How about a pair of TAs covering the Old Worlds pocket empire, way out in the Gateway Domain. The OW seem perfect, because:
- 18 worlds is big enough for a good solid bit of campaigning but small enough to detail without leaving 90% of the worlds out like most sector/domain books
- They have high and low pop worlds, ranging from a thousand sophs up to sixty billion
- Don't have to worry about the cold, dead hand of canon too much
- They have the same position as the 3I (toughest kid on the block), but on a manageable scale
- There's a TL14 world (high for 993) with a class A starport to get your ship built and repaired
- They don't have to be run by bloody nobles
- About 1000 years of continuous history
- Neigbours include renegades, mysterious and scary aliens, pirate PEs, merchant PEs, a world-spanning Droyne Oytrip, all kinds of indie worlds, and the K'Kree and Hiver outskirts are just over the horizon
- There are roles for ships from J1 to J6
- They have a serious military, which gets plenty of use because...
- They act as regional policeman, lots of task forces and peacekeeping ops
- There's cold war with the Katowice Conquest (diplomacy, espionage, general tension)
- There's hot war with the Kafoe Dominate (mysterious aliens, spec ops, fleet actions, and one space battle lost already)
What's not to like? Here's a possible outline, now MJD just has to write it with his third hand...
PLAYERS' TA
Rationale
- The purpose of this TA and its intended market
History, Politics and Foreign Relations
- Repeat and expand on the Gateway 993 book's info
- Conferderation can work at interstellar distances
- The concerns of a pocket empire
- A tradition as regional policeman
- Cold war with the Katowice Conquest
- Hot war with the Kafoe Dominate
The Old Worlds Military
- History, size, role, doctrine, culture, forces, commitments, intelligence
The Old Worlds as Local Policeman
- Where, why, how
Economics and Trade
- Scale of trade, trading partners, piracy risks
- Possibly variant rules for trading in OW if required for consistency
- Communications (post and Xboat surrogate)
18 system descriptions
- Similar detail to Linkworlds, design in combination as far as possible
REFEREE's TA
Referee's info about the Kafoe and Katowice Conquest
Rumours, Adventure Seeds, Patron Encounters, and Amber Zones
Sample explanations to mysteries in Players' TA (suggestions and inspiration, not canon)
Any information needed for future canon compatability (e.g. Kafoe/deadspace?)
An adventure
Descriptions of any systems outside OW needed to support the above