FOXTAIL HYPERSPACE BELT - RUBIJA SECTOR
Fumi's homeworld is where a lot of witches like her come from, but its not the only place or the most significant, but seen by the mandate core as a key entry point to further gains against the FTU. Her kind of witches are distinct from other magic users in okanverse in that their "world-spirits", the broader name for the category of entities that mediate magic powers, seem able to enact their powers roughly the same degree of effectiveness across all worlds, so theyre seen as strategically useful.
im still thinking about that part - theyre not a be all end all, since "skill implants" are a thing although generally restricted from the base populace, so its possible for agents to load new knowledge as necessary, but i dunno. maybe the real subversive potential of them is that they're a source of -popular- subversive potential since ordinary people living in these places can potentially gain higher powers from the world-spirit that they can use anywhere
anyway, fumi lives in the rubija sector, which is a region of many FTU states under a "common economic zone" declared with pressure from the Mandate as well as a handful of local powers with Mandate-influenced government. the Rubija-CEZ sets terms of trade (in favor of the Mandate core), relaxing foreign investment policies, interest and property laws, etc; and discourages attempts by the Rubija states to federate into a larger pan-regional state, as many factions within the region wish for to repel the advance of the Mandate.
also butting up against the RCEZ on fumi's side of the border is a nascent great power / superpower, Sifaks, which is relevant to another storyline im starting to develop. maybe fumi will even get involved? i'm thinking about it
as the Mandate's campaign of regime destabilization rages on, funding insurgencies, inciting conflicts, inflaming tensions and so forth, industries and availability of goods and such are affected and other stuff
Fumi's homeworld is one of a number of hotspots of her Kami magic in the FTU (other cultures have different names for it, i'm still working on a general name lol). the Mandate is interested in it strategically i think and that's part of the reason for the war. as well as to gain some major leverage on the FTU and get the resource rich countries in the region to sell cheap to Mandate buyers and break FTU shipping lines
SIFAKS, RISING SUPERPOWER
also butting up alongside the Rubija sector on the FTU side of the border is a larger strong state, and emerging superpower, called Sifaks. Sifaks is a pressure cooker of different interests, and many factions in Rubija look to them as an example as well, seeking to create a strong unified state to repel Mandate advances. they're technically loyal to the FTU, but much of their political / bureaucrat class is interested in the prospect of carving their own "third way" apart from both the FTU and the Mandate, and with the Mandate exerting leverage against FTU loyalists in the region, they see the Mandate's weakening of FTU control in the region as both a threat and a sort of opportunity, a chance at gaining a slice of international power pie against the big blocs.
there are a lot of factions in tension in this country: aside from the ruling local bureaucrats trying to marshal popular support for their project, there's also the FTU loyalists backed by various non-capitalist political interests and the Mandate interventionists backed by capital, as well as proponents of the pan-regional Rubija state, representatives of impoverished communes and communities languishing under poor domestic policies and the shifting around of resources toward arms buildup as well as cracking down on dissidents and establishing popular enemies, a lotta different bubbles in the pressure cooker.
FTU SUPERPOWERS - ABAZU REPUBLIC
okan and lauri both come from Laru in the Abazu Republic, one of the FTU superpowers. maybe "polis" would be a good word for asteroid megacities, lol... in a sense it is kind of a "city-state".
Abazu (or whatever i decide to call it because Abazu is an Igbo first name i think and that might sound silly) is one of the more like socialist-ish superpowers. i guess what i'd kinda compare them to is the trek Federation. they maintain nice living for a lot of people and espouse socialist-ish aims but also are a hierarchical society who do crappy stuff and have bad policies, and they are content to aspire to "coexist peacefully" with plenty of other powers who are not very nice at all. or something like that. no "race realism is okay when it's aliens" but other stuff
but they are basically among the nicer places to live if you can get in. Ruby and her girlfs also live there, and its got more like openly horny stuff. erin also lives in laru