Seeking Development Team and Players

[Trenacker]

Consider this your invitation to join in development of a “sprawling wargame,” a strategic simulation in the grand style of late historian Paddy Griffith set in the lush world of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.

Together, we will reimagine the story of mankind’s exodus from Earth and his journey from our solar system to the habitable planet of Chiron, a fictional planet in the closest neighboring star system, Alpha Centauri. This is the story of two expeditions. Two visions of a brighter tomorrow. Two odysseys, each with the same purpose, and yet different in almost every way. The first was a mission of discovery, launched at the height of our pride. The second mission was exodus: in desperation, we fled the world we had seemingly destroyed for one that might yet destroy us.

As a player, you will stand the part of a faction leader, one of several officers and administrators tasked with ensuring the success of your civilization’s greatest endeavor. Naturally, your convictions about what is required to ensure human survival on Chiron are utterly at odds with everyone around you.

Gameplay will focus on political, military, economic, and social interactions within and between the various factions on Chiron, also called “Planet” by its new inhabitants.

Neat Stuff
Some of the “neat stuff” associated with this game includes: faction profiles; faction dashboards; detailed orders of battle (platoon-level); a much-expanded, and a graphics-enhanced tech tree that allows players to research both practical subjects (e.g., neuroscience) and theoretical matters (e.g., doctrines) in parallel. There will also be plenty of communal and individual events for players to deal with as they see fit, a la the Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis series.

I have been working with BUncle to create traditional faction profiles for the new factions specific to this game. Expect a lot of neat “swag” to help you immerse yourselves in the gameplay experience.

The Mechanics
Gameplay mechanics combine elements of so-called “matrix games,” the brainchild of game designer Chris Engle, and popular types of roleplaying game. Aside from the shared win condition (survival), each player receives a set of optional objectives specific to their faction. A referee provides a narrative to set the stage for action and supplements this narrative with play aids (such as faction profiles) that describe the resources available to each player at any given point in time. Players choose to execute a set of tasks and provide a given number of rationales explaining why they ought to be successful. The referee then considers the logic of those rationales, the choices made by other players, and certain other dynamic factors to determine the results.

Players will first describe what they intend (the objective), explaining with as much precision as possible how the objective is to be achieved (the method). In cases where the outcome might be in doubt, players will also identify contributing factors toward a positive outcome (the rationale) that the referees will consider during adjudication (e.g., “My troops are combat veterans”). The strength of rationales is considered in light of each faction’s particular capabilities as well as the quality and quantity of resources applied, all of which affect the speed, extent, and likelihood of success. For each action, the referee will set a secret difficulty threshold that must be overcome. That threshold will vary depending upon the quality of the players’ arguments.

The unique capabilities of every faction are expressed in terms of “pips.” Pips are abstractions of each factions’ strengths and weaknesses in a given area of endeavor, reflecting both resources and competency. You must weave a believable narrative and employ sound logic to apply your pips successfully in the work that matters most to you, the player. There are two types of pips. Attribute pips relate to specific core competencies (e.g., agriculture, research, industry) while “free” pips represent uncommitted resources. Players assign their limited pips across a given number of actions in each turn. Each “pip” committed to an action represents a die that will be rolled against the difficulty threshold for achievement. Uncommitted pips are automatically applied to counter actions taken by adversaries against one’s faction.

The Story
I believe that a detailed historical background can provide fertile soil for good roleplay. In a previous iteration of the game, players struggled to develop distinctive faction identities, a problem that I think resulted from the lack of any meaningful past to mine for clues about both their leaders’ personal proclivities and the reputations of others.

This version of the story deals with the fate of two missions. The Unity was in fact preceded to Chiron by the so-called International Probe, a scouting expedition launched a certain number of decades prior. Contact with the Probe colonists was inexplicably lost about one year after planetfall.

The Factions
Each faction is intended to occupy exclusive intellectual space. Ideologies should be traceable to compelling first principles that point to at least an implicit answer for every problem. Each faction must propose a different answer to the following three questions: (1) Why did human civilization on Earth fail? (2) Are there any fundamental truths in the universe? If so, what are they? (3) What is necessary to ensure the survival of human settlers on Chiron, called Planet?

