Serlume Stellar Engineering

Once a dynamic and industry defining firm, Serlume Stellar Engineering, or SSE, is now a case study for the dangers of monopolies. The scientists and engineers at Serlume were the first to crack the mysteries of faster than light travel. These engines, commonly given the acronym SLE, allowed the Republic to expand its reach beyond those solar systems closest to their homeworld.

As the decades wore on however, SSE would grow bloated and inefficient, using its patents on supra-luminal engines to choke out competitors instead of continuously innovating. Serlume become renown for the speed at which they would resort to lawfare to settle disputes and bully rivals, to the point where rumors suggested a quarter of the company's workforce was located in the legal department.

SSE's monopoly would become increasingly untenable as the Republic's first wave of expansion came to a close. The cost of Serlume's engines had far outpaced the rate of inflation, and the quality of new units leaving its manufacturing facilities became suspect. Worse still, the shipping companies which served as the lifeblood of the new worlds began delaying scheduled maintenance and new purchases for their fleets in an attempt to control spiraling costs.

This would lead to a number of high profile accidents where supra-luminal arrays malfunctioned with catastrophic and lethal results. The calls to end the company's monopoly grew, and for a while it looked like even the firm's army of lawyers would be unable to save it from the politicians who recognized that dismantling SSE was very popular the voters back home.

Serlume was forced into an embarrassing settlement where they agreed to freeze cost increases for a period of ten years and accept liability for the accidents that had occurred. This further eroded the public perception of the company, but it was enough to satiate a number of key Senators who believed a heavy enough price had been paid.

The cost of the company's hubris had been heavy, but despite all the odds, they had managed to dodge more meaningful reforms to intellectual property rights and anti-trust enforcement. The company's fortunes would ebb during the decade of its government imposed settlement, but they would rebound following yet another breakthrough in miniaturizing several key components of their SLE's. Once more, Serlume was a rising star on the stock exchanges of Venezia.

This renewed period of prosperity would be squandered yet again, as the company resurrected many of its worst demons, once more flexing its dominance to crowd out competition.

This would all change in 31121, when a significant portion of the company's design and engineering teams would quit in protest of a corporate culture that was increasingly hostile to innovation and risk taking.

Many of these former SSE employees would go on to found or join the Fulmin Propulsion Corporation, which rapidly secured venture capital and began producing high quality goods in record setting time. It didn't take long for Serlume to resort to its tried and true method of dealing with competition, but this time they were up against an adversary who knew exactly what to expect, and where the industry titan was most vulnerable.

While its legal team tried to hold their ground in the courts, Fulmin executed a brilliant PR coup, using the public's disdain for SSE to generate a pressure campaign against the company. They reinvigorated stalled efforts to investigate potential violations of the Republic's anti-trust laws, and Serlume once more found themselves in real peril.

In a surprise move, Serlume agreed to resolve their disputes in arbitration. In this meeting, the two firms agreed on the method for resolving their immediate issues, including Fulmin agreeing to suspend its research into faster than light travel for a period of time, but they also had secret conversations outlining their respective spheres of influence within the propulsion market.

Freed from the burdens of SSE's legal challenges, Fulmin would rapidly grow its presence in the market, while Serlume began to struggle in the face of its first true challenger in a generation.  The board of directors would bring in new leadership to try and break down the stultifying culture which held the company back. Entire divisions would be shed, sold off to finance a renewed focus on its core competencies.

Serlume emerged from the experience on a much firmer footing. However, Fulmin had taken advantage of their rival's restructuring, and within the first few years of the Ascomanni War, the firms had achieved parity. SSE's last remaining differentiator is its sole ability to produce supra-luminal engine arrays, but both partners and rivals alike now know that this advantage will one day expire. It remains to be seen if the company can return to the spirit of invention which animated its original growth and expansion.