4 - Life Beyond Home
As previously mentioned, the vast majority (quintillions upon quintillions) of Ñezyeki live beyond Yiphra. Depending on how far they are from the homeworld, life can be varying degrees of difficulty for the people there, which, thankfully, is inversely proportional to the control the Empire has over the world or colony. The Empire itself collapsed long ago, so these categories are no longer applicable, but still useful to comprehend the levels of development in these regions. The levels of control that the former Empire exerted can be categorized as:
Class 1 - Systems within milliseconds’ jump distance of Yiphra. This covers a large swath of the galactic arm that it resides within, and constitutes the core of the former empire. This is where the most control was exerted, and where life is generally easiest.
Class 2 - Systems within a few seconds’ jump distance. This covers much of the neighboring galactic arms, and the many worlds therewithin. A high amount of control is exerted here, but oftentimes, things may slip through the cracks, and rebellions may pop up, only to be swiftly stopped. Life is easy here as well, only getting slightly uneasy when a rebellion is underway.
Class 3 - Systems that are 30 or more seconds’ jump distance of Yiphra. Covering the rest of the home galaxy, this is the most you could possibly define as the ‘core’ of the Empire. Medium amounts of control are exerted here, with it being considered a ‘waste of resources’ to put down many of the fringe rebellions, oftentimes letting them run their course unless a valuable asset or planet is in danger of being lost. Life varies from world to world or colony to colony, oftentimes being much better in independent states than the Empire itself.
Class 4 - Extragalactic systems, in the halo of the galaxy. These colonies and worlds are a special case, as, due to their lack of a coherent link to the galaxy itself, they require specialized routes to get to, and are often able to effortlessly free themselves without interference from the Empire if they cut off the route home, or even simply blockade the link. Life varies from world to world, ranging from paradisiacal to rather tough.
Class 5 - Satellite galaxies. Being many minutes, and in some cases, even hours away, the colonies within the satellites of the galaxy are very, very loosely controlled. Rebellions are usually quick and mostly bloodless, unless a specific planet or system is desired to remain under the Empire’s thumb. Life varies from colony to colony.
Class 6 or above - Other galaxies. Being anywhere from hours to days of jump distance away, these colonies can barely be considered part of the Empire under any circumstances. They are governed independently, with communications back home being rather limited. Life is oftentimes quite rough in terms of environment, but conditions and societal standards are often much higher than the Empire’s own.
There are many colonizers and fleets that have fled even further beyond, embarking on a trek to other parts of the universe, establishing societies completely (or largely) unknown to those in the home cluster.
The Ñezyeki almost unanimously agree that life beyond the home galaxy of Yiphra is much better than back home, and that the struggles add to the experience. Due to the extreme distances between many of these worlds and Yiphra, many Ñezyeki have branched off into their own subspecies and subcultures, leaving linguists and niesekologists always with a new job to do.
Commonly employed in colonial systems that were under imperial control, or ones which have a resource deficit in some way, is Ñezyeki mega-machinery. They can range from yiphraforming machines, to planetary deconstruction units, atmosphere thickeners to solar siphoners, ranging in scale from mere kilometers to entire astronomical units across. These machines are almost never used in extragalactic colonies, as the population agrees they are unethical and unfair, especially to any less advanced species, sentient or not, that may reside in the area of use.