If you were to be born on one of the few Union planets, as unlikely as it may seem, you would have to deal with one of these histories:

• 1-3: as a young adult, you have participated in the liberation of your planet. You have vivid memories of the time before, and the price you had to pay for a better future.
• 4-5: you were born right after the revolution. You have aided the elders in recovering Imperial machines, making them serve the people and the land. The elders seemed to make up stories of the before, specifically to frighten you.
• 6: your planet is one of the vanguards of the Union. You have studied the arts of the stars, the soil and the spirit. A responsibility to the known universe weighs upon your shoulders.

Regardless of your upbringing, you would be driven to aid the diverse worlds of the Union. At the age of 21 you would be assigned to the Cosmonautics Ministry, which will swiftly send you on a 5 year assignment. There are no ranks or reputation to be gained, not anymore.

• Interplanetary distribution is always in need of skilled pilots. Challenges include hazardous landing (as Union planets often lack spaceports), outrunning blockade patrols and drifting with limited fuel supply.
• An assistance committee member is embroiled in interstellar politics, but they never lose sight of their mission to support the rare Union-aligned worlds. When great old polities are crumbling, they might as well work on increasing the number of such worlds.
• Derelict disarming is the riskiest of all the assignments. A successful job brings safety to the system, and often recovers valuable star gate cores.

As the Empire grows weak and distracted, you would recognise your chance to commence your journey beyond the Union stars. To discover new lifeforms, protect their habitats against devastation of war. To find a long lost comrade, on an annexed world only you have escaped. To forge connections to distant planets, shattered under the sword of the Empress.

Armed with a history, a tool, a name, you must face the space between.