BE factions for SMACX - a comunity project

[Buster's Uncle]

[shrugs] I had an idea, but didn't know enough to do more than begin - hopefully, the group can work it out...

[JarlWolf]

I'd say its best to wait until the actual game releases more info on its own and there is more sources for us to learn before we make fleshed out factions. I looked at recent info of the Slavic Federation, for example, and I am thinking to change their bonuses and other things entirely.

[Buster's Uncle]

Still, what you posted before was golden - talking about what sense one has gotten of this or that leader/faction helps inspire ideas in others - and where BE and SMACX just can't be reconciled, we can always go with ideas that seem good/evocative/interesting...

No harm in kicking it around until we know more, in other words; none of it's written in ink until we're satisfied that we're done.

[JarlWolf]

Yes, we can compose ideas- but I wouldn't bother going to make actual faction packs only to constantly change them as new information arises... Which I think is what you're getting at anyways 

[Buster's Uncle]

We're in no danger of getting anything we'll release too soon, anytime soon.

So let's talk about it until we know enough/are ready.

[Othniel]

I've gone through the 'A' Techs in the civilopedia to pull these. Wonders are also in there, leaving only the Affinity level up quotes and the load screen quotes unaccounted for... I'll likely finish techs first as that should be the largest category of quotes.



[H] is Harmony, [Y] is Supremacy, and [P] is Purity.  (Technology) name where I got the quote is in parentheses.
Samatar Jama Barre

(click to show/hide)

"Aurochs used to kill our ancestors, until we bred the cow. Wolves hunted us, until we bred the dog. Someday the life of this world will come at our call and carry our children upon their backs.
This is Not Exile (Alien Domestication)[H]

"The Golden Rule runs across all good ethics. Let's define our neighbor broadly, and spread love through the universe."
This is Not Exile (Alien Ethics)

"When you meet a new neighbor, you greet her with heartfelt courtesy. So also will we get to know our new alien neighbors."
This is Not Exile (Alien Sciences)

"I never cease to find beauty in the fact that even though we walk among the stars, we still hold them in awe."
This is Not Exile (Astrodynamics)

Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar

(click to show/hide)

"All opposing forces start to resemble each other as conflict continues."
Principles of Modern War (Alien Adaptation) [H]

"Advocates of maneuver warfare must not fall into the trap of loving maneuver for its own sake."
Principles of Modern War (Autogyros) [Y]

Elodie

(click to show/hide)

"We have discovered alien life on our new world. Unsurprisingly, it grows, reproduces, dies, and cannot understand French."
Remarques (Alien Lifeforms)

Suzanne Marjorie Fielding

(click to show/hide)

"Patent your discoveries. Each new species represents an opportunity for uncontestable ownership of the lifeform."
Transplanetary Management, Methods and Resources (Alien Biology) [H]

Hutama

(click to show/hide)

"There is a historical idiom which states, 'What you don't know can't hurt you.' It does not apply to fungi."
We are All Destined to Prosper (Alien Ecology)

"If you want a better deal with evolution, cut out the middleman."
We are All Destined to Prosper (Artificial Evolution)

Vadim Kozlov

(click to show/hide)

"Strong machines rally weak flesh when the spirit is willing!"
Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate (Augmentation)

Daoming Sochua

(click to show/hide)

"It frustrates me that people are still surprised when this new planet reacts violently to the presence of an offworld species with its own agenda."
Scientific Morality, Vol VII (Alien Evolution) [H]

"Cognition in the human brain should not be of elevated status because it is implemented in cells instead of silicon."
Scientific Morality, Vol II (Artificial Intelligence)

"When provided with adequate data and field of view, anyone can predict the future."
Scientific Morality Vol IX (Autonomous Systems) [Y]

Kavitha Thakur

(click to show/hide)

"To achieve comprehension, you must yield to assimilation. None survive without wounds. None go forward uncompromised."
Bhagavad 4 (Alien Hybridization) [H]

