There are, in fact, a number of splinter groups in the world (or the
universe, I suppose) of B-5. There are individuals who claim residency in no
particular group or government, they're free-traders of the purest sort.
Within the Earth Alliance, things are structured more or less along the lines
of the Commonwealth of Independent States we're seeing now, with one
monolithic voice that speaks in tersm of foreign policy, but within the
framework of everything else -- domestic policy, economics and the like -- the
independent state makes its own rules.

So their are colonies and fringe areas that consider themselves by and
large independent. And, from time to time, there will be sparks of secession
and the like. I've never much liked the Gleaming Steel Of A Perfect
Federation approach; I like things a little more tentative, less sure. And
for that matter, even WITHIN the E.A., there are factions and problems and
power struggles and the like. Wheels within wheels.

As for locations inside B-5...we've designed a number of very different
looks and locations to give it a non-claustrophobic feel. By virtue of being
patterned physically after the work of such scientists as Gerard K. O'Neil,
the absolute center of the elongated station (which revolves to provide
gravity) is a sort of hollow-world look, with fields and hydroponic gardens
along the 386-degree circular section (which is about a half-mile, or a mile
across)...and as you get closer to the absolute center, where a transport tube
cuts from one end of the station to the other, naturally you get less and less
gravity until you can literally hang suspended.

And there are living areas designed to accommodate different
environments and atmospheres and conditions. The alien sectors are off-limits
to humans without protection (breathing gear and other measures). Similarly,
a heavy CO2 breather or methane breather would have to wear an encounter suit
to travel among the humans on the station. In addition, the B-5 station is
actually made up of several independent (though connected) sections, each
revolving at a different speed in order to create alternative areas of
gravity.

Parts of the station are still under construction, and parts are
finished. Some sections are in daylight, some in night, alternating by level
and sector. On the very outer ring, the viewports are in panels ON THE FLOOR,
so you're looking down and out into space, revolving beneath your feet.

BTW...the Babylon 5 station isn't just floating there. It's at the L-5
point in a binary star system between a moon and a barren, lifeless planet.

Well, a *theoretically* barren and lifeless planet, anyway....

But that's Year Two....

jms