Original Eight
Suzanne Marjorie Fielding (American Reclamation Corporation)
When ARC CEO Michael Modersky signed the Trans-Mississippi Recovery Initiative, he personally asked Fielding to oversee the governmental resource coordination, to which she turned her considerable acumen. It was Fielding who caught the accounting chicanery which led to the FBI's Operation Riverboat and subsequent political fallout. Guiding the government to continue funding during the roiling controversy that followed, Fielding also kept the Initiative on track and on time, such that when Modersky stepped down as CEO, Fielding (who had since been elevated to CFO) was the logical choice for CEO. Sidestepping the Board of Directors, Fielding's appeal to the shareholders enabled her to hold both the CEO and CFO positions for ARC, making her the most powerful woman in the most powerful corporation in the world. With Fielding at the helm, ARC turned from retail and manufacturing to financial and other services. She used the balance sheet and financial weight of ARC as a massive lever, engineering a series of shifts on Old Wall Street to unseat banks and exchanges. As ARC's capital reserves blossomed, many wondered what Fielding would do next. Few expected that she would announce ARC pursuing its own private Seeding venture, drawing on its vast engineering and manufacturing resources, and gaining a waiver from the government to conduct private space operations. The biggest surprise was when Fielding announced she would personally lead the first such expedition. With enough money to buy the world, the woman who led ARC found more meaning in starting over with a new planet.
- Boring, but Practical: The default capital name for the ARC is the generic but functional "Central".
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Fielding is the least loyal leader in the game, and one of the meanest.
- Corporate Warfare: Being One Nation Under Copyright, any militaristic action by the ARC counts as this trope.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Implied and invoked, given the ARC's faction bonus as The Spymaster, though players can defy the trope at their discretion.
- Determinator: Her career with ARC has been one long trial. From all her initial projects as an Intern failing, to having to deal with racial, sexual, and class discrimination shes been through a lot.
- Expy: She is the new CEO Nwabudike Morgan, and ARC is the new Morgan Industries.
- She also bears a more than passing resemblance, both in appearance and in some aspects of her personality, to Malory Archer...and her faction bonus is based on espionage.
- Fiction 500: Apparently has "enough money to buy the world."
- Foil: To Barre - both are either African or of African descent, are self-made men/women, and faced a lot of prejudice from others for their origins - Fielding due to sexism, racism, and classism, Barre for being viewed as traditionalist and out-of-touch with the modern world. Otherwise, the two could not be more different: Barre advanced himself via military service and diplomacy while Fielding rose up via business acumen. Barre is one of the most trustworthy leaders while Fielding has Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. Finally, while Barre has one of if not the most positive reputations in the game, Fielding's is one of the most negative.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: She helped turn the ARC from a medium-sized company to the premier MegaCorp in America.
- Gratuitous Spanish: She freely mixes Spanish with English when speaking. Given that she is part Mexican and grew up in Texas, this is not too surprising.
- High-Tech Hexagons: It's very subtle, but her clothing has a faint hexagonal pattern. It is much more obvious with Purity or Harmony alignment.
- The Illuminati: The ARC symbol is a an eye inside of a triangle. Conspiracy theorists must have had a field day when it was introduced.
- Iron Lady: Her interview with "The Journal"
certainly paints her in this light. - Magikarp Power: The way Covert Operations work is that when an Agent completes a successful Operation in a city he or she builds Intrigue. This is represented on a 0-5 scale and each Operation has an Intrigue requirement with the more damaging and more impressive (such as recruiting military defectors, staging coup in cities, calling in a horde of Siege Worms, etc..) Operations requiring a higher level of Intrigue. The ARC's Covert Operations are 30% faster and require 1 less level of intrigue, which means Fielding can go from stealing energy and scientific research to expanding her military and capturing your cities without firing a shot real quick.
- MegaCorp: The American Reclamation Corporation is the MegaCorp.
- Never a Self-Made Woman: Averted; she is very much a self-made woman.
- One Nation Under Copyright: The space colony sure is. On Earth, unconfirmed but heavily implied.
- Only in It for the Money: According to one of the extracts from her personal logs, the real reason why she decided to personally lead the ARC's seeding project wasn't for some high minded ideal for the greater good of humanity. Instead, similarly to Nwabudike Morgan, it was for the once in history chance for laying claim to entire world's worth of resources for the ARC instead of spending the rest of her life managing a corporation on the what is left of a soon to be depleted Earth.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Strictly speaking, none of the leaders is truly good or evil, but Fielding is one of the more antagonistic, but tends to refrain from "evil" actions if they would be counterproductive. Among other instances, she refrains from attacking the native aliens unless provoked because they are a valuable resource that should not be wasted, and says as much if you also choose to do so.
- Southern-Fried Genius: While she does not display many of the contemporary stereotypes, she was born in the Deep South, grew up there, graduated with honors in a double-major, and grew her career through economically developing what was considered a doomed region.
- The Spymaster: Her faction bonus is a significant boost to covert operations, much like the Data Angels.
- To Be a Master: She considers ambition a necessity:"Ambition isn't a character flaw. It's the means by which I envision the future and then bring it into being."
Samatar Jama Barre (People's African Union)
The given name means "doer of good" in Somali; the family name is a line of historical Somali diplomats. Avuncular, genial, affable, affecting an air of bonhomie, Samatar Jama Barre wished to be addressed as Kubwa Mjomba ("great uncle" in Swahili) by those he both commanded and protected. Despite his seeming benevolence and absent-minded demeanor, he was nonetheless an efficient and effective administrator, an able diplomat, and ruthless when necessary. Barre was amused and likely pleased when detractors likened him to the traditional African village chieftains of the past, claiming him to be a throwback and out-of-step with the new world in the wake of the Great Mistake. But the Peoples' African Union made a wise choice when he was selected as one of their colony governors. Rising from the poverty and violence of the inundated streets of Hargeisa, Samatar joined the African Union's resurgent military forces, eventually rising to the rank of Major.
For three decades he served in a variety of increasingly important posts, military and civilian, rising steadily in both ability and influence. He was able to overcome lingering tribal tensions, dealing with the polyglot cultures of Africa with both reverence and common sense. Barre displayed those same diplomatic skills when negotiating with those outside the African Union, and brought to culmination several international agreements that helped propel the Union's colonization effort before he was selected to command one of those colonies. Barre proved to be just as efficient against any perceived threat to the well-being and safety of those under his protection. In dealing with nascent warlords, religious fanatics, and local dictators, he either brought about an equitable peace, or bludgeoned them into submission. Although never known as a military genius, his troops were extremely loyal to their "great uncle" and fought with abandon for his approval. Samatar Barre never lost a battle, although he took no credit for his victories and viewed them as lamentable necessities. Though not religious himself, he was tolerant and accepting of others' religious traditions. In the end, it was this tolerance, coupled with his intellect and personality that would shape the African Union's colony on the new planet.
- All-Loving Hero: His Meaningful Name means "doer of good," and he lives up to it with tolerance and kindness towards everyone. He is a diplomat who thinks war, even against oppressive tin-pot warlords, is Dirty Business, and attempts to spread peace and justice wherever he goes. He isn't an idiot, however, and he does accept that the world sometimes won't live up to his ideals - and that that's what the army's for.
- Beneath the Mask: Despite his jovial attitude, he carries a lot of anger and resentment over what has been done to Africa by foreign powers over the last few centuries.
