Backstage - OOC Forums
EVE-Online RP Discussion and Resources => EVE Character Development => Topic started by: Seriphyn on 19 Apr 2011, 03:06
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I was discussing this with a pair of individuals in regards to EVE RP. I was going to create a vlog about how our characters aren't really seen as fictional creations, or validated, but rather they are seen as player-enemies. However, my two week break has actually decreased my inspiration to do so and EVE overall. EVE is a game about PvP and on-upping each other and, from my experience, RP is just another avenue to do so. If we are from differing factions, we are automatically of a hostile disposition to each other. It does not matter how much fiction we have behind our character, or supporting our characters, people will be reluctant to "accept" these pieces, as it reduces the character from being anything but a target. This is from my own perspective anyway.
In this topic, I want to challenge people to see how much of their character is left over if they removed faction loyalty from it. I like to think that Seriphyn stands up still, and that I try to press the Federation being secondary to his character. He is your typical tragic figure of much romantic poetry, where the love of his life and only son are taken from him, and he is forced to carry on regardless (mixed up a little with a 10 year old daughter who is all he has left of his deceased soulmate). He fights as a soldier for their sake, and must not only battle with the enemies of his state, but battle with the emotions of loss, doubt and his troubled upbringing. He found the company of another woman that has saved him from suffering in loneliness, but only time will tell if she can truly replace the one that he lost.
Stuff like that. I feel that there should be a greater emphasis on roleplaying personal relationships and interactions, and how the faction and EVE setting serves as merely a platform for this. Whenever I do RP the faction though, I prefer a more worldbuilding take on it, which is another thing I would encourage (discussing aspects of fluff, for example). However, the overly competitive nature of EVE bleeds through into RP, so it remains to be seen if it can break free from the innate nature of EVE :yar:
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After a year or so in EVE I was on the verge of taking one of those long term breaks Seri was talking about in his other post. The game was kinda boring for me. Then I stumbled across Placid Reborn somewhere, and I thought: 'This looks cool.'
I started doing research into RP corps and found the ILF. Myself and a bunch of my RL friends joined, and it's been great.
Since I've joined, the Intaki factional thing has become a huge part of my character, but his moral and political beliefs are complex enough that, if I decided to leave the ILF or the ILF ceased to exist, he would still be very much himself.
I also think that the personal relationships can be an important part of interaction, as you said Seri and a big part of what we do is building those relationships. Out of my own corp, I'd like to think my character has cultivated those relationships with a variety of different capsuleers, including yourself. Those may develop into something, they may not.
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I've been thinking about this topic from a related angle lately, in the sense that many of our characters and corporations focus strongly on factional loyalty.
Back here IRL, though, I am not primarily defined by loyalty to a government. My employer isn't, either. To the degree we feel that loyalty, it provides a backdrop to the decisions we make. Even if suddenly I controlled vast resources, they wouldn't immediately be used in defense of my country or whatever. (I'll leave the discussion on nationalism for another thread.)
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Personal relationships make you friends and sometimes enemies, factional loyalty makes you enemies and sometimes allies. I find that none of my characters are tied strongly to their factions - Orthic probably made as many enemies as all the rest of my characters have combined when he joined the Serps. But my focus is almost always on personal interaction rather than factional bickering, leading to more friends than enemies in almost all cases - Orthic's difficulties relating to people making him a noticable exception.
But yeah, none of my characters are built around their faction. The characters might gravitate towards a given faction after they've developed, not the other way around.
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Well, I like the angels, and OOCly, I doubt I'd know what to do if RP ever took Nikita out of them, since OOCly, I'm an angel through and through.
That said, Nikita is a complete person independent of her faction. I've actually though a good deal about what would happen to Nikita's mind if the cartel ever truly dumped her. A lot of the mental walls she's built up to protect herself from grief and pain were built using her loyalty to the cartel, in a lot of ways, she has very little left besides her short term enjoyment of life, and the Cartel itself, loyalty to them is what gets her up in the morning.
