History wise the Consortium comes into play way later, so I can't really give much input for early imperial history beyond what events occurred back in the 25th century (of the Imperial Era).  I suppose the question on if the Consortium centuries earlier encountered the horde leaves some room.  I think however, that the Horde not being in close contact with the Consortium may be a more interesting route.

What is important to me is what the horde's activity in the past four hundred years is like since if their incursions into the Empire were recent, it gives weight to my claim that the Empire focused on other threats beyond the Consortium despite the Consortium's notoriety for their abhorrence.  A massive xeno horde is just much more scary that those freaks near the border on the spinward front who are for all intents and purposes "contained".

[quote=@Pepperm1nts]
I think for the sake of explaining the widely different themes and technologies, we should say the empire was big enough that technology differed from system to system, becoming less standardized the farther you got from the center of the empire. The same goes for other things that may differ among players with ties to the empire. 
[/quote]

All I really want is Flagg to give standards for FTL systems.  Spaceship technology I suspect would benefit from Flagg giving a reference design of a "standard" imperial fleet ship to modify for players who have ships based on Aucturian designs.