Seeking Development Team and Players

[Eadee]

I've worked on the Map we talked about and made the first requested changes.

Just have a look at it. I exported it with .html-files so you can "zoom in" into a specific region. Just extract the zip-file into a single folder and open the A000000.html, then it should work fine.

Download

It has 4 Layers.
The first one is a single Map of the whole planet.
Divided into the second layer there are 4 Maps (2by2). (no overlap of maps)
Each of those quarters is divided into 9 Maps (3by3). (no overlap of maps)
And each of those is divided into 16 Maps (4by4) of the third layer. (10% overlap of maps)
For a total of 617 Maps (16*9*4+9*4+4+1).

Before I work on the final Map I have to know if there are still changes I should do. Then I need to know how many zoom-stages you want and finally in how many tiles Planet should be separated.

edit: example-file with grid attached

[Eadee]

Edit: I put this post into a spoiler because it was pain to open this thread with a smartphone due to the size of the graphics.

(click to show/hide)

Rotation view:


Sample Icons (Lightbulb):

[Horseshoe_Hermit]

So I thought what I'd do  is offer   a received view of the factions  grouped into the OP, and the New Two Thousand.  Then I'd ask  what  process could be in play  to  advance  the project  out  of  an input stage  into  .... something sequenced toward a product.  What becomes of  faction concepts  that  are  vetted and approved and polished?  How is the containing unit  of  artwork derived?  What processes come after  the creative stage of these assets?


The Hunters of Chiron.

So here's a faction  that  theorizes that    upright  Human  existence  is one which  is  challenged and driven  by  physical/material  competition  with  Nature.  And it is 'Nature' not 'the World'.  This viewpoint  is  sufficiently ambiguous between  "The purpose of Human life is..." (survival), "The way to maintain functional Human capacity is..." (outdoorsiness), "The well-understood  moral and upright Human being is..." (one who takes on the huntsman's lifestyle) and possibly other subtly different  phrases  at  different levels  of  existential, social, or physical  theory,  to  incorporate  that sort of  breadth  of  supporters and  followers  it needs to be  a large society.

There is  some form of  self-limitation,  of  avoiding certain trappings or temptations  of  technology   to  overmaster, solve, or remove problems,  and instead  to grapple with them  in a specific  domain.  A very specific domain,  one particular  component of  the Human being,  the  man with tools,  let's say.   There is, then,  this   sort  of  imposed unconsciousness;  the  influence of  the society  , if  it were to be internalized and  to state it in Freudian terms, is the superego  tells you  to  take  not the easy  way but the hard way.  Work and work until you are exhausted - and not 'work'  at  industry or  art,  but  go  out in the world  and  look at scary stuff  24/7  or until you can't take any more because your eyes are bleeding  or you have the shakes.  The  life  is one of working with the body, growing the body, augmenting the body  through its own  contained  strengthening qualities,  and then elevating/exalting  the  body, mastery of form,  as  the  last form of  Human progress, the defense of Human vice.

Perhaps it is not in that extremity of confrontation to near-death, but rather some kind of  responsibility for effort up to a point (i.e. a well-done exercise regimen, in current medical science, is performed for a certain length with a certain rhythm,  just consistently over  long spans of your life).  But another thing that seems clear is,  the  social order  is a kind of self-policing by shame.  Luxury is -not- approved of.  Not picking up  some  responsibility to  hunt  and  tame some wilderness is shameful.  So if luxury is not approved,  you might have industry,  people who make things to keep  up  with  the  'arms race' with Nature,  but  there isn't  going to  be  craft.  You aren't supposed to  make  "fine" things, or  muddle or clog your thoughts with   the aesthetics,  either of your tools as you use them,  or  your  workmanship as you create them.  No one is approved of  to make tokens  for admiration  or  symbology,  since no one  is upright with the time of day  to   luxuriate  with such  celebrations  or ceremonial  craftsmanship.

So maybe there is a line that's not where I see it  in the  designer's view.  Maybe architecture is approved.  But somewhere really quickly  is  art that no one can say it's not luxury, and the time put into such things  is contrary to  the morality  outright.

