Corsair - Zoner

[DAnvilFan]

2. The solution to split the Zoner faction was proposed I think 10 times in the past. Each and every time shot down or just not acted upon. Are we ready to do it yet, or still no?

Pardon while I revive the dead horse.

A solution suggests that there's a problem, when in fact no problem exists. Players on the server have got it into their minds that the Zoners shouldn't fly under the same banner. Show me the <strike>MONEY</strike> infocards because the infocards say otherwise. Yes, every Freeport is surrounded by a unique group of factions. And yes, every Freeport conducts business based on those who surround it. So then players think, "doesn't it seems logical to subdivide Zoners into multiple groups, no?"

No. Observe the following case study: From playing Freelancer, we know that Freeport 10 got into a major conflict with the Outcasts circa 770 AS. Or something.

Here's a million dollar question:
Were Outcasts hostile to the Zoners in FP9, who had nothing to do with anything, at the time of the conflict?

The answer is:
The Outcasts didn't care if you're a Zoner from FP2 or FP9 or New Jersey. If a Zoner from a distant system was visiting his Great Aunt Willow on FP10, they shot him to pieces. They shot him because his people built a Freeport on their turf and he was a Zoner. If he stayed in FP2, then they didn't care because he's in FP2. And the Zoner in FP2 didn't care either because there ain't no Outcasts there, are there?

And don't even get me started on "Zoners are, like, these radically different groups, like, totally yeah?" That's another notion with absolutely no regard to Freelancer lore. The Zoners have a unified code. They have a unified belief system. They all seem to have magically called their bases by the same name and numbered their Freeports in chronological order. And they consider fellow Zoners, in the very words of vanilla lore, as their "brothers."

Do you think that those who call each other "brothers," feel that they are part of the same family? You are correct if you're nodding your head. Now, brothers don't have to be identical, do they? One can love bar fights and the other could be a sissy fleeing from a Corsair papa bear for smoochin' his daughter. Each can lead his own life and conduct his own business.

But if my idiot brother gets into a bar fight, you better believe that I'll be smashing beer bottles over anybody that tries to grab him. Yes, he's a drunk idiot who shouldn't have gotten into a bar fight in the first place - but he's my brother and I love him.

Omicroners messed up here and there when it came to Zoner Lore, but they got that part right. They stood up for their brothers when the Corsairs bullied them. Unfortunately, one of those brothers supplied Crete with goods while the Omicroners were fighting for said brother and starving in Theta.

I'm not complaining. Backstabbing provides great roleplay opportunities. But RP differs from server to server, so at the end of the day you gotta look at the infocards. And the infocards say that if you shoot a Zoner in El Paso, his Zoner friends in Miami are gonna be mad.