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The Human Ascendancy is a Probe-era faction dedicated to eugenics and the forced evolution of homo superior, their answer to mankind's expulsion from his primordial home. They propose to accomplish this goal through superior understanding of both the human genome and the human brain. Their preference is knowledge, their aversion faith. Their government is a geniocracy. The Ascendancy typically operates a planned economy favoring education and research applications but is indifferent to the economic modalities of its neighbors. They tend toward opportunism and instrumentality in their thinking. This faction opposes restoration of contact with Earth on grounds that refugees can only speed consumption of Planet's limited resources. The Ascendancy's affinity is Purity: their image of human evolution focuses on "cracking" and suborning the genetic code. They reject images of evolution that involve the integration of human and machine consciousness even as they promote the aggressive use of highly invasive mnemonic techniques to speed the education and acculturation of fast-growing clones. The Ascendancy's leader is molecular biologist and Nobel laureate Dr. Tahmineh Pahlvai, a female from Iran. She was previously the expedition’s chief geneticist. Noted for her work on autoimmune disorders, Pahlavi was recruited to explore the military applications of gene therapy for the American Reclamation Corporation (ARC) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense. At the ARC’s recommendation, Pahlavi was appointed to the CIP with the task of initiating a long-term study of Chiron’s effects on the human genome. She soon clashed with mission leadership for her outspoken endorsement of geniocratic politics. This faction is primarily comprised of biologists and so-called “specials,” expedition members with genetic mutations classified “beneficial” by the ARC. Concerns: I struggle with how this faction is much more than a spin-off of one aspect of the University of Planet.tl;dr: Khaaaaaaaan!
The Hunters of Chiron are a loose affiliation of game managers, wildland firefighters, mining technicians, and long-range terraforming crews caught outside the main CIP settlement after a quarantine was imposed to limit the spread of plague. This motley collection was eventually consolidated under the charismatic leadership of the expedition’s chief game warden, former SAS captain and big game hunter, “J.T.” Marsh. A largely silent observer to the Probe expedition’s breakdown of leadership, Marsh wisely commandeered a significant quantity of survival equipment to sustain emergency operations after his men were refused re-entry into the colony. Their spoils included four of the expedition’s experimental repulsorcraft, which they continued to leverage as hunting and reconnaissance platforms. Marsh traded on his expertise in dealing with dangerous mega-fauna and successfully managing the growth cycles of xenofungal blooms to sustain good relations with most of the other small bands of colonists that survived the plague and obtain necessary supplies. The faction’s preference is liberty, its aversion luxury, reflecting its leader’s disdain for “soft living.” Marsh is a male from Kenya’s Rift Valley.Concerns: Is Marsh too like Santiago?tl;dr: Clever girl.
The Estado Novo is a corporatist faction that combines elements of hierarchy and traditionalism in an essential medieval timocracy. In short, a fascist government that has implemented a rigid caste system spanning four estates: drones, colonists, Talents, and knights. There are generally gradations within each estate, usually by profession. Each estate is apportioned certain privileges and corresponding obligations. Thus, for example, talents are exempt from conscription while drones and colonists have the greatest amount of unstructured leisure time and the fewest stipulations regarding their rights to procreate. Knights may participate in the business of government but must provide military service. Priests are considered Talents. The Estado Novo's appeal arises from its guarantee of social and spiritual order in the face of potentially hostile outsiders. The faction's preference is order, its aversion liberty. Consistent with their religious values, they believe that Planet exists to be shaped for human requirements, and that cybernetic and scientific approaches to "solving" the human condition are fundamentally wrong. The Estado Novo tends to be more forgiving of ecumenical disagreement, however, and tolerates "deviance" so long as it does not stray into dissent. The Estado Novo is indifferent to contact with Earth. Their preferred economic model is the planned economy. Although economic mobility is extremely low in the Estado Novo, and hereditary distinctions are vastly important, they reject the command economy as deleterious to the soul and struggle to encourage private enterprise while defraying associated socio-political disruption. The Estado Novo is led by Dom Francisco d'Almeida, formerly Unity's Executive Officer, a male from Overseas Portugal. This faction explores the applications of divine right monarchy and feudalism in the post-apocalyptic environment.tl;dr: Lords of the manor for a new Dark Age.
