I'll include the lanes, probably in the morning since I'm about to sleep. As for the 'society' I'm trying for at least 3 different 'factions' I say society because I'm not sure what the term that's bigger than nation/faction if they're not allied. The different factions will each be getting their own articles for elaboration on their specific traits.
As for why someone would want a space where you go slower; right now in SARP FTL interdiction isn't really a thing. I can't remember if the discussion made it possible or not, but it's not really used in setting either way. So you have to catch someone near a star system in it's hill sphere. So if you wanted to do something underhanded you had to wait till they entered a system that was not well guarded, or till they stopped at their location. You couldn't really catch someone while they were traveling. This also tends to lead to star ships in conflict not being very mobile, because they weren't moving much in the first place. (Yes there are some fighters where the motions of the ships became important but a lot of the time it might as well just be sitting there.)
The point of this space is to create a traveling environment where a greater % of the voyage is risky, primarily form assault, but from other hazards as well. This will also also for more 'events' that aren't always bad between destinations. Generally in SARP you get your mission, warp to location and start your mission. But this increases the tools a GM has to have the crew take a detour. Or even just time for some crew drama before they arrive (as you can go form one end of the sector to another in a about 200 hours in just a Henkei class ship
In short I want to make a place where I can take things back to the age of sail.