For example, Nwabudike Morgan was basically making an argument that all human interaction could be understood in purely transactional terms. Likewise, Zakharov's obsession with knowledge reflected his belief that the universe was a fundamentally knowable place and that every problem could be solved through reductive study and the creation of some kind of artificial tool from materials at hand. What can be known, can be controlled.

Here are some overviews of new factions…

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.

Other possibilities…

“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.

[Trenacker]

To clarify, I am looking for members of the development team at this time.

I am especially interested in graphic designers who can help with maps, icons, and graphics for a planned wiki. I am also open to expressions of interest and faction ideas from players but cannot accept firm claims at this time.

Cheers!

[Trenacker]

Anybody interested in helping with the technology tree? If so, I'm happy to share what we've come up with thus far. I'd like to pair each technology with an inset icon, sort of like what one sees in StarCraft.

I'm also open to having folks contribute ideas for factions. I'm working through ideas for a faction based on tribal -- familial, geographical, and other -- connections, from the breakdown of society, as well as a faction based on truth-seeking and media.

Inspiration comes from a number of sources, including Fahrenheit 451, Dune, Brave New World, the Fallout series, and history.

[Trenacker]

Folks interested in learning more about Matrix Games should take a gander at this website.

[Trenacker]

A friend mentioned that it might be useful to share all the details that I've got on a particular faction so that I can invite helpful comment. Let's start with The Hunters of Chiron.

Name: Jeremy Tanner ("J.T.") Courtenay Marsh
Rank: Administrator II
Position: Head Game Warden
Country of Origin: Kenya
DOB: 04-10-2074
Height: 189 cm
Weight: 86.6 kg

Service Record
Born 2074, Rift Valley, Kenya. Educated RMA Sandhurst. Posted to 23 SAS Regiment during Second Kenyan Emergency. Awarded Victoria Cross for role in hostage rescue involving escape and evasion over 300km of bush.

Following honorable discharge (rank: captain), consulted for various private military companies and humanitarian organizations on wilderness survival, fieldcraft, and operational security. Implicated but never charged with violation of Kenyan and international laws governing skills transfer and mercenarism during Third Donbass War. Believed to have advised Igbo separatists prior to and during the dissolution of Nigeria. Later retained as security adviser to Biafran government.

Became sought-after guide of hunting safaris and overland expeditions worldwide. Among the first to popularize the breeding, management, and sport hunting of genetically modified and "resurrected" animals, including predators from the Mesozoic and Pleistocene periods. Developed reputation as world's foremost expert on management of prehistoric "mega-fauna."

Briefly advised International Genetic Technologies, Inc. (InGEN) of Palo Alto, CA on a theme park venture in Costa Rica. Later withdrew to accept a position as head of anti-poaching opoerations at South Africa's Kruger National Park. Leveraged combination of aggressive long-range reconnaisance patrols and drone technology to reduce incidents by 600%.

Invited to submit credentials to Chiron Interstellar Probe on recommendation of Col. Derek Hacker, British SIS. Appointed Head Game Warden over Russian objections. Received special endorsement of Board of Directors, InGEN Corporation.


Responsibilities include scouting, protection of surveying parties, and managing local ecosystem to facilitate development of the land.

Psych Profile: Hunter
Olympic-level athlete. Accomplished tracker and expert marksman.

Believes strongly that experience is the best teacher. Preaches self-reliance. Regards lack of physical conditioning as evidence of selfishness and indiscipline. Criticism of perceived indulgence in others contrasts with readiness to assume responsibility for the weaker and less capable.

Emotional "projector." Readily inspires others to follow his example.

Demonstrated ability to thrive in hierarchical environments, but possibility that strong personal efficacy and unusually high risk appetite have diminished awareness of deficiencies in the leadership of his superiors. Past subordinates praised subject's personal courage and interest in the well-being of his men but expressed frustration that their misgivings about particular operations were rarely addressed. Subject was known to accept missions without exploring the nature and quality of available support.

Status
Marsh and approximately 250 members of the CIP's survey corps were conducting long-range reconnaissance at the time that plague was first diagnosed in the main settlement. As a result, most were able to avoid exposure. Marsh immediately brought various outlying mining camps and terraforming crews under his command and established a new base-of-operations well upwind of the original colony site.

