Oh, I am in the Eastern Time Zone, so I plan to start at 7:00 PM Eastern Time on a Saturday (every 2nd week). But exactly when I can do it is uncertain. I can't make any promises, haven't even read the whole rules yet. I waited 114 days to get my order in the mail, which is surely some kind of record for RPG orders, but it was due to, well, circumstances. I have an original campaign sector set at the intersection of two branches of Terran humans. It is not the Imperium. Many of the same pressures and factors mold an Imperium-like environment. One side, the Frontier, is a recently developed area run by the descendants of Americans and Americanized people. Their planets tend to have Presidents. However, over time Presidential "dynasties" have developed, so the "nobility" tend to become president and members of government more often than the common people. They go to the exclusive private schools where leadership skills are taught, as opposed to the mass-produced "McDonald's" education of the common man. Social mobility is still possible. If you opt to become a Noble character, in other words, the meaning of your "nobility" will have to be adapted to the setting. The other side of the border are the Verdulans, descendents of another branch of humanity who have fallen back into the "false comfort" of socialist systems. They have a totally other language and culture (one sample or two of the written language is in the artwork stored in the game area.) Social mobility is harder for them. People don't get individual human rights but have developed rights by virtue of membership in groups (another bad habit of humanity). Even the lowest-born humans can end up belonging in some union or guild. Power shifts are common. Each faction of society does end up sending representatives to a Presidium on each planet, and a Grand Presidium (which meets rarely) for the whole star-sector. There were limited skirmishes between the Frontier and the Verdulans (or "Greenies") 150 years ago, but things have calmed down. Relationships are cordial and trade opportunities are many, however there will be political frictions from these incompatible political systems. And to complicate things there are sophont races, none of which were fortunate enough to develop starflight before being invaded by the Frontiersmen or Verdulans.
