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[Lyn Farel]

Hello,

I am attempting to create a visual political roster for New Eden and it happens that I may lack of some answers for several factions for which I haven't really bothered to enquire further until now. By political roster, I mean like you can separate Amarr conservatives, Amarr Traditonnalists, Amarr Orthodox, Amarr Liberals, Caldari Practicals, Caldari Liberals, Caldari Patriots, etc. I am having difficulties especially for these factions :

- Guristas Pirates
- Serpentis Corporation
- Mordu's Legion
- EoM (will ask to Boma about this I remember him having different sides for it)
- Sani Sabik
- The Syndicate
- Angel Cartel
- SOE (not sure if there are any) ?

Feel free to add anything you would like to add (especially for the Republic, im curious to see what people have in mind for them even if I already have my thoughts on it). I will try to post the thing later when it will be more exhaustive.

Thanks

[Hamish Grayson]

Mordu's Legion had ties to Home Guard and the Caldari Navy before the Dust book retconned them.   They were listed as partners with Home Guard and the Kamokor system were the unit was formed has several in space agents from Home Guard.    The wording of the Mordu's Legion chronicle suggest to me that not all of the Intaki exiles became members of the Mordu's Legion and ran off to have space adventures.     Meaning that many Legionaries probably have family still living in Kamokor and there is a good chance that those family work for or with the dominate Megacorp, Home Guard doing anything from building ships to serving on them.

http://www.eve-chatsubo.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3615

I’d say the Gurista are highly organized – it seems to me they are based on the Yakuza gangs in Japan.

A quote from a Battletech source about the Yakuza in that genre which influences my view of the Gurista.

The Unproductive caste serves a social function more vital than its lowly status suggests. Many of these individuals are potential threats to the Combine's social order. By definition, Criminals operate outside the bounds of law-abiding society. Those of higher castes perceived as failing in loyalty or duty frequently do so because they cannot conform to the Combine's rigid social norms. Incorporating these individuals into the very social order they threaten robs them of the power to subvert it. Even the most discontented Combine citizen tends to absorb at least some social expectations and so either accepts his lowly Unproductive status or attempts to escape it by redeeming his error. The yakuza, for their part, are allowed to profit from their criminal enterprises so long as those activities do not weaken the nation as a whole. The Combine leadership tolerates their existence within a certain sphere and does not hesitate to move against any yakuza who step outside it.

In the lowest echelons of Combine society, few have any chance to become successful. Often, these individuals turn to organized crime in hopes of gaining respect and riches, pledging themselves as kobun (soldiers) to the local yakuza oyabun (leader). A yakuza gumi (clan) is involved in virtually every kind of criminal venture, with the notable exception of muggings and other violent street crime; it's bad business to brutalize your customers (though rival gumi are fair game). This respect for the common man and a strict code of honor separate the yakuza from other organized-crime factions

Some thoughts on the pirate factions and their flavors:

To understand the Guristas, you have to understand the Caldari. They may be an antithetical force towards the State, but they remain ever a Caldari group of criminals. The corporate society places huge strains on the population, while at the same time fostering a dog-eat-dog mentality, which is sugar-coated with corporate sweet talk. If you get grinded into pulp in the process, your story gets swept under the rug along with your life. That is the reality which many find repugnant once they awaken to it, turning instead to open crime, refuting their society and coming into the fold of the Guristas. If the megacorporations play dirty, they scream at the skies, so shall we and we'll return their villainy a hundredfold!

Many of the people who come into the Guristas are ex-military and this will undoubtedly effect the nature of the syndicate. However, these are the guys who didn't fit in, so it isn't just pure hierarchy and "yes, sir" all the time.

Practical, coordinated and daring. That's the Guristas, a group of self-made men who always see the raise and call your bluff.

http://www.eve-chatsubo.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3881&hilit=Gurista

Thesis statement : Eventually, maybe even today i intend to argue that the Gurista are not a revolutionary force and are in fact probably pro-state....I believe they perform a vital function within the state's social 'ecosystem' which is why they are allowed to continue.    If they got too big for their breeches they would be destroyed and some new organization would replace them

I don't think the State has entities like the CIA or KGB do do it's dirty work, so alot of times things like political assassination or sabotage get 'outsourced' for a lack of a better term to the Guristas.   I think because they are useful in this way to the megacorps, there will never be a serious push to wipe them out unless they get to greedy.

