Menya Union

The Union of the Menya or simply Menya Union is a medium nation of the Cygnus-Orion arm. It is one of the last nations to join the galactic stage. It has seven worlds and is home to over 26 billion people, most of which belong to the Menya species. It is an oligarchic republic, functioning around a system of families. There are four ruling families, each of which has dozens of vassal families, most of which in turn have vassals of their own. This should however not be mistaken for a feudal system, as other than the very highest positions can be achieved by anyone. It also holds elections every four years to elect its parliament, which has representatives from each family, according to their status and size. The Menya homeworld of Dumen has a population of over 5, and is the main center of the nation. Unlike most other nations however, the Menya have only colonized six worlds. These however are all well integrated and populous relative to the nation's size. 
The Menya union was founded almost 150 years before discovering the warp drive. It had already become a well established and centralized government by the time it achieved large scale space travel. The Menya became a single nation around their industrial age, when a new generation of great families overthrew the old ones thanks to the development of industry. Most of these families would only work in one area, meaning they weren't competing with each other, and instead cooperated. By the 2400s they had achieved space travel, but wouldn't start extra-solar expansion before the 2450s. They encountered Terran explorers in 2488. The encounter, by Terran standards, went extremely well. The Menya were, unlike most other nations the Federation came in contact with at the time, not made into a Dominion, and instead formed a permanent diplomatic relation with the Federation. In 2506 permanent embassies were established on both Dumen and Earth. The Federation tried to prevent contact between the Ur-Han and the Menya, but their first contact in 2529 would result in a Ur-Han patrol fleet being obliterated after having opened fire on Menya vessels. This strengthened the ties between the Federation and the Union. The Union and the Federation would subsequently enter a phase of "collective isolation", where they would not involve themselves in wider galactic politics outside of themselves, up until the Great War. The Menya would send massive humanitarian aid following the liberation of Surben, Dermkha and Tesrat worlds by the Federation. The Union and the Federation have maintained excellent relations ever since. 
The Union is currently a secondary power in the galaxy. It is a member of the UCO, but not a council member. They are one of the nations involved in the Magellan Initiative. It is also part of the Orion Economic Cooperation and Development Association, the Terran led economic bloc.
Menya is the Menya term for "family" or "clan". However, due to poor original translation, Terran translators understood this as the name of the species. It has since then been used by both Terrans and other nations. The Menya refer to themselves as Hulay.