Last thing for a bit: an example of some of the worldbuilding. While the game takes place outside of known space, with contact with human civilization cut off, all of the colonists came from somewhere INSIDE that civilization, so they'll have ties and information about the worlds they left. There are four major powers detailed, and it's assumed that there are dozens of independent worlds and stations/ships to grow up on if a character wants to juggle geese, instead. This is the expanded write-up for one of the galactic powers:
Congregation of Allied Planets
Nickname:
Cogs
Capital Planet:
None (7 held planets)
History:
Founded roughly 159 PD, the Congregation of Allied Planets was originally born on what was - and remains - the most ridiculously lucky system in exploration so far: three habitable worlds in one system: Veeshu, Braama, and Sheev. Although only Veeshu was a ‘Goldilocks’ world, Braama and Sheev were also tolerable for humanity, and both were exceptionally resource rich. This began a tradition of colonists living on Veeshu, and working either remotely or on site on the other worlds. As holdings and relationships spread out across an interplanetary network of stations, ships, and planets, those who would become the founders of the Congregation found that the Earth-style of geographical citizenship did not serve either their needs or their desires. Instead, they founded the concept of the ‘clade’, a nation-state built on shared interests, needs, or community, irrespective of geographical or cultural origin. The twelve largest of these clades came together in 160 PD to formally sign the Congregation of Allied Planets into being, and since it has been established, it has added the majority population of three additional planets into its union, largely through sustained efforts at recruitment until a majority of the population could be persuaded to apply for formal admission into the union. In response to this, several other interstellar societies have forbidden citizenship in a clade while one also holds citizenship in their own society, and some consider the Cogs’ recruitment strategies to be predatory and aggressive.
Unlike the Earth Alliance or Stellar Systems United, the Congregation is not a particularly peaceful place. Wars between clades are not uncommon, although they have to be conducted by rules as established by the Congregation Council, which convenes every month, virtually, to review ongoing disputes between clades. Most wars are technological, destroying tech infrastructure, implants, and data over buildings and land. They’re still deadly, particularly for citizens with cybernetic implants, which has developed in the average Cog citizen a healthy wariness for such devices. It’s not considered morally wrong, just reckless, to be heavily cybered, since such devices can be turned against you. Genetic alteration is considered a superior choice, but can be hard to come by - it’s expensive, and clades are reluctant to invest the money required on someone who hasn’t truly established themselves as dependable.
The most powerful current clades are the Interstellar Transportation Union, Solip Schism Systems, and the Reverent Church of the Divine Contemplation. By organizational wealth, population, and alliances, these three clades steer a good portion of Cog policy, such as it is, and they or their allies control just over half of the Congregation Council.
Culture:
Most other groups consider Cog culture to be loud, chaotic, and ever-changing. They’re not wrong. The Congregation terminated birthright citizenship very early on, instead relying on clade membership as citizenship. One cannot be the member of a clade unless that clade has invited you to join them, and you have signed a contract agreeing to abide by the clade’s laws, procedures, and policies. Technically, there are no Cog children - children are considered ‘proxy citizens’, allowed to remain with their parents and access many of the benefits of their clade, but unable to be considered full citizens until they come of age at 17. Coming of age means that the benefits of proxy citizenship dissolve, which means that for Cogs, the teenage years are a mad scramble of applying to clades, or receiving invitations from clades, and deciding who you will join - if anyone wants you at all.
This means that Cog children are taught to ‘put themselves forward’ quite early, and are encouraged to display all their strengths to best advantage. They tend to be loud, confident, ‘attention hogs’, and ambitious. The goal for most is to receive an invitation from a desirable, wealthy clade that can be signed on one’s 17th birthday, then stay with that clade until a portfolio has been built up that allows one to apply or be recruited to an even more prestigious clade, and so on and so forth. Often times, young clade members will discover an affinity for each other and a disaffinity for the more established personalities in their clade, and may terminate their citizenship in one clade to form their own. This means that the politics of clades, and their relative standing and power, are constantly in flux. Cogs never rest, the saying goes, and they tend to be aggressively productive wherever they go.
Bereft of many overarching laws or secure rights, the Congregation instead values written contracts highly, and considers verbal agreements to be worth the paper they’re written on. Interstellar Commercial Concerns, or “megacorps” as they’re more commonly known, prefer to be incorporated in the Congregation for the unprecedented freedom to dictate responsibilities and rights for their employees/clade members, but this CAN backfire if they break any of the provisions of their contracts, however small. Contract lawyer is considered one of the most desirable professions in the Congregation (and the rest of known space groans when they see a Cog lawyer show up at a negotiation).
