Grand Baronies of Carthage

Technically a protectorate of the Colonial Earth Empire, the Grand Baronies of Carthage are an oligarchy masquerading as a legitamate government. It is built in the way that money is meant to flow to the top, and the people of the baronies are mere cogs in the machine. They have expanded their control to several systems in the Terminus Systems systems. The Grand Baronies have access to great swathes of Isotope-10, but this wealth concentrated into the hands of a few has only led to a half-functioning government. Internal strife and corruption at every level of government is easily seen. They have an external rivalry with their nearby neighbors of the Musura Federation. This internal strife and conflict regularly spills out into the territories of the Empire, and in return they have placed Imperial Shock Trooper divisions on particularly hostile planets like Sunsword. They made an enemy of the system wide Ungratefuls. This has created more conflict, but the Barons turn a blind eye so long as they get their money. They in turn use this money to build up their own private militaries, as well funding extremist fascist paramilitary organizations. These organizations do most of their fighting at the behest of the Empire in places the empire is not present in directly. The baronies have been allowed to exist mainly because the Empire has little desire in managing the efforts of the baronies, and would rather the corpos buy them out and assimilate them that way. Besides, the baronies in their structure represent a similarity to the Imperial Nobility, and they have a bond in that. So long as the Iso keeps flowing towards the Imperial territories and the baronies keep buying weapons, there exists an uneasy peace.