Colonized Space

Map of Colonized Space

Colonized Space is the term used to describe all the planets and star systems inhabited by humans and the areas surrounding them that have been fully charted and catalogued. Located within the Local Arm, it is often portrayed as a single blob of interstellar space and encompasses much of humanity's domain. All 62 billion humans reside here, spread out over a hundred nations. Geopolitically, it has been divided in half by the Treaty Line and the developing Cold War.

## Characteristics

Colonized Space is commonly considered to be the area of space within a 750 lightyears radius of the Sol system, part of the Orion-Cygnus Arm, though this can be erroneous as it is impossible to discern the outer limits of Colonized Space and even within this radius, there are massive gaps of uncharted space. Generally speaking, the further from Sol, the less explored and the more sparsely populated Colonized Space becomes. As such, Colonized Space can be split between the Inner Sphere and the Rim, but the boundary between the two is similarly blurry.

Even then, the Inner Sphere, which comprises most of the Local Bubble, is subdivided into 9 regions: Cunabula, Thalastron, Vallinia, Hamsa, Houhe, Terminia, Novrora, the Reincio, and Erglamie. The Inner Sphere is sometimes refered to as Civilized Space, due to being developed enough to host proper planetary nations. Meanwhile, the Rim is characterized by disparate worlds with very limited human settlement and is more made up of territories than nations.

## History

The term first arose in the midst of the Golden Age of Interstellar Colonization of the 22nd century. Originally, Colonized Space, or simply the Colonies back then, was purely reserved for refering to humanity's extrasolar settlements, distinguishing it from Sol, more specifically Earth. Gradually, however, Sol became included in the term.

The century would see Colonized Space rapidly expand, pushed forwards by governmental and supranational efforts in a race for prestige and resources. However, the Great Blackout in the early 23rd century and the end of the Golden Age would effectively stall any progress. As the Great Blackout led to the rise of nation-building efforts in the Colonies, many expert consider the extent of Colonized Space by the turn of the century as the Inner Sphere. After the crisis passed, the majority of later expansion efforts would be carried about by private individuals and corporations instead.

The reign of the United Nations Colonial Directorate would see the Inner Sphere divided into 6 sectors for administrative and census purposes. Sector A, later becoming Cunabula, would be a circular area centered in Sol, while Sector B to F would be defined by 5 spokes radiating outward from the border of Sector A and named in clockwise order. These sectors would eventually get their own name, either from colloquial or official sources. The Secessionist War would then shake up this structure, and led to the regions replacing the sectors. Additionally, the demilitarized demarcation line as established by the 2288 Treaty of Tollankunft, better known as the Treaty Line, divided Colonized Space in half.

## Geopolitics

The modern political divisions of Colonized Space was due to the Secessionist War and its aftermath. The Treaty Line has become a hard border across Colonized Space, and the reign of the Colonial Directorate across it is now replaced with a cold war between the successors of the two belligerents of the War. The 2 sides of the Treaty Line are efectively 2 seperate spheres of influence, one dominated by the Stellar Confederate Union and the other by the Frontierran Commonwealth.