Humanity and the Imperial Remnants: The fall and fracturing of the Imperium Galaxis has brought a torrent of war and violent upheaval to the galaxy, the massive star-empire that once controlled thousands of clusters with a population that numbered in the trillions is gone. Countless Lords, Generals and Cardinals now had an opportunity to put their latent ambitions to the test as every day hundreds of new little statelets and factions rose from the decayed carcass of humanity's vast Empire. Once, the Imperium Galaxis was the industrial titan of the known galaxy with a war machine that while unsophisticated and based around grinding wars of attrition served humanity well in it's many conflicts across the stars. Now, the murderous intent of mankind sees millions and billions dying as the Imperium ravishes itself, all while ambitious alien star-states make inroads into former Imperial space while long repressed slaves rise against their former masters. Monopolization of scientific and technological development by the Church of Unity has long since led to a very, very long period of stagnation and even technological regression with much of the former Imperium's growth powered simply by the weight of it's own immensity. The mightiest of the successor states are the Blessed Empire Solaris, a state ruled by the most fanatical clergy of the Church of Unity. Control of Centrum, the former Imperium's capital planet grants them a powerful advantage and many military leaders and lords saw them as the rightful heirs to the Imperium, the Blessed Empire has vast armies and fleets driven by religious fervor and consider most aliens not even fit for slavery, believing firmly in the Divinity of Man to such a degree that even humans who have undergone large degrees of cybernetic and genetic augmentation are regularly hunted and purged by the Inquisitorial Constabulary. Another major force is the Imperial Commonwealth, a highly decentralized Elective Monarchy that remains truest to the Imperium of old. It is more accepting and tolerant of aliens, offering a way out of slavery. However, it's decentralization has led to significant losses as many Houses actively put more effort into undermining rivals than to eliminate threats to the state. Hundreds of small kingdoms, lordships, military dictatorships, planetary states and cults have sprung up as well, each refusing to back down, each convinced they are in the right.
Hemoh Purity: A name for the vast expanse ruled by the
Hemoh, a eugenocracy ruled by a Senate made up of 2000 representatives from the "purest" Hemoh lineages. The Hemoh believe that they are the rightful masters of the stars and it is their duty to bring sacred harmonization to the worthy. Their Empire has expanded for thousands of years, seeking new species to harmonize and new worlds to make their own until the size and scope of their empire could almost come close to rival that of the Imperium Galaxis. While not much more innovative than humanity in the field of technology, the Hemoh still advance and improve slowly but steadily thanks to incrementally taking features and designs from other species' technology and integrating them into their own, much as they do with any genetic traits they find desirable. Their star-clusters are ruled by so-called Archons who have significant local autonomy, but not as much as an Imperial Lord or Commander used to have in the Imperium Galaxis and the Hemoh state is significantly more centralized, for good or ill. The Hemoh are known for their positions as a leading civilization when it comes to technologies such as genetic tailoring and biotechnology. As their race underwent significant genetic degradation to the point of being unable to reproduce naturally any longer, they turned to genetic engineering, cloning and harmonization to preserve themselves and further their species, remaining unable to reproduce naturally. Harmonization has over the course of centuries and millennia risen to a status of being considered holy and an integral part of Hemoh religion and culture as they believe that lesser races are graced as if by divinity when they are harmonized into new forms of Hemoh. They believe that the species selected to undergo harmonization are ascending to greatness while at the same time helping the Hemoh do the same. These subjugated species are initially called "Chosen", and may later advance to higher tiers with the Hemoh hierarchy. The rising power of the Hemoh and the collapse of the Imperium has made the Hemoh a contender for the position of mightiest state in the known galaxy. Their wars with humanity in many ways brought about the ailing Imperium's collapse, this has, despite the terrible losses and great devastation the Hemoh suffered at the hands of humanity to look to the future with a sense of great confidence, firmly convinced that it is now their time to rule the galaxy.