Another thing that makes me think that the Guristas will never try to overthrow the state is because in Gurista complexes you will find slave pens which i bet are filled with Caldari. 

For this reason I imagine life in Gurista controlled territory is very much like that of the bandit kingdoms of battletech.  Life for a have not in Gurista space would be harsh and that culture isn't likely to be the birth place of a moral revolution against the State.

While it's perfectly valid to play a character who is both a revolutionary and a  Guristas loyalist i believe that the Guristas pirates in the prime fiction are not anti-state just pro-guristas.    It's like a Yakuza member who'd shoot down a law enforcement agent with glee but would also turn his gun on anyone who called him unpatriotic. 

The members of the Patriot faction tend to be Arms manufacturers.   They build ships for the Navy, the Corporate security forces and the Amarr empire.   Politically they push for a larger and more advanced Navy.   The culture of these corps is more likely to put more of a prestige on joining the Navy, and are more likely to hire officers when they retire (They are weapons researchers, it makes sense to hire ex-military and to offer cushy jobs to soon to retire Admirals who agree to accept contracts).   This means that the majority of Naval officers are likely to politically align with the Patriots.   Continuing this logic, since the Legion has ties to the Navy and Home Guard then it is likely that they too lean towards the Patriot bloc (Pre Tony of course).

The Practicals don't like having to pay for a Navy that their political rivals have a far stronger control over.    They would rather spend the money elsewhere, especially since the money they give to the Navy ends up in the pockets of the Patriots and Ishukone (also a weapons firm).    This could go a long way to explain why the Practicals have a connection to the underworld.     The patriots have their  power-base in the Navy while the Practicals make use  of the Gurista for things like raiding a rival corporation, corporate espionage, and probably as a straight up trade partner.     This symbiotic relationship might suggest that the Gurista are Practical leaning in their views, or at least that there is a higher flow of personal between these two groups and a closer shared culture between them and the other Caldari factions.   

In an interesting shadow of the rivalries between the the Patriots and Practicals the Legion and the Guristas hate each other.   If you run missions for them, they each frequently send you on kill missions against the other and both side's agents like to throw around phrases like "extreme prejudice."

 

[Silas Vitalia]

Do you mean a general division of the political 'blocs' or are you populating the list with player characters?

[Lyn Farel]

Thank you Hamish for the Guristas quotes, it is very helpful. I suppose we could get at least 2 political sides inside : the yakuza like heads and the common pirates gangs that work for them, with very different mindsets.

Silas, well, I am sorry that my first message was a little short (I posted it a little late), so I am looking as much as for PF facts as for player driven content (thus why it is in this section). Especially player driven content as a lot of what I already have comes from this. This is the kind of things that I am looking for : http://backstage.eve-inspiracy.com/index.php?topic=1913.msg24422#msg24422.

[Z.Sinraali]

For the SoE, though this division isn't named in any PF, you can make a distinction between Radicals and Reformers. The former are the ones advocating any-means-necessary opposition to the capsuleer class, who were ascendant as of Black Mountain and have waned somewhat with the events of The Burning Life. The latter would of course favor more diplomatic, gradual, and principled methods to better the lot of humanity.

[Lyn Farel]

Sorry, I have read Black Mountain, but not the Burning Life. What are you refering to (even for Black Mountain) ?

[Z.Sinraali]

Well, you've got to do some reading between the lines with the actual narrative portions of Black Mountain, but this info-dump style chron outlines it pretty well.

[spoiler]The main character in TBL was recruited by a cabal within the SoE to work on a plan to perma-kill every single capsuleer. [spoiler]He goes halfway through with it before turning his back on them.[/spoiler][/spoiler]

[Lyn Farel]

Ah I see, thank you !