The final theory,  the one  animating Marsh specifically, is there's something  great about  actually  doing  the things in life.  Putting your body to the task,  and that  machines  'freeing up' time  is  a horrible error.  Such an error expands and caresses  an  unhelpful, vice-tendency  of  indolence  in  people.  The machines replace what life -is-, and the individual "dies" in an instant.  And it puts an end  to   what is, for Marsh, self-evidently  the  purpose of the  Human being,  to  progress   our -bodies-.  Whatever "body" is.

It's  Red Queen theory  writ large,  if  I  recall the principles correctly.

I'm working  on all the other four and  put them  up at once, I think.  I don't mean to  go into length  with  the lot of them ,  it is a 'received view',  my  reception of what was  said, I want to  not read into them  , for the purpose of trading knowledge at this stage.  Hunters are just an exception.  I guess what I was thinkin g was it was to  evaluate  the descriptions, look at  how  they would manifest  to  the  wide audience  consuming them.

[Trenacker]

So, essentially, the Ladder promotes the art of critical inquiry while at the same time emphasizing that reality is constructed: history, values, morality – they are literally what we make of them.

Am I correct to presume that the danger of moral relativism would be balanced by a belief in liberty à la the style of John Stuart Mill? That is, your liberty ends where the tip of my nose begins?

Okay, another “striving” faction. I like it. You’ll find that intellectual laziness is a charge that a lot of factions throw around when talking about why human civilization on Earth failed.

I’m OK with fluid leadership, but one of the limitations of the original game format was that every faction had a single, established leader. We’ll need to identify someone to hold that space for the purpose of making your faction write-up.

In terms of faction development, the Hunters are more or less complete. They have an associated picture (Robert Muldoon from Jurassic Park). I think you accurately describe both the good and bad aspects of such a society. They’re also a very rambling faction. Architecture isn’t approved; it’s more like there’s no zoning. Shanties next to pre-fab shelters.

Eadee – The hexes look terrific! So does the globe!

Great start with the lightbulb! I think that it’s a little cluttered, to be honest. Maybe just the bulb inside the stylized star? Also, can we try a different look for the blub?

[Horseshoe_Hermit]

"what we make of them"  it's the second time you mentioned it,  and it  doesn't sound right.  It seems to be your preoccupation , and perhaps you  mean to examine what that would look like  if  used as the seed of a  faction concept on its own.  I'm much too fearful  that is some sort of  illusion cast over this proposal to agree with it.

There is a certain proposal  that  there is not  much higher order  commitment  to  the "right" way to live, it's not that it comes  from  a certain authority, tradition,  sagely caste, or  pre-specifiable lifestyle.  But  it is  scientific about  what  societies  work and which ones fall.  And  what societies cease to be themselves  and  become, apparently as a consequence of being what they were before,  something subsequent.  These transformations  can be  thought of  as  having causes,  and  being  repeatable,  and  having something factual about them  beyond  choice  or  design.  There are possible societies,  but they are constrained by something,  and  the sociology to know  which things  are viable and which aren't  is,  -at least-, going to require the data about what all that is.  The Ladder is not  declaredly trying to predict  social  change.  The Ladder is a constitution and nationhood, the people make of  the constitutional provisions what they will.  That constitution is to guarantee   people  are  in the  present  of society  and  know what is going on, are shown it,  because making it known matters  and it's not at all natural to  go seek it out, or figure out how to  ingest  "the structure of civilization" as a  self-study.  The other stuff is the  moralization behind this idea, that you have to wake people up, and keep doing it throughout the ages.  Everyone, even the best, fall asleep. It is a generational flaw.

So the Ladder could take that history in a number of ways, as could the citizens.  Just some facts, to get  and then go fit in.  Or someone could  ask  the question    ,  is there some unifying  order to  it  that  we don't know but actually does exist independent of us?  Or  could someone find, it really is  this  linear progression  caused  by  event X  and statesman Y  and  religion Z.  At the least, something has to  induce  theorists and journalists and  even  social content producers  to get out there and describe  the Present,  to keep the thing going.  Years from then,  the  sociology of the time is going to require the data,  just as  Kepler needed  Tycho Brahe.