During the many instances of disagreement among the colony's civilian and military leadership, Marsh was a stanch, if silent, loyalist, obeying the directives of the expedition's appointed command staff without complaint. The Game Warden suffered considerable criticism for his controversial role in executing controlled burns of xenofungal growth around the primary settlement, a strategy opposed by many colonists on grounds that it could be environmentally reductive. Despite also playing a key role in managing early mindworm boils -- dozens of personnel under his direct command were killed in unexpected encounters during the first months on-Planet, Marsh was nevertheless frequently absent from the colony on surveying and scouting missions and never enjoyed the private confidence of mission leadership, with whom his informal style presented a sharp contrast.

Most of Marsh's people are roughnecks, pioneers, and field agronomists. He was lucky to be able to recruit a handful of mechanics attached to the odd overland convoy and mining rig. A majority of the Hunters are certified in austere emergency response and wildland firefighting. However, the faction is almost entirely without professional scientists, engineers, or bureaucrats, to say nothing of women and children (only a very small number of which were taken on during absorption of outlying resource-gathering operations).

Marsh maneuvered clear of many of the partisan conflicts that continued to rage after the primary settlement failed, offering his services as an environmental "fixer" to any who could pay. He does most of his trading at Hardacre's outpost.

Agenda: Leverage knowledge of Chiron biome to barter for resources essential to survival.
Values: The thrill of the hunt.
Free Tech: Doctrine: Initiative
Research Focus: Explore
Founding Base: High Hide

"Architects tell us that form follows function, but the man in the bush knows that function must needs follow form. We are now, through a combination of indolence and indulgence, abandoning mastery of our form. Motion and excellence -- progress -- have somehow become inconveniences, better left to machines." - J.T. Marsh, "The Hunters of Chiron"

[Buster's Uncle]

(Trenacker's looking for help with the faction stats.  He's obviously got a good grip on the story/background part.)

There are also Firaxis-style faction webpages in the works...

[Trenacker]

The New Two Thousand

Name: Oscar van de Graaf
Rank: Administrator VI
Position: Proprietor
Country of Origin: United States
DOB: 02-21-2065
Height: 187 cm
Weight: 85.3 kg

Service Record
Born 2065, Cincinnati, OH, United States, heir to multiple fortunes in rail logistics, petrochemicals, and manufacturing. Descended from Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Read history at Trinity College, U. of Cambridge before obtaining a juris doctor from Yale Law School.

Interests include extreme sports (power gliding, motocross). Five-time America's Cup winner.

Personal wealth reduced by nine-tenths during Holnist Wars. Founded American Reclamation Corporation (ARC) in 20XX to pursue war contracts west of the Mississippi. Company specialized in providing operational support to federal and state government agencies conducting disaster relief and peacekeeping missions. Services included armed escort as well as training, logistics, and planning assistance. Pioneered strategy of deploying industrial security forces to protect clinics, aid convoys, and distribution centers even when operated by competitors. Consensus among historians is that subject leveraged corporate assets and government affiliation to wage private war against Holnists, openly coordinating with regular military. Orchestrated independent liberation of Utah from survivalist militias in 20XX, cooperating with Nauvoo Legion.

Subject made two bids for elected office between 20XX and 20XX, seeking first a senate seat in Louisiana, then the office of President of the United States. "American Restoration" party polled third behind Democrats and Republicans with 23% of the vote, defeating far-right Conservative Party. Continued to bankroll handpicked candidates after personal departure from campaign trail.

CAUTION: Numerous allegations that ARC regional administrators endorsed debt peonage and other forms of human slavery practiced by allied militias and neutral settlements during periods of corporate stewardship of "rebellious" territories preceding the readmittance of certain western states to the Union. Various media outlets also investigated ARC "company towns," concurrently uncovering evidence of systematic abuses of workers' rights. Subject issued repeated public statements apparently indicating approval for contract and debt servitude, which he attempted to distinguish from chattel slavery, before ARC reached a $408.5 billion settlement with the U.S. Government.