Ellirean Accordance: Another great and old galactic power, the Ellirean Accordance is a vast federation of semi-independent worlds and systems unified in a vast e-democracy ruled by the largest elected parliament in the Galaxy with one representative from each planet. Commerce, science and industry flourishes in the Accordance at the head of which sits the Chancellor, elected by popular vote. In the Accordance, civil liberties and individualism reign supreme which has served them well. While seemingly benevolent, the
Ellireans use their cry of democracy and freedom to mask their expansionist efforts of bringing more worlds into the Accordance, but otherwise the Ellireans are seen as the greatest bastion of liberty in the galaxy. Their hated enemy, the humans whose ideologies are so anathema to their own have long kept the Ellireans in check as the two have fought great wars in the past. Now they are taking advantage of the fall of the Imperium to bring human worlds into the Accordance, showing their inhabitants, many of whom lived in abject poverty under the Imperium the benefits of their society which has caused the masses on many frontier worlds to rise against their former lords and clerical masters and later pledge themselves to the Accordance. Militarily, the Ellireans field a large fleet of very advanced warships with the best electronic warfare suites which also serves as a weakness, as their elegant warships need frequent maintenance as well as being difficult and expensive to repair or replace. Their technological superiority has been demonstrated on battlefields across the galaxy many times, though have not fought a major conventional war in over a hundred years. Ellireans are a mono-gendered humanoid species able to reproduce through a process of psionic linking. This has allowed Ellireans to reproduce with any member of any sentient species regardless of gender. They generally appear to most species as "female", though this word hold no meaning for them. Their unique physiology, expressed in a millennia-long lifespans and the ability to reproduce with a partner of any gender or species, gives them a conservative yet convivial attitude toward other races. Favoring compromise and cooperation over conflict but proven more than willing to defend their rights and freedoms by force if these are threatened. Over the thousands of years of Ellirean expansion, they have integrated dozens of species into the Accordance as their worlds joined the grand federation, often persuaded by the high standard of living in the Accord, often considered the highest in the known galaxy.
Pythean Star-Kingdom: An intensely curious species, the
Pytheans are among the most advanced civilizations of the galaxy. Long having done away with petty superstitions, their society and culture is devoted to learning, understanding and discovering. They view the universe not only with awe, but also as an intellectual challenge for them to accept and overcome. Ruled under a monarchy with the Royal House of Laedrahn having been in power for over 1000 years, this line of learned philosopher-queens is highly respected among the Pytheans. The powers of the monarch are kept in check by the House of Minds, formed from the uppermost intellectual elites of Pythean society. The House of Minds holds amongst it's powers the power of the purse, so even if the monarch can make laws and declare edicts, she needs to convince the House that their measures are wise in order to raise the taxes to pay for it all. The monarchy is matriarchal, a holdover from old tradition and males from the royal family are excluded from inheritance. Their economy is one of the most dynamic and competitive in the galaxy, with Pythean corporations counted among the leaders of many fields and their citizens enjoy a high standard of living. As a people, the Pytheans have no interest in conquest and see war as a wasteful undertaking pursued by people inferior in sophistication and intelligence. However, they are very much aware that others don't share this view and so they maintain a relatively small volunteer military that relies on their bleeding-edge technology to fight wars of movement and battles of encirclement. Their special operations units are among the finest in the galaxy and their view that wars should be won before they begin often see these elite units deployed to take out supply centers and marshaling yards if a conflict seems imminent. Their ships are heavily automated thanks to advanced technology and require only small crews. The Pythean Crown has managed to keep their people independent of both the Imperium Galaxis and Ellirean Accordance, carefully maneuvering their state through the landscape of galactic politics.
