There’s a reason vast swaths of humanity live nomadically: nearly every serious transaction in the void flows through a port. A habitat’s docking rings are its lifeblood—their size, variety, and specialty dictate the station’s prosperity and its citizens’ quality of life. Ports are more than loading bays; they double as trauma wards, construction yards, and security checkpoints rolled into one. Hospital flotillas perform zero‑G surgeries, protection fleets refuel, and mobile foundries weld new superstructure at eight kilometers per second. If it matters—trade, medicine, defense, or evacuation—it happens at the port gates. Smart nomads, therefore, follow the glow of the best‑lit rings.

That’s where every kind of outfit rubs hulls—suited conglomerate reps, nav‑flag bureaucrats, merc gunboats, and wandering guild cadets. To decode the chaos, here are the six major classes of spacefaring groups:

Classes of Spacefaring Groups

1. Corporate Conglomerates – Polished indigo hulls, gold asset tags, and private gunboat escorts. They own freight lanes, bankroll deep‑space R&D, and hire ex‑navy crews. Motto: profit first, mercy last.
2. Governmental Coalitions – Matte‑gray cruisers with sector crests. Duties: customs, SAR, and flag‑plants when new wormholes ping. Expect stamped manifests and sidearms at every airlock.
3. Mercenary Companies – Scarlet‑striped gunships flown by soldiers of fortune. Convoy escort, orbital sieges, bounty clean‑ups. Loyalty ends when the cred clears.
4. NGOs & Nomads – White‑and‑teal rescue barges and patchwork caravans. Hospital flotillas, disaster relief, library arks archiving endangered cultures.
5. Independent Flotillas – Welded ship‑towns with graffiti livery. Node miners, barter markets, VR temple pilgrimages. Follow their barter rules or get spaced.
6. Guild Academies – Brushed‑steel cadet cruisers etched with neon‑blue runes. Mobile universities trading tuition for service; live‑fire apprenticeships in astro‑engineering and xeno‑medicine.

Why It Matters

Humanity functions like a multi‑cellular organism, and the inter‑settlement distribution network is its circulatory system. Cargo haulers pump essentials through Zone 1’s Blue Roads, keeping habitats alive. Hull color is your handshake: corp blue earns a berth, merc red a wary turret, guild silver a job offer. Know the livery, know the stakes.

Survival Quick‑Hits

• Hail before you dock. Independent flotillas shoot first if you skip the handshake code.
• Bribes > Bullets. Merc crews respect an untraceable cred‑stick more than a sob story.
• Guild favors last. A spare part for a cadet ship today might buy you a reactor overhaul tomorrow.