The Dreamers of Chiron is an alliance between Roshann Cobb, a corporate raider with a long history of espionage and Aleigha Cohen, a Harvard-educated neuroscientist responsible for critical advances in both brain-computer interface and “neural re-socialization,” a behavioral correction technique combining aggressive gene therapies and psychopharmacological interventions, considered unethical in many Western nations. The pair struck up an unlikely association during the final days of the CIP expedition when Cobb’s retainers provided critical muscle to assist Cohen in salvaging much of her record of rare mutations among the CIP crew; her recent work on shared, lucid dreaming; and the lion’s share of the colony’s dwindling medical research supplies). Cobb then established himself as a broker of drugs and “nerve” staple treatments – the latter in high demand by newly-established faction leaders who found that their new followers were not always in ideological lock-step – while Cohen redoubled her efforts to unlock the link between extrasensory perception in humans and mindworm phases on Chiron. Cobb is the Anglo-Chinese [progeny of unmarried parents] son of the tai-pan of a major trading company, is from Hong Kong. Cohen, born in Myanmar to a Baghdadi Jewish couple, was appointed the CIP’s Chief of Neuroscience through the good offices of the Russian and Chinese delegations to the expedition Steering Committee. This faction prioritizes returning to Earth. tl;dr: Inception.
“The Children of the Atom,” a faction led by physicist Johann Anhaldt, chief of the CIP’s Atomic Energy Laboratory. A faction focusing on the practical uses of fusion power, chiefly interested in salvage from the original CIP settlement (as well as the Probe, which would have seeded the planet with supply pods). This faction is rumored to have recovered a functional supercomputer originally designed to help direct colonization. (Too much like the University?)
“The Beneath,” a faction dedicated to establishing hegemony over Chiron’s deep seas, led by an aristocratic naval officer-turned-naturalist. (Too much like a sea-going Novo Estado?)
“The New Two Thousand” are a group of pilgrims under the chartered leadership of former ARC head Oscar van de Graaf, a billionaire megalomaniac who spent $230 billion of his personal fortune to obtain billets for an expedition-within-an-expedition. He focuses obsessively on the fate of his “investments” and was a major thorn in the side of the original colonial leadership.
was always the least-coherent faction. It was only many years after Alpha Centauri that I heard anybody talk about his association with the Chinese philosophy of Legalism. I always got the sense that he was the closest thing to Alpha Centauri's take on a latter-day monarchist. I guess I'm saying that I've never been able to define him to the extent that I have others. What is his governing style? Does he rely on advisers? Does he engage lieutenants? Is he simply Big Brother?
The Hunters of Chiron can be seen as partial Luddites. I think that they would be disposed to a non-hierarchical society characterized by equality to a much greater extent than Santiago. They would not be opposed to private property. Certainly they would not wish to raise children in common. Marsh's belief is that humans are increasingly lazy because of their dependence upon labor-saving devices. I think he is also prone to regarding humanity as the putative master of the physical worlds on which he lands, but in a sense beyond the mere exploitation of resources. I originally envisioned him as a piratical sort, preying upon "weaker" factions, but now I see him as something of a service provider. Presumably they would practice a kind of imprudent popular democracy, prone to impulsiveness and demagoguery. Almost to the extent that they would be constantly in political turmoil, a la the pirate crews depicted in Black Sails. A minor faction.
I've always thought The Estado Novo was the nearest thing to a traditional faction. The focus is on monarchy. Miriam's faction is about fundamentalist kritarky and what happens when men surrender to priests for fear of damnation tomorrow. The Estado Novo is more about what happens when men surrender to other men for fear of starvation or depredation today. The idea is almost Communistic: some get more because they (ostensibly) give more. But there are some who can be allowed more freedoms because their duty is less. Talents eat better, but Civilians can marry whomever they choose. The Knight is an officer by virtue of birth and upbringing, but he is only as successful as the milites he commands. The player can go about deciding how to further legitimate their monarchy.
The Dreamers of Chiron are interested in exploring the depths of the human mind. I think their proposition is that the next stage of human development will be in terms of the evolution of the brain. I agree that they get uncomfortably close to in their exploration of the human psyche. Probably this faction will be a minor.
will be somewhat altered. I expect her to discover that the egalitarian and libertarian impulses of the Holnist crowd is simply incompatible with her much more disciplined plan for organized settlement.