Does that mean she'd be damaged without her faction? Yes, of course she would be, it would be like the wall she was leaning on suddenly vanished and she fell over. But she would still be a complete character, a whole person. A person who has lost everything and had her supports knocked out from under her, which in itself would be interesting, but whole nonetheless. I think if she was ever dumped by the cartel, she'd try to find some other group to cling to and delude herself into thinking she was with them the whole time.
It would be interesting, that's for sure.
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I'd be more interested in the aberrant psychology that would lead someone to admit/claim, in public, that their character isn't anything more than their factional loyalty.
Addendum: At least among the self-identified roleplayers that frequent this forum.
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Oh, I've played characters like that before, particularly when I had recently joined the game and tried to adjust to the RP environment here.
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Lyn is not very loyal to any Empire, other than "greater" ideals like CONCORD, NRDS and stuff. Without the Amarrian Empire, she can move on to something else. She already did it in the past and worked for the feds in Solitude. Without her factionnal identity she is just a bookworm and the very archetype of the scholar.
Though deprived of her true loyalty to SCT (being unconsciously one of their pawns), I think she would lose anything left to her, her curiosity, her will, and she would eventually wander around without a goal or a purpose like a broken toy. Or just let herself die. So yes, ICly she is almost nothing without her faction, but in a roleplay way, the character has a lot of personnal attributes and a proper face that makes her to be her and not a faceless character.
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Ulf is loyal to his clan, they're the people he grew up with. It just so happens they're Matari, and therefore he works for the betterment of the republic because that's part of how he makes things better for his clan.
If he decided the republic as a political institution was not worth supporting for some reason, I don't think that would affect his basic loyalty to his family.
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Oh, I've played characters like that before, particularly when I had recently joined the game and tried to adjust to the RP environment here.
See, that doesn't help, I can't go back in time and dissect Casiella-newbie's brain.
Ah well, maybe there's some traces left in there. Hold still.
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When I started to RP in EVE, I knew only a few things about what I wanted:
(1) Combat.
(2) Minmatar.
(3) Rationality.
So I rolled up a Brutor, Kudon Astraisx, and worked my way into EM because, as a new player, I had the impression that U'K consisted of, well, psychos. (Note, I'm not saying that I had a correct impression, then or now.)
I didn't really get the tribal thing, actually. Minmatar just looked badass and had lots of dakka dakka, plus the whole "rebel/punk" motif. So instead, I RPed that Kudon's primary loyalty lay with the Republic Fleet and the Republic itself rather than his tribe, because this fit into a nationalistic pattern I understood well from RL. (In retrospect, I probably should have gone Caldari at that point.)
Note, that doesn't mean I had no RP experience; on the contrary. But most of it lay in Star Wars, a universe I already understood intimately from childhood forward. (My dad raised me with tales of Obi-wan, Luke, and Anakin the way other dads raised their kids with Grimm's fairy tales). When I suddenly found myself in a layered, complex fictional setting that I didn't already know, I fell back on what seemed (a) interesting and (b) easy to understand.
My point in all that long-windedness is that roleplayers new to EVE frequently don't know where to start, so they go with what they know. And one of the things "we" know is loyalty to Westphalian nation-states (as well as to criminal gangs).
So yes, many characters will at least start out as basically whatever the in-game character creator spits out. That means characters not much more than a faction and a gender and maybe an idea about a profession.
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If Grae lost Amarr, he'd move on to PHASE II.
Been planning for it for ages actually.
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It's a good question, Seri. I think people should consider it carefully when creating new characters. As for my personal collection of RP characters, I think I have by and large led them all away from straightforward faction loyalties. They do what they do out of desire, personal goals, or simply for the people they are close to rather than loyalty to a flag or anthem. All of them happen to be citizens of the Federation, and one of them has done a great deal of work on behalf of that nation's military, but none of them are really drawn to exaggerated nationalistic ideals.
