Ok so I'm just going to rattle off thoughts from what I read.

Sol is fixed. The sun is where the sun is, on the orion spur. Now, not everyone can occupy the same patch of space in this rp, comprise has to be made and in fact being spread across the galaxy is the better option. Borders mean a lot less in space. 
As for the inability to traverse dark space; that was a remnant of an earlier RP. I still am not having galaxy hopping but arm to arm should be possible without the need to go through the core so I'll edit that.

@Bacon there's no problem with your nation, it's a neat concept I think peoples' hesitation is simply arising from the saturation of synthetics in this RP. The All Party, the Sphere, The Virus, much of the Technocracy. Now it's obviously not an issue, this is sci fi after all. I think there was just worry about variation in the nations.

As for maps. I'll take as many as I can get :rollin

In regards to the powers. Well a political power is one who exerts force through its politics; a strong diplomatic empire who bargains and blackmails to get ahead in life. A social power is one who uses its culture, i.e. it might be a massive media producer of media that is enjoyed throughout the galaxy and uses this to influence matters. Think americanisation of european tv audiences but on much grander and direct scale.