Dirge Corporation

The Dirge Corporation, is a Multiplanitary/Neutral/Secular/Pluralistic organization primarily oriented toward material fabrication and spacecraft manufacturing. Headquartered on the planet Ghad, the Dirge Corporation has established manufacturing facilities on several major bode-connected worlds, and its retailers have become a common sight throughout the civilized galaxy.

Foundation
Dirge was established prior to the Galactic Standards Convention of 1 F.E., in the Ghaddi year "Celesta", which marked the year that Ghad officially Planitarized and joined the galactic community. Dirge was a natural response by the newly unified world's disparate private entities to sudden changes in intraplanetary commerce and law, which were designed to operate in accordance with the principles of World-State Mercantilism. Originally composed of competing corporations Withershins Manufacturing, Stratonimbus Spaceflight Solutions, and Fore's Drive-Cores, Dirge quickly developed a complete monopoly on the design and manufacture of atmospheric, sub-light and interstellar vehicles on Ghad. Forming a partnership with the new planetary government of Ghad, Dirge contrived to provide its services to the planet's government and private citizens at cost, focusing its profit-making efforts entirely on exportation to other planets. In return, the Ghadi government provided generous financial subsidies and agreed to contract exclusively with the Dirge corporation for governmental and military transportation. In its early years, the Dirge corporation quickly established itself as an interplanetary power in arms and transportation manufacturing.

Split with Ghaddi Government
As the First Era progressed, and Ghad began to take a position of greater political importance in the Galaxy, relations between Dirge and the sitting government began to sour. Increases in the size of Ghaddi military, as well as the local demand for commercial interstellar craft were placing elevated, completely profitless strain on Dirge's Ghad-Based production facilities. When Ghad began its policy of conquest and aggressive expansionism in the late First Era, the government naturally assumed that the relationship between Dirge and the people of Ghad would extend to conquered client-worlds, effectively cutting off millions of potential customers with every successful conquest. In 943, the Dirge Corporation's chairman announced that the company would be fully privatized, and would be expanding operations to several prominent trade worlds in the Zarakkanian Empire, a major economic and political rival to Ghad at the time. In response, then-president Landry Schune sent his famous "Gold Rein" memo, reproduced in part below.

''I drive Ghad with two reigns (sic), Mr. Chairman: one of gold and on one of iron. If either fails, the other will serve only to drive us farther off course. You have seen the power of the beast we drive, and you know better than most the value of the cargo we carry. So why, I ask myself, would you deliberately turn under my hand? Would you turn the beast to your own destination? It is true: the rein has power over the beast, Mr. Chairman, but never forget it is my hand that wields you. Iron is harder than Gold, Mr. Chairman. If you entangle, you will break. I will cast you aside and we will all ride to ruin.''

In spite of considerable political pressure and the threat of military response, Dirge called president Schune's bluff, continuing as planned with the construction of major fabrication plants (albeit for civilian spacecraft) on the Zarakkanian planets Dracust and Quagmire. Ghad's response was an immediate and massive increase in taxation on Dirge and its subsidiaries, the only serious effect of which was to account for the difference in military costs caused by Dirge's price hikes. Annoyed by the apparent net benefit for the errant corporation, Schune declared a series of unilateral military strikes on Dirge holdings in neutral space. These strikes considered, with minimal effect, for fifteen years, a remarkable number given that Ghad's interstellar strike capability was entirely provided by Dirge ships, which the company continued to sell them for the duration of the "war".

The symbiotic relationship between government and corporation proved too strong to break. Dirge could not cease selling ships to Ghad without seriously undercutting its bottom line, and Ghad could not cease funding Dirge's resistance without seriously undercutting their military strength. With conflict brewing between Ghad and Zarakk, and no official war declared, the Ghaddi strikes simply stopped, and an embarassed silence fell over the budding empire.

Development into an Interstellar Giant
After their break with Ghad, it became the policy of the Dirge Corporation to avoid serious entanglement with governmental bodies, focusing primarily on the design and construction of lightly armed civilian and commercial transports. This strategy, in combination with the extreme popularity of several of their light-transport models have led the Dirge Corporation to prominence as the largest single producer of interstellar craft in the known galaxy. Dirge military contracts remain almost entirely with the Ghadi government, though estimates of production for military-class Dirge ships far outstrip officially reported sales. Though Dirge officially requires proof of recognized planetary sovereignty to sell military-class ships, the preponderance of Dirge vessels in pirate flotillas, private militaries and resistance fleets has made Dirge's black-market involvement an open secret.

Popular Models
Dirge's millenia-long history has produced countless starship designs. Their reputation for low price and high reliability has, however, led to long-term production of the corporation's most popular models, often for such a length of time that there are few or no parts or features in common between the current series and its progenitor.