Starfield fans feel that Bethesda missed a golden opportunity to throw the players straight into the Colony War, instead of dealing with the aftermath. Starfield takes place in the Settled Systems, a cluster of stars that have three (arguably four) main factions vying for influence: the United Colonies, the Freestar Collective, the Crimson Fleet, and the enigmatic House Va'ruun, whose homeworld lies beyond the Settled Systems. While there is a mild rivalry intertwined throughout the game between the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective, the only major conflict that Starfield deals with concerns the Crimson Fleet squaring off against SysDef.