The Beneath are intended to totally replace the Nautlius Pirates.
The Children of the Atom are designed to focus on salvage, hence the emphasis on the Fusion Age. Their main gimmick is their relationship to the salvaged computer core and what it represents in terms of AI. They need more fleshing out.
The New Two Thousand explore what it means to build something on the frontier. I know that distinguishing them from is problematic. My best argument is that Morgan is more representative of, say, a trading company while the New Two Thousand are a direct proprietorship. Morgan is about oligarchy and monopolization of trade flows across Chiron. The New Two Thousand is about one man and his desire to suborn weaker men to his own will.[/list]
I get the idea that he would use any advisers who meet his standards, but I don't know if any do, and he's certainly willing to do it all himself if he has to.He's not really a monarchist, more of an elitist.
I think it is helpful to conceptualize all of the original and potential factions as trains at the marshaling yard. The original factions are all more-or-less of equal length. Miriam's, Zakharov's, and Deirdre's are probably the trains in which all the cars are full and balanced. Morgan's is right behind. Then one has Santiago's, and, more distantly and with many fewer cars, Yang's and Lal's.
The Believers are a fundamentalist kritarky with a violently evangelical agenda.
Zakharov is simply interested in learning for its own sake, almost indifferent to exile among the stars.
Deirdre hopes to lose herself in the fungus, both literally and figuratively.
Morgan aims at monopoly.
I assume that Yang is about forms of despotism.
Lal's vision is apparently a technocracy, although in implementation he fails to avoid bureaucratic gridlock and the worst aspects of populism.
Regarding the new factions, it is helpful to imagine that I've swapped or added a few cars on the original factions' trains and then put them on specific tracks heading in specific directions. That is, I've sharpened their focus by deciding whether they are "played straight" or subverted. For example, if the University focuses primarily on materials science and organizes along a collegiate model, that opens up space for a faction like the Ascendancy, with its focus on evolutionary biology and geniocratic governing structure.
I made virtually no change to other than to revert to the original faction name (the Conclave) and specify a government type (kritarky, or rule by religious judges). They are aggressive, violently evangelistic,
and opposed to restoration of contact with Earth, interpreting Unity's launch as the dawning of the Apocalypse. According to Miriam's teachings, the Unity crew are all members of the elect, conditional upon their acceptance of Miriam's teachings before the Judgment Day. Salvation depends upon a combination of works and grace: faith and acceptance of the One True God, manifest in specific actions designed to hasten the End Times.
The particulars of Conclave philosophy, including its critical document, the Orange-Catholic Bible (an homage to Dune)
are relatively obscure to outsiders, but, as in Dune, "the faith’s supreme commandment is considered to be, 'Thou shalt not disfigure the soul.'" Master theologian Allophilus Zeander, an early leader in the Evangelical Fire, provided the landmark exposition on the subject, contending that attempts to modify man’s mortality or to imitate too closely the Almighty's singular mastery of the Universe through science – that is, to employ genetic engineering or to develop “thinking machines” to alter the nature of the human condition – constituted explicit rejection of God’s Word.
The big question for is this: how does somebody associated with a religious cult get assigned to a mission like this one?
The problem in explaining the Gaians is how Deirdre manages to develop industry when it is obvious that her ideological preferences would effectively doom her economy from the outset.
