Administered by the Imperial Bureau for Honourable Companies and Liveries, the Guilds of the galaxy technically are beholden to the Empire, the reality though is that the larger ones register to allow them to claim legitimacy and working within the Empire. In reality they are rather more independant due to their work for and within all of the factions (at least in the case of the largest five factions) and walk a fine balancing act between the competing interests of the different factions, though sometimes this can spill over into strong arguments and incidents, for instance the current servicing of Frontier interests by Guilds also working with the House of Dvaraed.
The five primary Guilds are:
The Mining Vrata.
"Recently" based in the Holly system wedged between the Empire and House Dvaraed this ancient guild traces its roots back to the asteroid miners of the Sol system (claims to earlier times exist but evidence is minimal for even the claim to Sol asteroid mining so more than a handfull of salt is needed for the older claims).
The Vrata's current HQ(s) in Holly are down to the fact that this system has a huge asteroid belt surrounding a trinary planetary system of metal rich planets that are still not even close to being mined out. The system itself is rather hostile to life so it was avoided during the early waves of colonisation but technology has slowly been improving the ability of miners to exploit this immense hoard of mineral wealth... just as soon as they can obtain, process and refine it into useful ores that can be sold for manufacture. This concentration of mining led to the Vrata to move itself into the epicentre of where a good deal of the large-scale mining in the galaxy was happening. Its central(ish) position help the Vrata to extend its influence to a large part of the trade of ores and some of the machinary and processing involving these products - in large part because they were the main customers for the equipment. The finished processed goods are then exported all over the galaxy, factions allowing, and make a good deal of money for the large number of miners involved. The hard work though sees the career lengths of miners reduced somewhat with them retiring and passing on their plots to the next generation relatively quickly so they can spend time with their loved ones.
The Red Star Organisation.
Based in Ivy this guild is primarioly involved in humanitarian aid and assistance and the food, water and medical logistics involved.
[Out of time, I'll continue later ;]
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