The Independent Habitats, more commonly known as Freehab, are a community of economically interdependent off earth settlements with polycentric governance managed by a central board as a not for profit corporation. Originating as a loose association of traders and colonies aiming to expand their commercial interests, during the Retrograde Diaspora Freehab was strengthened by politician Marcus Okafor and contract lawyer Anna Reyes as means of resisting assimilation back into Earth polities. It has a sizable economy and a significant naval presence in many parts of the solar system, and exercises proxy power over most trade in the outer solar system via its control of the Outer Trading League.

Freehab was officially incorporated in 46 BFC in large part due to the efforts of two individuals. Marcus Okafor (29 December 91 BFC - present) was originally an operator of vacuum welder drones who rose to prominence as a mining platform safety advocate in the aftermath of the Gamma substrate disaster in 64 BFC. His exposure of systematic safety deferrals by Semiotican were largely responsible for the annulment of contracts with Semiotican and his election as the Dominio appointed manager of the Gaspra asteroid platforms. In 57 BFC he joined the marriage of Zsófia Ardour and Cecile Riddle, and in 55 BFC the three of them had a child, Augustine Okafor, through spindle nuclear transfer.

Anna Reyes (1 November 88 BFC - 2nd May 14 AFC) grew up in an Ellulist community in Alberta in the United States. During her teenage years she claims to have had a vision of a saint surrounded by angels while watching a documentary about drone control systems for asteroid mining, and that these visions reoccurred later in life involving other saints and martyrs of the church. She studied law and first met Marcus in 55 BFC while working as Amazon's senior legal counsel for habit lease agreements. Marcus officially joined the Ellulist church shortly after they met, and she entered Marcus' line marriage on the 16th May, 47 BFC.

During the early part of the 40s Marcus and Anna worked together to a series of legal challenges, industrial actions and trade agreements with other main belt platforms and trade organisations. Through the Ellulist church they sponsored documentaries and news segments outlining the case against the self-reinforcing integrated systems being created by the large corporations and creating a manifesto for an independent and organically organised system of governance. With the support of a group including a trade vessel magnate and the extraterestrial drone operators union, on the 2nd February 46 BFC Marcus was able seize power in a bloodless coup, and on the 11th Feb established himself as governor of a newly created cooperative of several Dominio platforms and habitats. While Dominio had been bought off by retaining some face saving nominal authority and did retain shares and right of first refusal on many of the cooperatives existing mining contracts, Marcus was now effectively an independent governor.

In the following years Anna defended the cooperative from a Semiotican resource extraction claim that was an attempt to take control of the cooperative, and during the 43-41 BFC period she spent significant time on Mars and Earth defending the cooperative from Dominio lawfare attempting to reassert control over parts of the incorporated colonies. Meanwhile Marcus had been coordinating a group of colonies with enough economic leverage to construct their own, Dominio branded but effectively independent, military shipyard. On the 2nd June 40 BFC Anna was elected as the CEO of the rapidly expanding cooperative, and she appointed Marcus to the position of first Admiral of the Freehab Fleet. During the 30s the fleet fought a number of skirmishes with Greater Zhōngguó funded privateers and insurrections attempting to take control of Freehabs lithium mines.

During both the first and second transit wars Freehab maintained a policy of armed neutrality, and its last significant mobilisation was during the First Contact Event. In 3 BFC Anna retired as CEO and her and Marcus' daughter Polaris Okafor-Reyes was elected as CEO in her place. In 10 AFC Polaris was able to secure a number of significant trade agreements with the Elluist sympathetic Fatimid Trade Caliphate. As the smallest of the outer system navies, Freehab has always attempted to achieve its political objectives through indirect means such as the Outer Trading League, and funding sympathetic organisations such as the Ellulist church and the Freeholders.