The Aphelion Saga is an interconnected set of short stories or novela set during the early and mid human disporia to the stars. The setting is very hard science fiction where humans must contend not only with the many faults of the human condition but also contend with a hostile universe beyond the garden world of Earth, a universe that very much wants nothing more than to kill them violently, quickly, and in any number of novel ways. The United Nations has just emerged from nearly two century of internecine warfare to enforce governance on the first wave of extrasolar colonies which chose to declare independence from their parent governments on Earth. The first wave colonies, now referred to as the 'core' systems have accepted their place. The newly unified UN is now the strongest economy in the galaxy by an order of magnitude, but not yet ready to impose their will on the second and third wave colonies. The econmic influence of the UN extends deep into the ring of the second wave colonies known as the 'verge' systems. They are still independent in governance, but their economies are slowly being tied to the industrial juggernaught of the core systems. The third, fourth, and fifth wave colonies are a wild west of lawlessness dotted with impoverished but stable governments. These colonies of the 'outer rim' are the focus for the Aphelion Saga. The Aphelion Saga will tend to inspect the technology and governements that man has build in the cold depths of the galaxy.