- Doomed Hometown: Rising Tide reveals that Barre's home village was almost entirely wiped out by a deadly disease. He was among the few survivors.
- Expy: Highly reminiscent of Commissioner Pravin Lal of the UN Peacekeeping Forces, due to being from a developing country, worldly and diplomatic, but stern if pushed.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Tells his brother this in his goodbye letter."Walaalkaa, I saw no other way forward for our people. We had titanium, but no machinists. We had petroleum, but not enough modern chemical processing plants. We never had enough money, and our people never had the resources for education or training. We didn't have time to build these things up, either...I hated it, brother. I hated signing those deals because I knew that you were right, that we were signing over the richness of Africa again, maybe for the last time. I hated how I had to smile and thank those ministers of trade, with their suits made from the wool of village goats of Africa, over cups of our coffee, playing the part of the big chief man, and they smiled and congratulated themselves on pulling another one over on our people. They came to Africa to make a fortune, and they left with a fortune, and I let them do it because I didn't see any other way for our people's future."
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: His bonus is ten percent bonus to food when having a positive health score plus 1+ extra output from specialists such as Engineers and Merchants. More food means a faster growth rate, which means more people, which means more tiles and buildings worked, which ties into the improved output, etc...
- Here We Go Again!: Declaring war on him leads to a heavy sigh, a stern look and him asking the player "Must you bring old ways to our new home?"
- Hollywood Atheist: Averted. He's not religious, and holds a somewhat negative opinion of religious authorities, but in a letter to his brother he is supportive of his visits to a mosque.
- Just the First Citizen: Prefers to be called Kubwa Mjomba (Great Uncle) as opposed to any formal title.
- Last of His Kind: Discussed by Samatar in his pre-game personal log, mentioning the Despair Event Horizon of the last orangutan and associating it with his intention to not repeat the mistakes of the past.
- Majorly Awesome: Reached said rank when he was in the military.
- Meaningful Name:
- His family name comes from a lineage of Somali diplomats, and his given name means "doer of good".
- The default capital name for the African Union is "Magan", a Somali word meaning "asylum".
- Nice Guy: He believes in live-and-let-live. He's the most likely to declare friendship, remain loyal to allies, and denounce warmongers. In Rising Tide, he's especially welcoming to his more idealistic fellow leaders Lena Ebner and Arshia Kishk.
- Beware the Nice Ones: The lore states that he is willing to be ruthless if that's what's needed, and much like Gandhi he is still capable of wars of aggression.
- People's Republic of Tyranny: Averted, in the backstory at least. How tyrannical the People's African Union is in-game is up to the player or AI.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He is a tolerant man and not the type that would turn down assistance due to personal biases.
- Self-Made Man: Came from a poor family and grew up in a slum, which he got out of by joining the military.
- Undying Loyalty: Tied with Kavitha Thakur for the highest loyalty.
Kavitha Thakur (Kavithan Protectorate)
To the devotees of her father, this only served to solidify their belief that she would one day supplant him in his role, as he himself had declared upon her birth. Nearly 80 years after Raj Thakur's journey to the Kush, Kavitha's followers numbered in the hundreds of millions as the stories of her and her father become legend among desperate and forgotten peoples. Despite a number of political and military candidates tailored for the position, when it came time to elect a leader for the now geographically diverse region under their control, none saw a means to overcome Kavitha's popularity. Swept up in a nearly uncontested vote and thrust into a position of political authority she neither desired nor prepared for, Kavitha focused her early efforts on what she knew best - humanitarian campaigns. She focused her vast resources on repairing the damage done by her predecessors to the people of the Indian subcontinent.
- Composite Character: Very similar to Miriam Godwinson, Cha Dawn, and Pravin Lal from Alpha Centauri, being a female Messianic Archetype, a person with a Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane backstory, and an Indian humanitarian.
- Egopolis: The Kavithan Protectorate is named after her and, if the faux-editorial in the dev blog is anything to go by, images of her and her father are everywhere within its borders.
- Good Shepherd: The beloved prophetic leader of her people, though the specifics of her spiritual teachings are left ambiguous.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her faction's bonus is that tiles cost 30% less energy and culture to acquire. Doesn't sound too impressive at first, but remember that your new cities are a drain on your resources, can't manufacture anything, can't defend themselves. Her faction ability cuts down the prices to annex new tiles, reducing the time they are vulnerable and the resource drain they entail by a considerable margin and that shouldn't be underestimated. And this ability also allows them to grab nearby valuable resources much faster.
- High-Tech Hexagons: They appear on her clothing when enough affinity levels have been reached.
- Interfaith Smoothie: Whatever her belief system is, it apparently includes Seraphim, Cherubim, Devas, Yakshas, and Fravashi as servants to the Lord Creator.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Her backstory is essentially a Lampshade Hanging of Civ's infamous inexplicably immortal leaders.
- Meaningful Name:
- Messianic Archetype: Hailed as a prophet, seemingly over 200 years old, leader of an exodus across the stars... seems to fit the bill.
- Mysterious Waif: A prophet woman who was allegedly born over two hundred years ago and never seems to age? Mysterious, indeed...
- Really 700 Years Old: She claims to have been born almost two decades before the Great Mistake, which would make her over two hundred years old at the time of the Seeding. Many people doubt this claim, but even more reliable estimates still say she is considerably older than the average human life-span at the start of the game. She doesn't look it.
- Settling the Frontier: Her unique ability encourages rapid development of cities and outposts.
- Undying Loyalty: Her loyalty trait is one of the highest in the game, with only Barre rivaling her. If you manage to get on her good-side you got an ally for the rest of the game.
Daoming Sochua (Pan-Asian Cooperative)
Born to a Chinese mother and Cambodian father, Daoming Sochua was raised in the traditions of both cultures. She tested at genius levels at a very young age and progressed rapidly through the state-sponsored school systems for gifted children. She quickly surpassed her parents - who were both university professors in the sciences- and her bright siblings in her studies. Entering university in her early teens, she proved focused and motivated to dominate her older peers. By the age of thirty, she held four PhDs in electrical engineering, nano-electronics, nuclear physics, and bubble fusion. Pioneering ground-breaking methods for extracting energy from sources heretofore thought exhausted, as well as deep-sea and off-world resources, Daoming Sochua was presented with numerous international awards before joining the Pan-Asian Cooperative's Bureau of Scientific Revolution.
She was specifically recruited by the Cooperative Space Agency for her experience with energy research and unconventional power systems. Daoming was brilliant, driven, and single-minded in her roles, whether as a researcher or administrator. When she was appointed to head a number of innovative (and perhaps dangerous) projects undertaken by the Cooperative, she revealed a talent for administration. Motivated by the Seeding, she volunteered to head one of the missions to colonize other planets for Pan-Asia. At the time, she was in charge of research studies aimed at overcoming the Inflection Point, knowledge that would serve her in good stead in her new role. Throwing herself into her role as mission leader, Sochua brought her characteristic single-mindedness to decisions on the outfitting and launch of "her" colony, driving her crew and staff unrelentingly. Although not beloved by the colonists on the one-way trip, she was highly respected - which was all that Daoming Sochua expected or demanded.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Her dialogue in Rising Tide reveals she's a strong believer in this, and if the player wins her approval she'll frequently compliment your analysis of the planet and your colony's operations.