The implicit notion of the Ladder  is that society is about getting the constitution right.  Enduring, less-than-malleable ideas  that define  the nation  (and it is a nation, a place that people call their own  and belong to),  shaping all other institutions  as a kind of  social core.  The Crystal Ladder's constitution  is to  not  let  people wander about  utterly confused  about  how their society works  -  what the rich are doing with the money, for instance.  Or,  how central banks  even -define- money, for that matter.   You are being equipped to succeed,  not  to  fail, not to be a puppet, and   foremost, actually, not to   invest your  future  at  the midpoint of life  and  -then- realize  you don't know what it means to be Human, and any thought you ever entertained and directed toward 'society' was less than pointless because  you  hadn't an  idea  that even referred to it let alone could be said to be  false.
Mainly because  that kind of  helplessness, confusion, and betrayal on the part of Society-as-such,  induces  genocidal malfeasance in people.


I'm intrigued about the moral relativism decay.  I feared that the Ladder would become  moral absolutism,  or, more insidiously, that its  very  bent  on  propagating  knowing ownership  of  the  construction of history   would  just  so easily  be corrupted  into  information control, stateism , and  social engineering (the bad kind) meant to serve  the oligarchs.  You know, the idea of  breeding a whole  society of people who think they live in a  liberal  golden era  but in fact  are  fanatical beyond belief, quite ironically quiescent  and all the like.  Rewriting history and such.
edit:  I mean, after considering the above reason to  prevent  moral relativism, I would put to you the question: What counterbalances moral relativism  in  -our- society?  Apart from it being wrong,  the  young people  are actually  engorged  with  that kind of thinking.  Schools are a painful place to be right now. 
This faction is gambling everything that despite  the Fall of Earth,  people are not  that sick.  It's still up to them to  make things right,  not an  ideologue's authority.  It is perhaps  fatalist  about the question, foremost;  if it's sick, then it's sick,  and  the  de facto power, the  steering committee or the  upper rung  or what have you, of this faction...  they're not in this  to  reap  value  off the  rest of it.  They're in this because, like Our Man  $CRYSTAL_LEADERHEAD_NAME, I guess,  they're compelled to  give people  the chance for  authenticity, even if that's an authentic death.

For purpose of maximal distinctiveness,  the idea  would  be  a society that is as centrist as it needs to be  to  run  such a program, and  be a nation,    and  has economically right-wing values  to  starkly contrast  with  Lal and Yang,  but  is fundamentally  liberal  in  the matter of what  socially people are up to.  The only right you don't have is to be ignorant, I guess.  Or to be  enigmatic.   You cannot knowingly exercise the first.  And you must forever be compelled to initiate others to  the same consciousness of  life  that sustains you, so long as  you want  laws  and polices to hold such  people  in line with your  notion of the rules.  No regulation without inculcation, as it were.



I can  put  someone  in charge of the faction, I meant only to say that  a) I am less clear myself on  what nature of that person it would be, and b) there are narrative tools at our disposal  to make the  leader  distinct  from  the  advocate  who  generated the faction  ex  the  Unity Dissent.
It could be  chaired by  someone  in  librarial sciences, heck.  He'd be the less personable face,  but  it could be done.

Director of Education - works
Child psychologist - the trope would hit too heavy, maybe.
Scholar of  eastern philosophy  /  Scholar of theology -  Too much steady-state theoretical commitments if the scholar actually is religious, as they stereotypically are.

The librarial sciences angle  is kind of neat  since it would  be  a  computer science technician, really, someone who is looking  at information  delivery,  network design,  and is  proactive and creative about  knowledge networking  especially  with  future technologies, as an engineering kind of problem  in some way.  But there's a glut  of  "sciencey folk", right?  So  director of education would be good.

