A guide to your unlawfuls

[sovereign]

After being told to "Get a job" on my Xeno, I figgered' that I ought to write up a guide on unlawfuls so that lawfuls know how to properly treat them.

Liberty:

Lane Hackers are mostly dispossessed Ageria workers, and are essentially getting back at the corruption that got them off the job. They are usually pretty nerdy, and cynically intelligent. They are literally the smartest of all unlawfuls. Lawfuls should treat them as more than just pirates, because they are also one of the most technologically forward Liberty pirates. Addicted to Cardamine.

Xenos are unemployed miners who were put off the job by foreign labor in Liberty, and lash out at the corruption that got them like that. They take out their rage on foreigners, essentially being Liberty's Hogosha. Lawfuls should treat them as a credible threat, but still as civilians. Xeno 'Terrorists' are just angry miners.
Usually petty robbers, these guys usually either have two choices: Rob convoys or work in low-pay jobs. Lawfuls ought to treat them as simple criminals, not a syndicate. Because lawfuls don't know how large the Rogues are.

Lane Hackers aren't cruel or evil, which is something to keep in mind. They have goals, and they don't kill people for fun or anything. It's entirely possible for a Liberty lawful to be sympathetic toward them- although a lawful who's a fan of the corporations most certainly won't be.

Rogues are generally low profile petty crime, yes, but they most certainly are organized and the lawfuls know it. They are definitely capable of large-scale operations, although you wouldn't guess it from their mooks. The leaders can be quite cunning and devious, though.

Xenos generally want foreign corporations out of Liberty, and think the gov't isn't doing enough to keep jobs in Liberty. They are not necessarily unemployed miners, although that's where they originated. Lawfuls sympathetic to their general cause is fully within reason, although since they do attack civilians (foreign or otherwise) that definitely brands them as terrorists, not "civilian militia".

Bretonia:

Mollies are the Gold Miners who were violently oppressed and seceded from Bretonia. Recently, they have begun to branch out of Dublin. I don't know their core lore, but they are still robbers and should be treated as Bretonian Rogues. Also, they are a terrorist group in that they attack anything and everything.- Added by Sprolf.

Gaians are pro-planet 'terrorists' and violently attack Planetform convoys. Thus, treat them as any other unlawful.

The Mollys are a separatist faction desiring independence for the Dublin system first and foremost, and they have a pretty serious grudge against BMM for treating its workers like absolute garbage (including feeding them livestock rations on Leeds... read the news). Some people may think that letting them secede is in Bretonia's best interests, but they do fight against the military and attack civilians (BMM, anyway). They are fully terrorists, and should be treated as such even if your lawful thinks the Queen should just let them have Dublin.

The Gaians are pretty low-key, or were until the Kusari war came along. They've fought alongside Kusari forces (not to mention the Gaian gunboats owned by the Hogosha and Farmer's Alliance) and their allegiance is rather clear. Bretonians should treat them as traitors, in addition to how they attack civilian convoys.

Kusari

Hogosha are the most fun faction to play as. Because we're the 'defenders of Kusari', protecting us from the influences of gaijin. We have some underhand deals with KSP / KNF, but they should not stop us from pirating- Amended by Zelot.

Blood Dragons are the revolutionaires of Kusari, seeking to overthrow a overpowerful and corrupt government that is ruled by corporations. As a loyal lawkeeper, pew pew them.

Golden Chrysanthemums are those crazy lesbians who feel affronted by male superiority and use their Estrogen-fueled rage to kill people. Addicted to Cardamine, and are slaved to the Outcasts for it.

Angry Farmers. With pitchforks lashed to their ships. Run. The. Frak. Away.

Hogosha have under-the-table deals with everyone and their dog, on behalf of Samura. They are the mob, who makes sure Kusari stays traditional via application of force. They are quite cultured, though, and many lawfuls treat them with respect. They aren't technically illegal, but if caught pirating they most definitely can be shot at for it. Note "can"... pretending not to see it (possibly after having one's salary supplemented) happens too, but not always.

The Farmer's Alliance are Samura's thugs, united by a mutual hatred of Synth Foods' effect on native Kusari industry, and to a lesser extent the same for all other foreign companies. They are also not technically unlawful (one of them was running for planetary governor of Kyushu in vanilla) but if caught pirating will be treated as you would expect.

The Blood Dragons are a military organization that survived the Samura-backed coup in the early years of Kusari. Any lawful who likes Samura should absolutely hate them, and everyone should be violently opposed to them. However, respecting their sense of honor is not unheard of.

The Golden Chrysanthemums are a feminist terrorist group violently opposed to Kusari's traditions of male superiority. They are not entirely made up of lesbians or insane people, although they have more than their fair share of the former. They seek a matriarchy, or at least equal rights for women in Kusari. Not every lawful will completely hate them, but they do kill civilians and their cardamine relations place them firmly in the "hostile" category.