Other

(click to show/hide)

"Maid of chitin, storm and lightning, how's your garden grow? Miasma mist and beetle hiss and Siege Worms in a row."
-Traditional colonial children's rhyme. (Alien Genetics) [P]

"Floatstone beat Anansi and Coyote at poker and won the right to leave the ground. But Floatstone forgot to ask for wings to fly, and so it just sort of hangs around feeling sorry for itself."
-The Uncle Nevercloned Stories (Alien Materials) [Y]

[Yitzi]

Good idea; quotes gave us a lot of sense of the faction leaders' personalities in SMAC (that might, by the way, be why SMAX factions feel weaker thematically; they have fewer quotes), so it'll probably be a good way to get a sense here too.

[Othniel]

Good idea; quotes gave us a lot of sense of the faction leaders' personalities in SMAC (that might, by the way, be why SMAX factions feel weaker thematically; they have fewer quotes), so it'll probably be a good way to get a sense here too.

Then I will try to get as many as I can.

I have Elodie's opening load screen here and want to put it down before I lose it:

(click to show/hide)

<Personal Log: Elodie>
As we begin our journey, I remember the words of William Cullen Bryant, who said onto his God,"Thou didst look down upon this naked earth, and forthwith rose all the fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun, budded, and shook their green leaves in the breeze and shot towards Heaven." For today, we have budded and now shoot towards Heaven. And though I cannot say whether our next home will have trees such as these, I carry hope that it will be worthy of the beauty I bring with me.

EDIT; There is a leaders and sponsor page in the civilopedia in game  as well. Typing all that out feels like its going to be exhausting.

[sisko]

EDIT; There is a leaders and sponsor page in the civilopedia in game  as well. Typing all that out feels like its going to be exhausting.

So, there's no way we can extract the text from the game files?

[Geo]

EDIT; There is a leaders and sponsor page in the civilopedia in game  as well. Typing all that out feels like its going to be exhausting.

So, there's no way we can extract the text from the game files?

Well, try the path "Steam/steamapps/common/Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth/assets/gameplay/xml/text/en_US"

Just found it, and taking a look into it now.

[Geo]

Found the tech quotes. Cleaning it up now for posting.

Code: [Select]

STEM TECHS:

HABITATION
"We once believed that our destiny was controlled by the Gods. As we learned more about nature, we changed our minds. Now that we control our destiny, let us hope they never change back."
- Anonymous

CHEMISTRY
"A four-billion year old world's worth of resources, shared among a handful of people. We're gonna make a fortune here!"
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

GENETICS
"You go to war with the soldiers you have. Make sure those are the soldiers you want."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

ECOLOGY
"When Coyote learned he was the only one of his kind on the new planet, his howl echoed through the rifts and off the distant hills."
- The Uncle Nevercloned Stories

ENGINEERING
"Instruct the children not to dream of toys or sweets. Instruct them to dream of infrastructure."
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

PHYSICS
"Consider a simple problem, such as navigation in a spaceship approaching lightspeed..."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality Vol. I

COMPUTING
"I love computers because they automate the tedious stuff and give us more time for important things like market manipulation."
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

ORGANICS
"Life is an inherently depreciating asset."
- Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources

COGNITION
"I think I know what you're thinking, and you think you know what I know about your thinking, but you're wrong."
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

GENETIC DESIGN
"Do you change the steps in the dance of life? Or does the dance of life change your step?"
- Kavitha Thakur, Bhagavad 4

ALIEN SCIENCES
"When you meet a new neighbor, you greet her with heartfelt courtesy. So also will we get to know our new alien neighbors."
- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile

TERRAFORMING
"Yes, the world is beautiful and unspoiled. But it is wrong. Correct it at once."
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

COMMUNICATIONS
"One of the finest shadings of communication is the difference between 'I didn't understand that,' and 'I understand that, but I don't care.'"
- Élodie, Remarques