[Horseshoe_Hermit]

Or, well,   one could propose transforming  and  altering  the  concept to  be  whatever in order to accommodate  the  game work  in its entirety,  but  if  so  then  I would  be obliged to hear out where  you see  your  view  of it  with this "it's what you make of it" proposition  to arise  from  the other parts.  More of a roadmap,  some  landmarks,   ... what's your received view?

Stuart Mill's theory of  liberty  might  be  a  good statement  of  how  certain  modern societies  conduct Law.  It would come up in an historic context.  It might even describe the present that the society chooses to start with,  if for some reason  all those easterners I'm 90% sure the faction is made of decided they liked English rule(s).  Committing to  that  proposal as a description  of what  Human institution is right would be,  no,   a  nonstatement for  Crystal Ladder  doctrine.

[Trenacker]

Hermi, "The world is what we make of it" is a concept and phrase often linked to a formal philosophy known as Constructivism. I think we are in perfect agreement. Nothing that you have said below was inconsistent with my understand of your faction based on your previous comments.

The international relations theory of constructivism is rooted in the observation that all behavior is learned. There is no playbook given for interaction between societies per se. No interests or identities are necessarily fixed.

As far as I can tell, your faction is about arming people with both an education to deal with the world around them critically, and a constructivist philosophy that emphasizes the ability of human beings to choose, through action and behavior, to create the norms by which they wish to live.

I think that it makes logical sense that your leader, or at least the individual supplying the basis of your faction's ideology, would be the Unity's Director of Education. It is feasible that they would have a lot of behavioral scientists and philosophers to work with. (It isn't as if those folks are likely to be snapped up by anybody else. The only other faction with a direct interest in psychology, the Dreamers, is already on Chiron when yours leaves Earth.)

[Eadee]

Got a map done with all the hex-tiles on it. Its only 215 tiles circumference instead of 300, I hope its enough.
Maps in different styles (altitude, climate, rainfall, temperature) will follow, but only a small version without the tiles.

Download-Link zip-file
edit: Upload complete, be warned, its big (210,78MB)

Content of the zip-file (dropbox-link):
One big map in max resolution (14544x7558px).
5 northern segment-maps of Planet in max resolution (4365x3779px).
5 southern segment-maps of Planet in max resolution (4365x3779px).
One Wallpaper of Planet (1920x1080px  slightly warped).

Attached:
One small map of Planet (1024x530px).

[Horseshoe_Hermit]

Then we are in agreement!  Darn  forum  crashed on me all yesterday.  So I  chipped at  more  config file /  profile stuff.

But there's , for me,  a  critical additional flavour  that  people are being shown  how their society works.  That  you have to tell people what's actually happening.  Forget about  initiating people to critical thinking (that's a sagely burden to carry indeed!) , let's just go  over the facts.  And the facts get to be the facts how the present construes them, so the idea of  bias or  remoteness of history, or of inherent interpretability (necessity of  creative insight renewed by many people, something like this) is sidestepped as "obstacles" to that truth because  those are the truths we're setting out  to divulge.  What are your fellow  Man up to?, with these resources and environment  that very darn well  impact you  directly.  Nobody's business is truly not your business, if either party changes its relationship to you afterward (which can happen  in plenty of  very  likely ways, I have them enumerated).  The Ladder wants data  just  flyin' around, descriptions of  the patterns and rules and practices.  And if  there are contemporary theorists to  give models  for  any emergent, not fully conscious patterns, then, that's all to the good.    This is  I guess something mixed in to the power structure, rather than the legal system as such, or otherwise gets into  the  pervasive and defining sentiment.  The University is "Let's do science, and bind our commitments to material reality", which ain't a formula to run a university, but it does tell people  "what to do" and whether they're getting it right or wrong, whether they're playing a part  or not.  The Crystal Ladder is, "Describe the social world."

