[OFFICIAL] RE: [FT] Size of "Countries" in FT

>In our Expansion campaign background we've actually taken the tack that
a
>number of the regions mentioned are actually continents on planets
rather
>than planets themselves so that many worlds consist of three or four
rival
>colonies!!
>
>Owen G
>

"Officially", yes, this is the intention in the GZG background.
Human-occupied space is basically split into three (loosely) concentric
zones - the Core Worlds, the Inner Colonies and the Outworlds.
The Core consists of Sol (Terra or course, plus most nations have at
least
a foothold on many other planets in the system), Centaurus (which is
colonised via a series of very large orbital stations, rather than
planetary settlement) and Barnard (Barnard's Star) - all these have
multinational colonisation with most if not all powers/nations having a
settlement of some kind in each system, hence the need for the UNSC to
stop
the major antagonists nuking each other or throwing rocks....
The Inner Colonies are also multinational, with several separate
"countries" on each habitable world, and thus lots of potential for
disputes and minor wars (or even major ones) without having to assault
from
space all the time. Some inner worlds will be dominated by certain
powers
(the superpower capital worlds, eg: Albion, are Inner Colony planets
largely "owned" by a single power, but even these will probably have a
few
other small settlements belonging to allied or neutral nations or
commercial concerns). Don't forget that a single planet is a very big
place
(hey, we ALL live on just this one at the moment).
How many Inner Colonies are there? Well, we've never specified this, but
I
would say ("Unofficially", ie: I may change this later!!) probably not
more
than a couple of dozen in total.
Then, you have the Outworlds. Some of these will be multinational, some
will be colonised by a single power, some will be "commercially" owned,
but
all will be pretty sparsely settled - many will be little more than
research or mining stations, or tiny colonies founded by minority and/or
dissident groups and struggling to survive. There will probably be quite
a
lot of Outworlds, as the human sphere expands rapidly, but many will be
of
marginal habitability and low importance to anyone except their own
inhabitants.
We have tried to keep some sort of "realistic" feel to the background,
but
always remember that it is primarily there to give as many good excuses
for
combat games as possible!!  :)

Jon (GZG)