[u]Terran Empire[/u]

Once upon a time, there were two factions: The United States, and the United Nations. Neither faction was friendly to freedom. The United States was a communist power, using economic control and racial warfare to bring the republic to its knees and replace it with a tyrannical dictatorship. The Race Purges of 2070 eliminated light-skinned people in the country along with much of the opposition to the change in government. On the other side of the world, a certain oppressive religion (which shall remain unnamed) infiltrated the highest positions in government throughout Europe and East Asia, and used their power to institute their cruel and misogynistic values throughout the world. The United Nations soon reflected these changes. Both the United States and the United Nations went at each other's throats, but eventually arrived at a mutual agreement that, about fifty years later, formed the basis for the united Terran Empire.

Terran civilization is best described as hell on earth. Women have no rights; they're basically slaves to men. If any part of their bodies is exposed, it is cut off. If they are raped, they are executed. If they speak unbidden, their tongues or vocal cords are ripped out. Forsaking the religion for either gender warrants the death penalty. Even when you're not treading carefully to avoid breaking the religious rules, life is still brutally hard. The government has established a hierarchy of victimization - the more "oppressed" you are, the more benefits you get. Ordinary men and women are at the bottom of the totem pole. Food, healthcare, housing, water, electricity, and everything you can think of is rationed out based on 1) how much the authorities perceive you need it and 2) your oppression profile. It is encouraged to pillage and plunder as much as you can to redistribute the wealth, and if you're sufficiently "oppressed," you could even get away with murder. Among Terrans, the rule is truly survival of the fittest. Too many people benefit from this system for internal change to be feasible, so unless natural law or an external force stops them, the wanton disregard for human life is bound to continue.

[u]Crescent Empire[/u]

Life is considerably more promising in the Crescent Empire. Broadly speaking, its people are morally conscious and fiercely independent, although that changes somewhat as you get closer to the capital, Crescent Prime. On an average Imperial world, you're free to do pretty much whatever the heck you want, provided you don't infringe on someone else's rights. If you do, local law enforcement is swift and just. On some of the fringe worlds, where law enforcement is sparse, things can get a little violent, but the right to self-defense usually keeps things in check, for the most part. The "frontier life" is wildly popular to Crescent citizens bored with their entertainment-centered life in the capital, so many worlds are deliberately left low-tech. An independent council of seven immortal men and women oversees the terraforming and development of these worlds. While the Immortal Council isn't technically part of the government, they nonetheless hold tremendous sway over the empire. Life is generally quite peaceful and prosperous on worlds developed by the Council.

On Crescent Prime, things have taken a turn for the worse. Over the last few decades, the government has added tighter and tighter controls on nutrition, until it became the most complicated and heavily regulated industry on the planet. You have to visit a nutritionist before you can buy food, and even then, the nutritionist gets to decide what food you can buy. Government interest in preserving the family unit has also waned a good deal, so divorce and promiscuity have spiked in the capital world. Worse, with the advent of extremely advanced technology, the need for labor has declined to the point where entertainment is now the chief goal of capital citizens, leading to an unprecedented uptick in corruption. Thankfully, the outer worlds, being much less advanced, haven't reached that point of corruption yet, and there is a major movement on Crescent Prime to turn things around, so things are looking up despite their bleak appearance.

[u]Confederation[/u]

The Confederates are an odd bunch. Outlaws from both the Crescent and Terran empires made their homes in this remote region of space, and as their populations expanded over time, they came to form their own factions and governments. Law enforcement ranges from non-existent to downright tyrannical, but the common theme among nearly all of them is instability and violence. Several decades ago, the Terran Empire attempted a war of galactic conquest (to mirror the Crescent's wildly successful galactic conquest war a few centuries earlier), and the independent factions banded together under the banner of Confederation to repel them. Bonds forged in the flames of war brought people together, and while states eventually split up and returned to their own governance, the people never forgot the bonds they shared in the war. So despite the rampancy of independent factions, the people think of themselves as Confederates. They're not a bad people, broadly speaking, but visitors are advised to always watch their backs.

[u]The Spacefarer's Life[/u]

Once you buckle into your shuttle and enter the black of space, the environment changes tremendously - for the better. The Crescent military, having nothing better to do these days, is assigned law enforcement duties as Space Police, and they're remarkably good at it. Rather than fearing the police, most people rather feel safe and protected when the police are around, thanks to the military's relentless drive toward higher principles. Even without the police around, the average spacefarer is generous and well-armed; if someone rips you off, you could probably hail down a passerby with a distress signal and find someone willing to be your ally. Thus, space travel within the Empire is generally safe and profitable.

The same can't be said as you draw closer to the Terran Empire. The Terran spacefarer is in much the same situation as a Confederate - you're free to do whatever you want, but without (uncorrupted) law enforcement around, you'd better watch your back. The slipshod quality of Terran starships makes planetary reentry almost impossible, so unless you're one of the government elites with a quality vessel, most of your life will be spent on space stations. You could try escaping to the Crescent Empire, but the Terran space force does a much better job of protecting their border than they do enforcing the law, making escape a much riskier proposition than just trying to live your life behind the border. The Terran Empire has often tried to regulate the frontiers of space, but with very little success.