World Name: Milky Way (I guess? It's set in our universe, so...)
Criticism Wanted For: Are the factions interesting? Do they make sense for a world only a few centuries in the future? Do the pros and cons given make them feel more real and relatable?
Purpose: Tabletop RPG
Main Inspirations: Star Trek, cyberpunk settings, other various sources
Lore:
The Adrian Conglomerate - a megacorp that pioneered human expansion into space in the late 21st century, they're undeniably profit-driven, but this drive has undeniably facilitated a good deal of exploration and progress. They approach the issue of alien relations neutrally, very willing to combat hostile species who stand in their way, but equally willing to make diplomatic deals - they're currently on the verge of forming a successful trade alliance with the Saras species. They are criticized by other members of the Consortium for their profit motive and lack of interest in shared Consortium goals, but they themselves counter that certain members of the Consortium are using the alliance to push their own agendas.
The Terran Confederacy - a liberal democracy inspired (in-world) by the Star Trek franchise, they proclaim the values of liberty, democracy, and equality, just like the Federation, seeking to explore space, discover strange new worlds, and improve the human condition. They devote considerable resources to the aim of exploration and they promote culture and the arts; however, as many have criticized them for, they pursue post-scarcity goals in a world where scarcity does exist. They project utopianism, but in truth they aren't without internal strife, and as the Adrian Conglomerate likes to point out, it has had more success than the Confederacy at making new discoveries, and disdain the capitalism of the Conglomerate though they might, it has worked for Adrian. Other criticisms have been launched at the Confederacy's eagerness to engage in diplomacy even with species who are decidedly hostile to humanity, as well as their sense and imposition of morality (as someone once said in Star Trek, the Federation want to assimilate everyone without their own knowledge).
The Xenochristian Ecclesiocracy - an ecclesiocracy/theocracy founded on the ideals of Xenochristianity and governed by the Interstellar Catholic Church. Xenochristianity is a merging of old Christian doctrine with new social ideas and the presence of extraterrestrial life; it is a polytheistic religion in which God the Father is a divine alien hivemind that sent Jesus to Earth to spread news of the existence of alien life. They believe Jesus took a human wife, Mary Magdalene, and through her introduced alien DNA into the human gene pool, and the Disciples were those first humans who fully understood the meaning of Jesus' teachings. Upon their deaths, these believers were taken away by 'angels' to be integrated into the hivemind, as were all the saints throughout history, though they stopped appearing in the 21st century. As Christianity adapted to a new age, so too did the Vatican, who used their influence to make their own push out into space. They control a smaller piece of space than the other powers, but they have great influence due to the number of followers spread throughout humanity. The Adrian Conglomerate and the Terran Confederacy dislike them for their religion and their desire to spread it, but the Confederacy respects the help they do provide to the poor (via taxes) and their shared aims of diplomacy and exploration, even though they have different motivations.
The Aphelion Dominion - a federal monarchy devoted to the expansion of human influence throughout the galaxy, not by diplomacy, as the Terran Confederacy wishes, but by force. They were some of the earliest humans to leave Earth with the aim of colonizing space long-term, exorbitantly wealthy aristocratic houses who were able to bankroll their own space expeditions and bring along eager colonists. The Dominion is the human power that has stretched its borders the furthest from Sol, and they pride themselves on being pioneers in space as well as a first line of defense against hostile aliens. They are a class-based society, with the monarch and aristocrats at the top, followed by the merchants who are in competition with Adrian, then the patronized intellectuals and artists, then the military, and then the common people. Their class divisions have drawn the disapproval of the Confederacy, their competition and jealous hoarding of valuable territory and resources disappoints the Conglomerate, and the Xenochristian efforts to leverage the church into a position of power have been frustrated time and time again.