Yaaric Union: A relatively young, small, ambitious and rapidly expanding star-nation, the Yaaric Union has quickly exploded into the galactic stage in a relatively short time when compared to what it took some of the other established civilizations, with a small but dynamic economy providing funds for rapid technological progress, territorial expansion, military expeditions and a mostly decent standard of living. The
Emyaar are a near-human species with exceptional eyesight and sense of hearing, with ears that can be slightly articulated. Their society is divided into a caste system containing five distinct castes from the ruling psionic Celestials at the top to the Casteless at the bottom. All castes have inner tiers and while it is rare to move between castes, citizens often gain and lose caste tiers many times throughout life. One's caste and tier determines many aspects of a persons life, from what employment they are allowed to seek to if restrictions are made on their freedom of movement down to how much water is allotted to one's shower every week. It is a system designed to promote duty to the state and to the Emyaar species as a whole and is used to combat wastefulness albeit at the expense of the people's social and political freedoms. The principles of the Great Society permeate the Yaaric state and the culture of the Emyaar people. The Great Society is a highly spiritual, almost quasi-religious, socio-political philosophy that promotes striving for inner harmony as well as harmony between the citizens of the state and service to the Emyaar people as a whole, combining the particular strengths of each caste to counter the many weaknesses and divisions their culture once possessed when it almost ruined their homeworld of Thaelin with over-industrialization and bloody resource-wars. It dictates that people dedicate themselves to a role in a caste and that they shall through their work rise in station and better themselves. In bettering themselves as individuals, they will also better the Emyaar species and civilization as a whole. Their expansions are oftentimes spearheaded by the Steel Caste, the warriors of the Union who exclusively make up it's military. Like the Pytheans the Emyaar fight wars of movement using long range weaponry and fast, hard-hitting grav-vehicles while their warships are known and feared for their heavy spinal mass accelerators and ion guns.
United Freeholds: The Freeholds were born in the fires of the crumbling dominions of humanity. Once conquered and pacified alien star-nations that served as pools of cheap slave labor saw their oppressed populations rise up and expel their former masters, often in orgies of terrible violence. These new, unstable states reformed after often what was centuries, even millennia of subjugation and are in many cases still going through a period of internal unrest and transition as the apparatus of native-ruled states is being reformed. The Freeholds are not a unified state, it is a fractious coalition of over a dozen species whose newly reborn nations are attempting to wrest what they believe is their rightful space and soil from former occupiers. Bloody brushfire wars against human warlords and successors holding such claimed clusters is far from uncommon, though these offensive actions are often undertaken by smaller coalitions within the coalition, as the Freeholder's Charter only stipulates a mandatory defensive pact. Anti-humanism is often rife in the Freehold, though there are those nations, foremost the Zovash who believe that reconciliation, and even cooperation with human rulers whose interests are aligned with the Freehold is more than warranted. Culturally, the Freehold is home to many distinct species and cultures, the capital-world which holds the seat of the Freeholder's Council is a hub of cultural exchange and a great cultural renaissance as once subjugated people's rediscover their old heritages. Economically, these stars are largely poor, with many citizens of the Freeholds living in abject poverty. Ellirean corporations have quickly moved in with vast finances, buying resource extraction rights and making use of cheap labor on such a level that it is causing some to call it colonization by other means. The Accordance is actively courting the Freeholds, providing military advisers, discount surplus equipment and low interest loans to finance infrastructural programs and economic recovery plans. Of the species in the Freehold there are three who make up a precarious balance, having the largest populations, economies and armed forces when compared to other members. None of these three is strong enough to defy the other two, and all have a vested interest in cooperation. These three are the saurian
Zovash, who provide a large portion of the Freehold's best troops. Then there are the
Salunri, a near-human race whose many populous worlds straddle important trade lanes and who provide many, if not very fine troops. Most of the reasonably successful corporations in Freehold are Salunri-owned and operated. The
Tarmassians are a reptilian species who are known for their skill in battle, endurance and hardy physique. Before their star-states were conquered by humanity they lived in a patchwork of warring states ruled by clan-patriarchs. They served as alien janissaries during Imperial rule and are now rediscovering their old cultures, many however embark on careers of selling their guns or turning to piracy.
