While I haven't bothered reading the entire Core lore (becuase it's too wordy and subjectively not very interesting), someone asked me to point out my issues with certain points of it that make almost the entire faction premise invalid in my view. This wouldn't have been a problem if these outlandish claims were only iRP (as I thought until now), but seeing this post gave me the impression that you ooRPly actually believe these delusions.
Let me bring some reference material.
This thread, first post Wrote:Q: How do The Core finance their operations?
A: The Core has a majority monopoly on Iridium. They mine it from Planet Nauru in Omicron Delta, which is the largest known source of Iridium in the region. They also mine it in the recently discovered Iridium field in Omicron Lost. This is then exported to either Freeport 11, where it is sold onto parties via the Zoners, or The Core sell it to other Corporations and Shipyards throughout Sirius. Iridium itself in an important component in armour, anti-matter weaponry, it can also be used for increasing the efficiency of polymers, creating high-temperature alloys for use in fusion reactors and other high-temperature environments. As Iridium is an extremely rare metal and it's only known abundant source is in Omicron Delta, which is under the control of The Core, and there is a lesser known source in Omicron Lost, the vast majority of the Iridium market effectively belongs to The Core.
And Iridium is only one of their exports. The Core also exports rare alien technology and research materials to interested buyers in Sirius, much to the anger of more conservative groups such as The Order.
And through AP Manufacturing, The Core also sells military/security ships and equipment to Military and Corporate groups in Sirius.
Q: Who supplies The Core?
The Core is either supplied via supply convoys done by AP Manufacturing, or is supplied through the assistance of their allies. This post goes into more depth. The Core is not self-sufficient, nor has a Core leader ever declared such. Please put that meme to rest. The Core has arguably done more roleplay than the vast majority of other factions in Disco when it comes to justifying their supply and maintenance.
Quote:By the dawn of 823 A.S, Nauru had amassed over 200,000 civilians
Lyth Wrote:We're rich.
Premise
First assumption here is that Core can sustain a war fleet not only capable enough to defend themselves against assaults from Order, Outcasts and Corsairs, but also have any credible means of expansion (because if not, then why don't the Order, Outcasts or Corsairs just forcibly remove the Core? Especially considering they're painting a target on their back by trying to seize Nauru).
Secondly, we can also kind of assume that economic structures of the Houses (especially Liberty and Rheinland) as well as Outcasts' and Corsairs' (because their population sizes are also comparatively large to that of the Core) have at least slight resemblance to that of the real worlds', in which taxation is by far the most important source of income even in countries with low economic freedom.
Additionally from the above excerpts we can infer that the main source of Core's revenue is export of iridium and Nomad materials. So this, as well as my first assumption about the power of Core fleet, would imply that somehow Core's export revenue is proportionally similar to that brought by taxation of 600 million people on Crete and 470 million people on Malta.
Nomad exports and iridium
Now of course, we can say that it’s fine because Nomad exports are just really valuable. If that’s true then – why don’t the governments of Houses who allegedly are buying that Nomad material just simply mount their own expeditions into the Omicrons? While in the case of Liberty or Bretonia it’s not the most preferable route, Rheinland has a major fleet and Omicrons just around their doorstep and no actual military conflicts to deal with, surely they could spare some ships to not have to pay outlandish prices from some Omicron mercenaries.
And this is even not mentioning the fact that Corsairs also export Nomad stuff in the form of smuggled Artifacts and Xeno Relics. I find it difficult to believe that somehow Core manages to make their own material more valuable than that smuggled by Corsairs and Order. And even Liberty and Bretonia could gather that material from the black markets because surely if the possible profits are this high then legalisation of the black market is certainly a price that can be paid to obtain these massive profits.
Even further, if Core sells not Nomad material but just technology then I can't help but notice that this business model is just unsustainable because new technology that can be stolen from the Nomads will end at some point. All the magical magics Nomads have access to will eventually be researched by others and just like that Core would lose all its profits.
Similarly if its Iridium which is that profitable (which by in-game prices we know it isn't but let's just say that in-game prices are for the sake of balance and do not represent the actual state of Sirius economy) then other corporations would attempt to break Core's monopoly, possibly with the backing of their respective governments allies (Samura with the support of Kusari fleet and also Corsairs, also perhaps ALG and Rheinland). After all, if it's that profitable, why wouldn't they take the risk.
So this is it in terms of the "meme" (lol xd) about Core generating money out of thin air. But it doesn't stop there.
Lyth Wrote:Our levels of immigration would be relatively higher than that of other powers in the Edge Worlds because we're treated as a lawful state-like entity by the greater Sirian populace
Core lore Wrote:Imperium Omicronis is a totalitarian state. The Core sees no limits on its authority, and thus strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible. The media is state controlled, and the only political party is the one led by the Guildmaster. Power is asserted power through an all-encompassing propaganda campaign, which is distributed throughout all of the Edge Worlds. The Guildmaster employs political repression, personality cultism, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance, and if needed widespread use of terror i.e public executions.
Immigration
While Corsairs have minimal immigration (because the Corsair laws strictly forbid people being imported on Crete), claim about Core having larger immigration than Malta and its slave workers is laughable. And if we're only considering "free" people, Core has very little to offer because of its claims being "totalitarian".
This is also another thing. I don't know about your knowledge of history, but the thing about totalitarian empires is that they usually have a hard time attracting people to immigrate there. Rather, they try their very hardest to keep people from running away from them (Berlin Wall?). In Freelancer, where running away should generally be pretty easy (charge cruise, baiiI), the Core has no way to ensure that the victims of persecutions don't start spreading the truth.
Conclusion
I was about to write something more about these things but I don't have any more time. I guess I'm not really bringing anything new to the table here because most of the server already knows the Core is powergamed to the skies. In my view it would be best to finally call Core a failed experiment and return to BHG roots which is a much more reasonable concept, but it's understandable that with the current state of Discovery this is unlikely to happen.
But you may just want to make your lore include more plausible reasons why a comapratively small faction hostile to everything in the Omicrons (Corsairs, Outcasts, Hessians, Zoners, Order, Coalition, SCRA, AI) manages to survive more than 20 minutes.
