 The Orion Colonies, or sometimes "the Rigel Colonies", is the name given to the collection of Orion-inhabited worlds in the Orion Neutrality Area, including the homeworld in the Rigel system and the many Orion colonies around it. The ONA is a sphere 34 light years (10.4 parsecs) in radius, centred on the barycentre of the Beta Orionis (Rigel) A/B/C star system. However, it is not a unified nation, but a collection of clans and colony worlds, only loosely influenced and spoken for by the Botchok Planetary Congress (BPC) and other bodies. Unlike many other spacefaring states, the Orions are not a unified population, but are instead spread out into several large factions and a great many smaller ones, separated by space, allegiances and cultural differences. They are considered decentralized, with a network of bases. Their society is generally anarchic. They claim no sovereign space and were not an imperial power. Some Colonies were Federation members or possessions of the Klingon Empire. There were over a hundred Orion Colonies in the late 23rd century, and despite hardships, most of these worlds maintained at least one purely Orion settlement.
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