[Louella Dougans]

sani sabik is a broad term.
there are many cults within it, each with their own variations of things.


for Amarr, a thing would be the rapid expansion of space travel that has occurred in the relatively recent history. This expansion is one of the things that would be behind various social changes occurring.

Where previously, a Holder on a world would have to be very self-reliant, with expansion of space travel, it means that advice and material goods are now more readily accessible. For better or worse.
The Interfering Relatives can now arrive at a moments notice, and/or send Stuff that they thought you might need.

This means an individual Holder is not as self reliant, and in some cases this is not a good thing. a weak Holder that has strong relatives is no longer as easily removed, as support can arrive rapidly. Internal Family machinations have an effect, the strings can be pulled from further away, and the individual Holder cannot make their own decisions without a Lot of scrutinisation by the more conservative older generations.

At the same time, Imperial institutions, such as the Ministry of Internal Order, the Navy (and Army), can now more readily interact with things. This will tend to increase central authority.

there would then be various factions within the active Amarr political groups, pushing for or resisting change.

Imperial Centralism vs Distributed Feudalism. The Emperor is ultimately the liege lord, but instead of being far, far away, they are now effectively a lot closer.

Personal, Family, House, Imperial. The social and political manoeuvrings that are happening push the thing that is Most Important towards Imperial, rather than Personal interests.

[Silas Vitalia]

I think the Empire is still far more 'Feudal' than we give it credit. Yes the Imperial Navy is massive, but they have a -lot- of holes to plug and campaigns to run.  The Royal families all have their own substantial navies to maintain control in their regions, and I'd say are relatively autonomous in their day-to-day.

Jamyl has but the kabash on a lot of that however and centralized and consolidated much of her power, and the current lineup the Royal houses are probably the weakest they've been in a generation.

[Lyn Farel]

A first try on a view based on the standard lawful/chaotic rating : http://blackhole.holocom.org/vrac/evepoliticalroster.jpg


Notes :

- It is mainly about political parties and cultural entities here, mostly.
- Please keep in mind that if I posted this in the "player driven content", it is for a good reason. I can't be totally neutral even if I tried. I have more knowledge about some factions and less about some others. It can also be slightly tainted by how I, the player, see the Eve universe.
- I have not added the Jove, SoCT and SOE because it was physically impossible... I would need a depth axis tbh. :/
- I am still looking for a squared large background image to avoid stretching the image in question...

[Valdezi]

I love this Lyn, it's great.

I wonder, though, if Caldari liberals should be shifted one over to the right, as to be touching all three strains of Intaki. The Ishukone agreement is probably the only thing all Intaki RPers agree on.

I role play a bunch of different characters in the arc between Khanid roylist/Caldari Liberal (Val) and into Federation Sympathetic Intaki (Mammal) plus some sekrit ones and it's interesting to consider the interrelations between them. Great work.

[Lyn Farel]

Thanks.

Well I see your point but I still have difficulties to understand what would make an intaki federation sympathizer prefering the ishukone relationship instead of the federation ? That way it just sounds to me that on this particular case, the intaki in question is more inclined toward Caldari, even if Ishukone...

[Valdezi]

Yeah,

I'm not sure if it's a preference thing. I can't speak for all Intaki RPers, but this: http://community.eveonline.com/news.asp?a=single&nid=3727&tid=4 article I think shows some of the complexity.

The insistance on the primacy of the Intaki Assembly is something most Intaki RPers tend to have in common, and here you have a PF source affirming the significance of the Ishukone relationship to the Intaki (last paragraph). A Federal sympathising Intaki (such as myself for example, though I'm hardly a model example, having formerly been in the secessionist camp) would be inclined to be both in favour of the Ishukone Agreement, and in favour of continued membership of the Federation as a whole.

Of course, I'm generalising, but that's how I see it.

[Bong-cha Jones]

A Federal sympathising Intaki (such as myself for example, though I'm hardly a model example, having formerly been in the secessionist camp)

This isn't the place for it, but I'm interested in how that came about!

On topic:  Dang, that is a really cool chart.  Makes a lot of sense too; it'd be interesting to see how the indie groups (like Interbus, etc) overlay onto that!