IIRC, the article "The Volturnus Connection" explained that the Star Devil was actually the owner and CEO of a Vrusk mining corporation that faked his own kidnapping and death. Then set up an illegal mining operation on Volturnus and enslaved the Edestekai. 

Note the contacts were with the governors in both cases.  The governments were the corporations with the charters from the king.  I'm sure the frontier mega-corporations are always seeking settlers.  Many will be called employees but there will be relocation packages and contractual durations of employment.  This just sounds like a more balanced indentured servitude system.  I suppose some of the unskilled labor would get contracts the were so corporate sided that there were indentured servitude.  Also we have from the Volturnus modules that governments play this roll too.

This is one way to get new players to a new world and wild adventure.  Have some small startup have a contract with the big entity colonizing a word.  The startup contracts with the PCs to come to the world and accomplish tasks A through Z with payment milestones for each task and a ticket home at the end of the last task.  Of course the only ships to and from the world are controlled by the big entity.  Is would be fun to give the PCs a 30 page contract with all the legal mumbo jumbo and fine print.  Also the big entity could sever the contact with the startup releasing the players from their contacts or leaving them high and dry or even transferring the contacts to them.  This makes for a very adaptive campaign.

Oh yes - cypress trees/Everglades filter the sea water and Lake Ochechobee (spelling sucks) and the Everglades tap into the aquafier. That is how the aquafier is resupplied.

It sounded like a good idea at the time but, people did not know how the enviroment worked there. Now they try and backpeddle. Especially since the population shot up. 

Florida - 1890 -  391,421

There where the people trying to get away from the control freaks in Europe (pre-Pilgrim) they purposely settled away from mainland Europe, in terribly difficult places to live, but once the people who have to impose their will found out about these small groups of people an attack fleet would be sent to some craggy cold island with the accept me as your king and convert to my religion or die threat (sometimes 30-40 people actually tried to fight)... then if island was in the middle of no where tax them, take their best land (church or Gov.) and then ignore them for a long time, come back and wonder why everyone is dead, blame the native population (if there even was one), and wonder who burnt down your village (pirate/slavers). In one case I know of while the colony was being ignored competing foreign whaling companies showed up, whaled in their waters, had a war, got people not involved (colonists killed) and left... it is so grand to be taxed & ignored. The Icelanders for instance could have kept running West but they knew it was pointless, because controlling powers like religious leaders & kings have tantrums and send armies to make you be their's & do as they say!

The attempt of an Indian Tribe to leave USA and all the trouble we went to to make them stay would be another example of this... "What! How dare those people decide to move! And snub our authority!"

Then you have to realize all monopolies suck... government is slow unresponsive and generally has poor customer service and is often run by morally ambiguous people for the exact same reason a mega-corp is... they are both Monopolies, this is why true Capitalism in which Monopoly is the game and Communism often result in the same problems for average people, the only difference is the owner of the Monopoly, and the same personality are in charge.

Just some thoughts.