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
"Cognition in the human brain should not be of elevated status because it is implemented in cells instead of silicon."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality, Vol II

FABRICATION
"A useful heuristic for determining metacognition is to ask: Does this organism merely create tools? Or does it create tools which create new tools?"
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality, Vol VII

ROBOTICS
"Robots do not complain, question, or rest, which makes them good role models for the rest of you."
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

BIONICS
"If you listen at night, you can sometimes hear Casey Jones, the Wabash Cannonball, with his iron legs still running a mile a minute!"
- The Uncle Nevercloned Stories

BIOLOGY
"In your veins runs iron made from the heart of a long-dead star. Such does the universe love life."
- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile

TRANSGENICS
"Genetics is chemistry, and chemistry is a tool, and a tool is only as useful as you make it."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality Vol. IV

ALIEN ETHICS
"The Golden Rule runs across all good ethics. Let's define our neighbor broadly, and spread love through the universe."
- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile

MECHATRONICS
"Machines can be journeymen to machine apprentices, as long as we are still the masters."
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

SYNERGETICS
"What is best for the shareholders of the American Reclamation Corporation? That's what's best for you."
- Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources

SOCIAL DYNAMICS
"Culture and fashion are wracked by pointless ideological wars. Whichever ideology wins immediately becomes cliché."
-  Élodie, Remarques

ARTIFICIAL EVOLUTION
"If you want a better deal with evolution, cut out the middleman."
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

PLANETARY ENGINEERING
"We can always trade space for time. We have surplus space and not enough time."
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

FIELD THEORY
"This is demonstrated by taking any set of arbitrary-dimensional fields and describing them axiomatically. The proof is trivial and left to the student."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality, Vol. VI

HYPERCOMPUTING
"Good AI prevents bad operators from using computers to conduct useless tasks at high speeds to many degrees of vacuous precision."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality, Vol VIII

CYBERNETICS
"The fact that human beings were able to get to new worlds with the  obtuse computer sciences of the Seeding is simultaneously impressive and embarrassing."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality, Vol I

ASTRODYNAMICS
"I never cease to find beauty in the fact that even though we walk among the stars, we still hold them in awe."
- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile

NANOTECHNOLOGY
"Nothing is too small; nobody is insignificant. The biggest trees grow from the smallest seeds."
- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile

AUGMENTATION
"Strong machines rally weak flesh when the spirit is willing!"
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

BIOENGINEERING
"If it's a sin to 'play God,' then why would He leave His tools lying around?"
- The Uncle Nevercloned Stories

LEAF TECHS

PIONEERING
"The universe is either in progress or in entropy. We choose progress!"
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

PLANETARY SURVEY
"All planets possess inherent value and establishing the exact dollar value of the property should be a priority."
- Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources

BIOCHEMISTRY
"Biochemistry on this world is like a good contract; it looks straightforward but there are some real devils in the details."
- Hutama, We Shall All Prosper

ALIEN LIFEFORMS
"We have discovered alien life on our new world. Unsurprisingly, it grows, reproduces, dies, and cannot understand French."
- Élodie, Remarques

GENETIC MAPPING
"If you're going to rejigger an organism's genotype, you should give it the courtesy of reading its manual first."
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

GEOPHYSICS
"We, the dust of a dying world, must listen to the stones of a living one."
- Kavitha Thakur, The Exodite Sutra

ALIEN BIOLOGY
"Patent your discoveries. Each new species represents an opportunity for uncontestable ownership of that lifeform."
- Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources

POWER SYSTEMS
"The necessity of an artificial power source is a myth. An ecosystem powers itself. When humanity learns to live in harmony with its surroundings, we will reap the same benefits of power."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality Vol.VII

DEFENSE GRID
"Omnipresent and effective security measures make even the worst neighbors tolerable."
- Élodie, Remarques

