I'm looking to more thoroughly flesh out the NPC personnel of a mercenary company active during the 3070s, and wanted to get a general perspective on what people here feel are the most prevalent cultural characteristics of people from each of the Great Houses/Empires (and possibly the major periphery powers too).
As an example: House Kurita obviously has a kind of Samurai culture. But what else stands out about people from there? What readily marks an individual as coming from that nation/culture? What readily marks an individual as coming from each of the following?
01 - Capellan Confederation
02 - Draconis Combine
03 - Federated Commonwealth
04 - Free Worlds League
05 - Lyran Alliance
06 - Magistracy of Canopus
07 - Outworlds Alliance
08 - Taurian Concordat
09 - Periphery
01 - Capellan Confederation --- ant state with quite obedient citizens. like older china... very much centralized. citizenship rights compareable to the world of starship troopers
03 - Federated Suns --- maybe its my prejudice, but i always compare them quite a lot to the usa. imperialistic, industry and wealth centered in few spots (systems in this case) and large regions without much development. those from the centers tend to be a bit arrogant with the "we are the best"-attitude (well... americans lol ) while those from the outback tend to be less educated, more hardworking but also thinking "at least i am ameri.... ehhhh fed sun citizen!" ;)
04 - Free Worlds League --- a conglomerate of independant states. bound together by common threats. but i never really looked close enough to distinguish those states
05 - Lyran Alliance --- bickering with each other, dislike of higher ups coupled with what we call "obrigkeitshörigkeit" in germany (obedient towards authorities) and proud of their strong industrial and mercantile leanings
06 - Magistracy of Canopus --- well known for their medical services and "pleasure circusses" (make of that what you wish ;) ). a real matriarchy. men are underpriviliged towards women (not extreme, but still)
07 - Outword Alliance --- backwards realm with quite a strong dislike for the star league. because the old sl bombed them into their impoverished state. preferring aerospace units (read:fighters) over mechs
08 - Taurian Concordate --- similar to the outworld alliance. with a special feud towards the federated suns and not as peaceful as the outworld alliance. likes mechs, but has a strong infantry arm in the military
09 - Periphery --- scared of pirates (or pirates themselves), dont like the imperialistic inner sphere, many many different planetary cultures. a special mention to the marian hegemony which is basically space rome with a bit more vicious touch. founded by pirates, but now really like space rome.
these tend to be the generalistic catchalls of all those mentioned. but we are talking about a scifi setting where basically every culture from today is represented in every realm. oh.... and dont forget northwind (space scots with pipebags and skirts/kilts who have a great reputation as mercs) and the world of the azami (space muslims, having several autonom systems in kurita space).
i hope, this post helps and isnt too late ( 3 weeks + after the original question ;) )