I can see the Feds going all 'Dank Meme' and everything. I also imagine that every capsuleer 'fan-club' probably originates from Fed based on what's understood about their people, namely the tendency to join one cause, fraternity, cult, etc for one month then switch to the next, depending on taste and trendiness.
Fan clubs in Caldari State, Republic and Amarr Empire on the other hand are more likely to have a more model-citizen-ish, spiritual or religious undertones. The clubs that treat capsuleers as rock stars or whatever are more likely to be niche groups made up of youths.
I would agree totally, but to elaborate a bit further on my thoughts what I meant was that when you consider:
The Gallente homeworld was a comfortable and biodiverse world that was still divided into nation-states (along with corresponding ethnicities and cultures), though the political and economic effects of their Information Age meant a large amount of globalization had started to take place. This included the intermingling of the different ethnic groups, as well as the evolution of the first international organizations (initially based on trade and diplomacy) evolving into the World Democracy League.
Technology and communication had resulted in democracy and libertarianism being exported from the Garoun continent to become the dominant ideology on the planet. Nations that had proved uncompromisingly resistant to these ideas (or were deemed politically unfashionable or anachronistic) were weeded out in interventionist wars by the major powers and alliances of the time. These one-sided conflicts would be over in days or weeks with minimal collateral damage, thanks to the development of precision weaponry such as guided missiles.
There was still some political tension on the homeworld despite the ideological standardization taking place. Many states were wary of democracy and liberalism, especially when it was forced onto other states via economic or military means.
There exists a very strong meta-premise with the Gallente Federation that essentially might be considered as: What would happen if Western civilization and liberal-democracy became the sole and dominant world ideology and then humanity went into space.
What would later became the Federation began when a single democratic and liberal hegemon along with its democratic allies managed to unite their planet under a single ideological banner called the World Democracy League through a series of military interventions that toppled dictatorships and theocracies weakened by internal rebellions and mass uprisings caused by citizens access to a global communications network.
When it is considered Gallente isn't even a racial or ethnic identifier, and its linguistic etymology comes from Gallentia which is the name of a planet. Then Gallente Federation is essentially the same as if we called a future political space entity, "Terran Federation," or, "United Federation of Earth." Whose culture is essentially liberal, democratic, and Western in nature.
In many respects, at least for myself, the core fictional archetype that drives the Federation is in fact a modern day futurist question of, "What if Western liberal-democracy finally wins and unites the entire world?" That is contextualized in the lore of Eve. The values of the Federation correlate almost directly with modern Western values that in a very broad sense it's almost as if the majority of capsuleers behave as if they come from the Federation in their behaviour and outlook if the majority of capsuleers are players who hold Western values.
More pertinent to this discussion however is that the Federation thematically is also about the interrelationship between humanity and the technology they create. I think people make a critical mistake in believing the Federation is just about democracy. The Federation is not democratic purely out of a cultural or ideological basis -- it's democratic because it entered an Information Age
nine hundred years ago and it's pretty damn difficult to adopt or maintain any other kind of political system if your citizens have access to a communications technology that allows for instant access to information, discussion, and means for mass mobilization/protest if they want to call their political leadership to account.
The Federation is just as much an Information Culture as much as it is a democratic, individualist and liberal culture. Federal democracy and culture as it exists wouldn't even be able to function if the Gallente had not invented FTL communications and networks. We have just entered our own Information Age and look at how much the nature of modern life is fundamentally different to that of generations before due to it. Now imagine if that was extrapolated as having existed not for 30-40 years but for nine centuries and the potential individual participants is not 6-7 billion but on the scale of double digit
trillions spread across hundreds of planets and states each with their own particular histories, cultures, ethnic identities, and demographics.
Of course the Federation would be notorious for adopting fads. The very nature of its information driven society means there's such a sheer output of content and discussion along the entire spectrum of human experience; politically, ideologically, philosophically, technologically, academically, culturally, artistically, and in its varied forms of media and entertainment, that there's always something new and trending to go and look into for a Federal citizen to look into.
And when your society is driven by information and the creation of new content, then that lends itself to a people that seem to have a desire to always want to know new things and different things on a variety of topics. The cults of celebrity and capsuleer fan clubs are just an extension of wanting to know about notable people as well as that human love of gossip.
I mean the Federation has even meta-gamed its own cultural victory as written in the lore when you consider that the majority of Eve players don't roleplay but do probably come from a liberal Western democracy, and so carry those values into Eve when they play the game.