Following Reconstruction, led ARC in successful entry to civilian aerospace industry, with focus on zero-gravity resource extraction. Obtained exclusive contracts to service mining and terraformation projects on Jovian moons. First civilian to visit Asteroid Belt.

Successfully, and controversially, lobbied for Congressional buy-out of ARC stock on favorable terms in 20XX. Later nominated as first chairman of the ARC in its new form as a quasi-independent federal corporation, supervising U.S. reconstruction. Oversaw ARC participation in Vault Project from outset.

Leading proponent of extra-terrestreal colonization. Contributed $232 billion to obtain one of fifteen billets reserved for proprietors aboard Chiron Interstellar Probe as a means to demonstrate viability of such ventures. Personally interviewed and recruited the three hundred "stakeholding" families chosen to populate his new colony. Additionally, secured the services of dozens of world-class experts in a variety of fields (e.g., mining, surveying, agronomy) in direct competition with CIP.

Committed to allow expedition leadership the free command of his settlers and equipment for up to two years after the date of Planetfall, at which point additional colonies would be founded.

Psych Profile: Empresario
Impulsive, personalistic leadership style. Unusual appetite for physical danger.

Susceptible to vainglory, megalomania.

Pedantic, but record of business dealings indicates purely instrumental attitude toward the law.

Disinclination toward delegation of responsibilities parallels keen appetite for detail. With small inner circle, indicative of limited trust in others.

Believes that experience is the best teacher and encourages subordinates to take risks.

Obessive concern for proper sequestration of ARC equipment and personnel from that of the expedition proper.

Possibility that determination to develop ARC colony as business venture will cause tension with settler population.

Status
Never comfortable with "his" assets at the disposal of the expedition writ large, van de Graaf clashed early and often with the command staff in his pursuit of increased authority despite his private conclusion that many of their decisions were ultimately sound. This rift, present from the moment of Planetfall, widened substantially when dozens of contractors originally recruited by the ARC were assigned by mission command to extended tours of duty outside the main settlement. Van de Graaf's suspicion that his investment would not be recouped only increased when several contract staff were killed by mindworm boils or in industrial accidents. Thereafter, van de Graaf was frequently accused by expedition leadership of fomenting insubordination among contract personnel to further his own agenda.

Outspoken in his belief that different treatment should be afforded the free and unfree segments of the expedition. Despite lobbying strongly for the use of resocialized labor (which he hoped would reduce overall demand for labor), van de Graaf later insisted that medical care should be withheld from prisoners in favor of prioritizing resources for "free colonists."

Among the first to propose abandonment of the primary colony as plague control measure. Attempts to consolidate original colonists and equipment were frustrated by competition with other leaders, several of which succeeded in luring away personnel under contract or else commandeering ARC machinery and supplies.

Eventually established a new settlement, Terra Nova, on a proprietary model similar to his original vision. It is rumored that the terms of settlement for those not members of the original expedition were exceptionally onerous.

Agenda: Recoup ARC investment to demonstrate viability of colonial ventures on Chiron.
Values: Independence
Free Tech: Doctrine: Expand
Research Focus: Command
Founding Base: Terra Nova

"The cornerstone of the American dream is each man's inalienable right to the enjoyment of his own property. This notion is enshrined in the law. It was sanctified by the blood of our ancestors. A man's land, it is his patrimony. A man's possessions, they are a part of his legacy. In society, my property cannot be taxed but I am given a say in how those proceeds are spent. My property cannot be seized but I am given fair value in return.

We had a written agreement, Quoyle and myself. My property -- my people -- were subject to his writ for two years, reverting to my sole possession, free and clear, at the conclusion of that period. The purpose of that agreement was to secure the future of a unified colony. Well now Quoyle and that colony are dead. The contract is broken, my property scattered. I mean to recover that property by any and all means available to me." - Oscar van de Graaf, "Notes on Arrival"

[Yitzi]

Ok, I've been asked by the OP to check whether the new factions are consistent with the style of the original game, so here goes:

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!

I think it actually can be seen as a mix of  and  , essentially aiming for  's goals via  's methods.  An interesting faction, and one that could definitely fit in with the style of the original game while still having its own flavor.

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.

