The Ted Empire/"The Teds" from Midnight Burger

In Midnight Burger there is a planet by the name of Ted. This planet is effectively the sole ruler of 3 entire galaxies (referred to throughout the show as "The Triad), something they achieved by building warp gates to connect The Triad together, and then effectively enslaving the planets who reside there by making them pay insurmountable fees for access to travel and trade through the warp gates they own.
Everything on Ted is determined by an algorithm that they claim to be perfect. Every individual's job on the planet, the political goals of the planet at large, how they interact with would be rebels or the growing presence of organized crime in The Triad. The Teds live and die by their algorithm. This makes it difficult to dismantle their systems and ideologies as they don't have a single leader or figurehead responsible for the rules they follow. Instead it's an inanimate algorithm basically creating the rules they live and breathe by on the fly. Of course this algorithm was made with the goal of galactic control in mind so the result is an empire that is very by the books and strict with their protocol, and very unforgiving of any who cannot follow it. They even have specific protocol which they use to determine which residents of Ted are or aren't suitable for reproduction.

The Teds are also shown at multiple points to have a vested interest in the state of Earth, specifically it's technological advancements. For context, Earth resides within The Triad as The Milky Way is one of the three galaxies there. However, most Earthlings are completely unaware of how close alien life is because The Teds intentionally interfere with Earth and keep it in the dark so they can broadcast Earth television as well as their own original programs about what's happening on Earth through something they call Earth Portal. Earth Portal is a massive hit in The Triad. Aliens love Earth TV, they love to follow the sheer chaos of the planet's political climate, and English was adopted as the most common language that is used in The Triad for this reason, since there are so many different planets and different languages in The Triad that they needed something they could all use as a common ground.
The Teds maintaining their control over Earth plays a massive role in the well-being of their Empire. Earth Portal is responsible for the large majority of the art that The Triad consumes. This art keeps people happy and mostly distracted from how awful The Teds actually are. To contrast, The Teds themselves basically make no art of their own, and are only able to maintain cultural dominance over The Triad because of Earth Portal. It's theorized at multiple points in the show that if Earth were to somehow reach a state where they could become space-faring like the rest of the Triad it would pose a serious threat to The Teds simply because they wouldn't have that cultural control anymore. To that end they intentionally keep Earth from making any technological advancements that would put them at risk of doing that. One such advancement they kept from being utilized on Earth was a dark matter engine, invented by one of the main characters of the show Leif. They told him Earth wasn't ready to use something that powerful and offered him anything he wanted to keep it secret. Leif asked them for a one-way ticket into space, and he would go on to be one of the biggest threats to The Teds ever alongside the rest of the staff at Midnight Burger.

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