ZAMA, HAMILCAR ("the shrewd", 9957-10020) was the only son of Himilco Zama and Byrsa Kart and as such represented the confluence of two great families theretofore distinct. The Zama family had long been associated with analytical and abstruse business concerns; they did not lack in innovation, having been the first to introduce the notion of futures trading, but were not known for great exploits. The Kart family was quite the opposite: they counted their descent from Malmo and Lixus, the wanderlust-driven brothers who founded Peregrin and Malmo. That family was known for its adventurers, scandals, fiery statesmen, and (not infrequently) early deaths.

If these two archetypal personalities fought within Hamilcar, they bled not life, but gold, for his life was one of ever-increasing prominence, ambition, wealth, and power.

Most prominent among his accomplishments was the founding of what was to become the largest corporation in the world--the Northern Expanse Trading Company. Hamilcar established the company from the remains of the Malmo Caravan Company; he chose to accept the lowly-esteemed assets in lieu of cash for his stake in the company. Working slowly at first, he brought new capital in to the company, sought out contacts with the gnomes and hobbits who lived in northern areas, and began to rebuild the company. It is thought that he helped precipitate the struggle that closed down the Falwell Forge and then leveraged the Dukedom's need for metalwork to open Pieschland to receive cheaper food from the Confederacy.

The Confederate government attempted to bring this plan to heel when it became obvious that a company was conducting foreign affairs involved negotiating tariff exemptions and other policies. Hamilcar defended his company in the famous 9999 case of Judiciary v. Northern Expanse Trading Company. The court accepted his claims, including the one that rather than belittling the Confederate government's power, it amplified it by implicitly placing foreign governments on an equal level with its subordinates. Hamilcar also took great pains to show that Confederate provinces were not restricted from negotiating trade agreements; in the meantime he engineered his selection as Morris Falwell's Trade Minister in order to provide retroactive provincial sanction. In the wake of the ruling, NETCo quickly came to complete dominance over the land trading routes of the Northern Confederacy, causing local rivals like the Ilican Trading Company, the Dun Cess Transportation Company, and Pengun Teamsters to go bankrupt in the process. Alone among his competitors, the Icelandic Wagon Company remained operational until the Second War of Ilican Succession.

In the opening years of the 100th century, Hamilcar oversaw an expansion of NETCo's interests into the field of overseas shipping; in this he was helped by his younger sons Magos and Hansdrubal (while his eldest son, Hannibal, took control of the profitable northern land routes). NETCo financed much exploration of the Northwestern Islands and attempted to establish colonies on several of them as well as Sioux Island, Trangle Island, and Shang Island. The colonizations were generally unsuccessful, but NETCo did become the primary transportation company in the Western Ocean, having bartered newly-discovered mineral and forestry resources on the islands to Mickelgarth (and other city-states) for various dockside privileges.

The company was strengthened by the Second War of Ilican Succession (10007-10011), which was focused in the south and east and tended to weaken its rivals, including the Southern Expanse Trading Company (based in Jacketz). It did suffer from the closing of many of its northern routes due to gnomish attacks on Iceland Pieschland, but made up for in its southern expansion, carving out a substantial share of the Kissing Dragon Pass West market for the first time--until that point, the Republic had been very cautious of dealing with the company, but the enmity between the Republic and many of the southern firms following the war saw it look for business agents elsewhere--in this case, northward.

It was assumed that Hannibal was succeed his father as the director of the company, but his early death (10015), saw the heirship pass to the next son, Magos. Hamilcar retired soon after Hannibal's death; many suppose him to have been deeply affected by his son's death. He lived another five years during which time he served as the Lord Mayor of Malmo, a largely ceremonial position, and oversaw the construction of a new technical school for the education's of the province's children.

Hamilcar was a businessman and lawyer without peer; he was a trained navigator and pilot, and was said to have signed on to his own ships in disguise to observe first hand the quality of the officers and crew. He also dabbled in mathematics and even wrote two textbooks of basic trigonometry and geometry adopted by schools throughout Falwell, Tholar, and Thulia.

ZAMA, HANSDRUBAL ("the handsome", 9983- ), sometimes spelt Hasdrubal, is the youngest son of the Hamilcar Zama, the statesman, businessman, and explorer best known for founding the Northern Expanse Trading Company which now dominates the commerce and politics of Northern Ilico.

ZAMA, MAGOS ("the stark", 9980-present) is the first man of the prominent Zama family of the Confederacy and president of the Northern Expanse Trading Company. He is the son of Hamilcar the Shrewd, the founder of the company, and ascended to his current position upon the retirement of his father, having outlived his elder brother Hannibal who died in 10015.

Magos began working for his father's company at the age of fourteen and by twenty-two was an accomplished sailor, captaining merchant fleets throughout the Western Ocean. In the first year of the new century, he embarked on his first personal project--an attempt to ally the fortunes of his family and its company with those of the prominent MacDuff clan of Jacketz; success seemed ensured until the joint venture of the Roanoake colony in Vyrica failed in 10004, putting an end to their collaboration. The rise of the Southern Expanse Trading Company (formerly a consortium of local merchant companies) is due in no small part to the foundering of this partnership. For whatever reason, the attempt at--and then failure of--economic union was historically appropriate to the relationship between Malmo and Jacketz.

Magos retained the confidence of his father, though it was clear that the favorite remained the eldest, Hannibal, who had taken charge of the company's caravan operations in Iceland, Pieschland, the Dukedom of Falwell, and the Verteux. Magos turned his eyes westward, to ships and the vast ocean they sailed. He began overseeing the exploration of the Northwest Islands and directing the company's research into improving naval technology, particularly the steam engines that drove their ships.

In these endeavors he proved successful, wildly successful in fact. Biskupin, Demaretion, and other islands began to yield natural resources which became the basis for talks between the Micklegarth Mining and Manufacturing Company and NETCo resulting NETCo's acquiring coveted trade routes in various city states of Pavimentum. As Hannibal had scored similar successes in the North, the succession seemed unclear as Hamilcar aged--the only bright spot to be found in Hannibal's untimely death was the aversion of a familial power struggle. As it turns out, only weeks soon after Hannibal's funeral, Hamilcar turned control of the company over to Magos and retired to his palatial estates in Malmo.

Under Magos' direction, the company continued to grow and eventually became the largest private employer in the Confederacy. He became noted for the talented officers with which he surrounded himself, including Donald Kagan, who became executive director in 10030, and, more recently, Jowthan Harks.

Magos married Celera Harker, the widow of a Porte Darthur army captain, in 10020 and adopted her 8-year-old son, Hactor. Now 32, Hactor has proven himself a natural engineer and architect with no little interest in the commerical world of his father. There seems little doubt that Hactor shall succeed his father in control of the world's largest company when Magos deems him ready.

If society wanted to keep trilkholes like you alive despite your sins it would be like wanting cancer for the extra cells.