CSA?

[Straha]

What does the CSA do? All I knew was that it was a big Corporation which ruled planets, was that it or is there more?

[Illuminatus Primus]

I think Shep has a scan of the WEG Sourcebook specializing in the Corporate Sector Authority.

[Joe]

It shares some of its profits with the Empire in exchange for control of the sector. Of course, just how much latitude is actually given is questionable; securing direct control of the Corporate Sector wouldn't have been much of a problem for the Empire.

[Illuminatus Primus]

It was an Imperial protectorate. They existed at Palpatine's behest. He allowed them to rule.

[Kuja]

What does the CSA do? All I knew was that it was a big Corporation which ruled planets, was that it or is there more?

It's a Galactic Sector at the edge of one spiral arm ruled by a conglomerate, IIRC.

[Admiral Johnason]

It is a cross between the mob and the NYPD for Corallia.

[Robert Treder]

It is a cross between the mob and the NYPD for Corallia.

You're thinking of CorSec, Corellian Security. This is the CSA, the Corporate Sector Authority.

[Admiral Johnason]

Sorry.

[Joe]

It enjoys a relationship a bit like the British East India Company enjoyed with Britain. That's the best analogy I can think of, anyway.

[Publius]

The Corporate Sector Authority is very much like the British East India Company during its middle period, in fact. One of the only substantial differences is that the East India Company was a joint-stock company, and the Corporate Sector Authority is a corporation (shareholders in the East India Company would have been individually liable for its debts, but CSA shareholders, who are more often than not also corporations, would not be).

Some notes assembled on the Galactic Corporate Policy League (GCPL):

A cabal of plutocrats with ties to Senator Palpatine, the GCPL was formed in order to advance the ambitions of his corporate allies. By the time that Senator Palpatine was elected Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, the mutual benefits of the arrangement were substantial; Senator Palpatine already enjoyed enough wealth and connexions to exercise dictatorial power over the Republic, and his corporate allies were enjoying vast, undocumented profits. The GCPL was an ill-known association, but its members were prominent commercial and industrial colossi, and demonstrated their loyalty to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine and his New Order. They were handsomely rewarded for their support when the Galactic Empire was formed. The informal leader of the League, the Baron Tagge, proposed that the League reform the Corporate Sector, with a new Charter, and a new manner of doing business. To the considerable surprise of the Imperial court, the Emperor approved of the ambitious endeavour, and the GCPL organised the Corporate Sector Authority.

The members of the GCPL were:

• The Tagge Company (TaggeCo.) [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Merr-Sonn Mil/Sci [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Ayelixe/Krongbing Textiles (A/KT) [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Millennium Entertainments [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Bank of the Core [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Chiewab Amalgamated Pharmaceuticals Company [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Kuat Drive Yards (KDY) [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Rendili StarDrive [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Cybot Galactica [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  The Karflo Corporation [[/i]Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook[/i]]

Notes on the Corporate Sector Authority (CSA):

The CSA is a corporatist state, and a client of the Galactic Empire. It was founded shortly after the Galactic Empire was created from the ashes of the old Republic, by the ambitious and little-known Galactic Corporate Policy League. The CSA is a single corporation performing all functions of government and business in the Corporate Sector. It is responsible for the maintenance of order as well as the oversight of operations, and is empowered by the Empire to act in its name within the borders of the Corporate Sector, which encompasses nearly 30,000 star systems. The CSA pays no taxes to the Empire, but rather pays an annual tribute of three per cent. of the CSA’s gross product, nine per cent. of all materials, and 20 per cent. of strategic rare elements [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook].

The CSA is governed by the 55-member Board of Directors (Direx Board), composed of executive voting members and presided over by the Executive Officer (ExO); each voting sponsor is entitled to representation on the Board, with one-third of the total membership of the Board being composed of representatives selected among the contributing sponsors [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook; Databank: “Fiolla of Lorrd”; Databank: “Corporate Sector Authority”]. Other high-ranking offices within the CSA include those of the President (Prex), the various Vice Presidents (Viceprexes), and the Auditor-General; an Imperial advisor is appointed to liaise with – and to represent the interests of – the Empire [Databank: “Corporate Sector Authority”].

The voting sponsors provide the equipment, vehicles, and technical equipment for the CSA. Each voting sponsor is required to make an initial investment in the CSA of greater than 50 quadrillions of credits, half in direct payment (in the form of credits or of facilities), and half in purchase of stocks and bonds. Additionally, in the event that the CSA should fall into debt, the voting sponsors are required to provide funding proportional to their ownership. Profits are split in the same proportion. As a further benefit, voting sponsors purchase raw materials and bulk goods at a significant discount, and have unrestricted access to the billions of employees of the CSA as a captive audience of consumers.