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Almost all of katarina would be left, I am well aware that I am new and probably not as experienced in RP as some of you other guys (and gals) which is actually why one of the first things katarina did RP wise was seperate from the state and seek a new home elsewhere, this allows me to build up her loyalties based on the persons she interacts with rather than based on what faction said persons are.
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Dex is a frontier industrial CEO who does not want "big central governments" telling him what he can & cannot do, but perhaps that is not how others see him?
He didn't start off there and PF informed the development of the character over time. The player decision to join CAIN informed long term faction-affiliation. The faction affiliation spurred character background development. An out of character discussion with a friend encouraged exploring the industrial aspect of the game and eventual development of LDIS and the above one line concept behind Dex today.
A counter is at what point do the characters we play define various factions (or conglomerates)? Yes, CCP has established the basis for each faction, but in many ways certain player character personalities define various factions.
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I can't really speak much for Ember since I never did really sort her background out properly, but without the Legion I think Simca would still be pretty much who she is turning out to be. She's not loyal to Mordus because one day she up and thought "screw the fed I'm gonna go be a merc" shes loyal because that's where she was born. If you take it away then she is still her. True a good chunk of her background will be missing and given that in game she is Gallente her motivations and actions may seem a bit out of place, but its still the same character.
I'm making her loyal to a faction partly because it is an easy button, but also I think that its easier to identify with people and open up IC avenues to explore on both sides. I dont think she would immediately view Seri or any other Fed loyalist as an enemy right off the bat. She would probably view them as someone she is being paid to shoot, but that doesnt mean she wouldnt be civil with them if they met in a bar.
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I've never had a factional identity play a huge role in my character and those "factions" that have been instrumental have at least partly been of my own design. I'm not saying that to sound all cool like, because I've many times thought about either aligning more tightly with a faction or creating another character who is more firmly embedded in that way. There's a certain appealing simplicity in that.
GoGo was aligned with the Blood Raiders, but it happened in-game and it ended in-game. Turned into some nice drama for the character. The Intaki separatist angle was created out a slight dissatisfaction with the Federation PF and wanting to forge something new out of that while still remaining true to my Intaki character. In a way that has kind of been left behind in my play as well, though it certainly has a strong bearing on my character still. That whole thing is being pushed and pursued by other players and it's great.
I think it's quite natural for a privateer/pirate/freelancer type of character to be less defined by factional loyalties and GoGo is certainly that. But it's definitely harder to try to forge a place for yourself in the community that way, unless you're content just being around and hanging out.
Of course, now that I'm back after a long break, I do feel naturally a bit disconnected from the current community and thinking of directions to go. Faction alignment is a great way to connect. Whether a faction will feature crucially for me, I'm still a bit unsure.
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What GoGo said.
Shin has run through a bunch of different factions over time. She went from Gallente nationalist to old-school JF anarchist to Caldari Patriot to Minmatar freedom fighter (several times) to Angel, with forays into Sani Sabik. This isn't particularly uncommon in Eve, you get lots of people who do this as they meander from corp to corp. When I started seriously RPing her, I took the trouble to create a background for her that provides both an anchor (her clade*) and an explanation for the factional shifts she's gone through (it typically always comes down to her clade). It's also managed to readily explain her descent into blue and orange morality (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlueAndOrangeMorality), as her loyalty is always more with her clade than anyone else.
So, if you took away these factions, she'd still be standing there. If you took away her clade, however, you'd be taking away a big part of what makes her Shin. But I don't see that as any different than removing any character's family.
*See Shin's background (http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Shintoko_Akahoshi_%28Character%29) for details of what this means. In a nutshell, it's her family.
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Ghost is by far almost entirely defined by his factional loyalty, rather than anything uniqueness (arguably).
This is probably a consequence of how I built myself and him, as player/character, in terms of our styles. I love the Sansha faction more than any other, and I did my best to build Ghost in the way that is part of my understanding of how Sansha are. Consequentially, if I took him out of the Sansha faction, there is little character to him other than his incredibly analytical personality. His motives, ideals, and behavior are all governed by an overall purpose of furthering the Nation.
