@monsterblue Oh, as for making the cultures distinct, yeah, my big worry was always leaning too far in the other direction and relying too much on stereotyping for each civilization. Keet and I always tried to get across that every 12Fold civ is made up individuals-- you will find serious, efficient Martians; scheming criminal mooncats; selfless mystic Jovians; hypnosquid who just want to hang out, watch 20th-century TV, and try Doritos...
We also cheated by modeling each civ after a friend. XD