Spurian Economy

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The Orion Spur in the 2400s is home to an extremely complex interstellar economy, where goods are shipped distances of lightyears regularly, and markets are more heavily interconnected than at any other time in history. Many attribute this to the discovery of Bluespace in the early 2400s, which made long-distance interstellar travel significantly easier than it was in the past, and caused markets that were once far separated to become interconnected. With bluespace becoming less and less common as a result of the current phoron scarcity, markets are threatened by once again becoming more isolated, after over five decades of interconnectedness, creating turmoil and uncertainty going into the future. However, the scarcity has had far more chilling effects on the economy of the spur beyond threatening to separate interconnected markets, which is caused by phoron’s properties as a room-temperature superconductor (RTS).

This page makes an effort to condense extremely complex economic topics into a readable format, with a focus on macro-economics and how they affect the average resident of the Spur. It cannot possibly cover everything, and therefore it relies on hyperlinks to Wikipedia and other sources for some topics.

The History of the Spur's Economy - In Short

The entire history of all the economic activity that has taken place across the many stars that make up the Orion Spur by its many species would result in a section the length of the entire rest of the wiki combined. For that purpose, this will only be going over the foundational points of the Spurian Economy, which ties deeply into the history of the wider spur, which can be found here.

We will start in the immediate aftermath of the Interstellar War, around the time humanity makes first contact with the Skrell. The War and the events that followed the signing of the Treaty of Xansan had left any remaining trust institutions and individuals had in central governments in tatters. The Alliance was still shaky after an attempted officers coup, and with rumors swirling that they might default on many of their wartime bonds, alongside the emerging powers of Elyra and the Coalition did not look like much safer investments; nor did the Federation as an entity, so recently freed from Glorsh-Omega, and rebuilding. It is these feelings, observations, and the decisions that resulted from them that saw the megacorporations become truly unshackled and take over the economy of the Spur.

A graph showing the control megacorporations have over the Spurian Economy.

Megacorporations quickly ended up being seen as the only safe investment option long term, and megacorporate stocks quickly became the new standard; something that had many affects, but the most prominent of which was that it gave the corporations the power to influence and set the Benchmark Interest Rate for the entire spur. The power this gave them cannot be understated (though it would not be until Miranda Trasen that it could be used to its full effect), normally this is something reserved for independent institutions and central banks, and even then limited to their own national market, with good reason. The Benchmark Interest Rate for a given market or state is essentially the lowest interest there will be for any borrowing money of any kind; whether it be student loans, an auto loan, a mortgage, and even government bonds, are all normally higher than the benchmark. For lack of a better term, though there were many other factors at play, this is the primary reason for megacorporate dominance in the contemporary spur; they were the economy of it and got to set the benchmarks for everyone else.

However, as was mentioned, it would not be until Miranda Trasen that this could be used to its full effect. Not only by this point was NanoTrasen the most highly valued company to ever exist by almost a factor of five, megacorporate stocks as an asset class made up a majority of the entire Spur's valuation. They were the ones with the most amount of liquid capital, and therefore also the ones people borrowed from the most. However, they were also competitors, squabbling amongst each other, which made them all weaker than they could be. NanoTrasen's might force all but one of the mega corporations to work together in the 2450s as their true stranglehold on the known galaxy and its economy was enforced. For almost a decade, they were literally and figuratively on top of the world, and while there are still pockets of resistance to megacorporate influence - the Republic of Himeo being one such location - they were small thorns in the side of the giants, who could call upon resources from across the spur. It seemed like nothing short of a massive crisis could weaken them, a sentiment that turned out to be true in 2462, when the Phoron Scarcity began.

The Spur's Contemporary Economy

Much of the Spur's contemporary economy is dominated by the ever-looming phoron scarcity. While the situation has stabalized after the early shockwaves of the scarcity were felt, and discoveries such as Orchard Moon bought time, but only so much. The current economy of the Spur is built upon a foundation of phoron, and the scarcity presents an existential threat to it that will be discussed later.

Trade is still an essential part of the Spur's Economy and auturky is not something that exists within the Orion Spur. Supply chains are never confined to just one system or nation, but stretch across the entire Spur. This has not changed due to the scarcity, as any significant change would require upending the current system entirely, though there are efforts underway to shorten these supply chains in the face of interstellar travel becoming more difficult, though not impossible.

The Spur's economy is dominated by megacorporations, with limited exceptions. They hold much of the expertise and capacity of the Spur's economic activity in their hands, and can make or break nations. However their power is weakening - not enough for them to be fully dethroned - but enough to where they cannot retaliate as they once could against opposition, allowing for some moves to be made against them. The most notable of these moves was the Industrial Reclamation Mandate of 2463, alongside a de-phoronization drive, a series of moves made by the Solarian Alliance that caused short-term pain but seems to be panning out better than expected long term.