Forgive me for derailing a bit from the OP, though that's something that as a player as well as Lyn ICly, intimately believes that in the current state of affairs, the Federation is going to "win" culturally on the long term, unless something drastic happens (maybe a Tash Murkon empress actually). One just has to look at capsuleers mentalities, the overspread gallente influence everywhere that also tends to be the faction adapting the best to post modern themes with the caldari just after (but the caldari suck at cultural expansionism).
Having lived in both worlds, Amarr and Gallente, and seen them for what they are, she would answer without much hesitation that the current Amarr Empire is doomed in its Reclamation effort if things do not change, because the gallente are way better at it. The only thing that gives strength to the Amarr cultural expansion is religion, because religion is a powerful asset when exerted upon Man.
Now then, she would argue that the Amarr would be unstoppable if they started to use the same methods as the gallente, with added religion on top, though.
Well I think the Gallente culture, historically, has a long history of knowing exactly the direct and indirect methods to use to expand its values and ensure its success. As I wrote above, the Federation is the successor to a planetary society that managed to ensure that only the cultural and ideological values of Garouni liberal-democracy prevailed over alternative systems such as dictatorships and theocracies.
The Federation can use a full gamut of direct tactics it is well versed and experienced in to ensure its own success.
Sometimes it will use diplomatic engagement methods to create things like the CONCORD Assembly, which when you look at it is a bit like Federation-lite.
Sometimes it will use economic methods to assert control over resources or deny them; incentivize political interests with commercial inducement (the Federal franchise system is good for this); and use Free Trade Agreements to promote liberal ideology through liberal economics.
Sometimes it will use clandestine or covert actions to achieve its political aims. The FIO remains particularly effective in this regard -- Just look at the Minmatar rebellion and Operation Highlander.
Sometimes when all else fails it will just go screw it, and go the full military interventionist route. In that regard, the Federation under a peace-time economy under Foiritain with deep reductions in its military budget and size was still able to essentially force the Caldari State to remain like North Korea and maintain constant conscription.
Right now Roden has a pretty big trump card in reserve because if the Federation is currently able to be a serious military power to the extent Jamyl Sarum was willing to backroom deal after Kador's invasion of Solitude then what happens if the Federation goes into Total War mode, increases defense spending to 50-60% of GDP, switches its entire civilian manufacturing base to full wartime production, implements a draft and all its member-state home defense fleets and private military corporations are integrated into one military command?
The military depth the Federation can achieve if it really wanted to, and which I think the other powers recognize (If the Empire really thought itself capable of a military reclaiming of the Federation it would have already tried after all these years) means the Federation can culturally pursue indirect methods intended to create individual engagement once it is secure.
Its inclusiveness and participatory nature means that it is very easy to be exposed to and be part of Gallentean/Federal culture even if it isn't intended. The barrier for entry is pretty low -- you just have to be a person. You don't have to convert to a religion, be part of a clan or tribe, or be of a certain ethnic or racial identity to be included.
Just look at having your own fans from the Federation as a capsuleer, who doesn't enjoy being adored and liked by others? If you were to engage with those fans and talk to them then you've begun engagement with Gallentean culture. Even criticizing the Federation is engaging in Gallente culture -- critical discussion is part and parcel of democratic politics in the Federation.
The Federation culture is like a celebrity itself: It doesn't matter what is thought or said about the Federation by others so long as the discussion is about the Federation. Even negative exposure is still exposure and creates a form of participation.
Then there's the nature of Gallentean corporate branding and advertising. The Gallente have 900+ years in selling dreams and products. They don't exactly just slap flyers onto a wall. They probably have sociologists, cultural anthropologists, historians, psychologists, etc., who spend their time thinking of ways to export their products as much as the culture behind their brands. It probably leads to situations where someone might write about how much they hate the Federation from a device that was made in the Federation while drinking some Quafe.
As for religion in the Federation, it exists in varied forms but it also gets exposed to Gallentean culture and individualism to the point that if you take the Amarrian faith for example there's the potential for a belief in God but to only pick and choose the Scriptures that support their own individual worldview and perspective. A Gallentean conception of the Amarrian God is likely akin to protestant/evangelical christianity: Belief in God but with an individual, personal interpretation of Scripture and connection to the faith instead of derived dogma from the Imperial clergy.
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Topic: Worldbuilding: Fan Clubs! (Read 15121 times)