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AdamTG02
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Williamsburg, Virginia
Aug 2002
time: 00:28
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A bit of backstory to set the stage:
The Society of Free Thought, a loose group of anarchists, dissidents, and punks, was organized on Earth with the goal of "shaking up" the Unity mission. Passing themselves off as loyal workers on the colony project, they hacked the Unity system so that a good portion of the crew, along with their planted members, were awakened ahead of schedule. Chaos and confusion ensued, but soon enough the crew members started coalescing into several distinct groups.
New Unity Industries coalesced around a core who had worked for the same firm prior to joining the Unity mission. As their experience had been with a Korean firm assisted and to some degree managed by the government, they believed that central plannng and control was a clear necessity for a successful colony.
The next group to organize started as a loose community -- the Catholics among the crew had begun to worship together, and even assembled a loose hierarchy headed by the one Cardinal among the crew. Their ordained leaders predictably hoped for a religious and somewhat regimented life on the new world.
Among those who belonged to neither group and were somewhat nonplussed by the unruly Society of Free Thought (or, as they became known, the Anarchists), two groups emerged. One of these formed out of discussion groups led by members of the science crew. Foremost among these was a historian, who advocated basing a new society on the preservation of knowledge, remembering Earth while learning from its mistakes. Someone suggested the name "Preservers of Terra," which caught on rather quickly as the informal groups were joined by those in search of some form of stability.
Meanwhile, a charismatic financier of the Unity mission, concerned that whatever society that was founded respect individual liberty and the free market system, gathered a group around him respecting individual rights, including many freethinkers who disliked the chaos and unthinking passion of the Anarchists. This group called itself the Chiron Cartel, and hoped to establish a vibrant and uncontrolled free market economy on Planet -- allowing for the occasional freely entered-into commune.
During all of these developments, one of the more loyal or precedence-minded crew members decided to wake up the command crew, who predictably were not pleased. They immediately declared a state of martial law and resorted to draconian measures in order to reassert the chain of command. Fighting ensued quickly, as many factions, including the Mission Loyalists, had opned up the ship's armories. During the conflict, a section of the Unity was depressurized, and most were uncertain how stable the remaining sections were. In the panic, each faction rushed to and was able to hold a colony pod.
One pod remained, six being taken and one being inaccessable due to the damage. This was filled by a random assortment of crew members answering to no common leader. Once they arrived on Planet, they discovered that they lacked industrial supplies, and were unable to build the infrastructure to support their population. A member of the biology staff discovered a way to alter their existing technology to derive subsistence from the Xenofungus, but this required an intensive hunting/gathering lifestyle. Within years, this group had become tthe Union of Tribes, a loose confederation of primitives with the biologist as its leader.
If these factions interest you, feel free to offer feedback, either on this lead or in the Yahoo! group that's listed above. And if you'd like to try them out, feel free to join the group -- you'll have the option to receive emails noting progress and tester comments, but this is not required. They are in the stage of development and testing right now, so don't expect a finished product, but any feedback or impressions you can give would be appreciated.
(Incidentally, the leaders of the Preservers, Cartel, and Anarchists are all based on real people -- myself, my co-designer, and a design consultant. This isn't central to the factions, which were all conceived of independently.)
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18-05-2003 09:07
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