Elliot-Russell-Wilcomb

Elliot-Russell-Wilcomb, or ERW (pronounced Ar-way), is the second-largest corporate conglomerate in the known galaxy. It came into power through a series of mysterious stock market trades, speculative investments and business deals; it now invests in thousands of smaller startups and companies that develop everything from entertainment media to terraforming technologies to biomedical devices. Unlike Byto, they prefer to invest from the shadows rather than own companies outright; as such, their space is largely split into protectorates and semi-autonomous territories run by the smaller corporations they invest in. Exactly how far their influence extends is a mystery; they keep many of their investments secret through shell companies and out-of-sector bank accounts. They have long courted controversy, however; historically, they've been linked with the Think Tank and the Epolian resistance movement.