The Outsiders

The Outsiders are a group of isolationist humans (and other human-descended forms of intelligence) who live nomadic lives in sparsely-populated periphery systems. They are among the most heavily modified and augmented groups in the human space and have very advanced technology at their disposal - partly because of their willingness to tamper with their own minds in an attempt to enhance their intelligence, and partly because of their complete lack of any form of ethical constraints when it comes to research. Their culture is centered around the immense Grand Liner starships which act as their mobile homes and bases of operations during their long voyages between the stars.

The Outsiders are normally unagressive and uninterested in the affairs of settled civilizations, considering themselves far above the system-bound humans and their laws. When provoked, however, they are known to retaliate in a massively disproportionate manner, the most infamous example being their 53-year-long occupation of one of the Harmonic Federation's star systems (which saw the deaths of millions of civilians) following a brief shootout between one of their Grand Liners and a Federation patrol fleet. Sometimes they are known to engage in piracy, particulary if a lone traveller in the edge systems has some new technology or alien artifacts on board. In their rare dealings with the settled civilizations, they mostly take part in deep space exploration and various joint research projects.

The origins of the Outsider civilization are somewhat vague, but it is known that their ancestors were members of the Titanian Cyberocracy's ill-fated colonization attempt of the 61 Cygni system, where they were sent via slower-than-light sleeper ships in the 25th century... mere decades before the invention of the faster-than-light quantum bubble drives. By the time the fleet of seven sleeper ships arrived in the 61 Cygni system, it had already been settled by FTL ships of the Savants of Oberon, the bitter rivals of the Titanian Cyberocracy, meaning the colonists had taken their decades-long journey in vain and were now without home. Bitter and vengeful, they attempted to use their remaining antimatter reserves to wipe out the rival colony on Swan Song (the main habitable planet), but were quickly defeated by the new colony's superior technology.

After retreating to the Kuiper Belt of the 61 Cygni system, the exiled colonists spent over 100 years as pirates and occasional terrorists before finally constructing a FTL ship of their own and leaving settled space entirely. The next time someone had any contact with them was nearly 200 years later, in the mid-29th century, by which time they were becoming the Outsiders as we know them today. For a long time, the Outsiders were just a minor, reclusive group in the periphery, but over the decades they accumulated much wealth through asteroid mining and eventually constructed their first heavily-armed Grand Liners. By the early 32nd century, they had become a major power in terms of military might, although it was only after the Fifty Years War in the 34th century that the settled civilizations would take them seriously.

To this day, the Outsiders are divided into six allied Tribes, named after the six sleeper ships that survived the ancient confrontation with the Swan Song colonists. The Tribes are:

-The Hawking Tribe
-The Sagan Tribe
-The Nimrod Tribe
-The LaVey Tribe
-The Hurtta Tribe
-The Heinlein Tribe

The seventh sleeper ship, Karos, was destroyed during the confrontation and its few surviving colonists and crewmembers were distributed among the other ships. Today, all six Tribes are split into several Clan Fleets, each led by a Clan Captain and in control of a single Grand Liner and a number of smaller starships, such as torchships and Battlecruisers. The Outsiders have no central authority or government; they regard Clan Captains as the highest form of authority, although the Captains are known to have a "pecking order" based on seniority and/or accomplishments.