Type 12 Societies

A Type-12 society is an interstellar superpower, able to dominate (either militarily, economically, or socially) an entire quadrant, and with a reputation that may span its entire galaxy. These societies are generally heavily concerned with self-maintenance; this is an era of political infighting, diplomacy, and social development.

By the late 24th Century, the Federation encompasses thousands of worlds and is an unavoidable political, diplomatic, military, and cultural influence in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants --and is known by reputation as far as the Delta and Gamma Quadrants. (Star Trek Nemesis, 2002)

At this level, "society" might well be comprised of multiple independent-yet-allied governments, with citizens free to travel among them at will. Claimed space will be well-patrolled and monitored, both to police criminals (who may upset the delicate political balance) and to avoid any aggressive incursions from neighbouring powers.

A war between two Type-12 civilizations will leave entire planets devastated and uninhabitable --which may require further expansion in search of new worlds to house millions or even billions of displaced refugees.

Any Type-12 society that remains expansionistic will need a highly-efficient infrastructure. Generally, this society is more likely to expand by assimilating or absorbing its neighbours, rather than displacing or occupying them.

While massive Macross colony-fleets spread across the galaxy, their mastery of spacefold allows them to remain in contact, forming a unified, yet mostly spacegoing society. (Macross Frontier, 2008)

Footprint: Quadrant.

Sustainable Population: Hundred trillions, including multiple species.

Government: Representative republic, based on a heavily-trafficked Throneworld.

Bureaucracy: Pervasive and factionalized. Potentially deadlocked, leaving this society trapped in stasis. Some factions may operate completely independently with no oversight.

Language: Various, with a common tongue that may be the primary language of most citizens. Technological translation will be common, and adaptable to foreign civilizations (to facilitate diplomacy).

Literacy: Universal.

Network: Universal, with near-instant quadrant-wide communication, likely government-maintained. Traffic/bandwidth access may be tightly-controlled.

Religion: Various. Possibly state-sponsored as a means of social control (in which case heretics will be branded as traitors).

Science: Fully-sapient AI is now common, as are solid-state holograms (possibly supported by portable projectors). Exploration of extragalactic and extradimensional space is being carried out by both government and private interests. Means may be found of harnessing or inducing wormholes. Time-travel is a recognized phenomenon, though it may remain technologically out of reach. Full neural-mapping and engrammatic backup are possible, and mecha may rely entirely on a pilot's neural interface. Personal teleportation is readily available. More advanced forms of (faster, farther-reaching) FTL travel will likely be discovered.

By the 24th Century, the Federation is capable of mass-producing fully self-aware holograms --though it still struggles with recognizing their personhood. (Star Trek Voyager, 1995)

Medicine: Technology allows for the full regeneration of lost limbs (no prosthetics or transplants necessary). Genetic therapy, reconstructive surgery, and body-modification are easily accomplished (though they may be legally constrained). Most citizens will have slight genetic modifications and nano-implants. Genetic resequencing allows for interspecies reproduction.

Education: Universal and standardized. All citizens will be familiar with space travel, advanced technology, and interspecies contact (classrooms will be increasingly multicultural). Career training is beginning to make use of neural imprinting; "loading" knowledge directly into students' brains.

Energy: Advanced reactors are trivially common --portable cells will dwarf the capacity of ancient power plants. Wireless energy will be commonly available.

Industry: Personal atomic-scale replicators will be common, with large-scale industrial replicators controlled by governments (which will own most resources). Nanomaterials will make up a majority of products. Aesthetics are now fully as important as practical function --technology from this society will carry a distinctive style, and designers/artisans will be as highly-regarded as technological innovators.

The Borg's distinctively brutally functional technology is instantly recognized and feared throughout the Delta Quadrant and beyond. (Star Trek First Contact, 1996)

Military: Massive and unified, adept at multiple forms of space combat (interstellar, inter-orbital, close-range orbital bombardment, etc). The military (or its equivalent) may be the largest single agency within this civilization, employing a majority of the population in some form. Weapons are available that can depopulate or defoliate a planet.

Economy: Post-scarcity economy is fully developed; citizens work for credits. Rare or hard-to-replicate materiel will still be valuable, but trade no longer drives the economy (it is now the province of hobbyists and collectors). Shopping centres will serve more as community hubs (filled with restaurants, gaming parlours, and theatres) than for shopping (which will be done by in-home replicators). In order to maintain the large population, entire planets may be given over to specific functions (industrial worlds, academic worlds, resort worlds, etc) --the shipyards around various homeworlds will have been largely dismantled and relocated to more out-of-the-way worlds.

Food: Replicators now provide for most food needs, aside from rare delicacies. Large-scale farming gradually downsizes --most food crops will be processed, frozen, and exported to less-advanced colonies.

Travel: AI-assisted interplanetary and interstellar travel is now available to all citizens (requiring no formal training). Teleporters are becoming common for short-range point-to-point travel (interstellar transportation may become possible using wormhole technology). Interstellar trips are casual (for vacations and school trips), though pirates and mercenaries are probably common.

The Tribe of Bronze uses personal teleportation to deploy in a swarm attack. (Heroic Age, 2007)

Spaceflight: Even personal shuttles now carry full FTL drives, though newer "super-FTL" technology is likely restricted to full-sized starships. Larger ships may be able to enter an atmosphere or even land on a planet's surface (relying on structural integrity fields and durable construction to hold together under gravity and pressure). Beacons and relay satellites are becoming rarer, thanks to more advanced ansible technology.

Alien contact: Casual. A society this large will be familiar with most nearby stellar nations (and those about to become stellar nations), and unidentified species will be met with only mild curiosity (any catalogue of different species is only haphazardly maintained). Even individual homeworlds will have fully mixed populations, and the Throneworld's population may no longer show a clear majority (there are "aliens" who have lived there for multiple generations).

Given the variety of aliens present on Earth, the Aku-dominated future appears to be at least a Type-12 civilization. (Samurai Jack, 2001)

Examples (reality):
Examples (fiction): Borg Collective, United Federation of Planets (24th Century), Khitomer Alliance, Tribe of Iron, Tribe of Bronze, Asurans, Aku-ruled Earth (estimated by alien population density).