- Deadpan Snarker: She has shades of it, as shown in the transcript of the PAC Spaceflight Conference."I have four PhDs and can handle some simple algebra."
- Determinator: Specific mention is made of her characteristic single-mindedness and unrelenting drive.
- Emperor Scientist: Space colony leader with four PhDs.
- The Engineer: Specifically in energy technology and resource extraction. Rising Tide also reveals she's a famed mathematician.
- Expy:
- Her faction bonus and Egypt's in Civ V are very similar.
- She's also in a sense even closer to Prokhor Zakharov in attitudes and demeanor than Kozlov.
- Geniuses Have Multiple PhDs: She is a Child Prodigy who completed four Ph.Ds in engineering and physics by the age of 30.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: In the same vein as Egypt, Wonders provide a lot of helpful benefits. For Sochua, the first wonder built in a city is free (i.e. built in a single turn) and each wonder provides +1 Diplomatic Capital.
- Insufferable Genius: She has shades of this, being extremely smart but having little patience for those who struggle with what she considers trivial intellectual hurdles.
- Iron Lady: Has no issues on calling her fellows out and taking matters into her own hands.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite her mean and blunt exterior, she genuinely wants what's best for her people and for humanity.
- Meaningful Name: The PAC's default capital name, Tiangong (meaning "Heavenly Palace"), shares its names with China's Real Life space station program.
- Properly Paranoid: In Rising Tide, she's immediately suspicious of Chungsu and with good reason.
- Shoulders of Doom: Her affinity-enhanced attire features enlarged shoulder pads.
- The Smart Guy: Sees the bigger picture far better than her more conservative peers.
Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe (Brasilia)
Said to be the finest soldier ever produced by the Western Hemisphere, Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe began his celebrated career at the age of 16 by enlisting in Brasilia’s Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais, lying about his age in the finest military tradition. His first assignment as a Marine was in support of a Security Council operation in northern Myanmar, where he saved his platoon, called in air support, and coordinated evacuation after their transport was shot down. His ascent after that was meteoric - rising quickly to sargento, then attending the prestigious Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras to become an officer. Commissioned as an Aspiriante at the outbreak of the Peshawar Crisis, he was part of a contingent hastily sent to Asia to help quell the crisis and deliver humanitarian supplies. Again, his heroism was proven at the Battle of Route Blue, as he stepped into command after the first, second, and third commanders of the forces protecting the refugee camp were killed in battle.
A complete listing of his military accomplishments would exceed the scope of this article, but there were few battlefield commanders held in as broad regard as Bolivar. Resisting staff duty until it became impossible to do so and still serve his nation, Bolivar has been in no less than nine combat tours, seven of them as a commander on the front lines. His talent for planning and improvisation with limited resources are legendary, and when not serving in combat he has been a fixture at Agulhas Negras, training the next generation of military minds.
Somehow, in this illustrious military career, he has found time to write the seminal volume of military sciences in the post-Mistake world: The three-volume Principles of Modern Warfare, and the slimmer On the Training and Conduct of Soldiers (for enlisted soldiers and military cadets). A proponent of special forces, total victory, aerospatial power projection, and professional NCOs, these volumes have served as the blueprint for infantry doctrine around the world, its pithy maxims backed up by examples from history and Bolivar’s own career. In anyone else, these books would be grandiose; in Bolivar’s case they are statement of fact.
National hero for Brasilia, his name came quickly to the top of the list for commanders of the first Seeding projects. Despite a career “in the mud,” Bolivar was endorsed by the Brasilian Air Force and the Space Department. Never one to decline a chance to serve his country, Bolivar honed the first Seeding to leave Earth’s orbit into the professional, dedicated, force that was the hallmark of his military career.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: While "Reginaldo" is a real Brazilian first name, "Rejinaldo" isn't. The developers have explained this as a result of Brasilia being the result of a merge between Brazil and its Spanish speaking neighbors.
- Big Book of War: He wrote one with the title Principles of Modern War.
- Blood Knight: Rejinaldo is the most militarily aggressive leader on Planet and it is isn't unusual for Brasilia to either declare war on you or ask you to make a joint declaration of war on a third faction within ten turns of Brasilia making planetfall.
- Book Dumb: Shades of this in Rising Tide. While a brilliant military leader and administrator, he openly admits he's out of his depth with matters of trade, culture, and science.
- Brutal Honesty: His speech at the first Seeding mission hammered in the fact that everything going towards the Seeding mission is to the detriment of Brasilians on Earth, that the mission itself meant to leave everything they once knew behind, and that it was considered a suicide mission.
- Citadel City: Invoked with Brasilia's default capital name of "Cidadela".
- Commanding Coolness: He's addressed as Commander Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe.
- Dare to Be Badass: He gives one in his speech candidates for Brasilia's first Seeding mission."I’ll only take those who go willingly. Only people who go willingly into certain danger and are willing to sacrifice what they know and love on this world will have the focus needed to create a new world for future generations. You represent our most capable, flexible, and disciplined people. Brasilia is going to the stars before every other nation of the planet because of what you can do, together. In a very real sense, you are the most elite soldiers that humanity has ever developed. Now you are being asked to go on the most important mission ever assigned: Survive, grow and thrive on an alien world. Others may come after you, but if you accept, you are the immortal first. Every one of you began with potential, and we refined you through training. No force in history has ever possessed the range of capabilities that you now have. You’ve learned things about manufacturing and production that no military force ever needed to – because if you go, you will be on your own. That last exercise, in Antarctica, you never hesitated, never balked, never despaired, and you crossed that continent without leaving anyone behind. You know what you are capable of doing now, and you will not falter, come planetfall....Your nation has put the needs of humanity ahead of itself. Your nation has selected you. I am asking you, as your commander, to come on one last mission with me."
- Elite Army: Brasilia's faction bonus is a 30% boost to War Score points and extra Diplomatic Capital for each unit killed.
- Expy:
- Say hello to Colonel Corazon Santiago's successor.
- He also bears a physical resemblance to Col. Miles Quaritch, and, of course, is thrust into pretty much the same situation. Local fauna beware.
- High-Tech Hexagons: In camouflage pattern, no less. They become less pronounced with higher affinity, as pieces of body armour cover them up.
- In-Series Nickname: The Lion of Peshawar.
- Meaningful Name/Famous-Named Foreigner: Shares a last name with Tristão de Alencar Araripe, a Brazilian revolutionary. And of course, the name Bolivar comes from Simon Bolivar, a famous revolutionary hero for half the countries in South America.
- Old Soldier: Well, he is a soldier and he looks older than the other factions leaders we have seen so far.
- Patriotic Fervor: Having served with distinction for decades, he sees his "last mission" as fulfilling a duty to his country and to all humanity.
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: He has a rather long name. It's shortened in-game to "Rejinaldo de Alencar."
- War for Fun and Profit: His trait in Rising Tide grants +1 Diplomatic Capital for each unit killed in combat, which makes constant war a viable option.
