SF Without The Sathar and UPF

I have been thinking about how differently SF would be if there was no shadowy adversary like the Sathar, nor a major multilateral government force like the UPF.<br />

<br />There would still be mysterious aliens, but not as the ominous, overarching threat as presented with the Sathar. I never liked the Sathar, as they always felt shoehorned in, and they go above and beyond the keep them mysterious, thus robbing them of any real dimension or playability. Naturally, they where the product of making the game kid-friendly, as its easier to have a clearly evil enemy, then a world cast in shades of gray. In fact, the Alpha Dawn modules plays much better without them! The bast enemy the Frontier has, are themselves.<br />

<br />Beyond the cliché nature of the Federation, they only really serve the setting to be the good guys. They fight-off the Sathar, and they keep hostilities between worlds and megacorps in check. They are the shinning light of hope in a world surrounded by dangers and darkness. Without them and the Sathar, the worlds of the Frontier would be fairly chaotic, with those in power trying seize more power. Such a climate is perfect for adventuring!<br />

<br />Removing them is not that hard. There are enough planetary governments, corporations, criminal groups, and independent groups to fill the vacuum of both. If you sill what your worms, take an unexplored system or two and mark them as S'sessu worlds (in Dragon Magazine #96, they suggest <i>&quot;two stellar systems (each with one small inhabited planet) lying ten light years from the Gruna Garu system, on a line running from Dixon?s Star to Gruna Garu and on to the S?sessu worlds&quot;</i>, and they called one of the worlds <i>Phri?'sk</i>). As for Star Law, they can work like normal, but they lack the support of a major multilateral government council and large space fleet. Although, planetary defense forces could get a way with larger fleet sizes - as opposed to the dinky little Militia fleets.<br />

<br />So what do you guys think of such an alternative it the setting?