Rheinland

Bundschuh are a heavily political unlawful group. They are totally committed to overthrowing the cruel government. Thoroughly left-wing and educated, they are pretty much today's liberals in space with guns. Declared an enemy of the state, Rheinland pilots should show a small amount of sympathy, because most of the population does.

LWB, or Landwirtrechtbewegung, is a group much like the Farmers Alliance in that they are angry German farmers with pitchforks mounted on their spaceships. They fight Synth Foods. Kill them as any other dissenting citizen.

Red Hessians are the most organized criminal orginization. Much like the Xenos, Hessians are unemployed miners and raeg at Daumann and Kruger for it.

Unioners are shipworkers no longer on the job. They attack Daumann and Republican frequently. -Amended by Guass 3.2

The Bundschuh are politically motivated unlawfuls who desire more workers rights for Rheinland. They have a legal front party, and only Daumann, Kruger, and Republican really hate them... and that's because they are quite merciless to the monsters in charge of those companies (Daumann especially... note Solarius Station's primary import). They are quite idealistic, fervently nationalistic and do not normally engage the Rheinland Military, rather helping them defend against Liberty incursions on a regular basis. Their quarrel is with the companies, and it's far from unheard of for lawfuls unhappy with the corporations to leave them alone so long as they don't attack anyone.

The Landwirtrechtbewegung are mostly dispossessed farmers from Stuttgart wishing to halt Synth Foods' progress there. They are also deeply nationalistic, and regularly fight alongside the Military against foreign incursions. Unless seen attacking people under the protection of Rheinland (which includes Synth Foods) they are generally left entirely alone. I actually don't remember the last time the LWB and RM came to blows... usually we just sort of pass by or team up against the LN.

The Unioners began as ex-Republican workers who rose up and killed their masters over labor troubles. Compared to the Bundschuh, they are completely devoid of nationalism, far more violent, and do not believe they can change Rheinland. They regularly attack civilians are are treated as terrorists.

The Red Hessians began during the revolts of Von Rohe's Day (like the Bundschuh) but have since leaned far from hoping to change Rheinland and instead on piracy and giving the corporations as much of a bloody nose as they can. They are terrorists and the largest pirate faction outside of the Corsairs and Outcasts- lawfuls engage them without hesitation.

Now, that was a mouthful. Quick TL;DR-

Liberty / Rheinland - Unemployed, angry people raging at the government who allowed it. Police and Navy should show some sympathy.
Kusari - Extremely dubious. KNF/KSP won't bother Hogosha most of the time, but will open hell's gates to Dragons and GC.
Brets- Mostly just Rogues and Terrorists. Easy.

The origins of factions and what they do now can be very distinct. Just because most Rogues start off as unemployed people resorting to petty crime doesn't mean anyone has sympathy for them. I also suggest not saying how lawfuls interact with people without at least an interaction or two under your belt... the LWB bit was basically the opposite of what happens. Hell, the leaders of Rheinland were discussing legalizing them entirely at one point.

The only factions up there I haven't at one point played as or closely alongside are the Xenos and the Gaians... although I've certainly played against the Xenos a fair bit (Dusty Lens's Xeno is the only person to have killed my trader in all my time here).


EDIT with Gallic factions:

Council is a hostile military intent on overthrowing the Crown and pretty much all it stands for. If you have sympathy for them you get removed from your post and/or executed. Shoot them.

The Maquis are brutal murderers with no qualms about inflicting mass civilian casualties. You should seriously hate them... there's even a rumor somewhere about an EFL pilot wanting to take a transport full of explosives and ram it into one of their bases to get back at them for what they did to his family.

The Gallic Brigands are little more than selfish pirates, despite their propaganda about being modern Robin Hoods. While the people on the planets may have some sympathy for them due to that impression of them, the companies know better- as do the other lawfuls. They have no sense of nationalism nor much of anything other than their own self-interest, and as such there's no reason to go easy on them.

I honestly can't tell you how the Unione Corse work. There's some discrepancy in the infocards, admin rulings, and what's happened ingame... there's a few of them who are informants for the Navy, I'm reasonably sure the police are jealous of them, but I still can't figure out where they fit into the piracy-nationalism-Council thingy. I've been doing it case-by-case basis, if they act hostile then act hostile back, if they act nationalist and/or cooperative then let them be.

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[farmerman]

I'd say Gaians are a bit more complicated than that, Sovereign, as there are also a good deal of similarly minded individuals in government, particularly in Cambridge. Before the whole war thing, that was a big reason why the BPA were rather inconsistent in their treatment of Gaians. There's some confusion about the particular Gaian-Kusari connection, which I know the NLH is working to try and sort out, but as of right now, I think a random lawful running into a Gaian would need to base things on the situation. If you carry Gaian Wildlife, you'll get exploded, obviously, but a lot of Gaians also don't care about traders carrying things like alloys, for instance.

I actually don't remember the last time the LWB and RM came to blows

The last time I was involved in such was when there was an RM mentioning how tasty Synth Paste is. :laugh:

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Faction info links: Samura Heavy Industries : LWB : Watchers

[Tovig]

Happy to see the Order wasn't included in this list.