Élodie (Franco-Iberia)
Long wealthy, Élodie’s lineage traces back to the nobility and privileged elite of France and Italy a millennia before the Great Mistake. Her family’s prestige and influence was not, however, based on its peerage, but rather on the immense fortune it had amassed over the previous two centuries from its holdings in agriculture, food processing, pharmaceuticals and textiles. Opportunities since the Great Mistake have made it even richer; for instance, from its pharmaceutical operations during the “super-bug” pandemic after the Great Mistake and its farms, orchards and vineyards in Portugal, France, Sicily and Greece which remained relatively untouched by the fallout. Born in Europe’s foremost fertility and maternity clinic in Braga, Élodie was her parents’ only child. Raised in luxury along the Cote d’Azur and the Costa del Sol, Élodie became a media darling as a teen, although not always portrayed in a flattering light. Reaching maturity, she parlayed that exposure and her experience with the press into a platform for her politics and cultural cachet. Although raised in the Catholic traditions of the New Papacy, Élodie professed to follow no specific religion. She was, however, a staunch monotheist and brought her faith into all her dealings.
Accused by her detractors as an isolationist, and a European elitist, Élodie certainly possessed a famously acerbic tongue and quick wit. A strong believer in the value of the Western cultural tradition, she believed that it was up to the educated European elite to guide the masses for their betterment, ensuring the survival of high culture. The best way to do this on Earth was the independence and sustainability of the new Union. More vital, in Élodie’s view, was to insure that the Franco-Iberian Union plant colonies off-world.
When Franco-Iberia announced its plans to launch a “Seeding,” Élodie used her considerable influence and family connections to get her name on the short list for command. Using her media savvy, she managed to get the mass media’s backing, making her a popular choice among the citizenry of the Union despite her age. Beyond the operational matters (and Élodie had a knack for choosing able lieutenants), she also personally oversaw the construction of the Canon, the definitive collection of Western art, letters, and music, which became the template for inclusion in the cultural banks of other Seeding projects. Hence, when the colony ship set out, it not only carried people and technology from Franco-Iberia, but some of old Europe’s great artworks and schematics for duplicating many of Europe’s great architectural wonders. Élodie’s new colony was not only to prosper, but look good doing so.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: In the Preface to the Canon, she expresses that the preservation of culture is a moral obligation and the standards thereof."I do not subscribe to the notion that all ideas are worthy of preservation. Some are reprehensible, and through diligent study you may detect the shadow of these ideas before they reform within the zeitgeist, and choose a different path for yourself before they infect minds again. Some are banal, and have been culled because the ideas within them, although perhaps worthy, were expressed with considerable crudity. Some are preserved as historical curiosities, fashionable nonsense which you may examine and mock for their shortcomings. I have labelled these latter ones as such, lest there be confusion on the point. You will no doubt replicate much of old Earth’s folly in your own time; I will not enshrine this folly lest it be mistaken for wisdom."
- Cultural Posturing: Élodie is a firm believer in the superiority of Western European culture and it shows quite a bit.
- Cultured Badass: Any Franco-Iberia player is going crank up the culture output to get the most out of her unique ability. This means more virtues to buy, including military-orientated ones. One of the lead developers, David McDonough, states that an expansionist, Supremacy-leaning Élodie is terrifying.
- Cool Old Lady: She is a patron of the arts and older than most other expedition leaders.
- Enraged by Idiocy: She doesn't take too well to anyone or anything she sees as unrefined or uncultured.
- Fiction 500: Though compared to Fielding she comes from old money and was born into wealth.
- French Jerk: She shows some traits of this, given her at times aloof views on Western European culture and anything French.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Although they're cousins, she has shades of this with Lena Ebner. There is a big ideological schism between the two factions.
- The Heart: Franco-Iberia's default capital name of "Le Couer" literally means this, and while it most likely refers to being the heart/core of the nation, the faction's emphasis on the preservation of culture makes it fairly apropos to the trope.
- High-Tech Hexagons: They start to appear on her attire with enough affinity levels, and more appear as affinity increases.
- Jack of All Stats: Her faction's ability is similar to Civ V's Poland unique ability; it grants them a free virtue for every ten normally acquired, naturally this allows Franco-Iberia more flexibility in the game.
- Meaningful Name: The name "Elodie" that approximately means "foreign riches".
- MegaCorp: She inherited one and is amongst other things a media baron.
- Merchant Prince: Used her family wealth and influence to become part of Franco-Iberia's ruling class.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Her backstory implies that she was quite the media darling in her youth, though not necessarily for high-minded reasons.
Hutama (Polystralia)
Elected to the Commonwealth Parliament before his 30th birthday as a junior member of the opposition, he famously launched the Platypus Inquiry, which ended up splitting the majority coalition, toppling that government and ushering in a new government with Hutama as Interior Minister. Once in high office, he continued his work against corruption, crony contracts, and waste, all while retaining his famous irreverent, informal sense of humor. His weekly Internet broadcast “Question, Minister” mixed populism, no small amount of flashy production, and occasionally serious politics. Hutama is credited with delivering the popular vote needed on a referendum on funding Polystralia’s merchant fleet, on being an early backer of the Tahiti2 Island Project, and on universal access to fresh water.
Hutama’s “spread the wealth” populist politics were key to his success, but it would be wrong to assume that these were cynical ploys. His sharpest criticisms were always reserved to people exploiting the public well-being, and his own personal charities were devoted to alleviating suffering throughout the Commonwealth. Gadfly he might be on the screen, but this was motivated by a strong sense of public justice.
Notably, Hutama seems to have misread public attitudes about the Seeding. After publicly calling into question the Commission Report on the Inflection Point, he resisted Polystralia’s efforts to strengthen its space program and start Seeding construction. After a series of sharp political defeats (and a decline in his weekly show ratings) Hutama reversed his position, although his support carried something of a satirical edge. But when the time came to nominate leaders, Hutama’s loyalists across the Commonwealth put his name forward - even after Hutama devoted an entire program to reasons why he would be a bad expedition leader.
- Awesome Aussie: Well he is from the country Australia becomes in a couple of centuries and seems like a pretty cool guy.
- Benevolent Boss/Reasonable Authority Figure: Hutama is actually concerned with the plight of the less fortunate and throughout his public career he has struggled to lift people out of poverty.
- Buffy Speak: His quotes contain a lot more of this than do the other leaders', fitting his image as an average bloke who says what he means.If you're going to rejigger an organism's genotype, you should give it the courtesy of reading its manual first.
- The Chains of Commanding: Beneath the surface, he's very much aware of the burden placed on his shoulders.
- The Charmer: Described by the dev team as the most charismatic of the faction leaders. In Rising Tide he's very plain-spoken and outgoing, and happily flirts with the player should they be one of the female leaders.
- Deadpan Snarker: Take a look at the above quote if you have any doubts. The mock interview on the dev blog is practically dripping with sarcasm.
- Distaff Counterpart: To Élodie, as they are both high-ranking corporate suits that used their economic power and influence to become part of their nation's political class. Élodie is also a media baron and Hutama had his own television talk-show. They also both have Only One Name, unique among the faction leaders.
- Eagleland/United Space of America: Subverted on the actual "American" portion, but Polystralia's default capital name of "Freeland" evokes a rather Type 1 Eagleland flavour.
- On a deeper level, the combination of an egalitarian, populist ideology with a strong emphasis on personal freedom and a decidedly capitalist economic bent has definite overtones of a Type 1 Eagleland flavour (which
makes perfect sense when you think that the notions of "the fair go" and "the American Dream" are pretty much interchangeable as long as you ask Australians and Americans of roughly equivalent political leanings to define them).
- On a deeper level, the combination of an egalitarian, populist ideology with a strong emphasis on personal freedom and a decidedly capitalist economic bent has definite overtones of a Type 1 Eagleland flavour (which
- Expy:
- His faction has been described as a Venice not limited to one city (which is kind of scary when you think about it).
