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Description
Cinder space is a complex web of nations, factions, corporations, societies, and organizations. In the millennia since the exodus, each has had moments of glory, shame, triumph and tragedy. Some have been left shattered and broken by their trials, and others have risen again and again, stronger than before.

Of these, the “Big Four” are commonly recognized as prime movers on the galactic stage, having in their turn radically altered the course of history in one manner or another. They are: the Astrimperium (formally, the Imperium Paci Interstellariae), the Gestalt Collective, the Terzetto Theocracy, and the super-corporation, the Galactic Dynamics Conglomerates.

Originally the Senate Stellare, the Astrimperium stands today as an authoritarian, expansionist military power centered mainly in the Delphine Sea. While not always favorably viewed by their neighbors, the empire has nonetheless weathered numerous brutal wars and galactic crises that destroyed lesser powers.

The Gestalt Collective, on the other hand, stands at a crossroad. An artificial hivemind governed by a council of advanced AI, the collective is navigating a complex road of reconciliation with their neighbors after their near destruction during Operation Sunder Blue, and the resulting change in consensus that cost the militaristic factions of the collective their majority weighting in the decision and policy algorithms.

Emerging from the miasma of the Delphine anarchy following the collapse of the Toscano and Sosa dynasties, the Terzetto Theocracy united numerous struggling frontier colonies and rapidly rebuilt the shattered industrial base in the face of Astrimperium expansionism, pirate raids, and would-be warlords in the pre-FTL period. Ruled by a theocratic triumvirate viewed as acting on the mandate of the Divine Ternion, the Theocracy has swung back and forth in the ensuing centuries between the influence of progressive reformers and aggressive crusaders, culminating in a series of bitter conflicts with the Astrimperium and an internal schism that gave birth to the Gestalt Collective.

The Global Dynamics Conglomerates, founded originally as General Stellar Dynamics five centuries post exodus, has grown in the modern age into one of the most powerful corporations in history.

Through centuries of acquisitions, mergers, expansions, hostile takeovers, and not-infrequent outright military actions, the GDC are widely recognized today as a nation-state in its own right, operating primarily for the immense profit of a ruling caste of elite shareholder families and employing billions of citizens through a convoluted multi-level profit-rationing structure. Often engaged in a bitter, long-standing cold war with their rival corporate state, Transgalactic Exchange Holdings, the GDC has largely maintained a dominant position thanks to numerous subsidiaries holding lucrative arms contracts supplying both sides of the Astrimperium/Terzetto conflicts, and extensive prospecting partnerships with the Salnir Confederation in the Pyxian Pillar.

Given the recent mass-assassination of GDC executives in 3022 P.E. by parties unknown, however, the GDC finds itself in a position of doubt for the first time in recent memory, and the numerous rivals accumulated over the centuries have begun to circle…

Description
Cinder space is a complex web of nations, factions, corporations, societies, and organizations. In the millennia since the exodus, each has had moments of glory, shame, triumph and tragedy. Some have been left shattered and broken by their trials, and others have risen again and again, stronger than before.

Of these, the “Big Four” are commonly recognized as prime movers on the galactic stage, having in their turn radically altered the course of history in one manner or another. They are: the Astrimperium (formally, the Imperium Paci Interstellariae), the Gestalt Collective, the Terzetto Theocracy, and the super-corporation, the Galactic Dynamics Conglomerates.

Originally the Senate Stellare, the Astrimperium stands today as an authoritarian, expansionist military power centered mainly in the Delphine Sea. While not always favorably viewed by their neighbors, the empire has nonetheless weathered numerous brutal wars and galactic crises that destroyed lesser powers.

The Gestalt Collective, on the other hand, stands at a crossroad. An artificial hivemind governed by a council of advanced AI, the collective is navigating a complex road of reconciliation with their neighbors after their near destruction during Operation Sunder Blue, and the resulting change in consensus that cost the militaristic factions of the collective their majority weighting in the decision and policy algorithms.

Emerging from the miasma of the Delphine anarchy following the collapse of the Toscano and Sosa dynasties, the Terzetto Theocracy united numerous struggling frontier colonies and rapidly rebuilt the shattered industrial base in the face of Astrimperium expansionism, pirate raids, and would-be warlords in the pre-FTL period. Ruled by a theocratic triumvirate viewed as acting on the mandate of the Divine Ternion, the Theocracy has swung back and forth in the ensuing centuries between the influence of progressive reformers and aggressive crusaders, culminating in a series of bitter conflicts with the Astrimperium and an internal schism that gave birth to the Gestalt Collective.

The Global Dynamics Conglomerates, founded originally as General Stellar Dynamics five centuries post exodus, has grown in the modern age into one of the most powerful corporations in history.

Through centuries of acquisitions, mergers, expansions, hostile takeovers, and not-infrequent outright military actions, the GDC are widely recognized today as a nation-state in its own right, operating primarily for the immense profit of a ruling caste of elite shareholder families and employing billions of citizens through a convoluted multi-level profit-rationing structure. Often engaged in a bitter, long-standing cold war with their rival corporate state, Transgalactic Exchange Holdings, the GDC has largely maintained a dominant position thanks to numerous subsidiaries holding lucrative arms contracts supplying both sides of the Astrimperium/Terzetto conflicts, and extensive prospecting partnerships with the Salnir Confederation in the Pyxian Pillar.

Given the recent mass-assassination of GDC executives in 3022 P.E. by parties unknown, however, the GDC finds itself in a position of doubt for the first time in recent memory, and the numerous rivals accumulated over the centuries have begun to circle…