Contributing sponsors make much smaller investments in the CSA, but still receive proportional profit sharing. Contributing sponsors typically invested 50 trillions of credits in currency, services, or equipment in order to secure their sponsorship within the CSA. They do not receive the same kinds of discounts on bulk goods and raw materials as do the voting sponsors, but still receive discounts which in and of themselves are more than sufficient to cover the cost of the initial investment. Given that the CSA can provide up to 360 per cent. returns on the initial investments in some years, even contributing sponsorship is a highly prized commodity, and there are over one thousand major companies on the waiting list to join as such.

The CSA maintains its own police, military, and naval forces, all of which fall under the administrative and operational control of the Security Division, headed by the Viceprex of Security. These forces are frequently referred to as “Espos” (for “Security Police”) [Databank: “Corporate Sector Authority”]. Whilst the Ground Forces are considered to be on par with the Empire’s stormtroopers, the Picket Fleet is well below the level of quality of the Imperial Navy. It operates a fleet of largely obsolescent vessels sold as surplus by the Navy, including Victory Star Destroyers, Marauder-class corvettes, and Invincible-class dreadnoughts [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook].

Only Authority Cash Vouchers or crystalline vertex are accepted as currency within the Corporate Sector. The lack of competition to provide goods and services allows the CSA to mark the prices of such things up to many times their actual value; this, combined with the CSA’s tendency to skim and “assess” the salaries of its lower employees has had the effect of rendering a large portion of the Sector’s population to a status of wage-slavery. Labour conditions are frequently poor, especially when the provision of adequate safety measures would unsatisfactorily affect the CSA’s profits, and conspiracy to form a union is amongst the most serious crimes in the Corporate Sector’s penal code [Databank: “Corporate Sector Authority”].

Planets within the Corporate Sector include Ammuud, Bonadan, Roonadan, Etti IV, Kalla, Kail, Kir, Orron III, Duroon, Mytus VII, Gaurick, Rampa, Mall’dorian, Reltooine, Knolstee, Mayro, and the Trianii colonies Fibuli, Elkibo, Pypin, and Brochiib. The feline Trianii have actively opposed the CSA’s annexation of the colonies, and much of the fighting between the sides has occurred in the Tingel Arm; an armistice has recently been called after three years of intensive fighting [Star Wars Encyclopedia].

In the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, the CSA severed its ties to the Empire, and ruled its territory as an independent state. It maintained its status of non-belligerency in the ongoing war between the Empire and the Alliance of Free Planets (later the New Republic), and continued to provide weapons and warmaking matériel to any party willing to pay. The CSA remained non-belligerent throughout the remainder of the conflict [Dark Empire Sourcebook].

The original signatory sponsors of the CSA were the members of the GCPL, and are all voting sponsors.

The following corporations were among the original contributing sponsors of the CSA, and have all since upgraded their status to that of voting sponsorship:

• Duct Unlimited [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  zZip Product Concepts Ltd. [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Lerrimore Contracting Company [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Corellian Engineering Corporation (CEC) [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Plexgrove Combine [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Trigdale Metallurgy [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Arcon Multinode Agricorp [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Schaum/Yfarg/Welbig/Fabrico and Associates (SchaumAssoc.) [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Kroeskin Fabrications [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Novaplex [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Dweomilis Advisory Foundation [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Industrial Automaton (IA) [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]

The following corporations were not sponsors of the CSA when it was founded, but have since secured for themselves the status of voting sponsorship:

• Starshipwrights and Aerospace Engineers Incorporated [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Santhe/Sienar Technologies (SST) [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Red Star Shipping Lines [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  LeisureMech Enterprises [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Consolidated Learning Systems [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]

There are over 100 contributing sponsors of the CSA, including:

• Ulqib MacroTronics [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Serv-O-Droid, which ceased to operate shortly after the CSA was established, and whose assets and resources were distributed amongst the other ’droid manufacturing firms [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Ubrikkian Transports [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Vaufthau Processing Industries [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  MerenData [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Galaxy Tours [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Eleven Star Marketing [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Galaxy Publishing [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  VargeCorp. [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  IntelStar Co. [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  DefenStar Ltd. [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Morgath Industries [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  SoroSuub Corporation [Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook]
  Galactic Electronics, disciplined by the Empire shortly after the Battle of Hoth for insurrectionist activity [TIE Fighter]

[Publius]

If a moderator would care to fix the lists in the quoted text, it would be much appreciated.