Factions
There are three known major factions which will exist in Elite: Dangerous. These are the Alliance, the Empire, and the Federation.
There may be other factions that we have not yet been given information about (we're currently in the gamma testing phase) which could be linked to pirates, mercenaries, covert organisations, corporations, political affiliates, totally independent entities, or even aliens!
Each faction will be sure to have different attributes, goals, motivations, and philosophies.