Polities

Polities are defined as systems of government, administration, economy, and diplomacy with territorial scope, and are considered autonomous astropolitical actors within the galactic framework.

In the Traveller™ universe, a polity is essentially a sovereign-scale entity —ranging from an empire to a small corporation.

The Corporate Wars adopts this concept to refer to the same macrostructures of governance that directly influence gameplay.

Each polity acts as a decision-making entity: it sets rules, manages resources, controls territory, wages war, negotiates or trades with other polities, and may be controlled either by players or by AI, integrating strategic simulation with interactive narrative.

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At the level of game governance, polities represent the abstraction of factions that players or AI can influence or join: from corporate consortia to interstellar empires, with the power to enact laws, manage borders, intervene in local economies, or lead strategic conflicts.

Most high-level polities are primarily governed by artificial intelligence. However, players control lower-level entities —individual actors, corporations— that operate within the broader political ecosystem.

The system is designed to allow influence in both directions: bottom-up pressure can impact higher-scale decisions, while top-down directives shape the strategic environment in which players act.

From this dynamic emerges Collaborative Individualism in the form of a global political metagame: systemic reform, subversion, collaboration, or the coordinated drafting of regulations —turning it into a living, responsive layer of the simulation.