Living on some worlds is extremely oppressed almost to the point of slavery, and other a peaceful collective. The Mega-Corporations even began to war between themselves for the rights to planets or trade secrets further fracturing the former glory of the Empire. The vast areas of space have so separated the worlds of the Empire, that messages from the colonies and front lines takes months to reach the Empire core worlds. The news front the fronts detailed the fall of civilization after civilization, and nothing was heard from the destroyed worlds. This lack of communication, resources, frequent oppression, war between the MCs, losses of vast numbers of civilizations to the Koranda and the disappearance of the Empires ideologies have slowly brought the Empire into a Dark Age.
Life is much rougher now, and many citizens struggle just to survive.
The worst worlds are the ones were the MCs have deserted completely leaving the colonists to rule themselves on planets raped of their resources. Those that have been dispossessed by their MCs often quickly regress into barbaric worlds. Among both the dispossessed worlds and the colonies clans have begun to form. Colonists of all races bind their families together to create these clans, sometimes due to their common history or even simply as survival from another clan. Clan disputes are usually settled via street wars, personal duels, or the paying of wergild, the worth of a dead man to his kin.