Nashtar, the Cradle of the Stars
History
The history of Nashtar properly begins with the launch of Star Colony Fleet 04 and Colonial Fleet 3 from the United States and the British Commonwealth, respectively. The two fleets were a joint venture, intentionally bound for the same inhabitable planet and traveling together through the long centuries of the journey through space at slower than light speeds, for at the time of their launch, FTL drive had not been discovered. Over the centuries, generations of colonists lived and died aboard the ships, carefully nurturing each successive generation and educating them in the areas of science, philosophy, and government. The colonists were drawn from all walks of life in the English-speaking nations of Earth, and the diversity of American and British culture was present in its full spectrum.
The fleets initially arrived in the Helios system at the edge of the nebula that the Nashtar Republic holds today. There, they found the native species of the cluster receptive to the newcomers, and already capable of spaceflight. The Zambarim and Ronoghans were already capable of faster than light travel. Both races were also in contact with the Ernari, though Ernarn's ships were not yet capable of interstellar flight.
Holdings
The Republic holds seven main worlds and several colonies [subject to change with the rules]. All the main settled planets are within the Nashtar star cluster, while the colonies lie outside it.
Core Systems:
Helios System: This system contains two inhabited planetoids; the capital planet of Nashtar and it's moon, Tyche.
- Nashtar: Capital planet and cultural center for the Republic, this planet’s concerns besides government mainly revolve around commerce. It is the second planet in its system. A good portion of the Republic’s ordinary citizens make their homes here. The Republic's government convenes on Nashtar. The planet is named for the spectacular nearby (in interstellar terms) nebula that dominates the night sky; the word "Nashtar" is Ronoghan for "Cradle of the Stars," named for the view of the star-birthing gas cloud.
- Tyche: Nashtar's single large moon, Tyche, is home to lunar colonies, mainly concerned with mining. The system's defense forces are primarily based on the moon.
Oro System: The Oro system is the Republic's primary industrial center. It is home to two inhabited worlds and three asteroid mining colonies.
- Orodan: This planet is highly industrialized and oriented towards heavy manufacturing. It is the third planet in its system. The government maintains one continent for military manufacturing, and the main shipyards, both military and civilian, are in orbit. The remaining landmasses are open for private use, with clusters of factories mostly along the coasts; factory workers live in towns nearby. Orodan takes full advantage of the Ronoghan technical institutes' great strides in clean manufacturing, so this planet is not as heavily polluted as some suppose when they hear of an industrial world.
- Oromos: This world is almost entirely given over to mining. It is in the same system as Orodan, and is the fourth planet. It is a very old planet, so old that its mantle is mostly solidified. This in combination with its three rather large moons makes it prone to violent earthquakes upon occasion. Advanced seismographic analysis equipment provides plenty of early warning for the miners, who have shuttles ready for quick liftoff when necessary. Ore haulers move back and forth between Oromos and Orodan in a steady stream, taking raw materials to the factories. The planet’s atmosphere is very thin, and breath masks are necessary for humans and other creatures not used to thin air.
Mintar: This planet is the main agrarian planet responsible for ensuring that the others are well stocked with consumables. It is the third planet in its system, and is almost entirely given over to farmland. While the other planets all have some measure of agriculture, agriculture is almost all this planet does. Gigantic farming machines roam slowly over the fields, planting or harvesting as the crop and season dictates. As one would imagine, comestibles are Mintar's primary export, both to other Nashtari worlds and to international markets.
Pinnacle: Pinnacle, the cold sixth planet in an otherwise barren system, is a highly militarized world, mainly serving as a base for the Republic's quick-response fleet. The ships stationed here are ready to respond to distress signals from other systems on short notice.
Ronogho: Home to the Ronoghan race, Ronogho is an industrialized world. The Ronoghans had a highly advanced society before human settlement, and continue to produce advanced technology for the Republic and international trade. Parts for the
Shadow class stealth frigates are manufactured here, among other things.
Zambar: Considered backwater compared to the other core worlds, Zambar is home to both human colonists and a native race, who call themselves the Zambarim. The planet is settled, but not heavily industrialized; much of the surface is untracked jungle. The Nashtar Republican Army uses Zambar for jungle warfare training.
Colonies:
Krentos IV: Krentos IV is a world located in a system outside the Nashtar Cluster, but has line of travel to Pinnacle. It houses a small colony and military outpost. A small battle group from Sixth Fleet is housed here. There is an army outpost at the colony, housing one armored division. Besides the army personnel, the colony is home to approximately 2,000 colonists.
Joyous Gard: Named for the castle of Sir Launcelot of the Arthurian legends, this is a forward military base. Sixth Fleet, the frontier force (made up of lighter ships than the five main battle fleets) is based here along with army and Marine forces. While Joyous Gard is officially registered as the base of operations of Sixth and its accompanying forces, in actuality these units are spread among the colonies. A medium sized moon orbits the planet, and as with most moons in the Republic, it houses a fighter base.
