Religious Control System

Decades after its founding, the Foundation established a techno-religious hegemony over the four surrounding planetary kingdoms, built on its superior nuclear technology operated under a cloak of mysticism. Mayor Salvor Hardin employed Foundation priests and their Scientism religion to secure the Foundation's influence over the neighbouring planets. Later, Mayor Hober Mallow judged that the religious power had outlived its usefulness and that further expansion would rest on trade alone.