BALLISTICS
"Oppression, chaos, and death may come from the barrel of a gun... but so, occasionally, does victory."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
"When provided with adequate data and field of view, anyone can predict the future."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality Vol.IX

TRANSCENDENTAL MATH
"Mathematical proof is the only foundation for ethics that I can respect. Progress in mathematics is progress in morality."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality Vol. I

PHOTOSYSTEMS
"Like the sun, I shine upon my disciples. Like the flowers, they turn to me and blossom."
- Kavitha Thakur, Bhagavad 4

COLLABORATIVE THOUGHT
"Of course consensus is uninspiring and trite. However, inspiring, original ideas are often tragically wrong-headed."
- Élodie, Remarques

ALIEN GENETICS
"Maid of chitin, storm and lightning, how's your garden grow? Miasma mist and beetle hiss and Siege Worms in a row."
- Traditional colonial children's rhyme

ALIEN ADAPTATION
"All opposing forces start to resemble each other as conflict continues."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

ALIEN ECOLOGY
"There is a historical idiom which states, 'What you don't know can't hurt you.' It does not apply to fungi."
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

BIOSPHERES
"We have forgotten that when nature goes about her work, she sings to herself. Have you heard the song of this world?"
- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile

CLIMATE CONTROL
"Stop talking about the weather and do something about it for once!"
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

ORBITAL NETWORKS
"Seraphim, Cherubim, Devas, Fravashi, and Yakshas, extend thy arms to cover us, hear us and convey our prayer to the Lord Creator."
- Kavitha Thakur, Daily Devotionals for Comm Operators

SYNTHETIC THOUGHT
"Turingschande: Noun. Shame felt upon discovering one has mistaken an artificial intelligence for a close relation."
- Dictionary of Colonial Idioms v.1.39

SWARM INTELLIGENCE
"Command decisions are not made on a single data point. They are the result of a thousand data points crystallized in a single moment."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

CIVIL SUPPORT
"You don't win an argument until the other fella thinks your ideas were his the whole time."
- Hutama, We Shall All Prosper

TACTICAL ROBOTICS
"It has been said, 'The point of war is not to die for your country, but to make your enemy die for theirs'; a goal which is more readily accomplished if your side never has to take the field."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

SWARM ROBOTICS
"The capacity for stupid agents to produce smart outcomes has a lesson for the manager. Your employees do not need to know very much for you to get the desired results."
- Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources

SERVOMACHINERY
"Morality is measured by the progress of our work. A machine whose works bring us more progress is more moral than a lesser machine."
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

TISSUE ENGINEERING
"Natural selection is an effective process for organic optimization, but is too slow to be truly useful."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality Vol. III

VERTICAL FARMING
"In the case of the skyscraper, which has existed since the 19th century, it was not the concept which needed to evolve, but rather the minds of those who used it."
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

PROTOGENETICS
"The easiest way to win the game is to write the rules."
- Hutama, We Shall All Prosper

ALIEN HYBRIDIZATION
"To achieve comprehension, you must yield to assimilation. None survive without wounds. None go forward uncompromised."
- Kavitha Thakur, Bhagavad 4

ALIEN DOMESTICATION
"Aurochs used to kill our ancestors, until we bred the cow. Wolves hunted us, until we bred the dog. Someday the life of this world will come at our call and carry our children upon their backs."
- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile

MOBILE LEV
"The best way to survive a firefight is to be elsewhere when your enemy starts one."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

BALLISTIC LEV
"We don't need better bullets. We need a better way to deliver them into the bodies of our enemies."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

DESIGNER LIFEFORMS
"If you can't build a better mousetrap, build a better mouse."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality Vol.I

HUMAN IDEALISM
"The only reason you are here is because a committee picked who to send. Ponder why they chose you instead of their own self-interest."
- Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources

HUMAN CONSERVATION
"Forgetting the sacrifice made by our brothers and sisters so we could live on this new world is shameful. Live your life in remembrance of the suffering we few left behind."
- Samatar Jama Barre, This is Not Exile

