Factions Without Borders

Intergalactic is going to be the first game I make that actually has a canonical map.Not that this is the whole galaxy, of course, but it’s a start. There are concrete places and people who live there too. Of course we need factions, right?I know I don’t want factions to be brushes that I use to paint chunks of the map, like “this swathe of blue space belongs to the Suchandsuch Empire, and this pink blob is the Confederacy of Thoseguys”. I’ve always found that sort of map lures you into the borderlands, exploring the worlds that exist between two factions, but what if everywhere was like that?Instead of borders butting up against each other I want the colours to mix into each other, creating patches of interesting blends from their primary hues. More Pollock than Mondrian. Remember, we’re talking about factions here, not states. Powerful institutions can mingle within the same physical space without borders, each claiming a functional domain rather than a geographical one. Of course…