Len and Maladin began as mercenaries, fighting for the government of Bluesky (described below). This was during Lentaro's original explorations using Broken Pattern. Len and Maladin became friends quickly, and both stuck around for a while, making a living as smugglers. They both grew tired of smuggling, and sold their ship, depositing the funds and what money they had left over in a Chevalian bank account in case they ever needed it in an emergency. Neither Len nor Maladin realized that they were both capable of shadow travel, and that they both planned on leaving, and hence weren't overly concerned about the money.
Bluesky
Bluesky is an independent planet, with a "democratic" government heavily backed by corporations. Some time ago they had to fight off incursions of the Feldarni, a marginally insectoid race from the nearest system. (The essentially resemble really big cockroaches with venom tipped stingers). When things took a turn for the worst, the corporations that supported the government contracted out to hire mercenaries. Maladin and Lentaro joined in then, and used their money to buy their first frigate. The predominate race is human.
Cheval
Cheval is a rugged and mountainous planet that claims neutrality. It is lacking in strategic value and inherent resources, being largely agrarian, so no one is interested in taking it over on that account. However, in the few large cities in Cheval, there are many large financial institutions. These banks allow anonymous deposits, making it ideal for less scrupulous transactions. It is this value that makes everyone want to have Cheval independent. No one trusts their neighbors to have control over this neutral local. In some ways, it's much like Switzerland.
Customs laws are fierce in some ways. Weapons of any kind are not permitted, though there are rather lax drug laws. People wanting to visit Cheval are screened heavily, and these people have seen every trick in the book. Immigrating to Cheval is even harder. The predominate race is the Chevalians, a race of stout humanoids, sometimes referred to as "gnomes".
The Church of the Rock
The Rock is a large, sentient, and believed to be psychic planetoid out in the most distant fringes of the galaxy. The Church is a growing band of low-end sorcerers dedicated to "spreading the word of the Rock", and making infrequent pilgrimages to the Rock to commune with it's Holiness. No one outside the Church is entirely certain what exactly the Rock is or what the Rock can do. Those inside the church aren't talking.
The Hegemony
Perhaps the largest human government, spanning over 50 systems, the Hegemony is a collection of local governments that nominate members to a council that governs from the planet of Melef-12. The Hegemony conforms most closely to the "tech laws" stated above. They are often times the greatest opponents to the Voorsh, and conflicts between them are common. In addition to their normal military, the Order of Franklin represents the magical wing of things. The Franklites are known to wander through the planets of the Hegemony, forming one-man law-enforcement when the need arises. In times of need, the Franklites have enormous resources to draw upon in order to deal with more supernatural problems.
Jamja
Jamja is a tropical world, it's only dry land in the form of many archipelagos. It's a popular tourist world, with nominal neutrality. Many crime lords maintain estates there, and the government is pretty much owned by them. It has banks that are similar to Cheval, though crime lords typically own these rather than the relatively innocuous gnomes of Cheval. The native race is the jamjar, a race of creatures that looks like nothing more than a mass of tentacles with one big eye. (they have a small proboscis that most people never see). However, due to the inhabitation by various crime syndicates they are hardly the dominate race.
Kingdom of Eltar
The kingdom of Eltar spans 19 systems. It is perhaps the most magically oriented of all the societies of Smuggler's Haven. The eltar are a fae-like race, being tall, and lithe, superficially androgynous (though male and female genders do exist), pale hair, and long, pointed ears. Though other races live on the Eltar worlds, and are respected as equals, only the eltar are allowed to rule.
Technology in the kingdom is a powerful blend of technology and magic. The most notable and spectacular of these are the battle suits, large techno-magical "mechas", that stand about 40 feet tall with swords and blaster cannons. They are solely used by the Knights of Eltar, and those who try to use them receive death as a penalty. Also of note are the Eltar ships, which use techno-magic to reach superluminary speeds. There are rumors that the Eltar have breached the barriers between dimensions, but it is believed to only be rumors.
Outpost 122
Outpost 122 was once a deep space exploration and monitoring station. With the expansion of colonization by various civilizations, shifts in boundary lines and the like, the need for this space station fluctuated, eventually falling into disuse with only a skeleton crew to maintain it. It was last controlled by, and located in the middle of, the small Gamar Confederacy, which sold it to the entrepreneur Max Skellen. The station was expanded, with extensive docking facilities added, living quarters, and a rather large "food and drink emporium". As the Gamar Confederacy dissolved, Outpost 122 again found itself in the midst of the borderlands, and became a convenient stopping place for spacecraft of various smugglers, privateers, and other nefarious individuals. Though there are many other stations, planets, and the like that fulfill similar roles, this was a common stopping point for Len and Mal.
The Preen Hive
The preen are a race that looks in some ways like giant praying mantises, and in others like a sea anemone. The blending of features is uneven, and sometimes horrific results come out of it. If you can imagine a tall, chitinous creature with translucent tendrils protruding from random bits, as well as infrequent fleshy trunks, that's the preen. No two look at all alike.
The preen inhabit a few dozen worlds near the galactic core. They are all joined by a hive mind, so individual personalities are a tad academic. They are natural bioengineers, capable of amazing feats of medicine. The desperate and the criminal sometimes seek them out when they need healing. The preen will deal with anyone, but their prices are steep. They are most noted for their bioships, huge living things that are capable of FTL travel. No one knows how they do it, and no one really wants to.
Stygia
The planet of Stygia is a barren desert world. It is also the refuge for the Children of the Night, a band of necromancers and black magicians that are basically not very well liked in most parts of the galaxy, and hired on a mercenary basis other places. Their current lord and master is Baashk, a blue humanoid creature. Race is not a requirement, merely a desire to serve in the interests of power.
TechCult
It is believed that the TechCult started as simply runaway AI/robot community on some distant planet. Since then, the TechCult became spiritually enlightened, and began spreading the word of the enlightment through the Machine. They (it?) actually dislike the term "TechCult", preferring Disciples of the Machine. They wander around the universe, recruiting members into their fold, making them one with the machine. Their ships are large, patchwork affairs of startlingly high levels of technology, and there are perhaps two hundred known TechCult craft wandering around. They have an ethic against involuntary recruitment, instead using their reputation and their rather convincing arguments to convince people to Merge. Think shiny, happy Borg with a good PR, and that's the TechCult. They sometimes also do body modification, supplying cyberware to those who make generous donations to the cause.
These people seriously weirded out Maladin. Len never found out why.
Voorsh Empire
The Voorsh are large, methane breathing creatures from the rim systems, they occupy a large chunk of things. Physically, they are about 20 foot tall humanoids, 10 feet wide, with a black scaly skin, taloned hands and feet, two fanged maws (one their "face" and one on their abdomen) three multi-faceted yellow eyes equidistantly positioned about their head on wide lobes (think three pronged starfish). The Voorsh Emperor is a cruel despot, and he makes the practices of the Tellurian League look cute and fuzzy. They are a bit behind the average technology curve, but make up for it in sheer brutality. If there's one thing in the all of shadow that can seriously wig out Len, even more than Osric's goons, it's the Voorsh.