EUTHENICS
"The secret to being happy is to delight in the absurd, repress the irritating, and keep good wine close at hand."
- Élodie, Remarques

ALIEN EVOLUTION
"It frustrates me that people are still surprised when this new planet reacts violently to the presence of an offworld species with its own agenda."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality, Vol. VII

ALIEN MATERIALS
"Floatstone beat Anansi and Coyote at poker, and won the right to leave the ground. But Floatstone forgot to ask for wings to fly, and so it just sort of hangs around feeling sorry for itself."
- The Uncle Nevercloned Stories

GEOSCAPING
"The five oceans of Earth are: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Titanic, the Arctic and the Indian."
- Ganesh Edmin, Lists of Prehistory

SEISMIC INDUCTION
"John Henry pulled out two 5-pound nano-oscillators, one for each side of the fault. They shook and shook, the earth trembling everywhere.
Half an hour later, John Henry had shook himself up a mountain, while the industrial engineers had only managed a tiny hill."
- The Uncle Nevercloned Stories

EXOTIC MATTER
"If I could rewrite the laws of the universe, I'd put a few loopholes in there for myself."
-  Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

HYPERCONDUCTORS
"Resistance, in regards to electrical conductivity, is undesirable. In regards to hyperconductivity, it is futile."
- Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources

NEURAL UPLOADING
"If you replicate the neurological activity of an individual on a computer, for all intents and purposes, the computer is that individual."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality, Vol III

AUTOGYROS
"Advocates of maneuver warfare must not fall into the trap of loving maneuver for its own sake."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

METAMATERIALS
"If you've got a particle whose properties violate the laws of physics, either we don't understand the laws of physics or there's something special about that particle. Tomayto, Tomahto."
- Hutama, We are All Destined to Prosper

ORBITAL AUTOMATION
"The trend towards automation speaks to our nature. We create that which may persist without us -- In this we are strong. We depend on that which requires nothing of us in return -- In this we are flawed."
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

DARK NETWORKS
"I exhale into your left ear the secret of life. I inhale through your right ear to remove the thought. As it crosses your mind, it leaves no trace. You walk on, ignorant of your loss."
- Kavitha Thakur, Kali Meditation

TACTICAL LEV
"The best troops are young enough to relish combat and old enough to prefer not walking into it."
- Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War

NANOROBOTICS
"Once you reduce robotics and programming to molecular manipulation then it becomes a simple affair, suitable to the lower percentile intellects."
- Daoming Sochua, Scientific Morality Vol. IX

SURROGACY
"Computational and human resources should never have been separate strategic assets."
- Suzanne Marjorie Fielding, Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources

INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY
"The laws of nature are weaker than planning, resolve, purpose, and will."
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate

BIOMETALLURGY
"Few have mastered the art of keeping a garden in perfect shape, especially since we have started growing titanium."
- Élodie, Remarques

EDIT: All done. Box should be on an appropriate size too now.

[Buster's Uncle]

Can you do anything about the width of that box?

[Geo]

All done now. Went faster then I thought it would.

[Yitzi]

If you could do the buildings and wonders too that would be good, but this should be enough to start with...

[Yitzi]

So, let's organize them by leader (and leaving the ones not from a leader out, since they're not relevant to understanding the factions).  I'm not listing which tech each goes with, as that (or even the associated affinities) does not seem that relevant to understanding the quoted character.

Fielding (ARC, bonus espionage):
Works are:
Transplanetary Management, Methods, and Resources:

(click to show/hide)

"Life is an inherently depreciating asset."
"What is best for the shareholders of the American Reclamation Corporation? That's what's best for you."
"All planets possess inherent value and establishing the exact dollar value of the property should be a priority."
"Patent your discoveries. Each new species represents an opportunity for uncontestable ownership of that lifeform."
"The capacity for stupid agents to produce smart outcomes has a lesson for the manager. Your employees do not need to know very much for you to get the desired results."
"The only reason you are here is because a committee picked who to send. Ponder why they chose you instead of their own self-interest."
"Resistance, in regards to electrical conductivity, is undesirable. In regards to hyperconductivity, it is futile."
"Computational and human resources should never have been separate strategic assets."

