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There
are few things more frustrating than trying to determine the geography
of an interstellar political entity without maps.
Even with clearly marked maps, it can be difficult; maps generally
display two dimensions, while the actual stars are in three.
A few maps, usually poorly drawn, give us most of our geographic area; more rarely,
dialogue or thoughts give us explicit dimensions, or held territories.
Figures given are generally as non-specific as possible - two weeks'
travel, eight thousand light years, a million worlds - which means our
precision is essentially limited to one significant figure.
Fortunately, we have enough vague references to be absolutely sure of
what that single significant figure means.
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