Editing FederalSpace:Peoples (section)

== Pocket Kingdoms & Isolates ==

* '''Isolates:''' Plenty of these out there—small groups who set out with their own power and equipment, to engineer their ideal society, away from the common crowd. 
** Hidden in asteroids, scattered on frontier worlds, sometimes just in private spaces ''within'' settled space. 
** Rely on being small and harmless for defense; some maintain relationships with the larger governments just in case, others try to go invisible. 
** Lots of these in and aorund Federal space, since the Feds don't mind; few in the Empire, because the local houses, or the Emperor, want control. (However, some cadet branches are practically isolates themselves.)
* '''Pocket Kingdoms:''' Generic term for independent worlds, and ''small'' interstellar polities, whether they're actually kingdoms or not. 
** Lots of these are dictatorships, I mean, People's Democratic Republics. The rest tend to be complicated but well-populated worlds, which endured the Nightfall and decided they liked independence. 
** Many are neutral, or fall into client-patron relationships with the larger nations. The Empire tolerates 'em if they pay tribute; the Orions cheerfully make trade or perform military interventions; the Fed tends toward formal diplomacy with limited trade ties. 
** The Badlands are a region of particularly balkanized and shifting allegiances, which is a constant source of diplomatic frustration. 
** A number of these worlds spawn pirates, privateers, and space vikings, though these are generally quite localized problems; anything gets big and problematic, one of the big nations sends in a fleet. 
* New Byzantium can be considered one of the most successful pocket kingdoms, since they maintain an active interstellar presence beyond their sphere.