Faction Guide

“	Until now in world's history, whenever we've had a dark age, it's been temporary and local. And other parts of the world have been doing fine. And eventually, they help you get out of the dark age. We are now facing a possible dark age which is going to be world-wide and permanent! That's not fun. That's a different thing. But once we have established many worlds, we can do whatever we want as long as we do it one world at a time.	”
—Isaac Asimov, speech at Newark College of Engineering, 1974

Nearly 40% of all Fen are independent, either as neutral as humanly possible when it comes to politics, or generally liking many different groups but not enough to join any of them. (These Fen are often called "Neutrals" and "Generalists", respectively.) The rest belong to one or more factions - something of a cross between a nation-state, a political party, a business, a social club, and a mutual-aid society, but not quite like any of those types of groups.

Confusing? A bit, but think how much worse it is to the people who live there.

Government, or what passes for it in Fenspace

Main page: Government in Fenspace

Government
Faction	Flag, Icon or Logo	Capsule Description
Fenspace Convention		Civilian government across (and binding on) all of Fenspace
Space Patrol		Fenspace's pan-factional police force
Great Justice		Fenspace's equivalent to NATO and the Warsaw Pact

Major Factions

These six groups, listed by size, are the largest factions in Fenspace:

Major Factions
Faction	Flag, Icon or Logo	Capsule Description
United Federation of Planets		Also called Trekkies, Trekkers, or FedFen, the UFP is the single largest faction in Fenspace. Based around Mars, they have a reputation for staying on their ships and exploring far afield.
Galactic Republic		The Warsies have colonized the Saturn subsystem, but maintain a presence throughout the rest of Fenspace, working with Great Justice to defend the Solar System. The Trekkie/Warsie feud is greatly exaggerated for the tourists, but was the cause of the largest interfactional dispute in Fenspace history.
The Wizarding World		Scattered throughout the Main Belt and elsewhere, the Wizards (or Potterites) are fans of all sorts of modern-magic stories, not just the recent blockbusters. They have a bad habit of debating and dithering rather than acting, which lead to them taking heavy losses during the Boskone War.
Interstellar Alliance		The Fivers (or Rangers, if you prefer) can be found throughout Fenspace, acting as diplomats between other factions. They're believed to be based out of Earth orbit.
Independent Faction		Call them Browncoats, Whedonites, or Jossies, the members of the Independent Faction are the major colonists of the Jupiter subsystem. They've turned Ganymede into the breadbasket of the Solar System.
Crystal Millennium		Some are called Senshi, others are called Action Girls, but they're all busy terraforming Venus and coming to the aid of distressed travelers.

Minor Factions

Minor Factions
Faction	Flag, Icon or Logo	Capsule Description
Belters		a.k.a. Nivenites or Rockrats
Kingdom of the Abh
Kingdom of Jurai
Justice League Interplanetary		a.k.a. Supers
Koopa Kingdom
SOS-dan
Soviet Air Force
Space Pirates		a.k.a. Leijiites or Buccaneers
The Twelve Colonies of Kobol		a.k.a. Colonials or Galacticans
United Stars Organization		a.k.a. USO or Rhodanites
Village Hidden in Asteroids		a.k.a. Ninjas

Cultures and Subcultures

These groups are identifiable as distinct cultures in Fenspace.

Cultures and Subcultures
Group	Flag, Icon or Logo	Capsule Description
Furries
Heinlein Society		a.k.a. Heinleinians
Military fen		If someone in Fenspace needs to understand something of a military nature, and they don't have access to the Dorsai or the Roughriders, they consult their local Military Fen.
Panzer Kunst Gruppe		Cyborg Martial Artists who may take the cyborg thing just a bit too far. Gunnm Fen.
Pellucidarans
Pulpers		a.k.a. Golden Agers
Submariners		For lovers of Seaquest, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, and similar works. Those who believe the mysteries of Space are nothing compared to the hidden mysteries of the Abyss.
Timelords		a.k.a. Whovians
Turnerites		a.k.a. Skinheads, Space Nazis, Church of White Jebus, etc. Named after the first group of people in space identified to think this way, the Turnerites held onto their racist and sexist beliefs when they moved Up from Earth. They are considered an "enemy" culture by many Fen but not by the Fenspace Convention as a whole, who offer them as a group the rights and protection that they deny to some of their own members.

Non-Governmental Organizations

Some things need to be done, or should be done, but cannot effectively be done by a company or a government. These groups are the ones who do these things.

Non-Governmental Organizations
Organization	Flag, Icon or Logo	Service Provided	Capsule Description
Artemis Foundation		Astronomical observation and charting
Banzai Institute for Biomedical Research and Strategic Information		Education, Disaster Relief	aka Blue Blazers
The Cyber Confederation
The Hacker Underspace		Computer Security	Fenspace's "l33t haxorz"
The Knight Foundation
The Mars Terraforming Project		Terraforming
The Mob			Thanks to the pervasive nature of fandom, the nature of criminal organizations in Fenspace is... different from their mundane counterparts.
Musician's Aid Society		Mutual-assistance	a.k.a Dandelions, Filkers
Nikaido Foundation		Charitable Funding
Paratheo-Anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric		Fnord	Fnord
The Quartermass Institute		Defence of Earth
The Venus Terraforming Project		Terraforming

Other Groups

Assemblages that resemble groups from the outside.

Loose Groups of Fen
Grouping	Flag, Icon or Logo	Capsule Description
Antis		a.k.a. Anti-'Danes - virtually indistinguishable from Generalists, from the outside
Boskonians		Black Hats, the Dark Kingdom, Death Eaters, Pirates, Reavers, Shadows, Sith – whatever name one gives them, the Boskonians are Fenspace's organized-crime element. The Fenspace Convention considers them to be outlaws and terrorists; the whole point of the Space Patrol and Great Justice is to arrest or subdue (respectively) Boskonians whenever and wherever they arise.
Gearheads		If it walks, drives, flies, transforms or preferably all of the above it falls among the Gearheads. Fenspace mecha Fen.
Herbertites
Humourists		Some people can't take anything seriously – in Fenspace, these people are called Humorists. Or Humourists. (Some will insist you spelled the group's name incorrectly, no matter which spelling you used.)
The Watch		a.k.a. Discworld fen

Related Pages

Fen Companies

Mercantile and other business groups in Fenspace.