Commerce Guild

"The Commerce Guild and the Corporate Alliance have both pledged their armies to Count Dooku and are forming a—"

―Obi-Wan Kenobi, in a holographic transmission before he was captured on Geonosis^[8]

The Commerce Guild, also known as the Commerce Guilds, was a large-scale interstellar conglomerate active in the galaxy. It included agricorps, retailers, service providers, and the Mining Guild, among other commercial entities, and was a primary competitor of the Corporate Alliance. The Guild was headquartered on Felucia, but was largely controlled by the Gossams of Castell.

During the Clone Wars, the Commerce Guild, like many other interstellar conglomerates, lent its covert support to the Confederacy of Independent Systems, earning it representation in the Separatist Senate and the quasi-executive Separatist Council. Nevertheless, after the Separatists were defeated and Presidente Shu Mai was killed by Darth Vader on Mustafar, it reversed course and supported the Galactic Empire.

History

Establishment and activity

The Commerce Guild, sometimes referred to as the Commerce Guilds,^[8] was a conglomerate formed when^[10] several galactic-scale corporate organizations—whose number would include agricorps, retailers, arms manufacturers, shipbuilders, service providers, and the Mining Guild^[2]—banded together in a desire for safety and to ease trade.^[10] It became headquartered on Felucia but was controlled by the Gossams of Castell.^[2] In time,^[8] it became one of the five most powerful companies in the galaxy.^[11]

The Commerce Guild used Vangaard Pathfinder scout ships to discover valuable planets.^[12] Shu Mai—a Gossam who was only concerned with power, wealth, and status—used aggressive and unscrupulous tactics to increase her power in the Guild. Ultimately, no one stood in her path to become presidente of the Commerce Guild.^[13]

Clone Wars

Despite being a competitor to the Corporate Alliance,^[2] the Commerce Guild joined the Alliance as well as several other conglomerates in pledging its support and its army to Count Dooku and his Confederacy of Independent Systems shortly before the outbreak of the Clone Wars,^[8] joining in their effort against the Galactic Senate as long as they were not openly involved in the Confederacy's affairs during the early period.^[11] Presidente Mai sat on the Separatist Council for the duration of the conflict,^[1] while Amita Fonti represented the Guild in the Separatist Senate.^[14]

Like many other major corporations that lifted up the Separatist cause,^[15] the Guild was not an open backer of the Confederacy^[13] and instead declared neutrality. Like its fellow Separatist-aligned corporations, however, its true loyalty was an open secret.^[15] Indeed, Mai's OG-9 homing spider droids were deployed to fight in the war.^[13] Guild employee Yadoska Nir collaborated with the Confederacy while the company purchased the loyalty of entire planets, swaying them to the Separatist cause.^[15] During the war, the planet Mooga was controlled by the Commerce Guild.^[3]

Imperial Era

In 19 BBY,^[16] the Separatist Alliance was defeated and Mai was killed by Darth Vader on Mustafar. Despite her death,^[17] the Guild continued to operate after the war, working with the new Galactic Empire.^[9] Nir was found by the Empire and interviewed for collaborating with the CIS.^[15]

The Commerce Guild's representative in the Imperial Senate was a major supporter of the Imperial Defense Recruitment Bill, believing that the people of the galaxy required a conscripted military comprised of their own people to fight for them while simultaneously advocating that the clone soldiers that comprised the majority of their present forces be slated for decommissioning, given that their accelerated age process meant that, with the destruction of the Kaminoan facilities, could not be sustain.^[9] Agents of the Guild attempted to purchase the Phylanx Redux Transmitter during an auction on Cantonica.^[18]