the Zoners

[sovereign]

I apologize in advance, because this post is probably going to sound a lot more rude than I intend. RL stuff just came to my attention and I will quite possibly end up inadvertently venting in my reply here. Sorry.


EDIT: Replace all instances of the word "structure" with the word "centralization" while I go through and fix it. It's closer to what I mean.

Um, the Zoners have the population, trust me on this. For further details, just get hold of me on skype or something. I don't want to get dragged into a protacted argument over it, though I will go into it hopefully somewhat briefly. In my personal view (which is shared by a number of people, including Igiss), Gran Canaria is a veritable power house and the bulk of the Zoner "nation's" fleet is stationed there, owned largely by the Zoner Council, but also individual ships owned by extremely wealthy freelancers and Zoners who have settled on Gran Canaria. The Zoners control the sole supplies of Deuterium, Iridium and the TAZ Zoners also have their own commodity (which will remain a surprise), as well as producing huge quantities of food and water. The Zoners also have the most extensive information network of any organisation in Sirius (even the Junkers don't have quite as good a network). They also have access to some of the most advanced technology in existence (Order/GMG/spy network).

Wait.

The Zoners, who are defined by their disgust for structure, are the people who have the most structured and in-depth intelligence network.

What?

The LSF's sole purpose is to have a really good intelligence network. By vanilla information, they have funding like you wouldn't believe (Liberty DOES NOT SKIMP when it comes to defense. By vanilla rumors they maintain a fleet big enough to contend with any two houses at once, and the LSF get similarly generous funding.) and they actually care. I don't know why the Zoners would dedicate that kind of time and resources to a structured intelligence system that massive, when they could, say, use that money to build legitimate bargaining chips like Juggernauts. I mean really, do you think the Corsairs could give a damn if the Zoners let on that they're starving? That might build sympathy for them and get traders to pay them out of pity if not fear.

If you count up each individual Zoner's contacts and their contacts, yes, the Zoners quite possibly have the biggest intelligence network. But getting the Zoner people as a whole to care enough to devote themselves to actually using all those contacts would be... well, it would be easier to just assassinate all the Outcast Dons. At the same time. With flowers and fairy dust.

Either way, the Zoners are powerful and probably have what amounts to at least an entire House military at their call, with the bulk of it stationed at Gran Canaria. The problem is that they have a lot of Freeports that need protecting, so in reality probably only Gran Canaria is untakeable by most conventional forces and organisations. If the Bretonians weren't in a war with Kusari, they would probably be able to send enough forces to take out Gran Canaria, but it would be very, very costly. All the other houses can't really reach it, and the Corsairs have nowhere near sufficient strength, especially not with the war against the Mollys, Bretonia, Outcasts, Hessians, Rheinland, Liberty, GMG etc. The Outcasts can't easily reach Gran Canaria and in any case probably don't much care about it.

You said something eerily similar about the Golden Chrysanthemums.

In Vanilla, both were like gnats to the giant war-machines of the Houses. They were, quite literally, the most underdog factions of all Sirius along with the Gaians, Bundschuh, Junkers, and Xenos. That's how revolutionary groups run; with very little cash, materials spread far too thin, and desperate to cling to their supply lines. Giving them a single capital ship would be a godsend.

Now they both have a frikkin planet, are completely self-sufficient, and the Zoners can apparently blow the living crap out of the Bretonian Armed Forces.

Um...

Pardon me, but WTF.

House Militaries are supposed to be the big guys in the iron boots. In Vanilla, they were; when the Rheinland Military shows up, all the characters are like "OH SHI-"

The Corsairs and Outcasts, both considered to be the pair of amazing criminal powerhouses, weren't dumb enough to launch a full-scale assault on any given house. Because they'd get owned. They still aren't; exhibit A, the Brotherhood's failed invasion of Rheinland. If anyone gets the kind of power to beat up the full force of a House Military, it should be one of them. Not a bunch of space-hermits that resent structure. That they can run a single Juggernaut is astounding; much less a fleet of them. I think that it's possible Digital Anvil didn't believe they actually had any Juggernauts, it was just a tall tale they told to keep people off their backs. Remember, all vanilla news (rumors not so much) comes from the political propaganda machines.

