The Terran Hanseatic League, known as the Hansa, control most of humanity's planets. They are an extensive commerce-based federation in control of Earth and most Terran colonies. They have a puppet king, who is more for show than anything else. The real power lies with the Chairman of the Hansa, who controls the king. They have trade relations with the Ildirans, who gave them the original Ildiran stardrive. Their military is the Earth Defense Forces, also known as the EDF. Their main religion is Unison, the head of which is the Archfather. They use compies, short for competent computerized companion. Compies are intelligent servant robots available in Friendly, Teacher, Governess, Listener and other models. This is an interstellar version of the Hanseatic League which existed in northern E