Granted, people probably think there's a lot of character to him, but much of his personality is interchangeable with his loyalty to the Nation. I'm hard pressed to envision him as the Well Intentioned Extremist he is outside of the Sansha.
[spoiler]c-c-combo breaker[/spoiler]
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Esna's pretty defined by the Empire at the moment, but only because he sees it as the most effective means to the end he is trying to reach. Should the Empire really, really turn away from that, he would drop it - mind you, he'd probably be a fairly religious person still, but it wouldn't be for the Empire, but rather for the Greater Good.
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... But yeah, none of my characters are built around their faction. The characters might gravitate towards a given faction after they've developed, not the other way around.
^^ This.
Edit to actually contribute to the thread:
This worked out well for my character. When I started I didn't know anything about the different factions or the RP. Graanvlokkie started as a shinny eyed recruit fresh out of capsuleer school, and his character and personality has been shaped by his in game goals and actions.
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I pretty much designed Gottii to be built around the Minmatar faction. IMHO, you pretty much have to, if you really want to RP being part of a clannish, tribal society, your identity should be build around the group and the culture. Without his Minmatar-ness, he would probably be a shell, and Im pretty happy with that, since thats what I was aiming for.
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Dris was my first character, and as such I had no idea what I was getting into with regards to the matari tribal thing. So I made her grow up in a remote colony where there WASN'T a tribe that she could call her own. Her parents had their own customs, of course, but then again so did every family in the colony, and they were ALL different, so there was no cohesive unit to look to for answers.
Where this would come into play now is that she's adopted Syn's tribe as her own, and if that were to fall apart Dris wouldn't necessarily be affected, but Syn WOULD, and THAT would cause some definite issues. However standing on her own, and not regarding the issues with her mate, the change in faction wouldn't cause her any undue stress. Mourn the loss of her races' culture, yes. But her day-to-day activities wouldn't change (the ore must flow).
As far as the other characters I've got? One wouldn't care, another would be happy, and the last would...well... I guess it depends on what you call 'faction'. Does a player-created faction still count as a faction? Because if that went, and it was the sole reason that the character existed, then yeah, I think they'd have a hard time surviving on their own.
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Makkal's faction is the Kingdom, which includes:
1) Her family
2) Her religion
3) Her cultural background and viewpoint
If you removed the Kingdom from Makkal, she'd be a hollowed out shell of a person. Makkal raised in the Republic or the Federation would look almost nothing like the current character. Makkal raised in the State would likely be similar but far more ruthless, cruel, and amoral. Makkal raised in the Empire would likely actively support the Reclaiming, as well as being more narrow-minded, militant, and sure of herself.
EVE is a game about PvP and on-upping each other and, from my experience, RP is just another avenue to do so. If we are from differing factions, we are automatically of a hostile disposition to each other. It does not matter how much fiction we have behind our character, or supporting our characters, people will be reluctant to "accept" these pieces, as it reduces the character from being anything but a target. This is from my own perspective anyway.
This is so far from my experience of RPing in EVE that I'm bewildered people think this way.
Hearing this mindset does explain a number of things though.
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Having only played EVE for one month so far, I would like to think that Steff stands apart from factional loyalties. Now, most of this has to do with the fact that I know next to nothing about the EVE universe other than the little I looked at several years ago and what some friends had mentioned in passing.
When I first built Steff, I admit I went Gallente because I understand and could get behind personal freedom for all and I also liked the hedonistic aspect as well. So, going in, was pretty much looking at playing a "let's party all night long and free all the oppressed people because we should" character.
The first day or so, I pretty much stuck to myself, going through the tutorial and puttering about with the different missions trying to get a feel for the game. Then I got pulled into the Summit and from there, and I still am not sure the hows behind it, I got pulled into another channel and invited to an in-game party...
I was struck by the richness of RP I was seeing and also found that I really couldn't play a simple character. It wasn't so much being challenged for lack of knowledge of the setting; I turned that around and used it as part of the character's background. I felt challenged to be something more than just 'another Gallente' (whatever that really is) and have, I hope, built a character that can stand apart from nation or faction.
