Galactic Politics

The galaxy includes dozens of recognised polities (sometimes called empires), all vying for control over resources and security. In the century-and-a-half since the mass discovery of hyperspace at the turn of the 23rd century, states have exerted their influence over others in a variety of ways. Some of these polities have come out ahead due to a combination of diplomacy, warfare, and luck, while others are smaller in power. Most publications divide the galaxy into five distinct categories of power: superpowers, great powers, middle powers, small powers, and insignificant powers. These categories are based on a number of factors, including economic power, military power, cultural power, and diplomatic power. Military power is considered "hard power", while the remainder are considered "soft power". However, there exist many different entities outside of the Galactic Community and formally recognised nations, such as the five "fallen empires", spaceborne marauders, station-based enclaves, and independent NGOs.

Superpowers

Generally, there are considered to be four superpowers: the Kingdom of Yondarim, the Tzynn Empire, the United Nations of Earth, and the Voor Technocracy. Each of them are the legal or effectively de facto leaders of galaxy-spanning federations, exerting massive diplomatic and military power. They are capable of long-term, long-range strategic deployments of massed military assets on expeditionary campaigns, and have strong allies to back them up. Due to their significant military and diplomatic reach, polities across the galaxy must take into account the superpowers in their decision-making process.

Great Powers

Great powers are states that are widely recognised to be influential in large parts of the galaxy, but not to the same extent as the four superpowers. All of the great powers have large amounts of hard power, but typically fall short in terms of soft power. For example, the Roccan Resistance is generally agreed to have a moderately more powerful military than the United Nations of Earth, but has a significantly weaker diplomatic corps and cultural output. Great powers are nonetheless highly capable of exerting their influence via hard or soft power across large parts of the galaxy, and in some cases have ambitions that exceed even the superpowers.

Middle Powers

Middle powers occupy an intermediate space in galactic politics, generally able to exert influence primarily within their local region. Many middle powers are categorised as such due to their significant diplomatic or economic power, while falling short in terms of military power. There are exceptions to this preference for soft power, however. The XT-489 Eliminator, for instance, has zero soft power with the rest of the galaxy, but significant military forces on par with great powers or even superpowers, and represents a considerable danger to its neighbours.

Small Powers

Small powers represent polities that lack significant galactic influence, but still maintain some local influence. They typically exert influence by making alliances with larger powers, having a large fleet, a critical resource that is in demand, or even providing neutral ground for larger powers to conduct diplomacy. Small powers tend to control small to moderate amounts of space, with typically less than a dozen colonies.

Insignificant Powers

Insignificant powers represent the smallest recognised polities in the galaxy. They tend to occupy only their home system and one or two extrasolar colonies, if that, or otherwise control resource-poor space. Without much hard or soft power to speak of, insignificant powers are entirely reliant on protection from larger entities to maintain their independence from larger aggressors. In many cases, insignificant powers were either late to discover FTL travel, or were quickly boxed in by other expansionist powers during the initial colonisation of the galaxy.

Fallen Empires

"Fallen empires", sometimes called "stagnant ascendancies", are ancient, extremely powerful civilisations that have existed for tens to hundreds of thousands of years. They are vastly more powerful than even the most powerful federations, but appear to be relatively disinterested in galactic politics. They are known to make demands and requests on occasion, and are even known to bestow gifts on those that have pleased them.

Marauders

The term "marauders" refers to a trio of spaceborne civilisations that thrive on raiding their neighbours. They do not appear to have any kind of centralised authority, and inhabit large habitats, space stations, and warships in collections of systems. Their various governments are controlled by warlords vying for control, but have not amassed any significant power as of galactic history so far. Despite their disparate nature and somewhat dated technology, if the marauders could overcome their anarchic nature, their fleet would rival any in the galaxy.

Enclaves

Enclaves are large space stations that house orders and organisations, typically ones that long predate current galactic history. Some enclaves only operate in one station, while others have outposts across the galaxy. They prefer to remain impartial in galactic affairs, selling services and goods to any who will pay for them. Due to their willingness to do business with everyone, violence against them is something of a galactic faux pas.

Pre-FTL Civilisations

Many civilisations are yet to discover FTL travel, and are still entirely existing within their home system. Due to their vastly inferior technology, they are no match for any kind of invasion force: only the most advanced pre-FTL societies have any hope of repelling an expeditionary force, to say nothing of an entire spacefaring empire. Policy towards pre-FTLs differs depending on which polity controls their system, if any. Some, like Minamar Specialized Industries, have a policy of taking over and enslaving pre-FTLs, like they attempted with the Roccan Resistance. Others guide pre-FTLs towards reaching the stars, and others take care to avoid interfering in them entirely, allowing them to develop on their own.

Non-Governmental Organisations

More commonly called NGOs, non-governmental organisations are, as their name suggests, organisations that exist outside of the control of governments. They are typically international advocacy groups, lobbying governments for particular changes they would like to see in the galaxy. In other instances, they are charities, service providers, or peace organisations, like the Sisterhood of the Alyssum Magnetar. Although not the original definition, some scholars include trans-stellar international corporations and mercenary organisations under this label, particularly if they directly engage in political advocacy.

Comparison Table