I've done a lot of work with . By contrast with the hyper-survivalist militias commonly associated with the Holnist movement decades before, the Spartans are, in fact, a very different phenomenon. The Holnist movement was described by a constellation of local "prepper" militias, allegedly libertarian, that metastasized out of the anti-tax, religious freedom, and states' rights or "patriot" movements that first appeared in the 1990s. In practice, these were racist chauvinists with no more practical a program than running off the local assessor while stockpiling food, water, and, above all, ammunition. Certainly there was no framework for participatory politics: the militiamen lynched their own would-be political leadership as enthusiastically as they did any representative of legitimate government. Rather than aid their neighbors, they enslaved them. Holnism emerged as a coherent force just long enough to temporarily shepherd the American West out of the Union, only to collapse under the weight of its own internal contradictions. In the end, the hyper-survivalists were their own worst enemy. Many an early sympathizer who tolerated destruction of Red Cross shelters and National Guard depots later joined the Home Guard units that eventually assisted Federal troops in routing out the last stockades of die-hard secessionists just under two years later. Santiago was a later disciple of a more disciplined generation of rugged individualists emerging in the aftermath of limited nuclear war. Far from overthrowing an existing society, they in fact replace one, later warring with the much stronger remnants of the pre-war government until themselves exhausted. The Spartan creed, like the hyper-survivalist, favored the strong. It also called for martial organization and constant vigilance in the form of relentless military training. Yet whereas the Holnist was often content to squat in his own tailings and at least spoke paeans to private property -- when it could be kept from the hands of stronger rivals -- the Spartan creed demands far more comprehensive sacrifices in the interest of producing a society dominated by a warrior caste. The Holnists might indulge in slavery and concubinage, might play at the business of modern war, but few indeed would have surrendered their children to the common creche or opted into a society disclaiming all personal wealth for common property. 's challenge will be to sort the Spartans from the Holnists -- the what from the chaff -- in what remains of her strike force after Planetfall.
I have absolutely no idea, still, what to do with . My impulse is to maintain his commitment to Legalism. I suppose he was supposed to explore issues pertaining to consciousness and control. He was to be Big Brother, as it were. I think we can afford to be sharper indeed. I know this: Yang propounds a philosophy emphasizing three pillars: 法 (Fa), or law, meaning that the law is known, and obeyed because systematically enforced; 術 (Shu), or method, whereby the ruler holds himself apart from society and "special tactics and secrets" to obscure his motivations, reducing the opportunity for confidants to influence him except through their obeisance of the law; and 勢 (Shi), or legitimacy, which focuses on drawing distinctions between the ruler and the man. Of course, Yang is an enthusiastic student of surveillance methods and compliance enforcement technologies. I could nevertheless see him pursuing obedience through a combination of the lash and good, old Bradbury-style book burning than using drugs or other techniques to insert his consciousness directly into a shared reality.
In terms of the Hunters, it's less that Marsh is a Luddite than that he is determined to remain the master of the technology at his disposal. Unlike , Marsh is able to conceive of Chiron as a worthy opponent even as he understands that it is vulnerable to total destruction.
My sense for The Estado Novo was that it explores what some men are willing to give up for safety and security. It is a meditation on collective security. What does one do when there is no law? They submit to a stronger power. The priesthood, in this case, is a tool. Indeed, we might think of them as other than priests. Their role is to pacify downward and legitimate upward.
The Dreamers open the possibility, I'd think, of gameplay in a second, virtual realm. Again, however, I could see them as a minor faction existing to provide mercenaries and items to the player factions unless and until destroyed.
The Children of the Atom are really the "E.T. phone home" faction, combined with a leadership that apparently takes their orders from a supercomputer. Yea or nay?
The New Two Thousand. Van de Graaf is an instrumentalist, but whereas Morgan has abundant emotional intelligence, van de Graaf applies brute force. Both are great capitalists, but van de Graaf is concerned primarily to convert his wealth to power over other men because he wishes to dictate their fate in a historical endeavor. Morgan is more traditional in his ambitions, preferring luxury. Presumably the Morganites are run by a merchant oligarchy, their society is over-weened, and their military comprised almost exclusively of mercenaries. Van de Graaf hearkens back to one of those Old West cattle barons trying to use the power of the law to compel other men to give up what their own sweat has earned them. He does this with the help of a retinue of private "colonial marshals" -- private security men hired for that purpose back on Earth. I imagine that there would be a lot of tension between the "old line" settlers who paid van de Graaf up front and have something to offer his colony in terms of valuable skills, and newcomers who will be expected to earn their way out of indentured servitude or some similar wretchedness. Does that help any?
What does this correspond to? If it's game balance, everybody seems to have a different take on which factions are stronger and weaker...
Not exactly; at the beginning of the game, I don't think she really knows what she wants, other than to avoid the ecological harm done to Earth. Later on, she becomes Planet's advocate in council, and then helps it achieve its potential.