Bolivar (Brazilia, bonus combat strength):
Works are:
Principles of Modern War:

(click to show/hide)

"You go to war with the soldiers you have. Make sure those are the soldiers you want."
"Oppression, chaos, and death may come from the barrel of a gun... but so, occasionally, does victory."
"All opposing forces start to resemble each other as conflict continues."
"Command decisions are not made on a single data point. They are the result of a thousand data points crystallized in a single moment."
"It has been said, 'The point of war is not to die for your country, but to make your enemy die for theirs'; a goal which is more readily accomplished if your side never has to take the field."
"The best way to survive a firefight is to be elsewhere when your enemy starts one."
"We don't need better bullets. We need a better way to deliver them into the bodies of our enemies."
"Advocates of maneuver warfare must not fall into the trap of loving maneuver for its own sake."
"The best troops are young enough to relish combat and old enough to prefer not walking into it."

Élodie (Franco-Iberia, bonus technology with virtues):
Works are:
Remarques:

(click to show/hide)

"One of the finest shadings of communication is the difference between 'I didn't understand that,' and 'I understand that, but I don't care.'"
"Culture and fashion are wracked by pointless ideological wars. Whichever ideology wins immediately becomes cliché."
"We have discovered alien life on our new world. Unsurprisingly, it grows, reproduces, dies, and cannot understand French."
"Omnipresent and effective security measures make even the worst neighbors tolerable."
"Of course consensus is uninspiring and trite. However, inspiring, original ideas are often tragically wrong-headed."
"The secret to being happy is to delight in the absurd, repress the irritating, and keep good wine close at hand."
"Few have mastered the art of keeping a garden in perfect shape, especially since we have started growing titanium."

Kavitha (Kavithan Protectorate, faster city development):
Works are:
Bhagavad 4:

(click to show/hide)

"Do you change the steps in the dance of life? Or does the dance of life change your step?"
"Like the sun, I shine upon my disciples. Like the flowers, they turn to me and blossom."
"To achieve comprehension, you must yield to assimilation. None survive without wounds. None go forward uncompromised."

The Exodite Sutra:

(click to show/hide)

"We, the dust of a dying world, must listen to the stones of a living one."

Daily Devotionals for Comm Operators:

(click to show/hide)

"Seraphim, Cherubim, Devas, Fravashi, and Yakshas, extend thy arms to cover us, hear us and convey our prayer to the Lord Creator."

Kali Meditation:

(click to show/hide)

"I exhale into your left ear the secret of life. I inhale through your right ear to remove the thought. As it crosses your mind, it leaves no trace. You walk on, ignorant of your loss."

Daoming (Pan-Asian Cooperative, boost to worker speed and wonder production):
Works are:
Scientific Morality

(click to show/hide)

"Consider a simple problem, such as navigation in a spaceship approaching lightspeed..."
"Cognition in the human brain should not be of elevated status because it is implemented in cells instead of silicon."
"A useful heuristic for determining metacognition is to ask: Does this organism merely create tools? Or does it create tools which create new tools?"
"Genetics is chemistry, and chemistry is a tool, and a tool is only as useful as you make it."
"This is demonstrated by taking any set of arbitrary-dimensional fields and describing them axiomatically. The proof is trivial and left to the student."
"Good AI prevents bad operators from using computers to conduct useless tasks at high speeds to many degrees of vacuous precision."
"The fact that human beings were able to get to new worlds with the  obtuse computer sciences of the Seeding is simultaneously impressive and embarrassing."
"The necessity of an artificial power source is a myth. An ecosystem powers itself. When humanity learns to live in harmony with its surroundings, we will reap the same benefits of power."
"When provided with adequate data and field of view, anyone can predict the future."
"Mathematical proof is the only foundation for ethics that I can respect. Progress in mathematics is progress in morality."
"Natural selection is an effective process for organic optimization, but is too slow to be truly useful."
"If you can't build a better mousetrap, build a better mouse."
"It frustrates me that people are still surprised when this new planet reacts violently to the presence of an offworld species with its own agenda."
"If you replicate the neurological activity of an individual on a computer, for all intents and purposes, the computer is that individual."
"Once you reduce robotics and programming to molecular manipulation then it becomes a simple affair, suitable to the lower percentile intellects."

