In my Work, The Guild Council, and later, the Guild Combine, sold everything and were not only the financiers of Armies, but the equippers, managers, and trainers. This saved the Nobles from dying unnecessarily (TMMHV), and later, in more democratic eras, meant that only Professional Soldiers fought wars -- against each other -- friends, brothers, lovers -- all for pay in the same Guild, simply hired by different Patrons.
When the Sphere of Stars was established, life on the Inside reverted to this system far more than the centuries and millennia of the space age. Within the Sphere, all Wonders were crafted, tailored to the end user/customer (although post-currency) such that the Great Works granted every wish and whim on the instant. Sphere Citizens were post-literate, and in the Subjective Millennium they experienced in a shared calendrical sense, grew completely dependent upon the Emperor and His Will. Those few who fled and survived the Starshock found themselves on planets where they had to work the genetic Caste-Clan tasks breed into their ancestors.
It was as harsh a wake-up call as being born.
All, Comers Into The World.