 It's not some magic  that  those who are insightful enough  to  watch the wave and stay ahead of it  are "rewarded" for  grasping trends.  It's that nobody gets left  with  pure confusion    about (*) how their   legislative procedures  boondoggle what supposedly matters, and (*) how  business practices  on the largest scales are actually being conducted and  more-or-less  codified  at the moment by the big players, to whatever effect on  the value of currency, or the creation of "wealth" whatever that is, and (*) how [anything else that people are doing and  thereby constructing the real operation of society on the largest scale].  People get to at least  have a discussion  about such things  when  they're on the same page given the directions to make it into the same  room (on a certain floor of the right building on the right day, to beat the metaphor to death)  of knowing  what  is happening  with  the  capital  and the laws and the research grants and the procedures, and everything 'informal' and 'unofficial' too,   and then they don't have to be distrustful or even  seditious  of that social order (if there is one there) because of how pre-eminently threatening  a  big secret is.  And certainly, for the decisions that directly affect everyone,  your  system  is a lot more stable  if  it has  scrutiny from  every  position of  the living body politic, maybe even  vociferous support from people who see what you're really doing and not some sham poster you put up ;  meanwhile  definitely not  the mute horror  of  exclusion and ignorance.

(click to show/hide)

So the thing about constructivism is, there's gotta be a reason why societies are places where people are oppressed.  Animating  a  host  and  majority  of  actualized persons  capable of  asserting their interests  and  using independence where  interests don't coincide... is going to   nonplus   oligarchs who are by contrast insecure,  yet somehow are found on the top  so much.  It's the quiescence,  the Ladder says.  They were doing it right to get there - probably - but  they've fallen back to  some less educated  rationing of their  motivations and actions.  Less practiced at just... professionalism.  - Another thing that's quite a sagely burden to teach; it might be beyond  government.

The people are there full stop, but society is produced or it isn't.  So to coin yet another  catchphrase,  the best defense  for  society is to  breed people  who  want to have society, and not the reverse.  Yup, the Ladder makes people  critical thinkers, or professional, or capable of self-knowledge, or whatever you call it, it's a single  "skill" only its a training of the spirit  which is really why  it can only be called  education, you're being edified.   The Ladder  does that by telling people what's going on   and what the real obstacles are,  and how history worked through multiple forms of it to get to  today,  and to be Constructivists about it,  they  say none of it happens without somebody actually  standing up to  make it a particular way  (and being  strong enough to do it, whatever part one person can have in making a thing  by definition  extended across all people at all times),  and,  to be Constructivists about it,  the ideology then gets out of the way and watches  people make society, whilst not a damn thing stops them.

[Trenacker]

Looking good, Hermi! When I get back from vacation in a week, I'll sit down and try to hash out an in-game faction write-up based on the information that you have provided. Once you approve, we'll post it on the website.

[Eadee]

I've done some maps with more information on Planet:

Altitude.png: heigths and depths of Planet.
Terrain.png: terrain on Planets surface.
Xenofungus.png: density of xenofungus.
Temperature.png: default is Fahrenheit, but I added a scale in °C so I'm not completely lost.
Rainfall.png: in inches per year.

[Eadee]

Here the SMAC-writeup for the faction I'm working on. I'll post a less technical writeup too as soon as I find the time.

#ROY
Royal Realm of the Rising, The Royal, Royals, F, Pahalē, F, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0,
 TECH, Brain, SOCIAL, -PLANET, SOCIAL, +MORALE, SOCIAL, -ECONOMY, SOCIAL, -EFFIC, SOCIAL, ++SUPPORT, IMPUNITY, FUNDAMENTAL,

VOTES, 0.5 FREEFAC, 22
 Politics, Fundamental, RESEARCH
 Politics, Democratic, nil
 Royal, Roy.,
 Charon, Gallahan, Arc of Charon
 Highness, merciful, snotty, exalted, childish
 [Together we shall both] lead our people [and]
 [My intent is] lead my people through the stages of Ascension
 [She is bent on] imposing her ridiculous believes on all of us
 [You seem bent on] imposing your ridiculous believes on all of us
 [I shall not stand here while you] brainwash every single person on Planet
 [She spends her time] drinking tea and combing her hair
 [You spend your time] drinking tea and combing your hair
 [I have been accused of] oppressing my own people
 [Your] lofty manner [does not impress me]
 [Think how this could benefit your] glorious lineage and its memorial
 [I trust your] adulations [are proceeding to your satisfaction]
 [It is customary to remit me a small] tithe [...]
 [...for the services my forces provide in] leading humanity through the stages of Ascension
 [I shall instruct] the Knights [to see that no such]
 [You are in contravention of] the instruction to the Ascension of the human race