No, if the Bretonians decided to screw the war in the Taus and smash the Zoners, the Zoners had better hope the Corsairs are okay with losing all the ground they gained in Eta. Even then, the best case scenario for the Zoners is not pretty when the lines get drawn up. Especially if your analysis of the Corsairs was any indication of server community lore or actual server activity; have you been to Gamma? If we take server activity as a measure of military power, the Corsairs can give the Liberty Navy a run for their money. In terms of what the 4.84 infocards actually say, the Corsairs are pretty damn powerful, but not powerful enough to take care of a house (as the invasion of Rheinland proved); at least without pulling all their forces from the other fronts. The Corsairs are currently only waging war against the Red Hessians and the Outcasts. Of those, the Red Hessians are keeping them at bay with guerrilla tactics more than an actual military presence; the battlegrounds are steeply defensively inclined, and neither puts too much effort into the fighting there, because they would get a much better return putting forces elsewhere. So really, the Corsairs are fighting the Outcasts, and tying down the Red Hessians. In the news and infocards, they still are completely confidant in their ability to beat up the Freeport in Omicron Delta, even accounting for the Juggernaut they can't be sure exists. Their concern is more one of the Zoners' ability to sabotage the domes before they can be subdued; militarily the Zoners don't present a threat in the slightest.

It's the same idea with Gran Canaria; the Zoners brought the Corsairs in because they didn't have the forces to keep Bretonia or even the Mollies from expanding into the system.




I am really not happy with some of the stuff Igiss has encouraged, accidentally or purposefully. No, everyone and their dog is NOT really that powerful. By 4.84's infocards, the House Militaries should be the laughingstock of Sirius; in vanilla, every other piece of news (lawful or otherwise) is about unlawfuls getting trashed by the military or police. There ARE underdogs. There ARE people who get smashed in nearly every engagement they fight. Part of what drew me to Freelancer was that it maintained a realistic assessment of how politics move. There are not just the big powerhouses; there are all the little guys fighting for what they believe, no matter how pathetic their impact is. They know they don't have a chance, but they fight because it's what they feel they should do. If suddenly they have more than a chance, but can kick everyone's ass and they know it... it loses all that feeling.

And finally, the new bit I have inserted into the end of the Zoner/Zoner Guard ID: The Zoner ID does not make you immune to piracy; pirates may choose at their discretion whether to exempt you.

This I can get behind, so long as people realize that to pirate Zoners means Zoners won't like you, and you should adjust your repsheet accordingly. If your faction likes being friends with the Zoners you probably shouldn't be pirating them unless the Zoner Council is aware of the circumstances under which you will be doing it and are okay with still sheltering you. Jinx sold me on that bit the last time it came up.













TL;DR



There is no way that the Zoners should have that kind of military. I got the impression from SP that the Zoner Juggernauts could possibly be nothing but a tall tale, a bogeyman to keep the Zoners on the 'people to care about' list. The Zoners have connections individually, but they have no centralization (that's why they're Zoners) and cannot as a group put those connections to efficient use like the LSF can. They are liked by the small pirate groups, but all larger factions find them very annoying and wouldn't mind if they quietly disappeared; this is stopped by that one non-aggression treaty thing signed by the Houses after the 80-Years War and a lack of ideological ruses to get the people to support it. For the Corsairs, they don't trust their covert ops enough to try it immediately, and the Outcasts just don't care enough to waste people on it.

They aren't as special as people want them to be. They are the small-time white guy on the block where the gangs keep their headquarters; they are regarded as annoying but not worth the time or distracting backlash. If there was a way to do it without people setting up pickets and without wasting time, it would be really easy, and would be done.

---