But really, I already have a bunch of ideas for how I want things to work-- way more subplots than I'll ever need too. My biggest source of inspiration is from pictures (which I take from Deviant art-- I probably have over 500 right now, all sci-fi and handpicked) including scenes of trouble (subplots) and landscapes/cities (city ideas) as we as portraits (character designs). My second source is that huge list of RP's which have nation/city/planetary info (which I wont copy/paste but maybe model things after), subplot/events, tons of character bios (serve as NPC's, also not copy/pasted but possibly modeled). Really, I look at these things less as foundation and more as a super boost for my imagination.
It's a persistent world, but more so for the GM's. We're not going to let the players do whatever they want. There's a story, a conspiracy, a plot that every character is pressed into naturally. It's got the freedom of a persistent world in a strong frame of a linear story arch-- or atleast I'll try to make it that golden medium.
I'm going to be actively recruiting legitimate GM's for Micro and Macro, and I'd love for you to be one of them (dark, general, etc). It's as big (or as small) as you'd like it to be, very managable. It's like you're a professor with tenure!