In light of my current lack of, well, working on the Ecumene, what exists of the writing about Vislar Space will be presented here- including informal notes.

See the International Map for an image of Vislar Space.

History:

In modern times, the two strongest powers in Vislar space are both called the Ninth Galactic Supremacy. One is run by superintelligences and controls the area around the central dyson spheres and the ancient worlds there, while the other is not run by superintelligences and controls a slim majority of the nigh-inexhaustible ancient resource caches (though these are valuable mostly for their sheer size- they are somewhat outmoded by more recent developments, but form the very base of the infrastructural difference between Vislar space and other parts of the galaxy). They are commonly referred to respectively as the Selir Empire and the Kadhj-Melette Federacy, for their capital systems and governmental formats.

The Selir Empire and the Kadhj-Melette Federacy, along with every other polity in the region, rely on the Emery Webline for many things. The Emery Webline is a superintelligence-only polity built on a few previously-neglected resource caches on opposing edges of Vislar space, and it leveraged this unused bounty to give itself an industrial capacity rivalling regions several times its size. Several dyson spheres of the rare open variety exist within their territory, each matching at least a hundred highly developed systems. Hence, the Emery Webline has constructed nearly 60% of all spacecraft within Vislar space- and has a similar grasp on unrivalled-speed ansibles, reactors, other equipment, and even actual services. The Selir Empire, being the largest superintelligence-run state in Vislar space, is allowed by the Emery Webline to operate their ships and constructs without supervision- but the Kadhj-Melette Federacy is very much not. As such, upon its formation the Kadhj-Melette Federacy elected to reinvent many industries rather than give superintelligences a backdoor into their entire merchant fleet- but it managed it faster than the Selir Empire's superintelligences expected, and in doing so ruined the Selir Empire's expansion plans. While Federacy ships must still file very precise flight plans for any trip further than a few light-years outside Vislar space, they are still under considerably less surveillance than any superintelligence-manufactured ship.

The Kadhj-Melette Federacy has made many attempts to get a leg up on the more advanced powers in Vislar space, and for the most part these efforts have succeeded in making it nearly on par with other local powers. One of these, though, failed spectacularly- the entity now known as the Icardjit Cooperator. The Icardjit Cooperator was initially constructed in the Nansar system outside of Vislar space as part of a Federacy program to create a nonsapient superintelligence for managing national logistics. When the next Federacy government was elected, it reacted with horror to the idea of having a superintelligence in government- but due to the fact that the Nansar system was in barren space, it was easily cut loose. Since then, the Icardjit Cooperator has expanded through neighboring barren systems and occasionally actually assisted others if their activities are not detrimental to its own- but if it is sapient, it does not seem to desire to show it.

The primary conflict within Vislar space as of the past millenium is between the Federacy and the Empire, and each couches this conflict in their own moral terms. The Empire often calls it chaos versus negentropy, while the Federacy reads it as freedom versus tyranny. Most of Vislar space is too caught up in this conflict to add another pole to it, and most polities fall into one bloc or another. The largest polity to break this mold is the theoretically Federacy-bloc Ayetta Coalition, a polity with a remarkably large superintellgence population. The Ayetta Coalition is one of the longest-lived attempts to create an equitable polity for both superintelligences and normal people, but equally attracts derision due to the fact that its protocols for this are derived from the Ecumene's own ways of handling it.

The Imherut Curatory is an isolationist breakaway from the Emery Webline, and yet is notable for being one of the Vislar states most willing to to deal with outsiders. The small band of superintelligences that directly run the Curatory have had a tumultuous relationship with other local states, once even evolving into a war that included the first direct skirmishes between forces of the Kadhj-Melette Federacy and the Selir Empire in a millenium. The Imherut Curatory, while one of the largest contiguous states, is something of an enigma in local politics- it's made alliances with many second-tier states on either side at various times, at one time even including a shaky alliance with the Federacy. At the moment, it is soundly disliked due to recently embarking on a campaign to increase the amount of relics and artifacts in its collection by moving entire museums in other polities into its territory.

The Chamid Hierate is one of several claimants to the throne of the Eighth Galactic Supremacy, and while fairly large for such a polity is rather definitively not descended from it. It was originally established as a pro-Federacy breakaway from the Selir Empire, but the most cynical of observers designate it as a state co-opted by superintelligences. Its central government, though split into thirds like the territory of the state itself, consists of several small councils all theoretically weighing their decisions based on the advice of captive superintelligences while leveraging the success of said advice in the past to prove their right to rule. While they are elected, each councilmember is instructed to take on one of a set of 33 names and concerns for each council meeting- one designated Alhriva, for instance, is intended to focus primarily on energy production. Each concern is the head of a bureau of government, which itself is founded on a similar council method- nationalistic imagery often depicts this system as analogous to splitting light into a rainbow of extreme clarity.

Notes

Vislar Space was first designed as my spoof of Orion's Arm and of the "Space Cadet" alternate history timeline by rvbomally. I don't particularly like either of them. As such, I wrote a list of polities and their inspirations:

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