- Hutama himself can be described as what Yang Wenli would be like had he taken up politics and business instead of the military.
- Considering his ideology's focus on improving the standards of living for the common people and some of his quotes suggesting an apparent lack of concern for the environment, he is basically a capitalist version of Foreman Domai, with them using different means to achieve the same end goal of a society with No Poverty.
- Fiction 500: Described as mixture of both a politician and a business tycoon.
- For Happiness: His mock interview indicates this is his motivation, coupled with a little Ethical Hedonism per the beer:Living well is their only obligation! Living well is the meaning of life, right? Every philosophy boils down to that, and most religions too. You’ve got an entire planet in front of you. Sitting in a bubble dome and eating Spam and wearing a hairshirt makes no sense. That’s the worst kind of miserliness – to live meanly when you’re sitting on riches. No, Freeland’s first obligation is to live well.
- Living Is More than Surviving: his modus operandi. There's no point on leaving earth if you are just going to be miserable on a new planet.
- Magikarp Power: Hutama's Unique Ability (+2 trade routes in the capital and +1 trade route in all other cities) doesn't sound impressive at first but it pays off in the long run. To begin with, trade routes turn an outpost into a city faster; then trade routes with stations provide bonuses like extra culture, free tech or a free military unit; and finally, trade routes with other civs allow him to wallow in cash. This is especially true now that cities are normally only allowed to have one trade route each, and gaining extra slots normally requires high population; Hutama's ability doubles the starting routes that a Trade Depot gives to each city.
- Enhanced even further in the Rising Tide expansion with the ability to upgrade personality traits. Fully upgraded it allows Hutama to have a base level of four trade routes per city and five in the capital. Coupled with the ability of trade routes of other factions to earn strategic resources as well as things like food, culture etc, means that that it's relatively easy for Hutama to get command huge stock piles of money and resources.
- Merchant Prince: He is a business tycoon that became part of the Polystralian political system. Shows up in his faction ability too, as his bonus is to have more trade routes for his cities.
- Nice Guy: Lore wise he is and Hutama is also very easy to get along with gameplay-wise so long as you are not a war-monger.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: According to the Civilopedia, when Polystralia started their Seeding project, due to Australia's past starting off as a Penal Colony, the planner made sure that they put extra effort into ensuring the wellbeing of the colonist, so that project will be seen as a celebration of Australia's pioneer spirit, instead of a repeat of it's less then glorious past.
- Only One Name: Though it isn't exactly unusual for people in the South Pacific to go by only one name.
- Reluctant Ruler: It's indicated in the mock interview that his modesty and extreme reluctance to take on the seeding mission was precisely one of the reasons why the public trusted him to do it.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Thanks to his faction's unique ability (more trade routes), Hutama can rake in a lot of money and that allows players to simply buy their way to victory.
Vadim Petrovich Kozlov (Slavic Federation)
The most celebrated cosmonaut since Yuri Gagarin, Vadim Kozlov came from a working-class family but rose to heroic stature in the years before the Seeding. Eldest son of parents who labored as itinerant steelworkers and welders, Vadim acquired his limited formal education in industrial cities scattered across the Federation: Krakow, Bydgoszcz, Lublin, Minsk, Vitebsk, Donetsk, and Dnipropetrovsk. Vadim answered the call for construction volunteers issued by Roscosmos, the resurgent Federation space agency. Minimally trained in zero-G construction methods, Kozlov was sent to work on building the second Federation Earth-orbit station. He was soon promoted to foreman of his shift due to his aptitude for weightless labor combined with practical experience in heavy construction.
Inducted into the armed forces and immediately given the rank of Colonel, Vadim took advantage of part-time educational programs to gain a comp-diploma in aerospace engineering. Over the next decade, he became the public face of the Federation efforts to exploit the vast resources of space. Vadim Kozlov was the first citizen of the Federation to set foot on Mars. For this, he was made a “Hero of the People” and promoted to General in Roscosmos. Six years later, he led the mission to map Sol’s asteroid belt in preparation for mining operations; for this success, Kozlov was awarded a second Hero’s medal and promoted again.
Incredibly popular among the working class, a devoted family man, and fiercely loyal to the Slavic state that had rewarded his hard work, Kozlov eschewed offers to enter politics or move into the civilian realm. At the age of 35, he was overseeing Roscosmos construction projects on Earth, Mars, and in space. He was not reticent in pitching in personally to do manual labor during inspections of construction sites on Earth, elevating his reputation even more as a self-effacing, self-made, successful servant of the people. Both professionally and personally, Vadim Kozlov appeared content.
Yet Vadim made no effort to disguise his desire to return to space. In his early 40s, when the Slavic colonization effort was launched, Kozlov volunteered to head one of the missions. He was promptly accepted, and threw himself into the role of mission commander with the vigor and consummate professionalism for which he was famed. It has been surmised that he was urged to volunteer by his beloved wife, who hoped to give their children opportunities on a new world not available in the overcrowded and calcifying Slavic Federation. Whatever the truth of such rumors, in the colony mission, Kozlov was able to combine all the loves of his life: space travel, exploration, engineering, family, and Federation.
- Acting Your Intellectual Age/Wise Beyond Their Years: In his quote for the Engineering technology, he promotes raising children this way."Instruct the children not to dream of toys or sweets. Instruct them to dream of infrastructure."
- Asteroid Miners: Previously assigned Commissioner for the entire industry. Seeing as how the SF is the leader in off-world resource extraction, he seems to have been rather successful.
- Badass Bookworm: Also a distinguished military leader. His faction bonus is as easily applied to warfare as it is to peaceful purposes.
- Bling of War: His uniform gets more and more ornate as the Slavic Federation increases in affinity level.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Judging from his quote for the Servomachinery technology, he has a... peculiar view on mechanical efficiency."Morality is measured by the progress of our work. A machine whose works bring us more progress is more moral than a lesser machine."
- Cultured Badass: He's surprisingly poetic when chatting with the player in Rising Tide, complimenting a player-built wonder as having wonderful composition for example.
- Dare to Be Badass: The default capital name for the Slavic Federation is Khrabrost: "Bravery" in Russian (in the Russian version, the name has been changed to Khrabrograd - "city of bravery").
- Electronic Eyes: When going down the Supremacy path his natural eyes are replaced by glowing, golden electronic eyes. This makes him look much more intimidating, especially when he is pissed.
- Expy
- Of Yuri Gagarin, apparently both visually and in character, although he looks about a decade older. Even Gagarin's finer biographical details, such as the fact that he worked as an apprentice foundry-man before the military, are reflected. Kozlov milks it for all its worth, even ending his speech with Gagarin's legendary quip at blast-off. The achievement for winning a game as Kozlov is even named after Gagarin!
- Of Prokhor Zakharov, the previous Russian scientist character. Now much Lighter and Softer and with satellites!
- His uniform. No, seriously, his base outfit has been identified as the Generic Dress Blues of a Benevolent Human Space Navy, e.g. Star Trek: Enterprise, the more recent Battlestar Galactica or the Mass Effect series. Extra points for working for The Federation.
- Of Yuri Gagarin, apparently both visually and in character, although he looks about a decade older. Even Gagarin's finer biographical details, such as the fact that he worked as an apprentice foundry-man before the military, are reflected. Kozlov milks it for all its worth, even ending his speech
- Four-Star Badass/Colonel Badass: So far, his cited rank has varied between sources.
