Nuk Nahob

Juwon Peten in 1743. The port served as the de-facto capital of the Mutulese Ochran

The Nuk Nahob (sg. "Nuk Nah"), also known as Lakamnahob, Lakamnatak, Noj Nalilob, Nanalilob, and any variation thereof, were Mutuleses stock companies formed to trade with Tsurushima and the Makrian islands initially, before expanding to the rest of Ochran and even reaching the continents of Malaio and Scipia. These companies ended up collectively owning many ports and territories all over the Vespanian and Ozeros continents, to the point of requiring that the Divine Throne send administrators to govern these distant lands, officialy forming Yajawils in Kahei and Barriset for example. Despite being officially considered as trading companies by contemporaries, the Nuk Nahob essentially acted as proto-conglomerates in their own rights, diversifying into multiple commercial and industrial activities such as international trade shipbuilding, and both production and trade of Ochranese, Scipian, and Oxidentalese goods, such as chocolate, cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, spices, salpeter, tea, coffee, sugar, olibanum, and tropical woods. They were transcontinental employers and pioneers outward foreign direct investment.

The first Nuk Nahob were formed through the alliance of various Mutuleses aristocrats and their respetive companies to profit from the new trade routes to Tsurushima and Ochran opened by Akutza Selenecha. Thourough their history, a strict "separation of powers" was respected by the Nuk Nahob and the Mutulese government, the latter owning no share in any of the companies.

For all of their history, the Nuk Nahob remained in great cooperation with one anothers. For example, Trade ports were ruled like societies, managed on behalf of the shareholders by boards of directors representing their respective companies, with their influence weighted by the share of their respective Nuk Nah's investments in said port. Their focus was trade, and the rare territorial acquisitions, like Barriset, aimed to secure a monopoly or a monopsony rather than be the fruit of territorial ambitions.

By 1706, at the height of its rule, the Nuk Nahob no longer had privates armies or navies. Instead, their navel forces were unified in the sole Ochk'ak Fleet operating from Juwon Peten, while private militaries were incorporated as standard units in the Mutulese Army. The influence of the Nuk Nahob continued even after the rise of the First Tsurushimese Republic, only showing a regular deficit after 1820 and the Second War for Kahei as they found themselves more and more threatened by Latin and Arthuristan competitors. By the 20th century, the remaining Nuk Nahob, shadows of their former selves, fused to form the modern Western Maritime Bank.

Organisation

Because of the important investments required to send trading fleets across the Makrian, The Nuk Nahob were the first enterprises in the Mutul to issue shares of Stocks on public markets. Originally, each Nuk Nahob was protective of its trade ports in the Makrian islands, as they were vital resupply points an dictated which roads each company could take. The first real inter-Nuk Nahob cooperation effort was the opening of the Legation in Tsurushima, in which all companies invested equally. The Legation was thus considered its own stock company, its stock shared equally among the Nuk Nahob. This was an important precedent for the Mutuleses traders, who began selling shares of their other ports, factories, and enterprises to accelerate their development.

The Nuk Nahob founders were essentially Yokot'anob and Tatinak aristocrats, as they held the positions and the funds required for such enterprises. Their employees however had more diverse origins, even if they still all essentially came from the western provinces of the Mutul. Sailors could also be Yokot'anob and Tatinaks, with many Teeneks, Namhu and Mam K'akchik'elob serving alongside them. Other personnels, like guards, could be from even further away owing to the economic attraction of Yu and other portuary cities: many Ben Zaa and Nuu Savi were employed, for example.

As they grew, the share of Oxidentaleses among the employees of the Nuk Nahob diminished. Many Maoji peoples from the Makrian Ocean were engaged by the Mutuleses as sailors, soldiers, and workers. Tsurushimese peoples became highly sought after, serving in every branches of the companies and reaching high status as officers in the marine and navy, and administrators of ports and other factories. All the peoples of Pulau Keramat, collectively known as "Pulaui" by the Mutuleses documents, served massively in the Nuk Nahob, as mercenary soldiers and crew members and officers in the Marine. In that regard they were joined by the Janatāva peoples who became evermore present in the Nuk Nahob' military following the creation of the Kingdom of Ankat. But as the personnel of the Nuk Nahob became more and more international, even in its administration, stocks remained in the possession of the Mutulese Merchant-aristocracy.

An important innovation developed by the Nuk Nahob was that capitals would be permanent during the lifetimes of the companies. As a consequence, investors that wished to liquidate their interest in the interim could only do this by selling their share to others on the Yu Wayib’ K’iwik.