[quote=@Halvtand] Thank you for that answer. One can hardly keep up with all sci-fi universes after all. I'll try to rephrase to get a bit closer to the core of my question. I am not a native English speaker, so I blame myself for not being clear enough. I could have done better.[/quote] Don't worry about it, your English is better than a lot of native speakers I've seen :v [quote]Explained briefly, Firefly could be summed up as "cowboys in space". Replace horses with space ships and revolvers with space revolvers and you're pretty much there. The series is filled with tropes from the great old western-movies but puts a sci-fi spin on them. You seem to have a grasp on the 40k-universe, where the last of humankind does battle against the powers of aliens, mutants and chaos gods, as well as each other. Each faction slowly declining and breaking down, most of them powered by already ancient technology. I'll add a third example for the fun of it. In Halo humankind has united against a common foe, the alien alliance known as the covenant. Focus lies heavily on the military engagements between humanity and aliens although a few specks of lore can be sighted every now and again.[/quote] Right, I thought that [i]might[/i] have been what Firefly was all about, but was just a bit hazy on it. The 40K part you're pretty spot on there, as I used to be a loremaster for my local gaming group, so knowing all about the setting was practically my job at the time. [quote]The themes of these three universes are almost entirely different, not only because the worlds are different but because of what they choose to focus on. In this game I already know that the focus will be a band of hired guns, but the world at large is still very much a mystery. Is it inspired by something in particular like Firefly and the old westerns for example? You've also mentioned that we're hired by a corporation, which brings to mind a game called Mutant Chronicles, in this world corporations have taken over, and what we today know as countries and nations are either extinct or horribly obsolete. Corporations own land, military power, right of law and everything else that today's nations have access to but corporations as a rule does not. How would you say that the balance between corporations and nations looks in this game? [/quote] This is honestly the question I was waiting for, and the one I like the most, since this really gets down to the core of what makes the setting what it is. Conflux, as I've come to calling the setting, is one that is dominated by corporate might in the modern era, where some own the rights of a thousand planets and a workforce of billions. This is mainly down to how the Pan-Solar Confederacy is structured, and how a powerful few influenced half the galaxy. Early on the Terran Federation tried to cut down on the influence and power of these private organizations, as some, like UNISEC the main arms manufacturer, could shift politics and society with economic power alone. These attempts were seen for what they were by the corporations, a way of nationalizing them and seizing full control of their respective industries. This prompted them to come together in a form of pseudo-oligopoly wherein a series of agreements and contracts bound a dozen of the largest into a treaty that has since been called "Corporate Law". In this treaty they introduce co-dependencies on each other and agreements to freely supply materials between the signatories, which when all was said and done, meant that to take down any one of them would be to take them all down. Corporate Law was initially meant to merely be a stop-gap measure to defy the Federation, but in time it became actual law and evolved to cover more societal aspects. They saw a need to regulate themselves, ensure their continued survival and see to the people working under them. From just an attempt at self-preservation, that treaty has come to cover everything from basic human rights to the way in which corporations negotiate trade between nations. And national entities most certainly do continue to exist in this setting, both within and outside the Pan-Solar Confederacy. As we will be part of that main faction, I'll be primarily focusing on the PSC. To best understand what it is and what it isn't, don't think of it as a singular "nation" but rather more of a supranational entity such as the UN, EU or HRE. The HRE is the best match for what the Confederacy is, as it is largely a confederation of hundreds of individual nations of various size and influence across the western half of the galaxy, all ruled over by the singular elected government. At the core of the faction is The Board, the collected heads of the major corporations and signatories of Corporate Law. They are the true power in the setting, and through the economic reliance of all of the member states in the PSC, they maintain the status quo and dictate all laws. On paper however, the Confederate Parliament is what governs the organization. Within are representatives of every member state, as well as one singular "Speaker" who leads the parliament. That's a little bit about the political state of the setting, but I think one more bit should be mentioned about the corporations and just how much influence they hold. See, in the setting they make all of the laws and for the most part enforce them. The reason for that is because the Confederacy has no directly controlled state military. UNISEC is literally the military of the Confederacy. They manufacture all of the weapons, armor and ships with a workforce of trillions across all their internal divisions. While in all technicality our characters are mercenaries, we are also members of the PSC's army and so most of the time those contracts will be something far closer to marching orders than mere contract. If something happens to one of the member states, and they need military assistance, UNISEC responds as any military would. At the same time, anyone is free to hire out a squad of Third Division troops to take care of dangerous wildlife or pirates threatening their shipping. So when it really comes down to it, the balance between the corporations and nations within the setting is a very delicate one, where they both rely quite heavily on each other for everything. The nations need the corporations in order to keep their economies healthy, and they are equally needed in order to provide more employees and materials.