The Outer Colonies

Population Migration / Travel

Federal Colonies Zone 3

All the star systems within 12 light years of Earth have been explored, and their planet's surveyed. Colonies or terraforming operations have been established in each system. Up until this year Earth's space exploration and colonisation programme has been unified under the flag of the Federal Colonies. Greed, as ever, brings this delicate alliance to an end, when the United Americas and Chinese Consortium separately begin their own colonisation programmes, out beyond the Core Systems. They are soon followed by the European Federation, Russian Republic and Japan. The majority of colonies are part-financed by powerful multinational corporations, without whom the colonial powers couldn't operate.