Blurbs post spinoff. Who did the new factions break away from?

Zaxxon · May 18, 2000, 10:11

This thread is inspired by that post a little ways down about the blurbs and who they can be attributed to. I was wondering if we could try to accurately figure out who the 5 new factions rebelled against to become their own faction. Here's my thoughts:

Domai - Broke away from the Hive because they felt abused and over worked.

Cha Dawn - Gaians seems like a logical choice here. Possibly Cha Dawn was Dierdre's star pupil, but then he and Dierdre had a falling out.

Aki-Zeta-5 - Kicked out of the the UoP for being TOO radical in their research.

Svensgaard - I was thinking the Spartans, since pirates have to be well trained and ready to fight (bit of a stretch, on that one).

Angels - Possibly Lal? Since they want to break down the system and he likes to try to enforce the system.

I am interested in seeing what everyone else thinks about this. Any changes you would make to this list?

The diplomat · May 18, 2000, 10:47

from the story I thought the Angels broke away from Morgan. Weren't they Morgan's spy agency? They realized how powerful they had become since they controlled information and decided to break away.

------------------
No permanent enemies, no permanent friends.

Zaxxon · May 18, 2000, 11:10

There's already a story line for who these people broke off from? Damn, I haven't read the SMAX manual in so long that I completely forgot. Guess that kills this thread if there's alredy answers for my question.

Enigma · May 18, 2000, 16:31

Cheese Dong was found in the fungus by a group of people who were a splinter group of the Gaians..

Sven.. no clue there.

The h4x0r faction originally worked for Morgan.

Alinestra Covelia · May 18, 2000, 16:49

I didn't think that the Drones had all that different a mentality from the Hive, actually. Certainly whenever I'm playing the Drones are pretty indifferent to me.

Zakharov and his cronies demoted and punished Aki for the rogue algorithm being unlocked. However, the algorithm itself possessed Aki and as far as we can presume, Zak is doing his damnedest to get rid of his Frankenstein's monster before it:

A) Turns on him and destroys him for good.

B) Goes on to destroy all human life on Planet.

or C) Blabs about his "nonexistent" retroviral engineering labs to CEOMorganSoft Networks News. (CNN)

joer · May 18, 2000, 17:23

I think the Drones have quite a different ideology than the Hive, actually.

Take a closer look: The Hive stresses giving up any individualism and freedom for the better of the group. The Drones are working for just that freedom.
The Hive agenda is Police State, which means surpresson. The Drone agenda is Eudemonia, quite the opposite. Even though the SE settings don't 'bite' each other with the way AC SE is set up, they still run contrary to each other's belief.

In the official story somewhere on the Alpha Centauri site (or even on this site), Aki and Zack are working together, holding a pact against the Drones and the Cult. Zack is clearly afraid of Aki, but I think there's a touch of envy for her in him. And the need for an allience keeps them together.

Personally, I would suspect that our sad professor has much bigger trouble around than an algorithm merging with one of his researchers to form an independant group (does anybody smell Ghost in the Shell here as well?).
-joer

LoD · May 19, 2000, 10:38

Zaxxon - Official SMAC Story Page - read both of the series for increased enjoyment

.

LoD

Zaxxon · May 19, 2000, 11:06

Thanks for the link LoD. I'm always ready to read a good storyline for a game I like to play.

LoD · May 19, 2000, 16:44

No problem

.

Doug325 · June 20, 2000, 11:56

From what I understand, the new factions had the following origins

Cyborgs: Aki was one of Zak's research assistants. She ran an expirement on the Unity's mainframe to create some sort of AI. When the ship reached AC, the AI had some sort of sentience and it posessed Aki, making her Aki-Zeta 5. There are a lot of similarities between the CC and the Borg.

Drones: Domai escaped from cruel treatment in the Hive. Drones from other factions joined later.

Data Angels : Morgan's spy teams

Cult : Offshoot of the Gaians. Cha Dawn was found in a fungal bloom and radicals in Gaian society considered him a child of Planet and followed him

Pirates : Some probably came from the Spartans (or maybe Morgan)

Alinestra Covelia · June 20, 2000, 13:18

Ghost in the Shell! Yay! The best manga I've seen, and perhaps even better than Blade Runner (which I also thought very highly of).

Aki looks a lot like the shell that the Puppet Master used.

Adam_Smith · June 21, 2000, 11:47

joer is right. Domai is much different from Yang. Yang is Chinese and Domai is Autralian. If you know about those two cultures then you know why I mention that. Yang probably achieved power by advancing through a political system like Stalin. Domai achieved leadership by a revolution of sorts, correct? They are very different personalities and they govern much differently for sure. I guess one could image Domai as a monster like Yang, but I don't get that feeling.

Neptunus · June 21, 2000, 17:36

Am I the only one who thinks that Drone Riots in Drone Bases REALLY doesn't fit ? Not only this doesn't fit, it sounds crazy, an inconsistency with the faction profile, the fundamental reason of the faction's existence...

joer · June 22, 2000, 08:07

Interesting, Blade Runner used to be my favorite movie as well, before I have seen Ghost in the Shell, but has been replaced by it by now. I think. I've seen so many movies by now that I have a hard time to make up my mind about which is the best. But the two run both along a very simular philosophical problem, and GitS presents it with a little better dialogue, IMHO. Not to mention that the protagonist is cuter.

Maybe my fascination for these flicks explains why I wanna join the CyC for real.

No, this post has absolutely nothing to do with Alpha Centauri and is just random rambling. Don't look for it.

Neptunus: Maybe the drone faction lives by the principle "All men are equal...but some are more equal than others." Those that are less equal get to revolt.
A simpler explanation is, of course, that the game designers didn't want to bother to change the fundamental balance and setting of the game for one faction.

-joer.

Alinestra Covelia · June 22, 2000, 16:58

joer: Blade Runner had the absolutely immortal end speech, reproduced largely unchanged below:

Battye: I have seen things - you would never believe - attack ships on fire off the rings of Orion - C-beams glittering in the Tannerhausen Gate - all these moments - are lost in time - as tears in the rain - time to die.

However, Ghost in the Shell has an absolutely awesome creative reason to show lots of beautiful people naked (thermoptic camouflage). Now all we need is a remake of Blade Runner, with Eldon Tyrell surrounded by suddenly-uncloaking replicants!

As for Domai and Yang - well, the Drones rebelled from rule in the first place. I suppose it's possible that they would now rebel once again from the rule of Domai, if they didn't like the way he ran things.

As for Yang, I don't think he's a monster, per se. Maybe an unusually nihilistic leader, but his way of thinking is actually rather practical for a leader of many people.