Isseio Alpha’s Hayato Empire controls about 37% of the habitable strip, and they’ve paused their conquests to consolidate their rule via an infrastructure spending spree. Icebreaker ships, railroads, planeways, highways, and expansive set of ports on the Hayato Archipelago that services the nearby cosmic updraft.

The Hayato have achieved parity with the poorer members of the Protectorate. Their population has risen to 147 million, urbanization is rising, and crop yields are up. The Empire is passing cultural reforms, such as universal male education, to turn the disunited clan territories into a proper, modern, centralized nation.

Which has been the cause of recent friction with the clans.

Historically, the clans were autonomous vassals who pledged loyalty to the king, who held ceremonial and religious duty, and were militarily led by the shogun to wage war against snow demons and continentals.

After the clans failed to prevent Hayato’s annexation into the Protectorate and the shogun was disgraced, then-king Akihito Hayato used his influence to unite the clans behind his vision of starification; emulating the people of the stars. To bring the clans along with his ambitions, King Akihito promised conquered lands to his loyal vassals.

But now they’re at a crossroads. Starification has progressed well but isn’t complete, while the clans are more powerful than ever, possessing vast swaths of continental territory and even greater ambitions. The current Emperor, Mutsuhito Hayato, has been working for years to sideline the clans and make them subservient to the state.

Today, he and his ministers released the Constitution of the Sun Empire, which seeks to lay the groundwork of that centralized state, its powers, limitations, functions, and the role of the common Hayato citizen. While the clans do retain some privileges, they’re heavily sidelined in the constitution, with even hard caps to their armed forces.