Corporations - The Employers

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt

Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

In 2310 the word government doesn't mean that much, the word Corporation does.

By the mid 21st century, when space flight became economical; none-governmental space travel bloomed, when it was proven to be profitable, space exploration exploded.

It was the big Corporations that pioneered interstellar travel, developed the technology to exploit the mineral and chemical wealth of the cosmos and eventually colonized new worlds. Soon the terrestrial economy, and traditional government became obsolete.

Life on a Corporation world is much like living in a religious or deeply political dictatorship of 21st century earth, the beliefs of a distant CEO reflected in every facet of life.

Company Protocol is law, some govern how you live, others govern how you work, some Corp's even govern what you believe.

Almost everyone works for a Corp, rents Corp property, earns corp money and spends it in Corp shops. Everyone is free, but everyone is beholden to company whose hospital they were born in.

Salvers, historically, are free agents. Risking extremely perilous conditions to pay company debts and live their own life outside the grip of any given Corporation.

NEXT: Habitable Planets