the game is set up so that star systems are home to a set number of factions and the space stations and planetary settlements in that system can be controlled by any of those factions and the factions can spread to other systems for interstellar faction control.

the devs have also set it up so that you can contact them and they will add a faction that you can name and you get to pick the home-star-system for. mine is named "Prisma Collective" and is of the "Anarchy" government type.

i've been away for so long though that the system we previously had the most influence in has been taken over by a series of Imperial factions. my faction had been pushed to 1% influence.

after a couple of days of work i started a civil war with one of the other, smaller empire-associated factions. they'll be overthrown within the week. and then we're on to the big-game.