I see it as somewhat like  , but with a focus on "humanity dealing with nature" rather than "humanity vs. each other".  So in the game they'd probably have  's police bonus, but replace the MORALE with PLANET and bonus resources in fungus.

However, I'd say they probably need more of an ideological basis if they're to fit in with the original game's factions; "were stuck outside together" just doesn't cut it.

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.

Interesting, but it's pretty the same ideology as  , diluted by non-ideological considerations...it definitely does not fit in with the style of the original game.

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.

Without a real ideology, it just doesn't fit the original style.

“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?)

Too specialized.  Once they get Fusion Power (a midgame tech), then what?  There's nothing enduring there.

“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?)

More like too much like  ...and he's one of the thematically weakest factions already.

“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.

Make him fit the style of the original game, and you'd essentially have  .

[Trenacker]

Thanks very much for your input, Yitzi. This is just the kind of dialogue I had in mind to invite!

Let's start with

The Human Ascendancy.  's proposition is simple. Why did human civilization on Earth fail? Fear of new technology on the part of the masses and craven acquiescence to "medieval" value systems on the part of their political leadership. What is needed to ensure survival on Chiron? Fearless willingness to embrace all of the "tools" provided for us by science. The Ascendancy are presumably in lock-step on both counts.  The divergences are beneath the surface:

• Pahlavi's Malthusian bent disposes her toward competition, which means that the Ascendancy are going to be much more aggressive than the University overall, and much less disposed toward diplomatic solutions generally. Fear that Chiron's resources will be overwhelmed by too many settlers also means that the Ascendancy will oppose newcomers, unlike Zakharov's people.
• will presumably establish a governing framework that resembles academia. While bureaucratic, it will also tend to be more liberal in certain respects than its secretive leader. The Ascendancy, on the other hand, will default more immediately to geniocracy.
• is open to use of machinery to replace human labor. If it is more efficient, he is also in favor of leveraging cybernetics over genetic engineering. I envisioned Pahlavi and her people as machine rejectionists.

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]

[Yitzi]

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?

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.

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.

Ah...essentially an anti- , with tinges of  .    thinks that technology is the answer to all problems, Marsh believes it (at least as used to increase comfort and convenience) is the source of the problems.

An interesting faction, and one that fits in well with the style of the game but would (if played) need to use a completely different epilogue for Transcendence.

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 problem is that there's no real ideology behind that; the only ideological component is the priesthood.  Without a strong ideology, it doesn't fit.

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.

That's still too specific...it's focusing on a few early techs, and just doesn't have anything once you've gotten those techs.

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.

was never libertarian.  Libertarians would have a penalty to POLICE, and she has a bonus.  She's not particularly egalitarian either.

What she is, is survivalist.  Humanity must survive, and that means being militarily powerful.

The Beneath are intended to totally replace the Nautlius Pirates.

Even so...the Pirates are a thematically weak faction as it is, and not worth replacing; if you're not keeping them, just ditch them.

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.

I think they need a complete redesign, if you want something that fits the style of the original.

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]

What is his ideological justification for doing so?

[Trenacker]

Again, thanks, Yitzi, for your terrific critique!

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 Conclave's affinity is Purity: it is violently opposed to any practice that substantially alters the human body and mind, including gene therapies. Followers are encouraged to report, and often directly to punish, suspected “aberration,” including genetic “tampering” and use of cybernetics or chemical stimulants. Miriam tends to operate a planned or full command economy in the form of various collective communities, usually centered around agriculture, serving large temple complexes occupied by a dedicated priesthood. A substantial number of the Conclave’s population practice asceticism, renouncing material possessions and devoting themselves to pastoral lifestyles. The result is to substantially retard the faction’s scientific and industrial progress. However, in an effort to compensate for the Conclave's slow growth and relative technological "backwardness," the kritarky has authorized attempts to develop human "super-thinkers" essentially identical to the Mentats of the Dune universe, although their thinking capacity is the result of natural evolution rather than stimulants. Conclave society is markedly chauvinist. Because those who have rejected the Word of God three times are considered beyond Salvation, the kritarky has deemed nerve-stapling an acceptable punishment. The faction is also generally comfortable with slavery. The Conclave has a large servile population comprised of apostates, heretics, and prisoners from other factions. Naturally, Miriam is opposed to attempting restoration of contact with Planet Earth. She is also opposed to the cultivation of artificial life, which she believes tantamount to idolatry.