- Glorious Mother Russia: Russian-themed faction. Bombastic Soviet-style speech. Boasts of specialness and fortitude. However, beyond that, the classic razvesistaya klyukva that is this trope is averted. The Space!Russians end up
Playing Against Type as The Smart Guy and Bold Explorer. Naturally, such a turn dropped quite a few jaws, with some quite blatantly asking "Wait, a Starfleet officer instead of Space!Stalin?"- Makes even more sense when you realise that the Party-sactioned Soviet science fiction often went along the same lines as Star Trek. Anything Heinlein-like and Darker and Edgier, e.g. Military Science Fiction, was banned.
- Makes sense when you remember who had the lead in the first half of The Space Race.
- Happily Married: The only one (who was currently) confirmed to be married and had children. It's also implied that his entire family went along with him during the Seeding.
- High-Tech Hexagons: Present in the centre of his uniform once enough affinity levels have been reached.
- Jack of All Stats:
- Satellites provide a variety of bonuses, civil and military, and Kozlov can both keep them flying longer and, thanks to his additional petroleum, build more of them, which gives him quite a bit of versatility.
- In Rising Tide, Kozlov starts with 5 samples of Petroleum, Titanium, and Geothermal and all satellites cost less strategic resources.
- Kill Sat: His satellite bonus allows orbital weapons platforms and military support sats to remain in orbit longer.
- Mean Boss: A lot of his quotes in game consist of him shouting and berating his subordinates during committee meetings. However, considering that these quotes always appear right after you either researched a technology or constructed a wonder to solve precisely the problem that he was complaining about, it might be a case of Jerkass Has a Point.
- Patriotic Fervor: His sense of honor for the SF and all things Russian are an understatement. If Fielding is around in Rising Tide, he openly invokes Soviet rhetoric and imagery when interacting with her.
- Space Navy: Served in the SF one, although the branch appears to be an Air Force offshoot, judging by the ranks. Interestingly, a year after the game was released, the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces were merged into the Russian Aerospace Forces, which use Air Force ranks.
- Self-Made Man: From lowly roots, he's become a Working-Class Hero in more ways than one.
- The Smart Guy: Aerospace expert, Space Navy officer and government official. All of them (OK, the former two) require above-average intelligence and expertise in multiple sciences.
Introduced in Rising Tide
Arshia Kishk (Al Falah)
Despite the broad socioeconomic equality found throughout the burgeoning Al Falah communities, in any closed system of limited resources, there will always be a demand for those things the government cannot provide. Living for generations aboard the lumbering colony ships, the Al Falah were left to trade and barter amongst themselves for those things that could be crafted or built in space. In time a thriving black market grew to control the flow of nearly everything outside of the mandated rations, leaving a powerful syndicate capable of challenging all but the highest authorities.
Arshia Kishk rose to both infamy and acclaim at the age of 23 for having wrested control of this powerful syndicate from the Director’s Council. Unlike her predecessors, Arshia used the syndicate’s resources to redistribute goods and services to the under recognized lower wards of her home ship. Her restraint and calculating demeanor left some uneasy, unsure of her true motivations, yet her popularity soared as word of her generosity spread. Although she had every opportunity to accumulate vast personal holdings, she instead used her power to ensure the ongoing stability of the Al Falah communities spread throughout the fleet. In this way, her authority grew directly from the will of the people, a rare feat in governance.
Arshia Kishk was not born a part of that life, although she grew up surrounded by it, deep in the bowels of the Golden Shah — a moderately sized transport vessel of the Al Falah fleet. With her mother having died shortly after childbirth, Arshia’s upbringing fell to her father alone. Nasum Kishk considered himself something of an amateur historian and orator, spending his days in a public park, passing on the stories of their ancestors to anyone with time to listen and change to spare. Although many of the Old Earth names were long since lost, Nasum never seemed to have trouble coming up with one on the spot. Anything he managed to earn was spent on holodiscs and the occasional old book.
With the Al Falah having sent ships off into space before the advent of advanced cryogenic stasis, the first to leave knew they would only lay the groundwork for a future generation of settlers who would eventually make planetfall. Arshia was among the fifth generation of colonists born during the voyage, long after the fleet left Earth. Whether it was fate or fortune, she had the honor of seeing her people’s voyage finally end, while leading efforts to begin establishment of their new home.
- Barbarian Tribe: Al Falah strives to be a variant of this. Their philosophy emphasizes strong intra-clan ties, efficient use of limited resources, defense of their turf and taking from those too weak to hold what's theirs.
- City in a Bottle: She grew up in one, as there was literally nothing but cold empty space outside the metal walls of her generation ship.
- Eagleland: Viewed it as a Boorish-Type 2 with a smatter of Future Imperfect, which she mockingly reference on precious metals being used as building materials ("Streets Paved with Gold" motto) and Uncle Sam being impoverished ("Uncle Sam Wants You" poster). Whether it's Cultural Posturing or Take That! depends on the actions of American-based ARC in-game.
- Facial Markings: Has a tattoo on her forehead. She adds to it if she goes Harmony or Supremacy.
- Future Imperfect: Judging by Arshia's letter to her daughter, her generation ship has very dubious records of Earth. She recounts a fairy tale in which a princess lives in a "hotel" (but the description matches a castle), and is guarded by a llama, with its acidic spit and monofilament coat.
- It also applies to her diplomatic approval quotes: Things like over-industrialization is considered a positive thing for Al Falah as they do not know the impact that over-industrialization had on Earth.
- Generation Ships: Al-Falah traveled from Earth to planet in one and Arshia Kishk was born in it decades before Planet-Fall. Because of this experience their cities are much more efficient and productive due to having a history of making do with limited resources.
- In the Hood: Wears a headscarf throughout the game.
- I Work Alone: Advocates this mentality in a letter to her daughter, claiming that "The strong do not pool their strength, but use it to hold what they have." Arshia's unique personality trait is Asabiyyah, a philosophy of social solidarity with roots and interpretations as The Clan; gameplay-wise, city processes get increased yield.
- Magikarp Power: Her faction's bonus (convert more of city production to culture, energy, food and science) isn't that useful early game when you need to build things in order to expand but by mid-game when you have a few cities generating 50-100 production per turn...that is a different story. Imagine switching two cities with a 100 production to produce culture and your per turn culture output just shot up by 126 points (their starting conversion rate is 63 percent and can be upgraded even further). Al-Falah are a late game juggernaut and will be dangerous if you let them snowball.
- Manipulative Bastard: In the backstory, she successfully seized power on the Al Falah generation ship from the dogmatic and conservative Clan Council that previously ruled it via political manipulation.
- Meaningful Name:
- Al-Falah means "The Success" or "The Salvation" in Arabic.
- Ard, the default capital name for Al-Falah, is Arabic for "earth" in both the "ground; soil" and "planet Earth" senses.
- Middle Eastern Coalition: The ancestors of Arshia's people hail from wealthy Middle Eastern countries who pulled their resources into sending their Seeding contribution to the stars.
- Plunder: A core element of Asabiyyah is that the strong hold what they have and take from the weak.
- Real Men Love Jesus: Apparently, Islam remains a central tenet for her and Al-Falah in general.
