With a trillion species at varying degrees of sophistication, laws determining civic and commercial rights in the galaxy, present lawmakers with many challenges. As interstellar travel became practical, Sirusian influence expanded out from Soma, coming into contact with other communities, with biological, territorial, and legal consequences. The legal code evolved with each colonization, war, peace, and trade treaty. To the Sirusians, for territory not covered by existing treaties, possession remained 9/10th of the law. The first Sirusian to arrive at a new planet, moon, or asteroid, would claim ownership. The government would take its 25% cut, and the resources would be cataloged, mapped, and registered.
Explorers would send back assays, samples, videos, and scans to present to the market, often selling their rights before even attempting any economic activity. The owners would then raise capital to set up mining operations on their new acquisitions, and head out with a mining fleet. Time and again the harsh reality of inflated figures, extrapolations, or outright falsehoods, greeted the new owners. Indebted to lenders back on Soma, and at the beck and call of see-sawing commodity markets, these entrepreneurs soon realized that only the most cost-efficient operations could survive, and to do this required cheap replaceable labour.