#BASES
The Prophets Crib
Royal Palace
The Round Table
Wallfahrtsort
Castle [...]
[...]keep

#WATERBASES
Moated Castle
Depths of Thought


Though I shall fall twice while you fall once, my soul shall return to you. As the first child sired on Planet I shall be

the first in our ranks and lead humankind on its way through ascension.
^
^               -Prophet Kirshan Divari
^                     "The Prophecy of Planetfall"

#DATALINKS1
^LEADER: {Pahalē}
^BACKGROUND: {Born on Planet, Reincarnation of the Prophet Kirshan Divari}
^AGENDA: {Ascension, of the individual through reincarnation and of humankind as a whole through evolution and research.}
^TECH: {Secrets of the Human Brain}
^

#DATALINKS2
^-1 PLANET {ruthless exploitation of Planets ressources}
^+1 MORALE {strong believe in the royal caste}
^-1 ECONOMY {a big part of the wealth is spent on temples}
^-1 EFFICENCY {energy wasted on rivalries between fiefdoms}
^+2 SUPPORT {military supplied by the fiefdoms}
^Impunity to Fundamentalism {the nobility leads the way through Ascension}
^-50% Votes for Planetary Governour and Supreme Leader {lower castes lack suffrage}
^Free GENEJACK FACTORY at every Base when discovered {lower castes are enhanced by force}

#FACTIONTRUCE
"Humankind suffered too long because of our differences $NAME1, let us end this bloodshed before we fall to far.”

[Acceptance dialogue] “Well spoken, let us end this bloodshed here and now.”
[Rejection dialogue] "Too late $NAME3. Now you will pay for your hubris."

#FACTIONTREATY
“$TITLE0 $NAME1, your achievements prove the nobility of your blood. Would you be inclined to sign a Treaty of Friendship?

You might even be able to marry-in into one of our noble houses.”

[Acceptance dialogue] “I feel flattered, your Highness. It will be a pleasure to sign this treaty."
[Rejection dialogue] "You will have to coninue your inbreeding, I'm not interested."

[Horseshoe_Hermit]

Here's a spooky  factionfile  to  give the last touch of perspective I can  get  for the Crystal Ladder.

But before that:  No,  I figured it out.  This isn't the  director of education  spearheading  the  split.  This is the anthropologists!  They get to talking,  and the sociologists and  specialists of education  pick it up.  So then you got the anthropologists, sociologists, historians, library and information science technicians, and  the  educators  all having the same idea  there's some work to be done  and  a point to prove.

And the  dark side to the leader isn't  condescension, it's facetiousness.  The fear that all he is doing  is  turning  a pandemonium upon  Human society  and  smiling  devilishly.  Tempting  pride  out of  the Ladder citizens.  Yang crushes their spirit,  mystery-man  expands their  will.  Miriam subjects  their awe to God,  mystery-man  turns their awe  toward  the absence of one.

;
; Faction draft
;
; FACTION FILE: The Crystal Ladder
;
;
;
;
;
;
;

#LADDER
The Crystal Ladder, The Sociologist, Ladder, M, 2, , M, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0,
  TECH, Psych, SOCIAL, -GROWTH, SOCIAL, -INDUSTRY, SOCIAL, -PLANET, SOCIAL, ++EFFIC, NODRONES, 1, FREEFAC, 8, COMMERCE, -2,
  Economy, Simple, TALENT
  Politics, Fundamentalist, nil
  Ladder, Ladder
  Namesh, Amit-Singh, Amit-Singh Emergency Broadcast Tower
  Chairman, diligent, bookish, nurturing, facetious
  rhetorical devil
  foster the acculturation of modern Man
  to liberate awareness of the intentful life
  turning every demon of the individual loose on civilization
  turning every demon of the individual loose on civilization
  whitewash the social fabric itself
  planning more impressive ways to seem important
  planning more impressive ways to seem important
  condescending to teach hollow truisms
  crypto-theocratic grandeur
  educational objectives
  librarial studies
  fiscal credit donation
  mediating industrial expansion and social change
  the Ladder constabularies
  social teleology mandates

