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Some questions I had to resolve for my own satisfaction. These probably ought to be added to other files (the Zone, Empire and Kordova pages) when I get those (re)typed.
Is the TSE (as a whole) expanding, remaining static or contracting? It's somewhere between expansion and remaining static. Owing to losses in the League Wars and problems with the Neo-Feds, resources were pulled out of a lot of places to cover more important areas. The Neo-Fed border has been quiet for a while and most of the damage done in the Third League War has been repaired. More governors are starting to promote the founding of colonies, new systems are being scouted and the Empire is starting to make itself visible in places that thought they'd been forgotten ... Is Kordova part of the Empire? Yes and no. The Empire considers it to be a protectorate/colony, but it is not a full member world (no representation in the Senate, etc.). It's a colony on the frontier (past the frontier, really) - when Imperial forces pulled out, the intention was to have the various governments establish themselves as self-governing bodies under the Empire. The last governor (a political hack who considered the place a nuisance) of this sub-sector was lax in his duties and never had much to do with the planet. With the arrival of Governor Streel, this may change. For one thing, Kordova is behind on its taxes ... What position does this put the Draconians in? SOL, if the Empire thinks they've been poaching in its territory. The Draconian enclave is currently operating as a "Trade Station" in territory that isn't really claimed (or controlled) by any of the planetary governments. They do have diplomatic relations with the Empire, as well as a Trade Mission to Startown (where a good deal of their above-board traffic goes through - at least until the old spaceport is rebuilt). So far, no Draconian troops have been committed to battle against Cerios, though the Brotherhood has numerous "advisors" and "armaments technicians" - who are all independent contractors with no ties to the Council of Draconis (and they have the paperwork to prove it). In addition, it should be noted that the Draconians have no chance to fight the Empire if it came to war. They could probably deal with the local (sub-sector) fleet for a while, but *not* the Imperial Deep Space Fleet. The Council knows this, and has no intention of letting things get that far out of hand. Their current policy for dealing with the Empire is to nibble where they can - there are other planets in the Zone where they can play Overlord without fear of gigantic fleets. Diplomacy and Imperial Worlds: If a world is part of the Empire, it can't have diplomatic relations (of the foreign policy kind) with non-Imperial worlds. To do so would be treasonous for obvious reasons. Trade missions are possible as long as nothing is dealt with that violates Imperial law or involves military pacts. Such diplomatic exchanges may also be between Imperial worlds or governments of the same world (such as Holloway, Startown and Cerios on Kordova). Since the Empire tends to ignore *small* conflicts on Imperial worlds with Balkanized governments, there is also some (legal) scope for other diplomatic endeavours on such planets.
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