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(http://cdn.head-fi.org/3/38/387e003f_HolyNecroPost_759032.jpeg)
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Ché isn't loyal to any faction.
How much would be left of him if that changed? Depends on who he becomes loyal to, I guess.
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Hey, now, no fair. I wrote that 'mindset' two years ago...none of us hold static opinions...
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Hey, now, no fair. I wrote that 'mindset' two years ago...none of us hold static opinions...
It still explains behaviors I've seen.
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Eve's competitiveness did come through in the way I have structured Aria, but her faction loyalty informs more than defines her. She's served many masters, but never really departed from her sense of herself as an Achur even if she's never been a particularly stellar example.
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NECROOOOOO.
That said, there are some character types that simply don't do well without an allegiance. I couldn't see, for instance, a Caldari loyalist doing well without a corporation to be loyal to, even if the character's personality and tendencies are gelled outside of that.
Of course, using Makoto as an example: she's been jumpy with Heth's provocative statements against Ishukone, and I've been wondering what'd happen if the story actually ended up with further Provist militarism against elements of the State. The long and short is that it's a bit messy to go rogue, but she'd likely end up in the Kingdom -- though there's a very small chance that she could end up going Sansha, Mordu's, or Guristas. This is sort of swapping one allegiance for another -- but the character's changes follow: bitterness, increased militarism, and a slow slide into collusion.
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I'm surprised so many people think it's all or nothing with faction loyalty (ICly). Anslo get's slammed for not 'picking a side.'
Anslo likes some of the Fed policy and what the Fed can be to the normal people, but dislikes what it does to others and in the backroom and what they did to him. Oh and nationalists. Oh and the xenophobic attitudes.
He likes the Minmatar because :winmatar:, culturally rich history and people, FOOD, and he just gets along with them. He doesn't like Shakor or how the Minmatar were pushing during the Trials which lead to a fight. That made him see some Minmatar hypocrisy for what it was.
He likes the Caldari for being to the point but fun, strict but adaptable, and appreciates their religion and culture. He really, REALLY hates the CPD and nationalists mucking things up when a rather peaceful coexistence could occur between the State and Federation.
He's not to keen on the Amarr but understands that just because you're Amarrian does not mean you are inherently evil. There are good people and bad people in every Empire.
In the end, he treats good people with respect. People who are willing to chill will be chilled with copious amounts of friendly alcohol...perhaps forcefully.
People he doesn't like?....well...lol
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Saede doesn't have a faction, so I'd say she manages to be a complete person without a faction.
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As a good deal of activity within EvE occurs in relation to faction affiliation, I think its understandable that faction is important. Considering the capricious nature of capsuleers mixed loyalties are to be expected. I do however find it interesting that occasionally I find myself looking at James thinking, “now how did this happen”.
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Makkal said if you removed the faction, her character would just be a shell. In my case, I think the faction is the shell. Karmilla has developed over time to be a rather complicated and fully fleshed out person. Going faction-less for a while didn't really affect the character, and while changing allegiances recently may have burned a few bridges, I feel overall it's opened up plenty of opportunities. The trick of course is convincing others IC that the character is more than the factional allegiance.
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Kind of a tricky question.
If the empires disappeared overnight, I'm pretty sure nothing would be lost with Sak, and if anything, she'd be overjoyed at the ability to raid places like Dodixie or Jita, especially in the early days with the collapse of highsec. Delicious carebear loot awaits! :yar:
Her sisters, while a bit more dependent on the empires financially, generally don't associate with the ideology of the places they live, so the impact would probably be minimal on their personalities. I think the sole exception to that would be Ereka, who's arguably the most pro-faction of the lot with her support for the Fed, especially considering how much her people have thrown a wrench* into the whole thing. She'd probably end up cynical and jaded, realizing that nothing lasts forever, even though she should have known that from the beginning.
