Metatheran Cartel

One of the main power groups in the Cularin system in the time leading up to the creation of the Empire, the Methatheran Cartel was a trade organization similar to the Trade Federation. It was formed when two member species of the Trade Federation, the Caarites and the Filordi, split off after the blockade of Naboo. The Caarites were the instigators of this split.

The Metatheran Cartel chose the Cularin system as the starting place to build up their own power base. The Trade Federation was distracted with the Naboo blockade, but hired pirates to harass Cartel shipping. This conflict was known locally as the Trade Wars. When word spread of the Federation's loss at the Battle of Naboo, the pirates changes sides, ending the conflict.

Despite breaking off from the Trade Federation, it wasn't a philosophical split. In addition to having legitimate business concerns, the Metatheran Cartel employed many similar tactics as the Federation, in addition to sometimes hiring smugglers to engage in illicit shipping, or hiring pirates to hassal competitors.

There was no central business organization within the Cartel, so individual Cartel leaders could end up working at cross-purposes accidentally. The face of the Cartel was the Metatheran envoy to the Cularin system, Thurm Loogg.