Farther than the Farthest Stars

Very far-off future. Humanoid races that originated under the light of the Sun and other stars spread all over the boundless Universe; the space where they settled is called the Great Galaxies. All these star people are one humankind genetically, and representatives of its various branches can interbreed, have common children and give birth to new races. However, the stage of these worlds' development and social structure differ in many aspects: there are safe and happy planets like Eden, and people there live like in paradise, and there are poor planets, where violence and cruelty reign. Distances between inhabited worlds are great, there are its own rulers in each of them, they have their traditions and customs, their own civilizations, but there is something uniting them: all-galaxy unions and alliances, and their ships are capable to cover millions of light years in several days. Some of them, Archives and Astronauts League, are the keepers of knowledge; the others, Arbitration Court, Star Patrol and Corps for Protection of the Environment, keep the order in the human race community; the interests of the third, Transport Union and Galactic Trade Corporation, are focused on transportation, industry and trade. There is also a powerful religious organization — the Monasteries; their influence and power encompass thousands of star systems. ...