Barre (African Union, bonus growth when healthy):
Works are:
This is Not Exile

(click to show/hide)

"When you meet a new neighbor, you greet her with heartfelt courtesy. So also will we get to know our new alien neighbors."
"In your veins runs iron made from the heart of a long-dead star. Such does the universe love life."
"The Golden Rule runs across all good ethics. Let's define our neighbor broadly, and spread love through the universe."
"I never cease to find beauty in the fact that even though we walk among the stars, we still hold them in awe."
"Nothing is too small; nobody is insignificant. The biggest trees grow from the smallest seeds."
"We have forgotten that when nature goes about her work, she sings to herself. Have you heard the song of this world?"
"Aurochs used to kill our ancestors, until we bred the cow. Wolves hunted us, until we bred the dog. Someday the life of this world will come at our call and carry our children upon their backs."
"Forgetting the sacrifice made by our brothers and sisters so we could live on this new world is shameful. Live your life in remembrance of the suffering we few left behind."

Hutama (Polystralia, trade route boost):
Works are:
We are All Destined to Prosper:

(click to show/hide)

"A four-billion year old world's worth of resources, shared among a handful of people. We're gonna make a fortune here!"
"I love computers because they automate the tedious stuff and give us more time for important things like market manipulation."
"I think I know what you're thinking, and you think you know what I know about your thinking, but you're wrong."
"Machines can be journeymen to machine apprentices, as long as we are still the masters."
"If you want a better deal with evolution, cut out the middleman."
"If you're going to rejigger an organism's genotype, you should give it the courtesy of reading its manual first."
"There is a historical idiom which states, 'What you don't know can't hurt you.' It does not apply to fungi."
"In the case of the skyscraper, which has existed since the 19th century, it was not the concept which needed to evolve, but rather the minds of those who used it."
"If I could rewrite the laws of the universe, I'd put a few loopholes in there for myself."
"If you've got a particle whose properties violate the laws of physics, either we don't understand the laws of physics or there's something special about that particle. Tomayto, Tomahto."

We Shall All Prosper:

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"Biochemistry on this world is like a good contract; it looks straightforward but there are some real devils in the details."
"You don't win an argument until the other fella thinks your ideas were his the whole time."
"The easiest way to win the game is to write the rules."

Kozlov (Slavic Federation, orbital boost):
Works are:
Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate:

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"Instruct the children not to dream of toys or sweets. Instruct them to dream of infrastructure."
"Yes, the world is beautiful and unspoiled. But it is wrong. Correct it at once."
"Robots do not complain, question, or rest, which makes them good role models for the rest of you."
"We can always trade space for time. We have surplus space and not enough time."
"Strong machines rally weak flesh when the spirit is willing!"
"The universe is either in progress or in entropy. We choose progress!"
"Stop talking about the weather and do something about it for once!"
"Morality is measured by the progress of our work. A machine whose works bring us more progress is more moral than a lesser machine."
"The trend towards automation speaks to our nature. We create that which may persist without us -- In this we are strong. We depend on that which requires nothing of us in return -- In this we are flawed."
"The laws of nature are weaker than planning, resolve, purpose, and will."

Now we can start examining what each one is like, and what it's likely to have as bonuses and penalties...