Not really. As I see it, Yang uses harsh despotism (associated with the legalism that was apparently a major focus of the design idea behind him) as a means to an end, because he's been stuck with a population of which the vast majority are (by his standards) shallow, self-centered, unmotivated losers (basically, normal people). In principle, he would have nothing against a democracy, if all the people were the sort of disciplined, enlightened individuals that he himself is.
I don't think Lal wants a technocracy. Zakharov wants a technocracy, Lal wants a liberal democracy.
This does not fit. Anyone who was that focused on the End Times probably wouldn't have gone on the Unity mission in the first place and risked missing the action (which, given the state of things, was clearly coming any day now, and probably already started).
The homage is nice, but the Conclave Bible is mentioned too often in the blurbs to be worth removing.
That's far more anti-science than even is shown to be...and doesn't fit well with how I read the ending quotes and statements. The Conclave is suspicious of science, no question, but isn't going to say "no, absolutely not"...
Quote from: YitziWhat does this correspond to? If it's game balance, everybody seems to have a different take on which factions are stronger and weaker...The trains correspond not to relative power, but to the extent to which I think each faction has a thorough identity.
We're still dealing, for the most part, with an individual who arrogates all decisions to himself and essentially inculcates blind loyalty on the part of his followers using various forms of social control, aren't we?
I thought Lal had a bit of social engineering in him. I could be incorrect. It makes no matter to me. I am happy for him to be the generic democrat.
I'm not absolutely wedded to the concept, but I still think it plausible. I'm not sure how profitable it is to debate the interior theology of a cultist.
I'd totally forgotten that fictional document until reading your post. Nice catch! I can live with the Conclave Bible. Perhaps the Orange-Catholic faith competes?
I don't think that the original Alpha Centauri dealt very well with the question of artificial intelligence and the extent to which sentient machines may inspire hesitation or misgiving in their human creators.
I think the Conclave would be more or less at ease with contemporary medicine but less comfortable with the harvesting and use of embryonic stem cells, certain types of genetic engineering, and the creation of autonomous thinking machines. That doesn't preclude the use of computers altogether.
Ask Marsh, and he'll say, "Because I understand the philosophy of survival on the knife's edge. My philosophy will teach you to be master of this, or any, domain by combining keen understanding of yourself with deep knowledge and respect for your environment."
Ask van de Graff, and he'll say, "Because I have hand-picked an expedition most likely to be able to endure." (He actually recruited out from under the multinational expedition proper.)
Ask the Dreamers, and their leadership would tell you, "Because we have realized that Chiron is wrecking changes to the human psyche heretofore unsuspected, and we are working to unravel that mystery."
Ask the Beneath, and they'd say, "Because survival is only probable beneath Chiron's seas."
Ask the Children of the Atom and they'd say, "Because we have retained the only thinking machine, and can plan better than any other faction."
Ask the Estado Novo, and they would say, "Because we have perfected a society uniquely suited to the requirements of life on Chiron, shielding our weak and reinforcing our strong."
I see all of the original 7 as having thorough identities.
Definitely, but (as Journey to Centauri indicates), he does seem to want an "elite" alongside him, who would presumably have freedoms in proportion to their enlightenment. The police state is for control of the masses.
His approach to social engineering is just "more freedoms". Look at his quotes, especially the faction blurb.
I think it can definitely be discussed, but I don't think the concept is particularly plausible. Someone who's expecting God to save them isn't going to go to another planet when things get bad.
Perhaps...maybe the Orange-Catholic is a more liberal/laid-back approach, popular among religious members of the Peacekeepers, Morganites, and Gaians.
I think it did discuss it somewhat...and while definitely fits "hesitation or misgiving" with regard to such matters (just read her quotes, and it jumps out), she doesn't seem to go as far as the outright ban that you described.
So a more "outdoorsy" take on ? That might work...
So now it sounds like his ideal is "a small, select elite". But wouldn't that necessarily mean that he'll have a much smaller group, in order to only take the best?
Ah...so similar to but focused on psychology. Interesting, and could work...
That's not really ideological enough to fit with the original 7.
Ok, so now it sounds like a "role for everyone" sort of ideology, which actually could work quite well.
Still, I think that a blurb and diplomacy lines for all of them will help give them more character.
