> I doubt that the goal had anything to do with making the empire
> wealthier. In the real world, many of these kinds of decisions came
> about because the crown swapped a monopoly of some sort for financial
> assistance, and the monopolists then dragged the crown into a
> conflict, initially through privately raised forces.
Crown swaps a monopoly for some sort of financial assistance doesn't quite ring true for me as a description of how things operate within the Lunar Empire. The Emperor has vast sums of money passing through his coffers like wine through his body because he is the Emperor and that money is his by right. He really doesn't need anymore as he doesn't have any major enemies on his borders.
The monopolies would more likely be given by lower ranking officials in order to enrich _themselves_, not the Empire. When the locals put up some barriers, the merchants would call upon influence to get lunar troops to crush the resistance. That in return opens further opportunities for trade which requires expansion of Lunar authority for protection and so forth. The Emperor appears in person from time to time because kerbstomping rebels makes him look good to the folks back home.
--Peter Metcalfe
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