Taurus Corporation

The Taurus Corporation is a colossal mega-conglomerate turned galactic power with its hand in everything from domestic goods to military grade starships. Taurus space stands as a bastion of capitalistic, free market values where businesses are allowed to grow and expand unrestricted. The Corporation publically boasts unprecedented freedom for its citizens, but beneath this sparkling veneer, civil and political freedoms are held in close check. In this regard, while the Taurus Sector may claim itself to be a Corporatocracy, it is more realistically a Corporate Dictatorship.

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Factfile

Corporate Holdings

1500 Star Systems

  • 9047 claimed planets
  • 362 inhabited planet/moons (162 major population centres)

Government

Capital: Diligentia Prime, Diligentia System
Type: Corporatocracy (Officially). More realistically, the Taurus Corporation is a Corporate Dictatorship.
Chief Governing Body: Taurus Corporation Board of Executives
Head of State: Chairman of the Board (Current Chairman: Edward Langley)
Notable Government Agencies:

Civilian Information

Population: 90 Billion registered citizens, with a suspected 2 Billion illegal immigrants and non-registered citizens.

Species: Mainly Human, some immigrants.

Religion: Most religions are permitted, though it is a very small aspect of society. However, seeing as temples are privately owned, and organised religion in the Taurus Sector is less well funded than in other empires, places of worship often feature some degree of advertisement to pay the bills.

Lifespan: For the lower classes, living to the age of 200 is not uncommon thanks to advances in prenatal gene therapy, as well as the medical profession in general. However, wealthier citizens in the Taurus sector often live to be well over 300 years old, maintaining an excellent quality of life throughout.

Languages: While the official language of the Taurus Sector is Galactic Common, over 80% of citizens speak a second, alien, tongue. A further 60% of those individuals speak an additional 3 or more foreign languages. This widespread familiarity with any alien vernacular originally stems from the Taurus Corporation's desire to maintain stable business relationships across varying empires. However, this trait also puts Taurus Sector tourism rates at some of the highest in the galaxy, affording tourists the more personal touch that automated translators simply can't provide.

Economy

Type: Free Market Capitalism
Currency: Taurus Sector Standard Credit (TSSC)
General Imports: Food, Raw materials
General Exports: Weapons, Starships, Luxury Items, Pharmaceuticals, Electronics, etc.

Communications

System-wide Orbital Tachyon Relays (OTRs): A product of Hermes Communications Solutions, OTRs are the most common form of faster than light communication in the Taurus Sector. While other, higher quality, means of FTL communications are available, OTR telecoms are the most affordable, and therefore see widespread use throughout the Taurus sector.


Background

The heart of the Taurus Corporation’s fiscal empire resides in the east of the Terran Sphere, a planet called Diligentia Prime. The planet was founded in 2512CE to provide a neutral trading hub for several of the old human colonies. However, as those colonies began to fall into war, the Diligentian corporations began to exploit their neutral status and supplied all sides in the conflict. As the war came to a close and the remaining colonies began to nurse their wounds, a powerful conglomerate called the Taurus Corporation utilized it’s private military forces to replace the Diligentian government and take control of the entire galactic sector in what is now known as the Taurus Founding. By 3465CE, the corporation had efficiently removed all that remained of the old human colonies, paving the way for their new empire.

In modern times, while the Corporation now manages it's own holdings in a manner similar to a government, it still retains all of its industrial and commercial elements. It is therefore not uncommon to see Taurus Corporation-run stores and offices across the entire galaxy, often staffed by local employees.

Contemporary Life in the Taurus Sector

All planets under the control of the Taurus Corporation (A region refered to as 'The Taurus Sector') promote typical free market ideologies, affording all businesses full economic freedom. While this has led to the formation of hypercorporations that only a handful of other races can match, it has also led to one of the largest social class disparities in civilized space. Though many civil rights groups excerise their right to protest about this fact, the ubiquitous eye of the Corporation is always watching, ready to shut down any incident or group that becomes too influential. This is often done quietly to prevent furthering a negative view of the Corporation.

In this regard, civil rights in the Taurus Sector are markedly few. Instead, the Taurus Corporation works hard to maintain a convincing illusion of civil and political freedoms for its citizens, while keeping the population under a comfortable degree of control.

For those successful enough to command considerable wealth, the Taurus Sector is an ideal place to live. Low tax rates, and a tax system with many exploitable loopholes for those rich enough to afford lawyers and accountants make make life easy for the wealthy citizens, and often draw in more wealthy individuals from other nations. The abject luxury and high culture available to wealthy citizens of the Taurus Sector is also a major benefit. Most wealthy citizens spend their free time in huge villas on beautiful worlds, coursing the stars in private yachts, or enjoying the many high quality shops, restaurants and leisure centres abundant in corporation space.

Leading Divisions of the Taurus Corporation

Although the complete corporate structure of the Taurus Corporation, like many Hypercorporations, is an unimaginable bureaucratic mess, there are several primary divisions that handle a plethora of different duties. The most notable of these divisons include: TC Weapons Solutions, TC Shipyards, TC Genetic and Pharmaceutical Research, and TC Civil Services.

TC Weapons Solutions: With the rise of powerful Taurus Corporation subsidiaries, and a few independents, TC Weapons Solutions has been gradually shrinking. The division's main product is the 'Tornado' Mass Accelerator Rifle, the mainline weapon of Corporation footsoldiers, as well as the divisions highest in demand product. Interestingly, analysis of company expenditure will show that a disproportionate amount of funding is given to this division. Given that the Taurus Corporation was founded as an arms producer, this is not overly surprising.

TC Shipyards: Much like TC Weapons Solutions, TC Shipyards has seen a degree of downsizing as subsidiaries and independent companies not under the Taurus umbrella pick up many of their projects. The division is, none the less, kept occupied by the high demand for Taurus Class Cruisers, as well as various, and often unique, civilian projects.

TC Genetic and Pharmaceutical Research: One of the newest, and fastest growing, divisions of the Corporation, very little is known about the inner workings of this section of the company. Though many rumours imply that TC Genetic and Pharmaceutical Research is involved in projects deemed 'illegal' by galactic standards, there is little, if any, evidence to support such accusations.

TC Civil Services: Although a Civil Services branch may seem an odd department for a private business, TC Civil Services represents the fusion of the Corporation with planetary government. In this regard, TC Civil Services is a largely independent division, operating under vastly different protocols. In general, it handles the collection and management of taxes, as well as maintaining frontline civil services.