[quote=@Ozerath]
[@TheSovereignGrave]

Alright, how bout something along the lines of this. 5 years ago, the Commonwealth sent a fleet task group to one of the Rimworlds with the intent of convincing or coercing it to join the Commonwealth. However, they severely misunderstood The Rim as a whole, and when a sizeable Rim fleet showed up a few days later, the Commonwealth forces backed down.

Something like that. Timeline is also flexible.
[/quote]

Well it wouldn't do much good when it comes to providing a reason why the Rim would become centralized, since I imagined that happening longer ago than that. But I can just have an invasion by the Sauru'u provide impetuous for that. I do like your idea though; it sets up some possible conflict and distrust between our nations. Plus I find it amusing that a more centralized state would pop in and so badly misunderstand how the governance of the Rim worked that they assumed trying to convince some Rimworlds to defect [i]wouldn't[/i] provoke a sizable military response. Though 5 years seems a tad recent; maybe 10 or 15?