Krynlo Colony: Krynlo is a dome colony located on a large moon without an atmosphere. About 800 colonists live here. The system is regularly patrolled by Nashtari destroyers; apart from its fighters it has very little in the way of other defenses.
Parlan: Parlan is a mining colony on the second planet of a small yellow star. Rather than mining for industrial metals like Oromos, Parlan’s miners search for, and find, gems and some amounts of precious metals. There are about 600 miners and other personnel here, minus anyone crewing vessels with shipments back to the core worlds. Sixth Fleet patrols the colony in much the same way as Krynlo.
Barrier: Named for the three separate asteroid belts that make navigation of the system along the planetary plane hazardous, Barrier is home to about 1,000 colonists, most employed in light manufacturing or asteroid mining. A Floater cluster mines comets and Oort cloud objects in the outer system, and happily trades with the Republic.
Farpoint: A small military listening post on the ninth planet of a red star’s system, this small outpost is manned by military personnel and armed with highly sensitive electronic monitoring arrays. The system is situated slightly “above” the galactic plane. A single
Shadow class destroyer orbits the planet, under strict communications silence unless an imminent threat is reported by the post or detected by the destroyer, at which point the planned course of action is to load the post’s 53 crew members on and leave as quickly as possible. This hasn’t happened yet, and to the Republic Space Command’s knowledge the post’s security is uncompromised.
Inhabitants
Human colonists: Thanks to the discovery of Mintar and Orodan, which were primarily settled by the human colonials, humanity is the dominant race in the subsector. Transhuman augmentations popular in other parts of the Terran colonization zones never took root in Nashtari civilian use, though members of the military receive limited augmentations depending upon their duties.
Ronoghans: Physically, the Ronoghan species as a rule towers over most humans, nearing three meters in height when standing fully erect. Most of this is in their elongated necks. Their skin is red, and changes hue depending upon mood. They are bipedal, and their double jointed limbs end in dextrous, four-digited hands and feet. Mentally, they tend toward the analytical and visual, being possessed of keen eyesight and typically highly developed visual pattern recognition. The genetic material structure of Ronoghans, and indeed almost all indigenous animal life on Ronogho, is arranged in a triple nucleotide helix rather than the double helix of Earthers, and their technology has long used this structure as a data storage method; in a pinch they have even been known to engineer information into their own mitochondria to be extracted later.
Zambarim: The natives of Zambar are bipedal but six limbed, possessed of two pairs of arms. The upper pair is immensely strong, claw-tipped, and capable of brachiation, while the lower are comparable to a strong human's. The species is furred, typically black though variations exist. The head of a Zambarim is elongated and downward facing, with the mouth oriented down as opposed to forward like a human's. Zambarim are natural predators and obligate carnivores, and enjoy sneaking and stalking, whether prey in the jungle of their homeworld or on the battlefield of the Republic's wars - postings on
Shadow class frigates are sought after by Zambarim in the Space Command. This should not be mistaken for barbarism on their part, however; they are highly intelligent, technically savvy, and were capable of space flight before the arrival of humanity in the star cluster.
Politics and Government
The Republic is, of course, a republic. The nation's executive head is a President, but lawmaking power is held by a bicameral legislature populated by representatives from all member worlds. There are four major political parties; in descending order of influence, they are Unity, National Sovereignty, Free Trade, and Democratic Labor. Free Trade and Democratic Labor are rump parties with no real chance at the Presidency, though they have sufficient support to gain minorities in the legislature.
As a rule, regardless of current administration, the Republic of Nashtar heavily favors free trade and freedom of navigation, and commits significant military resources to combating piracy in the region. While not an overly aggressive power, Nashtar maintains a strict and very public policy of non-interference with the smaller regional powers, both from the Republic and from anyone else, and is publicly willing to back that policy with military force. The primary beneficiaries of this are Ernarn, a neighboring minor power on good terms with Nashtar, as well as a few small Floater clusters that have settled nearby to mine the nebular gas.
Military
The Republic's military is (relative to it's multi-trillion population) small, but highly professional and well-equipped. Naval doctrine calls for survivability over high numbers of vessels, which means that Nashtari ships tend to be highly expensive, but better ship-for-ship to their counterparts in other navies, with the exception of some powers' heaviest capital vessels.
[Order of Battle goes here once we have rules.]
The way it ran, I was happy to let them mine comets and asteroids and buy their wonderful foamed steel - and protect them from their cousins the Ousters, who Thirdfain was playing in those games. Also, see above re: Monroe Doctrine. Hell, you might as well know what I'm talking about; here. 
