The Ripley-Bishop Corporation (RBC)
Originally Siar was a Monarchy ruled by the David Bishop bloodline. As the country coalesced and found it's own identity it discovered that it valued wealth and business acumen higher than an individual bloodline. The Bishops saw this change coming and desperately sought to keep their control. Rather than try to fight it they decided to embrace it. They used what rights they had at the time to acquire a few well known businesses. However, much of the population saw through this and were becoming vocal in their displeasure. The final step in the Bishop's plan was to give up some of their control in exchange for joining an already established and well respected corporation. They chose Ripley's Forge Works for their merger.
Ripley's Forge Works was a collection of famous blacksmiths who supplied everything from horse shoes to the finest armor. Though several different families were included under this banner, the Ripley family were the most well known and the company founders.
Once the merger was complete, Siar officially transitioned from a Monarchy to a Oligarchy or Plutocracy. Any corporation or family that could trace it's lineage throughout Siar history, and accrue enough wealth, could buy out control of Siar similar to purchasing a majority share in a company.
This happened when The Cartas were able to make their deal with Dwarves of The Shield . They very quickly became the richest family in Siar and used their incredible wealth to buy the Ripley-Bishop Corporation's control. This was seen as the system working as intended. The transition was seamless and celebrated. Great feasts were held for a solid tenday, the anniversary of which is celebrated every year as The Tenday of Purchase.
RBC has maintained an incredible amount of wealth since then, and are often assumed to be able to regain control someday.
Structure
RBC is run by a small council of an equal number of members from both the Ripley and Bishop families.
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