* Think about this, for a second. Imagine the Caldari had found a way to play nice with the Gallente, Intaki, Mannar, etc. as members of the Federation. Imagine the progress that could have been made instead of the decades of war, the integrated Fed could have been a bulwark of peace and common interests in the galactic north, as powerful or moreso than the Amarrians. Instead, the Caldari did what Caldari do best, and look after their own self-interests, fucking up the whole attempt at "many cultures, one government". Ereka Nihil, arguably one of the most Caldari-hating Caldari out there, trying to make things right.
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Almost nothing would be left of Safai without her faction. :|
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I've had to deal with this early on with Shin. While never strongly supporting one faction or another, she did go from pro-Federation terrorist to free space terrorist. That's probably the faction she most closely identifies with. I've stated and/or alluded in my fiction the reasons why she left the free space movement and started flying for the State. Needless to say, it was the beginning of a long mercenary period for her (with an interlude of about a year flying for Electus Matari, which she did because she sympathized with the Republic's plight).
Which both says "Shin would be fine without a faction to identify with", and also "if your faction-supporting character starts feeling like a dead end, there are options beyond either going fully OOC or biomassing and starting over".
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Two camps on this in regards to Samira.
If you removed faction from her, she'd cease to really exist as a character. Her entire personality has been molded by the way she was raised in the Empire. If you took away that upbringing, she'd be an entirely different person.
On the other hand, if you simply removed Empire loyalty from her now, she'd still function the same as she has. She's conditioned to respect authority, period, and to not stand out. She could easily adapt to any culture, and would endeavor to do so in order to avoid any danger to herself. Just like she did when she was living in the Republic.
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Faction Loyalty forms and informs all of Pieter's baseline reactions and interactions but you might say that some of the more interesting things about him are where he has departed from that beginning to make his own decisions and establish his own values.
If you completely excised the Caldari State Faction from him, you'd be left with a much lesser character, imho - and that will hold true whether he emerges to become a major force in Caldari Nationalist forces, a Pirate or something stranger entirely. A tree without roots is just garden rubbish.
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NECROOOOOO.
Don't mind if I do.
Without the Minmatar as an excuse for all of the nasty shit he's done/will do, Havohej would still be cold, calculating, methodical and quite mad. If there were no factions at all, he would merely twist other peoples' words and logic until he had a seemingly rational "motive" for destroying things that other people have/enjoy. If the rationale behind this "motive" is able to draw other similarly insane (even better if sane) people to support and fight for the "cause", then that's great. If not... well, that means more potential targets.
At the end of the day, Enkil Akheteru sees himself as a predatory creature that is no longer even remotely human but is struggling to continue giving a damn what happens to those poor little buggers down on the planet surfaces and in the dark, nasty-smelling, overly-hot crew areas of his ships where the hard work gets done, because... what happens when an infomorph really doesn't care at all about humanity anymore?
That, as the core character, doesn't depend on any faction at all.
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Reppy without the Kingdom?
At first, I thought that she'd probably be the same, and to some extent, she would. There's still Rules if you're in Empire space, and she's comfy there. She's toyed with retiring to the Federation someday, though whether she actually would or not is another question.
Then I realised that no - if you took away that Kingdom at this point in time, she would become a scary, scary person. She maintains a comfortable facade of civilisation, honour and amiability. Throw her into the shark infested space of no loyalties or rules, and she'd probably turn into the next Silas. If not worse.
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Been doing some more thinking about Steff and her attachment (or lack thereof) to the Federation.
Admittedly, some of her backstory is heavily flavored because of my perception of ancient Gallente and the romanticized ideal of what the Federation ought to be. That said, given her beliefs and what she perceives to be happening within the Federation, she doesn't need the Federation to be who she is.
I may be re-examining her ideologies at some point; trying to be a neutral party and paying more than just mere lip service to the laws/traditions of the four nations (though to be honest, she's had very little to do with the Republic...not on purpose really, just been trying to keep Amarr and Caldari standings at a place where I won't get shot at) is likely going to cause more issues in the long run. That said, could just go full swing and go completely independent and be loyal to only friends and the ideals of honour. Not quite sure how well that would work out and being solo, not likely very well.
