The first two centuries of the Ascendancy of Man were of construction, colonization, and exploration, as the 'Spacewarpers' of the Human Fleet opened up new horizons. Over time, autonomous trading companies grew in the fringes of Human Space, pushing the frontiers of expansion. But when the Rau've and Kaisoken were finally discovered, along with their equivalent or greater power to the Ascendancy, the first President-for-Life, Corrin Herbert, began to move towards centralization, nationalizing several trading companies and forcing those left to consolidate underneath Henry Windsor, one of the leading explorers and merchants of the fringe worlds.

Together, these trading companies formed a formidable fleet, well-armed against Space Pirates (mostly Aliens and renegade Humans) and enough to endanger the Ascendancy itself if it came to war. And so Corrin Herbert was forced to make concessions: The Windsor Autonomous Trading Fleet will be allowed to continue its operations, provided that it provide a large payment to the Ascendancy of Man and logistical support to its future wars. This was resented by Corrin's two successors, Elijah and Emmanuel Thoreau, but neither of them made any move to withdraw said concessions, being enmeshed with their own plans.

Even the coming of the Rau've/Kaisoken War did not endanger the Windsor Autonomous Trading Fleet, as the latter paid a large payment to the Ascendancy in order to avoid giving logistical support. This was a good thing, as the Cecils had already decided that the future lay in economic cooperation with Aliens (albeit with Humans on top) instead of making war with them. So they stood by, consolidating their power on the Southern Fringe of Human Space, well away from the Kaisoken and Rau've territory. And the war ended with the Cecil Autonomous Trading Fleet more powerful than ever, with only the Ascendancy's Carrier Fleet able to contest them.

Now, the Windsors cannot avoid a collision with the upper levels of the Ascendancy; money can no longer overcome fear that the Trading Fleet, made up of Xenophiles and immensely rich and powerful, would conduct a coup. And the Windsors knew it, so they decided to conduct a coup for real, contacting disaffected elements among the fringe worlds and other dissidents only to find they had already been contacted by a new organization, Moonstrike, an organization that seemed to have access to Ascendancy tech and military hardware. And so all activity from them stopped. Was it jealousy, or were they biding their time for something else?