Kingdom of the Amber Suns
The Kingdom of the Amber Suns is a network of monarchic planets and star systems held together by a complex system of vassalage and tribute between local rulers. Located in eastern Aenaz at the very edge of the Core Wastes, the Kingdom of the Amber Suns takes its name from the exotic matter produced by the mysterious trees which grow near to almost all planetary settlements in the area. Nominally ruled by the imperial court of House Paladis on their homeworld of Ytaj, real power is widely diffused across the various squabbling nobles of the vast kingdom. A near-constant state of low-level internal civil war and conflict ranging from skirmishes to outright wars of conquest with their neighbors is both the fuel and the product of this state of affairs, although the more wisely ruled regions are able to maintain some stability. But for the flow of wealth provided by its near-monopoly on bulk supplies of Amber to the rest of the galaxy, it is a poor and politically repressive region.
Economy
Amber export makes up the bulk of the Amber Suns' economic interaction with the rest of the galaxy. The foreign currency it brings in is used largely to procure high-end military hardware and luxury goods for the nobility. Although its near-monopoly on bulk amber export has been threatened in recent years by both breakaway territories and the increasing organization of the systems in bordering the core wastes beyond their control. Although military pressure has so far kept the impact of these worlds on the amber markets marginal, it is unlikely that they will be able to be suppressed indefinitely.
Only a handful of worlds are connected to Staheart communications networks, and while projects are nearly constantly proposed, they are inevitably resisted by the local lords who value their autonomy more than the connection that improved communications would bring.
Governance
The Kingdom is ruled by nobility who rule directly over individual worlds or star systems, and is divided, in the vein of ancient pre-spaceflight kingdoms of yore, into duchies, counties, principalities, and baronies ruled by local nobles, who in turn divide their nominal holdings among lesser aristocracy. As these relationships are fundamentally personalist, based on the particular history of the noble houses who rule and squabble for control over the settled planets, a consistent scheme for classifying the ranks and titles of the Kingdom does not exist. Functionally, the kingdom is divided into thirteen high-level administrative divisions, consisting of the core region ruled directly by the High King and his lower vassals, and the twelve large divisions ruled by the king's trusted (but distant) higher vassals. A small but notable number of worlds are ruled either by locally elected and imperially-recognized trade councils, by one of a handful of mega-corporations which are recognized by the crown, or by regionally influential religious sects which do not fit neatly into the hierarchy of the nobility.
The planetary nobility of the Amber Suns are bound upwards by requirements of tribute and military service to their liege above, and to protect the rule of the lesser nobles below them. In this way, through these largely personal bonds, the notion of central authority is able to be projected from Ytaj despite the notably underdeveloped networks of interplanetary communication.
Agenda
The Amber Suns (to the extent that such a fractious region can be usefully thought of as having a singular agenda) is concerned with two things above all others - the maintenance of its monopoly on bulk amber supplies, and the maintenance of its nobility's position of dominance over their subject worlds, and over each other. Thus is motivated constant internal squabbling for patronage and investment, the not-infrequent outright conflict between nominally allied houses over control of key ports and shipping lanes, and the regular crusades of conquest or suppression against their neighbors.
