History of The Exon Authority
The Exon Authority is one of the older Territorial Governances, harkening back to the earliest days of settlement in the Delta Space. First being colonized by a collection of settlers who saw potential in the area's vast and numerous asteroid fields. After years of work and collaboration with the local populations that already resided in the region a proper governing body was established, first created only to manage and operate the various mining operations around the system it would eventually come to take responsibility for the governing of the entire system. And would be officially named The Exon Authority, named after the And while the system would come to prosper underneath this new authority it would eventually come to face significant difficulties.
After several hundred years of rule underneath The Exon Authority many of the asteroid fields between Exon-1 and Exon-14 would allow for permanent residency of hundreds of international mining companies. And while these companies paid enormous fees for their mining operations they made far more, and were able to easily circumvent many of the established rules for mining conservation and employee rights. Often forcing employees to work extremely long hours operating their
haulers and pushing for extreme and unsustainable material processing. Eventually, the issues became so severe that worry began to arise that the asteroid fields may become unstable and break apart, causing the independently released asteroids to spill into traffic lanes or worse, collide with nearby inhabited stations and planets.
In response, the Exon Authority attempted to enforce new sanctions against the business, and while it seemed to work at first the companies soon found ways to get around these rules and return to their unsustainable ways. The Exon Authority not knowing what to do to combat these issues would endlessly debate potential options. Growing frustration began to build amongst many miners on these various stations, especially upset at the ongoing debates and little action.
Eventually, one of the sectors, specifically the miners of
the Platinum Asteroid Belt of Exon-12 would band together and form a new, albeit unofficial, workers union. And with a bit of force, extradited their private company managers and began to operate the facility themselves (though their ownership is sadly currently under debate now). Instead of chastising the unofficial union the Exon Authority decided to support this new union (after some 'aggressive negotiations') recognizing them as official, with the support of the governing board of the territory. Soon new unions began to crop up around the sector, and eventually, the Exon Authority would bring all of these unions together as one operating board. Taking on a new membership and political structure, the new governing body would brand itself the Exon Authority Union and would continue to govern the system abroad but also begin taking control of more and more of the system's formerly private mining facilities.
Now, the Exon Authority Union runs the vast majority of its own mining operations internally and only allows for corporations to take temporary operations in their asteroid fields. Charging them large fees allows sending a union-led manager to facilitate and monitor all of their work while they are in their sector's asteroid fields. This has led many corporations to attempt illegal operations and seizures of areas they believe are rightly theirs. But most cannot prove as such, or only have shaky claims that are easily dismissed.
The Exon Authority's current territory highlighted in yellow.
Complicated Relationships with MegaCorpos
While they do rely on them for much-needed supplies and equipment, they are wary of dealing with them too closely as they do not wish to be taken advantage of. And have had numerous issues with them in the past, most of which were related to sustainable business practice violations, so much so it lead to a drastic change in the way the system is managed. And while regular trade does still occur without issue in most business avenues, a major point of contention lies in the Exon Authority's strict management over its mining operations and station ownership policies. Which states that no corporation can have a permanent mining operation anywhere within the system unless special approval is given, which is extremely rare. This rule also expands to the operation of any international corporate-owned station, which states that no station can operate of international origin without strict permission.
Unfortunately for the Exon Authority, many of the MegaCorpo's are sly and are able to own and operate various stations through shady but technically legal ways. Making it difficult for the Exon Authority to legally dismantle its operations. One example was when the
X'angolia Corporation tricked the owners and operators of
The Pleasure Domes of Exon-5 into transferring ownership of the station to them when they fell on hard times.
Political Structure - The Exon Authority Union
The Exon Authority is unique in The Delta Space as they operate as a union-led government body, opting to govern its citizens in the same way that they govern and decide upon the territory's business and economic decisions. The lead members of the authority developing various methods and potentialities for the various issues facing the territory, and the rest of the union members then vote on which options they wish to implement and push forward.
The Exon Authority was originally run by a fairly standard political oligarchy, but just over a hundred years ago a coalition of workers banded together and pushed through a 'referendum' that pushed the old political bodies out. And in its place, they formed what they called the Exon Authority Union (though they kept the official name of the territory The Exon Authority for external use and trade - by a vote of course).
Not everyone who resides and works within The Exon Authority is a part of the union that makes these decisions. Membership to the Union is only offered to those that have been chosen and voted in by the rest of the Union, and these spots are highly coveted and come attached with steep annual union fees. If a new or current member cannot afford to pay these fees they are removed from the union of decision makers immediately. Registration for the Union can be made again, but only after a mandatory one-year late-fee penalty wait time.
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