- Social Darwinist: Cultural variation. Part of the historiography underlying Asabiyyah is that, when their communal ties become weak, existing ruling classes fall to pieces and are usurped by barbarians from the periphery; in her case, this meant taking over the ship from a Clan Council that had grown too rigid and conservative.What we have we have kept. What we will take will be ours, too.
Duncan Hughes (North Sea Alliance)
Born to a local shipping magnate in the Scottish port city of Aberdeen, Duncan Hughes was something of an enigma when he first appeared on the political circuit roughly a decade before the Seeding began. His gruff, sometimes surly demeanor seemed ill-suited to the rigors of a public figure, yet he was determined to further his career despite an obvious distaste for the pandering and proselytizing of his peers.
Schooled at the Sturgeon Naval College and given an otherwise comfortable upbringing, biographers have long since attributed the quirks of Hughes’ personality to his time spent as a teenager working at his father’s docks. His father had insisted he work as an apprentice longshoreman to instill a strong work ethic, and yet, the experience seems to have jaded Hughes, as the other dockhands had little regard for “a soft-handed boy underfoot” and paid him only as much attention as required. Still, some might say his father was right — in the present day, Hughes is known as a remarkably tireless man with little fear of difficult confrontations.
Hughes is recognized as one of the first to publicly acknowledge the growing gap between the North Sea Alliance’s potential for off-world colonization versus other world powers now solely focused on reestablishing themselves elsewhere. Named as head of the Priority Development Committee, Hughes can be credited with securing many of the trade deals and alliances that allowed for the relatively swift ramp-up to production.
Many of the earliest NSA colony prototypes were actually thought to have been land-based, before Hughes himself is said to have offered up technology and expertise acquired through his years in the shipping industry. By insisting on somehow leveraging the knowledge and experience of the North Sea Alliance’s original member states, all known for their mastery of the seas, Hughes directly steered the development of the uniquely NSA waterborne colonial habitations.
When the time came to actually leave Earth and set out for a new beginning, Duncan Hughes was among the first to step forward, a move that instilled great confidence in the shaken masses now facing a great migration from the only planet they had ever known. Despite his advanced age, his physical condition was excellent – although it was unlikely anyone would have the gall to question his capabilities in any case.
- Brave Scot: Duncan hails from Scotland and is apparently proud of it.
- Citadel City: Invoked with their default capital name of "Deepcastle."
- City on the Water: Hughes' NSA is one of the two factions which may make Planetfall at sea and establish an oceanic capital.
- Determinator: Duncan's unique personality trait is "Indefatigable", literally meaning this trope. In gameplay terms, it enhances the defensive and movement capabilities of aquatic cities controlled by the North Sea Alliance.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: It's mentioned that one of his proudest achievements is the aquatic "ARK" technology that is used in the NSA's Seeding. The authorities though still viewed him as a threat despite the prestige he helped give to the North Sea nations.
- The Engineer: Duncan is a naval engineer with an extensive background in naval construction and offshore development.
- Expy:
- The North Sea Alliance is pretty much a naval version of Civ V's Shoshone; their faction bonus is that it costs less to move ocean cities and ocean cities have stronger defenses. Since moving ocean cities is the main way they acquire new territory as culture doesn't expand their borders like land cities, you have a faction that is focused on grabbing large chunks of ocean and coastal territory quickly and once they control a area they can be hard to dislodge.
- Hughes himself is one for Foreman Domai, being a Large and in Charge working class foreman who rebelled against the established political system to start his own colony.
- He's also what a gender-flipped Deirdre Skye would be like if he focused more on industry and the working class than on the environment.
- His faction's emphasis on aquatic cities also hearkens back to the Nautilus Pirates from the Alpha Centauri Alien Crossfire expansion, which also shares a nautical theme.
- In-Series Nickname: The in-universe editorial mockingly refers to him as "The Sea King of Two Worlds" or simply the "Sea King".
- Large and in Charge: Easily the tallest and heaviest faction leader by a large margin.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: How the "Green Resilients" running the government treat him and the North Sea Alliance's Seeding mission, treating them all as a waste of time compared to what's deemed more of a priority.
- Violent Glaswegian: Comes off a little aggressive, even when praising you.Duncan Hughes: Oh aye, you can put together some cultural achievements, but do you ken to thole a loonerin? ("do you know how to take a beating?")
- Working-Class Hero: Played with in that his official backstory has Hughes coming from a wealthy family, but having a great love for the common people. He spent much of his personal wealth on a charitable foundation and the North Sea Alliance's ruling politicians see him as a threat to their ideological agenda and influence.
Lena Ebner (INTEGR)
Born in Berlin to a German diplomat and a Polish teacher, Lena was raised as a “child of the world.” Over the course of 15 years, she lived on four continents and learned to speak eight languages. She received an international education from prestigious academies in Moscow, Bogotá, the Franciscan Archipelago, and Vilnius. It was during this time that she fostered an interest in the arts, technology, and biology. As a young woman, she combined her interests and pursued a Law degree at the famed Ruprecht-Karls-Einstein-Universität Heidelberg with a specific focus on ecology, biodiversity and humanitarian tech.
Upon graduating, Lena spent years volunteering in disaster stricken and war-torn areas. She learned about global climate change accommodation from the North Sea Alliance, and saw first-hand the crises facing middle-eastern governments isolated by the Great Mistake. When she finally returned to Germany, it was to effect the change she wanted to see, beginning at home. After helping renegotiate failing contracts between hard-hit administrations and insulated European countries, Lena fought fearlessly for refugee rights throughout central and eastern Europe. Her early work at the Braungart-Wissel Foundation for Environmental Law garnered her acclaim, and she was soon seen as an emerging leader of sustainability and the environmental policymaking. The Balkan Resettlement Commission was her landmark case, wherein she fought for and won the right for European refugees displaced by global warming to emigrate throughout Europe despite strong opposition from Franco-Iberian lawyers. For Lena’s tireless dedication, she was the first recipient of both the Malala Merit Award and the Mandela Peace Prize.
When Lena was visiting relatives in Warsaw, she had a chance encounter with leading members of the minority European party, INTEGR, who instantly fell in love with Lena’s forward-thinking humanism. Lena was recruited to be at the forefront of their operations in Frankfurt. Her involvement in the political movement grew quickly, as Lena bridged the gap between technocrat, activist, and environmentalist. In fact, it was Lena herself who suggested the Party restructure their organization under those three verticals, a measure which was adopted shortly after review.
As she became a prominent lawyer-activist in post-Mistake Europe, Lena was an increasingly easy target for Franco-Iberian politicians. Painted as a desperate anarchist, Lena’s non-traditional lifestyle and worldview was frequently highlighted in order to polarize moderates. This—however—only served to strengthen the minority voice, as Lena was forced into clarifying and defending her platform. It was Lena’s suggestions for radical measures in everything from economic and environmental policy to urban planning and foreign affairs that underlined the difference between the “old fashioned imperials” of Franco-Iberia and the new techno-green ideology of INTEGR.
It wasn’t until Lena’s most vocal and harshest critic (and cousin), Élodie, began her campaign for the Seeding that Lena’s vision for a Transmodern society crystallized. A public feud with Élodie was a much publicized affair, coming to a head when Lena took out an hour of talk-show hologramming channel The West to decry what she called the “bad faith politics” of the “aristocratic spirit of seriousness.” Transmodern meant xenophily, globalism, and a place for both tradition and modernity. The INTEGR party would not shirk its responsibility to Earth for the sake of the future.
