Each fleet was built around an ark, a ship made to carry a whole population and everything it needed to start again. Three centuries on, the arks are the hearts of four capitals, and the fleets are four factions.
Born from a Western alliance of nations, the Federation pooled its fleets, shipyards and governments to launch an ark and preserve human civilisation. Its military-industrial heritage shapes a society built around collective security, shared institutions and a powerful navy. It sees itself as humanity's protector, though that conviction can become a desire to control.
Carbon descends from the miners, engineers and construction crews who built humanity's escape. When their sponsors could no longer support them, they kept their ships and settlements alive through practical skill and mutual dependence. Now an independent industrial civilisation, Carbon values competence, resilience and autonomy, and remembers being treated as expendable labour.
Meridian began as a consortium of global technology corporations that financed its own ark. Advanced manufacturing, scientific research and automation transformed it into a prosperous civilisation with a polished technological identity. Its people see enterprise and innovation as the foundations of progress, but ownership and contracts determine who shares in that prosperity.
Conclave grew from wealthy religious foundations that financed an ark as a sacred mission to preserve humanity. Generations later, faith binds its settlements together through shared ritual, mutual aid and an enduring sense of purpose. Its leaders regard survival as evidence of a divine calling, creating tension between serving humanity and imposing their vision upon it.