Re: SMALLER ALIEN EMPIRES

as in 1, 2, 3,	or 13 star systems comprising the  empire, association,
hegemony, federation, confederation, concordiat,  alliance, republic,
commonwealth,  union,  league, kingdom, grand duchy, principality,
hive, monarchy,  theocracy,   and etc?

if you are doing your own thang, take a ship load or a flotilla load of
dissadents who head OUT THERE as rapidly as time, money and FTL
technology will take them, and settle a world THEIR WAY.

those pantropipsts would be  one really extreme example-who do not
appear to be human any more.

but what about others?

flower children in space, nudists in space,  health nuts in space, other
flavors of eco-nuts in space,  survivalists in space,  religious  nuts
or crazed cultists in space, machine/man  nuts,  nazis in space, commies
in space, capitolists in space, sociopaths in space, billionaires in
space, boffins in space,  anarchists in space, or agroup of wealth
"eccentrics" who got off and found a feudal technocracy, or  camelot in
space or even the grand duchy of jones in space,  livery and maintenance
in space. etc.

just pick a group of humans who have the money to hire or build a ship
and equip a colony set up to settle their own "heaven on not earth".

DAWGIE