In the next elections, Lena became leader of INTEGR by a landslide. She immediately formed a Seeding exploratory panel and established an exoscience committee. Espousing the ideals of sustainability, innovation, and diversity that comprise INTEGR’s motto, Lena would ensure the irresponsible and extravagant excesses of human history remained in the past, while remaining accountable to its legacy. She would lead INTEGR’s Seeding mission in the biggest relocation of her life.
- Ambadassador: INTEGR's specialty is making agreements with other factions.
- Cool Old Lady: Almost as old as Elodie and ripe with experience in leading and diplomacy.
- Foil: Serves as one to Élodie, according to an in-universe editorial. Compared to Élodie's desire to preserve Old World Culture, the people of INTEGR are progressive individuals.
- Fun with Acronyms: "INTEGR" stands for "Initiative für Nachhaltige Technologien, Effizienz, Gerechtigkeit und Rechtschaffenheit"(Initiative for sustainable technologies, efficiency, justice and righteousness).
- Glorious War of Cousin Rivalry: With Elodie. The Civilopedia entry for INTEGR's rise even details the ideological schism between INTEGR's Responsible Party and the traditionalists of Franco-Iberia.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: "Kategorischer Imperativ", Lena's unique personality trait, reduces her Diplomatic Capital cost on agreements and unit/building purchases.
- Meaningful Name:
- INTEGR's default capital name is Weltgeist, meaning "world spirit."
- "Integer" comes from the Latin word for "whole."
- No Space Nazis: INTEGR is a very progressive faction as it defies the stereotypical Space Nazi faction that would be grouped with the Germans. Instead they are a humanist society who despise's Franco Iberia's attempts to maintain the old aristocratic ways and a staunch anti Imperialism approach to colonization.
Han Jae Moon (Chungsu)
To his enemies, Han Jae Moon is the enigmatic leader of a dangerous organization. To his friends, he is a stoic and deliberate ally who treats his position in the Chungsu with the utmost respect. Of all colony leaders, Han Jae Moon is the most introspective and reserved. He never rushes to judgment, preferring to consider the possible consequences of a decision before settling upon what is almost always the wisest course. His conservative methods and careful administration have earned him the title of “the Young Sage.”
Han Jae Moon was born in Neo-Busan as the youngest son of wealthy but aging aristocrats. From a young age, Moon displayed a natural aptitude for learning. Encouraged by his inquisitive mind, his parents used their fortune to ensure Han Jae Moon received the best education possible. His interpersonal skills developed in controlled play environments among fellow would-be colonists. Private tutoring accompanied frequent workshops, and Moon’s mentors included the famed Korean-American physicist Steven Han. It was Han who noticed Moon's potential, and made the recommendation that would drastically change Moon’s life. When he reached the age of six a mysterious group of state officials in an unmarked mag-shuttle visited Han Jae Moon’s family home. The child prodigy had been selected to join Chungsu’s Se Sok O-Gye Academy.
While the details of Se Sok O-Gye’s operations are restricted and confidential, it is well known that as a standout student showing immense promise, Moon was groomed for command. Based in the lowest levels of Sub-Seoul’s famous Mireuk Bosal Dome, the Se Sok O-Gye Academy complimented a challenging curriculum with rigorous physical activity in neutral-buoyancy, as well as emotional growth through intensive iso-meditation. The young Han Jae Moon spent his formative years excelling in most areas, but with a specific knack for political acumen.
The Hareubang Tsunami proved to be a pivotal moment in the life of the young recruit. The disaster allowed Han Jae Moon to showcase his resourcefulness as he took control of the isolated Sky Station and saved the lives of hundreds. Regarded as a hero, his bravery and composure in the face of overwhelming odds ensured the elite youth of the Academy wouldn’t meet their collective end in a watery grave. Moon was commended and awarded the 1st Il Kub Grade, being among the youngest to complete Se Sok O-Gye training, but even then Moon was considered a frontrunner to lead the new Chungsu colony. Instructors knew that navigating a political minefield would be a crucial element of success for the Seeding.
As part of the Chungsu Seeding protocol, colonists aboard the Seedships awoke early from their cryogenic stasis. While the details were kept classified, it is known that the entire populace underwent rigorous testing and a series of evaluations for exospheric accommodation and leadership viability. Seedship AI employed complex algorithms to narrow down the colonists to three candidates for Chungsu leadership. These three finalists then participated in an impromptu election campaign. With his quiet tact and commanding charisma, Moon was the overwhelming favorite. After the other two finalists withdrew their candidacy, Moon consolidated his power by establishing and relying upon an advisory council of differing opinions in all policymaking decisions. With the unanimous support of his people, and a wisdom beyond his years, the soft-spoken Moon needed only a planet to lead his people into an auspicious future.
- Beneath the Mask: Han is described as having a powerful, but deeply concealed ego by Chungsu's psychiatric examination team.
- Child Prodigy: He used to be one according to his backstory, as he got accepted into a prestigious leadership institute at the age of six.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: This faction looks and sounds like a futuristic version of North Korea. That being said, Chungsu is revealed in the actual game to have answered to Seoul and was a secret paramilitary and scientific organization that only stepped into the public light when it helped save South Korea and later Japan during the Great Mistake.
- Expy:
- Han Jae Moon is pretty much a younger, Korean version of Chairman Yang with a little bit of James Bond villain thrown in for seasoning. Subverted in that he's characterized in the game as a responsible leader well respected by his followers.
- Chungsu is X-COM in all but name, being a mysterious organization that operated from secret underwater bases created to defend Earth from extraterrestrial threats.
- Foil: Of sorts to Daoming Sochua and the PAC; tellingly, he arouses suspicion from her. He's also this in a sense to the ARC, given how for all of Chungsu's more secretive, dubious practices and its penchant for espionage, he does make an effort to channel them for benevolent ends.
- Manipulative Bastard: Much like Yang before him. He manipulated Chungsu into giving him command of a seeding expedition and those he couldn't manipulate he dealt with using other means.
- Meaningful Name: Chungsu's default capital name is "Jeongsang", meaning "summit" or "pinnacle" in Korean.
- N.G.O. Superpower: Chungsu was this, at least in Korea and Japan following the Great Mistake.
- No New Fashions in the Future: Compared to the other characters and even Hutama's more futuristic variant of the suit, Han's outfit wouldn't be out of place in the 20th-21st Centuries.
- The Quiet One: He's terse and to the point when chatting with the player, and the in-game story describes him as a man of few words and fewer visible emotions.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: His default outfit is a sharp, conservative three-piece black with red trim business suit. Unlike other leaders, he barely changes the outfit as he pursues an affinity, at most changing the color of his tie.
- The Spymaster: Chungsu starts with a free covert agent and they gain 10/15/30 science per agent level with every successful covert operation.
- The Sociopath: Like Yang before him, Han managed to fake his EEG readings to give the Chungsu seeding project what they wanted while hiding his own, massive ego. When one of the doctors tried to bring this to their attention, he dealt with them severely. However, see below.
- Underwater Base: Chungsu had them on Earth. In-game, it is reflected by Chungsu's Planetfall at sea and the establishing of an oceanic capital.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: How he's characterized in the actual game. Han is willing to Shoot the Dog when necessary, but despite his enigmatic personality he's genuinely liked and respected by his people and does what he believes is best for them.
