The Zones were pirates and mercenaries. Their nation was split into a number of rival factions who compete with each other for booty. There was no unified control of the Zones though there is a Zone Elder but it seems his role was mainly ceremonial. Its thought in times of crisis the top 6 warlords would form a Central Committee.
The Zones were clever in their operations, they tended to avoid annoying the Central Powers if they could help it. This was tied to the fact the Zones have also proven a useful mercenary force in the past meant that they were been left largely alone by the Central Powers.
The Zones were powerful. They spend their booty wisely, being regular customers of the latest military technology especially from the Utrek. This explained the strange appearance of Zone warships. Often they were older designs updated many times and dripping with cutting edge technology. In warfare the Zones were merciless and cruel though not that courageous.
Everything changed when the Zones joined with the Utrek in attacking the DDS. The Zones formed a second front designed at weakening the DDS while the Utrek attacked through the Remedian Belt. The Zones no doubt expected a strong DDS response but no one could have predicted the ruthlessness of the DDS when after destroying the Zone fleet they then saturation nuked Zoneland, rendering it a lifeless irradiated wasteland, like Wolverhampton.
The Clones stepped in to rescue what was left of the Zone nation and lifted millions of Zones off the planet before the radiation spread across the whole planet. In the largest humanitarian operation in history over 20 million Zones were lifted off and relocated on Colom in the Clone Star Empire. It is also estimated some 5 million other Zones are scattered across other worlds or in pirate ships. The population of Zoneland was once measured as 240 million however.
Zones are now being slowly integrated into the HCS with a Zone legion being set-up. Being rather fractious the Zones are not the easiest race for the Clones to accommodate in their empire but worship of Oojok is uniting them as is a hatred of humanity and a desire, one day, for revenge.
