I have not yet posted in this thread and it's high time to do so, now that the mudslinging of the past few days is having a chance to die down.
Some background as to why:
I have been asked in voice chats and PMs what exactly Amalfi is without having to read Scourge's gigantic description page several times over the past few days, and I haven't been able to explain it very well for a variety of reasons including muscle relaxers from a back injury so I will instead write down a TL;DR version here. It might also answer some legitimate questions that have been posed in this thread by people completely unfamiliar with this style of Outcast roleplay.
Amalfi Directorate assumes a few things in Outcast society. First, that the actual power in government, such as it is, will always revolve around the production and export of Cardamine. That's a given, that's how it's always been. Second, it assumes that this power would be coalesced into a network of familial cartels, influential names and pedigrees that stretch back to the foundation of Malta herself, and that this power would be so entrenched as to create a nation of city states based around these mega plantations. Again, nothing new here; the Council of Dons as a concept dates back as far as I can read on the forums, and nobody disputes that there would always be a Council of Dons, even if that council wasn't always in actual power (and that removing power from them would cause events up to and including civil war, see Contari Lance vs. 101st, see Cross history of contention and the various groups that rose up during that time to try and return to a more traditional style of Outcast roleplay.) Finally, that Outcast growth as a population, the actual Hispania remnants, is glacially slow. This is a lore bit dating to vanilla, so naturally we assume it to still be true.
Why am I pointing all of this out? Malta's infocard alone says that the population there is, and I quote the text directly:
Quote:Malta's population at the last planetary census in 816 A.S. stood at roughly 470 million, with an estimated 2 million other Outcasts spread across Sirius in various capacities.
Fair and good, so why does this matter to our faction so much? Because the original population of the Hispania was unknowable, and it was further split between, in lore, both Outcasts, Corsairs, and a much smaller contingent of Coalition spies and saboteurs. It most certainly was not, however, even a small fraction of that comparatively gargantuan number, and given the Maltese lack of ability to barely sustain their original numbers, much less add new ones, where in the world did the difference come from?
Four hundred seventy million. Plus another two million abroad. Slaves? You mean to say a few hundred thousand people at best are able to control quite literally hundreds of millions of slaves in forced labor? That when life is so precious to them, and so irreplaceable, that they would saddle up in their own fighters and ships and go out to fight the many wars of Malta on a daily basis for fear of arming these slaves? Or do they trust those slaves to support the economy of Malta aboard on their own volition? None of this makes any sense and would certainly not last 800 years without a major upset in power, armed revolts, etc. No slaver nation has ever managed it in the history of Earth, even with the benefit of highly additive drugs.
So then, if these statements can't make sense, where then do these numbers come from?
It is our opinion and belief that there must instead be a sustainable means of growth for Malta, a middle class, comprised of freed slaves and other cardimine addicts that have through various means joined the source of the drug that they now depend on to survive. The Slaves commodity infocard says this:
Quote:Many slaves were previously poor and unemployed House citizens sold into slavery by deceit, and over time they usually integrate into new environments, gain trust from fellow pirates and finally win their freedom.
and this:
Quote:Many slaves were previously poor and unemployed House citizens sold into slavery by deceit, and over time they usually integrate into new environments, gain trust from fellow pirates and finally win their freedom.
The Outcasts are neither poor nor have any demonstrated trouble shipping in materials they need, thanks to their own efforts and the Junkers in vanilla lore. They are, in RP, one of the richest single factions in Sirius.
Given enough time, these people, from all walks of life, would no longer identify themselves as Bretonian, or Kusarian, or Libertonian, but instead Maltese, unified through cardamine, and working to further the goals of the nation that brought them in. They wouldn't have the luxury; going back means death or imprisonment. Slavery, therefore, is not a means of creating a work force, it's a means of reproduction. Assimilation, willingly or handled by the slave traders, through cardamine.
Okay, so where does Amalfi fit in?
The above statements all suggest that there must be a very large, millions strong, lower to upper middle class in Maltese society. Technicians, pilots, managers, spies, miners...the list goes on, that are not members of the mega cartel families. Over time their numbers would be joined also by disgraced or destitute individuals and/or families from the cartels who could no longer maintain their place on the Council of Dons. Given the already demonstrated disjointed nature of Outcast government, the rest as they say is history: a member of the former Crimson Cross and his lackeys formed a new powerbase away from the politics of Malta (ideally none of our ships are supposed to be even stored in Omicron Alpha; our shareds all use Venice in Omicron Tau or Ruiz in Beta as staging points to reflect this in game) comprised of this very diverse middle class. In game and in practice this gives us the roleplay freedom, even demands, that we use all sorts of non-traditional ships, weapons and tactics, engage in shady commerce, mine Cryo Organisms, try to improve relations with Bretonia and Rheinland through non-illegal commerce, and generally further the Outcast cause. There have been many pushes over the years to try to legitimize Malta as a new House within Sirius, initiatives that have gained us a neutral no-dock status with Bretonia to name an example of this.
Activity wise, this flexibility means we can quite freely do whatever we want as long as it fits the lore. Not a PvP ace? That's okay, we've got a Dromedary and a stack of mining lasers lined up for you. Want to fly a Surveyor with a maxim chaingun and swatter mines? We get 90% and have an in-lore focus on mining cryos for legitimate legal profit, make it happen! Want to do intel stuff? We heavily encourage flying ships with 400 m/s or better cruise speeds so that you can run wherever you want, scan whatever you want, and fly something interesting and rare while you're at it. We have maybe two VHFs in the entire faction.
Amalfi can smuggle, trade, mine, raid Knossos with a swarm of LFs and be back to home base in time for afternoon (read: super late night because lol EST) tea.