Smugglers Secret: A “trade”-route that is the stuff of Legends, Smuggler's Secret is supposedly an entirely separate network of hidden warpgates built by smugglers during the Interstellar War that they now use to evade law enforcement. There has never been any conclusive proof of Smuggler's Secret being a reality, though voidsman still spread the rumors; a spur-wide network out of sight from officials.

Interstellar Trade Route Map

The Interstellar Trade Database's Route Map, displaying the most commonly used Trade Routes.

Expand the collapsible, and feel free to open the image link in a new tab for a closer and more detailed look! ▶

Note: Had to use a low quality image due to issues uploading - may be changed with high quality image later.

The Scarcity and The Spur’s Economy

The discovery of Phoron in 2352 would see almost a century of unparalleled growth within the Spurian economy. Phoron is a RTS, a conductive material, similar to copper, but able to have electricity move through it with zero resistance or loss of energy; something no other element can do at a normal temperature. Phoron became a foundational material to the electronics of the spur, and all the technologies created by the technological revolution that followed in the later 2300s and throughout the 2400s. Now, with the introduction of scarcity, the entire Spur suddenly saw this resource, foundational to their current level of technology and productivity, come under threat, which has caused cascading issues economically.

It is next to impossible to generalize these effects, as they vary heavily depending on nation, location, planet, and similar. There are a few general observations that can be made on the macro level however. Economic Productivity has also dropped over time. Total Factor Productivity has begun to stagnate and even drop in some places. What this means is that for the same amount of input, there is less output - a very dire economic warning signal for what the future holds in store.

For the average consumer across the spur, the scarcity has resulted in prices for most goods steadily increasing, as merely the day-to-day operations of a city and industry have steadily increased since the scarcity set in, and currently, without government intervention, prices would comfortably sit at around four times what they once were. With government intervention, prices have on average, doubled overall, though this varies significantly from planet to planet and nation to nation. While not yet catastrophic, these early signs are impossible to ignore - rising costs, subtle technological downgrades, and a growing sense of uncertainty about the future.

The most immediate impact is on personal electronics; new devices still function, but they are not what they used to be. A tablet that once held a charge for a week now needs recharging every other day, and home appliances require more frequent maintenance. Additionally, repairs are becoming more expensive; a broken refrigerator might cost significantly more to fix than it did a year ago, and some repair shops quietly admit that certain parts are "backordered indefinitely." Those who can’t afford the repairs may have to downgrade to older, less efficient models. At the same time, the price of electricity is rising, with some providers introducing new pricing models - cheaper rates for off-peak usage, but steep premiums during high-demand periods. Nowhere is this clearer than in Mendell City - one of the most energy-intensive cities in the entire spur. Households that once took stable power for granted now think twice before running multiple high-energy devices at once. Brownouts - once incredibly rare in the developed spur - are becoming a minor but noticeable nuisance, and the rate they happen continues to increase. Outright lack of supplies is still uncommon, but shortages have become a frequent occurrence, and goods are becoming harder to find at reasonable prices. While the prices of all goods have gone up significantly, some goods have gone up more than others; as an example, pharmaceuticals have seen heavy price hikes compared to other industries, and many medications that require phoron are having sporadic supply issues.

To combat this, some governments have begun "soft rationing" - limiting bulk purchases of certain goods to prevent hoarding and scalping - and to artificially restrict demand in some sectors to keep others supplied. This has begun to create a new niche - Black Markets. Bootleg repair shops offer "refurbished" phoron components of dubious origin, and a handful of pirates turned smugglers specialize in discreetly moving restricted phoron between systems. Most consumers aren’t desperate enough to resort to these options yet, but the temptation exists. For now the scarcity hasn’t upended society, but it has introduced a low-level tension into the spur and its societies, as things, especially in the more developed parts of the spur, continue to deteriorate. Every year that passes sees things looking a little worse than before, and the tension grows a little higher. The full impact of the phoron scarcity is still years away; how many isn’t known, but the foundations are being laid now, and the future looks increasingly uncertain.

Put as plainly as possible, the scarcity has slowed down the rapid economic growth that was standard for the past century and has begun to cause the economy of the Spur as a whole to stagnate. This means there are less products on the market, currencies are losing value every day not only due to increases in inflation but also general devaluation as a result of the drastic actions governments have begun to take to keep the status quo alive; things that have all led to a general decrease in the quality of life for residents of the spur, and all the effects that come along with such a decrease.

The Unavoidable Problem

Given how Phoron is a foundational material to the contemporary electronics of the spur, and all the technologies created by the technological revolution that followed its discovery, there is an unavoidable problem looming in the spur’s future. Since the discovery of phoron, the spur has experienced a long period of massive economic and technological growth, all of which was underpinned by this limited resource. Now that it has begun to become scarce, all of that growth may be wiped out, having been nothing more than a massive, spurwide, economic bubble. That bubble has yet to pop, as discoveries such as Orchard Moon give hope that the situation can be resolved. However the time those discoveries brought is beginning to finally run out, and the problem that was kicked down the road is once again at the forefront. While the spur’s economy is not yet in freefall, it is a grim situation.