The big question for is this: how does somebody associated with a religious cult get assigned to a mission like this one?

I made no change to . The Gaians operate a democratic matriarchy dedicated to ecological settlement and symbiosis with Planet. Their preference is ecology, their aversion free market economics, their affinity, Harmony, or living "in dialogue" with Planet. They are opposed to contact with Earth on grounds that mankind poisoned its homeworld and pursue a command economy with a focus on agronomy. Like Miriam's people, Deirdre's tend to live in communal settlements. 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. (We may be able to work out a partial mitigation by allowing her to trade crops and technology to factions like The Hunters in return for access to salvage, but that wouldn't do more than carry them through the period immediately after Planetfall.)

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.

Originally, The Beneath included a meditation on colonial peoples. Without them, the faction is substantially less interesting, I agree. All they are is aquatic at this point. I had meant for them to embrace aristocracy to a greater extent than other factions, but it's hard to explain what good aristocracy does in a submersible colony. I'll withdraw them for now.

I might bring back The Honored Dead, a Chiron Interstellar Probe faction of United Nations Marines gone AWOL. They were an homage to the Marais rubber plantation in Apocalypse Now. This was when the backstory included an alternate history in which ethnic strife and colonialism remained significant issues for the Unity survivors.

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?

Okay! Fire away again!

[Yitzi]

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.

What does this correspond to?  If it's game balance, everybody seems to have a different take on which factions are stronger and weaker...

The Believers are a fundamentalist kritarky with a violently evangelical agenda.

I see them less as a kritarchy and more as a theocracy.  (The two are fairly close when a state religion is the source of law, though).  (They can also be played as not violently evangelical, and such is even compatible with  's quotes, but is definitely not making the most of their capabilities.)

Zakharov is simply interested in learning for its own sake, almost indifferent to exile among the stars.

Indeed.

Deirdre hopes to lose herself in the fungus, both literally and figuratively.

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.

Morgan aims at monopoly.

Indeed.

I assume that Yang is about forms of despotism.

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.

Lal's vision is apparently a technocracy, although in implementation he fails to avoid bureaucratic gridlock and the worst aspects of populism.

I don't think Lal wants a technocracy.  Zakharov wants a technocracy, Lal wants a liberal democracy.

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.

And the Ascendancy is done well.  The problem with the rest of them is that the cars you added in just didn't fit SMAC/X.

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,

This fits, except for I'd have rule by clergy instead of religious judges in particular.

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.

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).  Also,  just doesn't strike me as "End Times focused".

The particulars of Conclave philosophy, including its critical document, the Orange-Catholic Bible (an homage to Dune)

The homage is nice, but the Conclave Bible is mentioned too often in the blurbs to be worth removing.

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.

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"...

The big question for is this: how does somebody associated with a religious cult get assigned to a mission like this one?

Because she was a natural leader, and they needed a chaplain.

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.

Because there is such a thing as clean industry, and they're willing to be somewhat practical (just really careful).

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.

Sounds good.

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.

Ok, makes sense.  However, that still misses his elitist/"the race as a whole is more important than any individual" motivation.

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.

"Remain the master of the technology at his disposal" as opposed to what?

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.

But a faction that explores philosophical concepts, without a solid ideology behind it, doesn't fit SMAC/X.

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.

They're definitely interesting...but you asked me if they fit the style of the game's factions, and they don't.

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?

It just doesn't fit the style.

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?

No.  Let me put it this way:

If you ask  "why should we follow you", she'd say "because we have a responsibility to not ruin this planet like the last one".

If you ask  the same question, he'd say "for the good of the whole, which I can achieve the best because I don't waste resources on individuals, and expect them to give their utmost".

Ask  , and he'll say "because science is what allows humanity to progress."

Ask  , and he'll say "same reason you, or anyone else, does anything: Because both of us stand to gain if you do."

Ask  , and she'll say "so that humanity can survive on this hostile world."

Ask  , and she'll say "because a life of service to God is the only life worth living".

