The Threshold

The Threshold is the colloquial name for a vast strip of space along the border of the Gaian Empire and the Xukumid Dominion. Home to both undeveloped frontier worlds and decaying urban areas, The Threshold became the main battlefield during the Expansion Wars, as each empire attempted to claim The Threshold and its plentiful resources for itself.

The Threshold was tentatively settled and explored by private interests of both Xukumid and Gaian origins long before the two governments had grown to the point where formal colonization was possible. As a result, The Threshold is an area of cultural and ethnic mingling where Xukumid and Gaian settlers often live more or less peacefully side by side. Racial tensions grew during the wars, but have since returned to a semblance of normalcy. This mutual tolerance is confined to the organic races, however - the Animech, who have been a presence in The Threshold since the Animech Plague epidemic at the height of the wars, are generally viewed with distrust.

Since the Treaty of Sidon and the end of the Expansion Wars, The Threshold has been a lawless land outside either Xukumid or Gaian jurisdiction. Peaceful settlers and legal corporate ventures are prey to all sorts of pirates, slavers, and sundry criminals, and even the humblest farmer or merchant requires at least some basic strength of arms to avoid victimization.