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Myyona and Ataraxia Pharmacies in general does not align with any particular faction already, so nothing would be lost in that regard.
I guess in mine/our case it is more about being on the side of law and order contrary to anarchy and piracy. Advocating humanitarian values in an universe which is mostly ruled by violence and exploitation.
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My guy is pretty devoid of factions. Certainly doesn't take a side unless he's paid to. Not too attached to the State, or any ideas of patriotism. Short of counting the GHSC as its own tiny faction, I don't think it applies to ol' I.S.
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I do not feel that aligning myself, ICly, with a faction in any way diminishes the 3 dimensionality of the characters. Solarienne is a Nation loyalist, but there are pretty much an infinite variety of degrees of loyalty, and an equally large array of reasons for comnig to the conclusion that Sansha might be right. The main issue here is that she considers herself a part of an elite, closed society, so the public world is only gonig to see her when she is following orders.
As for Aelisha, she has a life in the State and is loyal to Suvee for their part in her citizenship being accepted, but she has views on international politics, a strong voice in the advocacy of Intaki liberation and a good degree of interest in the cluster's history, specifically post-fall civilizations and what artefacts may remain (with a cracked pot being as valuable as a semi functional technological device, as far as her interests go in that domain).
I'd say that removing the faction from the character would diminish it nought, unless the Nation has reasons for the character being a part of it, instead of the character having reasons and history that have led to their alignment.
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Some details may change, but Arista would likely stay the same. After all, my "faction loyalty" dissapears when Im ooc, no faction warfare for me.. and I do not behave too out of alignment from my character, save cursing more and perhaps being slightly lazier.
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I'd like to think that Denak would stay quite the same, even if the Gallente, or Intaki would disappear. But to note, he strongly identifies himself as Intaki, and the Intaki Liberation Front has helped him find a goal to pursue, without either of those he would probably be doomed to wander aimlessly, just fulfilling contracts and doing what he's been told to do without any true aim or purpose.
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Reading this tread has been rather entertaining, and educational. Ty all ^^
My toon could stand on his own without his faction, but the transition might be rough.
If memory serves, I've made this clear IC and OOC before. BB is, first and foremost, a human born a raised on Intaki Prime. He's colored by that upbringing, by his experiences in life, and by all the other inputs that has shaped him to what he is. He follows a simple hierarchy or allegiance out of convenience and belief. Family->Assembly->Federation->Federal ally->Anyone else not hostile to the previous entries. Now, with his family all but extinct, that's simply one less entry in the hierarchy.
When he was young, loyalty or allegiance was not very high on his mind. Living his life, getting stuff done and enjoying his time with his friends, family and love was. When he got older things gradually changed with his perception of just how huge the Cluster is. He started to get a basic sense of loyalty to the Union, foremost through his sense of belonging to the Assembly and his home town. After his volunteer term in the marines and his enrollment in the CAS he was found to be capsule-capable, and soon took that chance with his father's blessing and financial backing.
The cluster is a large place. Having seen most of it, and studied most of it, and learned to understand most of it, his basic perception has not changed much. The opinion is and remain that the Union is the best option for the Intaki Assembly and himself, by far. The other options simply won't work for him, no matter how much they work for others. If something should happen that changes this perception of the Union, to the point where it's no longer worth being part of, that shaves of yet another entry and he's back down to one.
Ironically, should anything like this ever happen, he will likely find himself a supporter of the ILF, if only for the fact that they are the biggest and most established option supporting what he supports. Ironic, because right now, the ILF is nothing to but a collection of fools who can't see the bigger picture and get stuck up on smaller, mostly irrelevant details and a great deal of hyperbole. Getting over that might be interesting indeed.
Another interesting view could be how he copes with such a change when so much of his views on others are colored by his beliefs and allegiance. He respects loyalists regardless of Empire for what they are, but despises pirates, Sansha's, traitors and people who are narrow-minded and uneducated about other factions. How that change in such a scenario could be cool indeed, but I find the odds of such an event unlikely.
