Most "powerful" house (within RP)

[Carlos_Benitez]

Liberty is the most economicly powerful, and most technologically advanced (with Kusari running a close second).
Bretonia has always had the raw end of the deal; arriving in Sirius last, they are always playing catch up.
And, fyi, I'm British, so no claims that I only claim Liberty is best because I'm a patriotic American.

Outcasts are the most powerful in terms of influence, because they have their hand in so many criminal (and even Legal) groups. The power of the Outcasts should not just be measured in how many ships and pilots they have, but also, how many pilots Sirius-wide are bound to the Outcast cause by addiction to cardimine. Every addict would fight to the death to secure their supply.

IMO, Corsair ships are advanced in terms of weapons and design, but not in terms of general technology. Most technologies are stolen from other Houses and incorporated into Corsair designs. Corsair ship designers should probably be considered the best in Sirius, but I think allot of it is hype; Corsairs claim often enough that their technology and ships are vastly superior (as a matter of patriotism) that outsiders start to believe it.
I dont believe either the Corsairs or the Outcasts have the resources or power to conquer any house. Perhaps after the war between them ended, and they spent afew decades collaborating and helping eachother expand their fleets rather than destroying eachother, they could be a threat to the Houses, but not right now.
The Outcasts are arguably closer to conquering houses through their network of manipulation.
The Corsairs' primary motivation is self-preservation, and aside from security, most individuals are focused on accumulation of personal wealth. The dreams of expanding their "Empire" is, I think, mostly hype to increase their feeling of self-importance and make them seem more intimidating to their enemies and allies.

I'd imagine Gallia would be capable of taking on 1 house. I say this because, even if they have a massive fleet dwarfing anything seen before, and technology that surpasses anything Sirius has, Gallia is extremely isolated, which would make it very difficult to manage an invasion, keep fleets supplied, and maintain administration of any systems that are captured. It might be comparable to Germany's invasion of Russia during WW2.

An interesting question is...where do the Zoners fit? They have a huge sphere of influence, they are rich, pretty much control Edge-World markets, and arguably have a very advanced fleet!

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