The Cluster

The M56 globular cluster, known simply as "The Cluster" is a globular star cluster located approximately 32,900 light years from Earth. In the year 12,658 CE, as measured by the old Terran calendar system, a large, primarily human colony fleet departed Terran space and arrived in the M56 globular cluster. This was not the fleet's intended destination, however. The fleet had been organized through a joint effort by various Terran empires in order to facilitate colonization of the inner Orion arm of the galaxy, near of the edge of established Terran space, however sabotage of the fleet's jump computers, by unknown parties, resulted in the bulk of the fleet being sent to the M56 globular cluster instead. The chaotic nature of this jump rerouting resulted in the scattering of the fleet across the 84 light year diameter of the cluster. The sabotage of the fleet's jump computers also included the subsequent deletion of all jump maps, preventing any attempt at a return to Terran space.   At the time of the colony fleet's arrival, numerous other sentient species were already present within the cluster, however none possessed faster-than-light manifold drive technology, though some had established multi-system, sub-light civilizations. The human colonists and their allies, despite the disorganized nature of the colony fleet's arrival were able to use their technological superiority to establish colonies and exert dominance over vast portions of the cluster, and in the 6000 years since the colony fleet's arrival, these colonies have expanded into a byzantine network of empires, kingdoms, republics, and other political entities.