Greater Kharrash Combine: The
Ulthar and their Combine are rather disreputable in the wider galaxy, a nation that has largely chosen to isolate itself from the rest of galactic society. The whole galaxy, especially the Outer Rim and Sepherus Systems are infested with Ulthar pirate gangs and slaving rings, fueling the stereotype of the ulthar thug. It should however be noted that these criminals do not represent the vast bulk of average ulthars, who are forbidden to leave Combine space by their ubiquitous and paranoid government, being resigned to harsh lives working vast factories and mines while living in poverty, inhabiting smog-choked, overcrowded slums. Those that manage to leave Combine space largely have a reputation for being shrewd businessmen and merchants, though in more lawless regions of the galaxy negotiations with a Ulthar are likely to be conducted at gunpoint. The rest of the galaxy views the stagnant, isolated and totalitarian Kharrash Combine as little more than an ignorable problem whose military power has declined so over the recent centuries that it now fights it's galactic rivals with deniable terror attacks rather than the wars of it's heyday centuries ago. The state claims that the Ulthar homeworld of Kharrash has an economy and standard of living that rivals that of the homeworld of the Ellireans and a teeming population of 450 billion living in vast, interconnected cities powered by great fusion reactors and renewable power plants. In reality they rely heavily on faroythe throughout the whole state, only worsening the problems of pollution and poor air quality in the congested cities. Ulthars are a humanoid species, a flat stripe of ridged cartilage runs along the tops of their skulls and down the backs of their necks. They have ears pointy at the upper end and the part of their faces commonly associated with the nose among humans is instead an inverted flat triangle. Their most distinctive physical feature however is their four eyes, an uncommon trait among other humanoid races. One pair is set wide in prominent bony sockets protruding from the corners of their face. The second set of eyes is smaller and closer together, set higher on the face, just beneath the middle of the forehead. The unlthars place an extremely high value on social caste and rankings, overstepping one's place is deeply frowned upon. Official social status can however be bought on an ongoing basis like a subscription service, allowing those wealthy and successful enough to buy their way into the elite circles of Ulthar society given enough funds. Slavery stands as an integral part of their caste system.
Farassaq Kingdoms: Known colloquially as the catman realms among the humans, the realms of the Farassaq are a number of highly autonomous states tentatively unified by a High King of all the
Farassaqui. These Farassaqui are a felinoid mammalian species who hail from the arid planet of Sarqon. Millennia ago as it seemed ecological degradation and over-industrialization might doom them all, they sent dozens of sleeper-ships into the void to find new habitable worlds, giving their species and civilization and second chance. As it happened, those who remained in the home-system managed to avert the ecological disaster and after inventint faster-than-light travel, they reestablished contact with the sleeper colonies that had survived and in many cases thrived. Several wars followed but after many decades bloodshed a compromise was struck, giving rise to the Farassaq Kingdoms of today. The Farassaq Kingdoms are ruled as constitutional monarchies, and their kings and queens need to take the accounts of Common Houses, made up of elected representatives into account as they make their rulings for the Common Houses can if they so choose overrule the monarchs on most matters of law. In turn, the monarchs vote on who among them shall succeed to the position of High King after the former's passing. The Farassaqui are known to cultivate a culture of great extravagance. Their often flamboyant fashions are often ridiculed but then almost invariably copied by the rich and powerful across half the galaxy. Art is particularly prized in the kingdoms and has been a focus of High Queen Wrrwain's reign, who has inspired something of a cultural renaissance after lifting several bans on artistic expression once put into place after significant lobbying by the clergy of the Trinity of Cats. The aristocratic circles of Farassaq is vicious and marked by fawning envy to those richer and more powerful than oneself. Each of the Kingdoms maintains it's own armed forces, varying in their doctrines and organizational structures but all beholden to answer the call of the High King in times of war. This gives the Farassaq Kingdoms a diverse assortment of military specializations to call for when they are needed in specific types of theaters. Their warships tend to be small and nimble but relatively cramped, and the Farassaqui are known to have some of the most skilled if not most experienced starfighter pilots in the known galaxy.