#BASES
Common Core
Learning Milestone
Lesson Materials
Reference Library
Advance Placement
Hyperlink Gallery
Critical Period
Museum of Yesterday
Centre for Urban Centre Research
Formative Assessment
Psych Auditorium
Practical Exam
Social Network Hub
Integrity Journal
Avicenna Academy
Podium of History
Commencement Address
Stadium for the Countercultural Arts
World Generator
Political Cafe
Summative Assessment
Genie's Lamp
Final Evaluation
#END

#WATERBASES
Tapwater Post
Thales' Redoubt
Speech Bubble
Fluid Intelligence
Continental Relay
Dragon Isle
Dialectic Distortion
Revolutionary Wave
Surface Complex
Depth Psychology
Pure Potential
#END

#BLURB
"??"
 ^
 ^      --
 ^         "Formation of a People"

#DATALINKS1
^LEADER: {???}
^BACKGROUND: {Director of Education, Unity mission}
^AGENDA: {Educate and vocalize citizenry}
^TECH: {Social Psychology}
^

#DATALINKS2
^-1 INDUSTRY {Social emphasis subordinates industry and engineering}
^-1 GROWTH {Educational standard reduces birth rates}
^-1 PLANET
^+2 EFFIC
^Free NETWORK NODE with discovery of Information Networks: {Data connectivity highest priority}
^Fewer DRONES (1) at every base
^Commerce penalty: {Impediments to opportunism and market mobility}

#FACTIONTRUCE
#xs 440
#caption $CAPTION7
"War has nothing to teach.  We know how it ends.
Declare Blood Truce with us so we may ponder in peace."

"It is agreed.  This conflict is no more cause for violence."
"You talk too much."

#FACTIONTREATY
#xs 440
#caption $CAPTION7
"Your social project has merit, $TITLE0 $NAME1.
The Crystal Ladder would sign a Treaty of Friendship to show our trust."

"I had the same idea.  Let us keep the dialogue open."
"Good fences make good neighbours, $NAME3.  Perhaps another time."

# ; This line must remain at end of file

Either they're  underpowered, or just have too many special traits.

[Horseshoe_Hermit]

Some corrections:

• I guess a diminutive name for the factioners would be  Crysties.  If they come off as self-important and more-than.  I'm looking again at cutting away  some of the globs of concepts here,  to become a more perfected instrument insofar as a made game is meant to be well-crafted.
• Crystalline would be a possible  adjectival  agglomerate, but something tells me it ought to be 'Ladder' still.
  
• I wrote that the faction leader would be a Chairman, but he should occupy the seat of Director.  The faction would in some way  hold its highest office  with a 'Director' of some kind, which feels different from presidential force somehow.
  
• And while all the social effects penalties make sense, I'm not sure I can conceptualize what these guys' advantage is.  It's funny to look at it as the inverse of Yang, but  +ECON is really strong.  But... maybe it belongs here.  I don' t... know.

What do you think?  Come at me from all angles.  I really feel like  I've hit something that belongs in a game with these fellow tokens.  I want to make this game happen , some of me is attached to that possibility quite dearly.

[Trenacker]

Looks good, Eadee. A combination of mysticism and feudalism. Can you tell me more about what it means to ascend? It sounds to me as if your faction is a bunch of people who are basically being gulled into contributing toward Pahalē’s personal vision of the future. Feel free to tell me that I’ve got it wrong, of course. 

Hermi, I think your faction idea is sound. I like the fact that you’ve linked them to a part of the crew that is not yet represented. I think that your faction will clash well with the others, which is the point.

I know that I’ve been off the grid lately. Work picked up and has been quite intense. I’m still committed to this game, but I think it’s going to be a while before I can really commit time on a consistent basis. Probably not until the Fall.