The Apeilous

The Apeilous is a civilization that nearly encompasses the star cluster Messier 4 (72 lightyears in diameter, 7000 lightyears from Earth). It is a coalition of seventy-two states presided over by a central government akin to a militarized United Nations. The star systems of the Apeilous are connected by gateways; artificial wormholes (bridges) through space and time. Most large ships and a few cleverly engineered small ships have onboard bridge generators.   Structurally, the Apeilous is organized into roughly five regions:
The Central States: Centers of commerce and agriculture, including the capitol
The Cordian Rift: High energy nebula nearly surrounding the Central States
The Middle States: Centers of industry, numerous rural planets
The Outer Rim: Mostly uncharted, beyond the Dark Zone
The Dark Zone: Region of empty space defining the edge of the Middle States   The Apeilous was founded in year zero when a loose coalition of central planets began a rapid outward expansion. The notion of Manifest Destiny drove countless explorers into the region that became the Middle States. New civilizations were founded on habitable planets and stations built on and above unlivable planets. Eventually, the region was well charted and explorers could go no further, as the Dark Zone separated the Middle States and the Outer Rim.   Just over thirteen hundred years separate the founding of the Apeilous from the events of the stories of the "present-day." In that time dynasties rose and fell and regions entered into periods of internal conflict. A handful of states seceded and others were founded beyond the borders of the Apeilous. The "present-day" is the 25th day of the year 1320, more than two hundred years after the most recent major war and the subsequent founding of a central democratic government...