Qharlaquan Republic: A star-nation no larger than those ruled many petty Outer-Rim warlords, the Qharlaquan Republic encompasses only a handful of star-clusters in it's domain, however, it sits in a vital junction of many of the galaxy's most important space-lanes which allowed Qharlaq, homeworld of the
Gharryn species to flourish and prosper. The Republic has been able to maintain their independence through becoming one of the galaxy's most important trade hubs and it's capital world has grown into one of only two ecumenopolises in the known galaxy, where millions upon millions from thousands of planets come to seek their fortune. Qharlaquan is one of the most populated planet in the galaxy and among it's most important financial centers. Their banks are heavily involved with the finances of all the states, corporations and more wealthy individuals of the Milky Way. Its economic position is so great despite little military strength and strategic depth to speak of, that even the Imperium Galaxis at the height of it's power left them well alone. The Qharlaquan Republic is governed by the Grand Directorate, a panel consisting of representatives from their largest gigacorporations. Qharlaquan-built warships are large, bulky, slow and are poor at travelling long range. Although their offensive and defensive capabilities are stellar. Gharryn and Qharlaquan culture is highly individualistic and based on the pursuit of profit, the "self-made man" is the highest ideal many aspire to and a high degree of separation exist between private and professional life, individuals are free to engage in almost any activity outside the workplace. This is done with no repercussions to their professional reputation as long as it does not affect their productivity and social conduct in the workplace. Due to this Qharlaquans engage in many activities that aliens might consider hedonistic. Qharlaq is one of the jewels of the galaxy, rarely, if ever touched by it's war, trials and tribulations. It is a place where almost anything is possible and where nearly anything can be found and bought if the price is right.
The Outer Rim Worlds: The semi-explored Outer Rim of the galaxy is home to many independent colony worlds, small star-nations and rampant criminality. As long as there has been space-faring civilization, the dissenters, undesirables, pioneers, cultists and pariahs of a hundred species and societies have all drifted out into the Outer Rim. The technology of the modern era is sparse in this part of space as they are still developing and distance from the core is great. For most of these worlds, nature is their greatest enemy. Most inhabitants of the Outer Rim live hard, poor and often short lives, but these worlds are not without value as many raw materials come from the outer-rim to industrial centers in the core and mining colonies are especially prevalent. The independence of these many free colonies, local species and small nations comes with a price as the Outer Rim is rife with conflict, warlordism is endemic and the region is a veritable haven for illegal activities, particularly piracy and the slave trade. Terrorist organizations also often build bases and hideouts among the stars of Rim. The heart of the Outer Rim is Noctis Station, built in the mined out husk of a large planetoid. The station is home to over 250 million inhabitants and hosts the Outlaw Council, the only tenuous authority present in the region and is the home of the bearer of the Renegade Crown, a figurehead whose main task is to serve as a unifier if any of the greater powers in the more civilized parts of the galaxy start spreading a bit too far into the Rim. Despite a significant sentient presence there are many secrets and mysteries to uncover in the Outer Rim, and thus the region draws explorers and pioneers in equal measure to criminals and terrorists to it's many diverse worlds. Many mysteries remain in the Outer Rim, ancient ruins, strange happenings, appearances made by fearsome aliens coming from the depths of Galactic Darkspace and echoes of ancient doom ring out across these stars which shine far from the light of civilization. In many places the stars align and dark paracasual forces, being and magics bled into realspace, causing many psionics hoping to learn the dark arts to come to those haunted suns. A good number of native species in the Outer Rim have been "uplifted" by the warlords, who use their worlds as staging grounds and them as slaves and soldiers, and many planets inhabited by the native species of the Outer Rim remain in largely medieval societies with the technologies of the modern galaxy very rare indeed, and mostly in the hands of wicked men who come to exploit them.