Settlement Status

Federacy Settlements have general broad statuses which typically rates their general level of importance in the Federacy; it typically reflects their general level of development. The Ratings given below as T- E- and R- represent the rating levels for the standardized Federacy Assessment System for Technology, Environment and Resources (FASTER ).

Alpha (Capital)

Alpha Systems refer to the 6 worlds which are the center of Federacy civilization: two of them are in Home, the other four are the earliest colonized worlds. They have populations of at least 50 million people, and have minimum ratings of T3 E1 R1. All Capital systems are also government seats for Major Houses.
Note, currently there is a motion to move the minimum population for Capitals to 100 million. Some believe this to be a politically motivated move to keep Beautiful from qualifying for Capital status, at least within the next decade, however, the relative growth of most Federacy worlds also give some plausability to this desired change.

Beta (Prime)

More often referred to as Primes, these worlds are considered self-sustaining and are integral members to the interstellar economy of the Federacy. They have populations of at least 1 million and have minimum ratings of T2 E0 R0. Most Primes are home to Minor Houses.

Colony (Deltas)

Colonies are worlds or settlements which have the potential to be self-sustaining but are lacking in some area (population, raw resources, livable environment, etc…) They have populations of at least 10,000 and have minimum ratings of T1 E-1 R-1.
Federacy Colonies are typically client states of a Major House.

Outpost

Typically, these systems are only newly explored or have some other strategic significance warranting a presence. There is no minimum population and have no minimum ratings (though there would be some good reason why there is an outpost in an otherwise valueless starsystem).

Recovered Colony

Several worlds have been found which were colonized before The Long Night. Though their ratings vary, they qualify as Deltas or Betas. There are two Recovered Colonies that were previously Prime systems and have successfully entered the Federacy as Free Houses.

Provisional System

These starsystems are within Federacy claimed jurisdiction, but have not agreed to or completely qualified for categorization under one of the above classes, a system whose only populace was a station, for example.
The extent of Federacy presence and influence varies significantly in these systems. It's also notable that criminal elements also tend to be more prevalent in such systems due to the limitations of Federacy influence.

World of Influence

A non-categorized system that the Federacy and/or its member states find a potential or vital interest in. Such worlds are often under exploration or have various aspects which preclude their categorization in a regular manner.

Non-Federacy System

These are inhabited worlds which are are not part of the Federacy.