Ask  , and he'll say "so we can put this mission back together, and benefit all the people".

Ask Pahlavi, and she'll say "so that we can produce a better breed of human, which will then be more effective".

Ask the others in your list, and there's no clear answer what they'll say.

Alternatively (or in addition): Write up, for each of your factions, a blurb and dialogue as if you were going to put it in the game (mechanics aren't necessary, just the blurb and all the diplomacy dialogue), and that should give a better sense of what's going on.

[Trenacker]

What 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.

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.

Sure. She's mostly straightforward.

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.

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 don't think Lal wants a technocracy.  Zakharov wants a technocracy, Lal wants a liberal democracy.

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.

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).

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.

The homage is nice, but the Conclave Bible is mentioned too often in the blurbs to be worth removing.

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?

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"...

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.

I think if you were to ask the new faction leaders, "Why follow me?" they'd answer as follows:

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."

[Yitzi]

What 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.

I see all of the original 7 as having thorough identities.

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?

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.

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.

His approach to social engineering is just "more freedoms".  Look at his quotes, especially the faction blurb.

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 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.

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?

Perhaps...maybe the Orange-Catholic is a more liberal/laid-back approach, popular among religious members of the Peacekeepers, Morganites, and Gaians.

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 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.

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.

I don't think they would even completely preclude the use of autonomous thinking machines...they'd just be more wary than other factions.

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."

So a more "outdoorsy" take on  ?  That might work...

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.)

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?

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."

Ah...so similar to  but focused on psychology.  Interesting, and could work...

Ask the Beneath, and they'd say, "Because survival is only probable beneath Chiron's seas."

That's not really ideological enough to fit with the original 7.

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."

Definitely not ideological enough to fit with the original 7.

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."

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.

[Trenacker]

I see all of the original 7 as having thorough identities.

I suppose we must needs agree to disagree on this count. 

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.

Geniocratic, then? A divided focus on what it takes to "build" the ideal ruler and the various compliance techniques required to suppress the huddled masses?

His approach to social engineering is just "more freedoms".  Look at his quotes, especially the faction blurb.

I've never really known what to make of his faction. He talks about the importance of transparency, and yet the whole bureaucratic element can be construed (in some renditions) to partially cut against that. It depends on one's point of view, I suppose, whether or not grand mal concessions to cultural taboos (say, against vaccination) are a "liberal" value.

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.

I figured she'd interpret the Unity mission as the device designed to ferry her people to Salvation. Hence why every colonist is technically a member of the Elect.

Perhaps...maybe the Orange-Catholic is a more liberal/laid-back approach, popular among religious members of the Peacekeepers, Morganites, and Gaians.

That's certainly a possibility. I figured that the Novo Estado would be the most-religious, after the Believers, but I agree with your general sense of religiosity overall.

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.

I've always felt that human alienation from "true" thinking machines was one of the more plausible aspects of the Dune story, if rejection of all computers entirely seemed stupid.

So a more "outdoorsy" take on  ?  That might work...

Less inclined toward instilling discipline and values according to one particular methodology (i.e., military drill). Taking care, like the Gaians, to manage their settlements in symptico with Chiron's "moods," although inclined to fight back when the opportunity presents itself (e.g., by clear-cutting xenofungus).

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?

The idea is that he took a few hundred family groups and some number of single contractors and put together what he felt was the ideal colony in terms of knowledge, skills, and abilities.

I might need to look more closely at the history of early settlements in the U.S. and craft him more closely into a Cotton Mather type.

Ah...so similar to  but focused on psychology.  Interesting, and could work...

Precisely. That, and dream-walking.

That's not really ideological enough to fit with the original 7.

Other ideas...

A faction committed to a revival of Greek concepts of civic virtue, arete, worship of a pantheon of gods according to the dictates of one's conscience, and cultural heterogeneity?

The Children of the Atom would not have a very coherent ideology, no. Still, they'd have a unique identity. Is that worth keeping them in the rotation?

Ok, so now it sounds like a "role for everyone" sort of ideology, which actually could work quite well.

Correct.

Still, I think that a blurb and diplomacy lines for all of them will help give them more character.

I'm game. Is there somewhere I can go for their blurbs and diplomacy lines?