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When I read the lore behind the Minmatar, I saw what a mess the Republic really is and I decided, if I were Elmund Egivand, a guy who was born in a backwater that has no shortage of troubles, will I actually feel any loyalty towards the Republic?
I decided that the answer is no. He would be loyal to the Republic during his beginning years until he knew more about the politics, the bureaucracy and etc., resulting him in deriving the conclusion that the mess that is the Republic isn't worth his undying loyalty. Hence his backstory. He grew up in Skarkon II, which, Saede would attest to, is not exactly the shining beacon of bureaucratic efficiency. That would have been enough to make make Elmund disillusioned with the Minmatar Republic. This disillusionment is then further compounded by his experiences in the RMS and him seeing the Republic in action.
And so, he decided to turn private. For the time being he fights for the Tribal Liberation Fleet solely because his interests aligned with the interests of at least one militia faction within the Fleet. However, as soon as there is a conflict of interest and he decided that his goals can no longer be fulfilled by staying with the TLF, he will pack up and move on.
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I think the question of loyalty is... well... it sort of depends on what you mean by loyalty. In the end, that's a big part of the surprises I've got in store with the Constantin Baracca character. Two things everyone can tell about him right up front, but seems to be confusing people, is that:
A: Constantin Baracca is an avid Amarrian and a Scriptural teacher. He thinks the entirety of the cluster should take up the values of the Scriptures and he has no problem saying so. In essence, he's a quintessential Amarrian loyalist.
B: Constantin Baracca is a student and lover of other cultures as well. He regularly praises other cultures as often as finds fault with them, and even more often he is harder on his own people than on others. He's exactly the kind of person you'd expect Amarrians to hate.
What it really comes down to is that Constantin Baracca isn't driven by Faction Loyalty tm. It's really up to other people to come up with how they react to him. That's brought out a wide breadth of people and, I hope, really given everyone a chance to sort of see that factionalism doesn't run this game. Some Gallenteans and Matari love the guy. A few bought his message, but I think most of them are just happy to have him around. He is a nice guy who really does mean the very best. Some hate his guts, because he's exactly the kind of person who is the most dangerous to their way of life. For exactly the same reasons some people like him, some people know exactly how persuasive he must be and think he's selling poison. Constantin, I think, is best for giving Minmatar and Gallente players something to really disagree over.
I think that, although the worst he's been is annoyingly sunny for the Caldari to take, he's been everything from tolerated to well liked. Mostly, though, I think Constantin really splits the Amarrian players like a fire axe. He's very obviously not a conservative or introvert, he's a guy that has learned to be a kind, understanding, fun-loving teacher. I primarily made him this way in order to jolt the Amarrian community. Reactions to him have been all over the place, and I think reacting to him really is based on what your character thinks the Amarr Empire stands for. Constantin stands 100% for a sort of Scriptural-religious theocracy instead of a feudal society where religion plays a part.
In a way, I've been really trying to, instead of making him likable by downplaying the religious aspect, to really shove it into people's faces and force them to make a judgement call. He's exactly the kind of character that's meant to generate life in RP. I intentionally designed him in order to get a bit of diversity going so that we aren't all lining up on factional lines, but really giving other characters some room to breathe. I really did design him so that people who want to get away from racial back-and-forth can start showing facets of their characters.
All that, and I'd say being Amarrian is about the most important thing about him. So maybe it's not an issue of factionalism, it's that characters can expect to react the same to the exact same kind of characters they've always met. Sometimes, you just need someone to react to that isn't part of that system to break up the rigidity of the RP scene.
You don't even need to be liked to do that, or be divisive. My other character, Red Roman, is designed, from the ground up, to be hated. By pretty much everyone. And to be non-factional. He's brilliant, but he's also an absolute prick. You can't say he's a necessarily divisive figure, but he's definitely not based around his faction. His only faction is himself, and he knows how amazing his own faction is.
Even I hate him a little.