Well I mean I'd go easy on that - I came to some factions as the only player and the years of player mandated soap opera history and bizzare rephacks make little sense and it's a good thing they are repaired/scrapped and the faction that made them gone to not protect those "years of history"
There's nothing easier than just log in-game, generate activity, let the other guys do whatever they do and have your vision of how the faction should be played. If you keep appearing on player list, do constant RP and interactions, you become the guy people associate with the NPC faction anyways.
-There is now =CR= and lTl (and BMS to some extent) with different views of how Crayter is played. Whoever puts in more interactions, rp, activity and grows the faction wins, simples, and how it should be.
You don't need to farm for time to cling to OF just for "having a faction that is semi-alive as a way to gatekeep"