Brandywine is a desert planet where antimatter processing is done. Aragon was colonized by persons who thought it's hot springs would make it a perfect tourist planet, but the failure of its tour industry has kept Aragon economically depressed. Gabriel, Aragon's Moon, is a religious Baptist Christian colony. Right in the middle of the Otani system is a lone inhabited planet named Adma. The Adami nations are at various tech levels, with the most advanced nations on the planet having just entered the Industrial Age.
Adami slaves have their faces tattooed to make recognition of a runaway easier.
Many of the Colonists wrote to and lobbied the Federation President, requesting an executive order to release them from the restrictions of the Prime Directive. In 2371, after delaying a formal decision for a long time, the UFP formally refused to allow any exceptions to the Prime Directive in Otani space. The UFP President declared that though he understood what the colonists were doing and why, this kind of action would lead to a cultural hegemony by the UFP over backwards planets. After numerous clashes between smugglers and Federation ships in 2373, and use of high-speed shuttlecraft by some smugglers which allow them to easier avoid capture, the UFP President stated that Federation ships stationed in the area would be authorized and ordered to shoot to destroy smuggler ships which they could not otherwise catch. The Colonial Governor, Kwan Iratsi, was prepared to back down.