WMG / Freelancer

The cloaking technology from Starlancer wasn't lost.

Sometime during the war, one side or the other developed a radical new kind of sensor that could see through cloaking fields. As it was also superior to previous sensors in other respects, it soon became dominant. Nobody has managed to figure out a way to completely negate it, and cloaking devices became useless.

Freelancer/Starlancer is set in an alternate Star Trek timeline.

The Eastern Coalition exists in both universes. It's WILD Mass Guessing for a reason.

• The green Edge Nebula looks a lot like the Bassen Rift in or near the Romulan Neutral Zone.
• The interior tunnel of a Jump Gate or Jump Hole, or even a Trade Lane, strongly resembles the inside of the Bajoran Wormhole from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• Also, there is an area of space called the Badlands, where rebels and criminals reside.
• The Dom'Kavash are long-vanished, hostile Sufficiently Advanced Aliens just like the Iconians.
• The artifact that drives much of the plot could be the Tox Uthat from "Captain's Holiday".
• The Omicron Theta system is accessible within the Sirius Sector, though it doesn't appear that any planets or colonies have been ravaged by the Crystalline Entity.

Freelancer/Starlancer is set in the original Star Trek timeline.

It is entirely possible, even probable, that after World War III a group of humans from each nation/geopolitical area would have decided after (or during) World War III to loaded up sleeper ships (even without warp engines) and fired them off into an unknown part of the galaxy. After many hundreds of years they would have established the empires seen in Freelancer/Starlancer without any knowledge of the Federation (and vice-versa). Species 8472, AKA the Nomads, is aware of this offshoot of humanity and even took the same approach as they did with the Federation: trying to replace/control key members of government and the military. Fluidic space (AKA Unknown System 1 can be accessed via Omicron Alpha.

Nomads

are an early form of the Reapers.They just don't look mechanical yet.

• Probably jossed: The Reapers have been around for at LEAST 37 MILLION years in more-or-less their current form, as shown by the Reaper Husk found in ME2. Unless time is getting screwed with or the Freelancer universe apparently is an earlier itineration of humanity that is strangely formed along more-or-less nearly identical national and political lines.... it's not there.

• Nomads are not Reapers, but they were created/enslaved by them, like the Keepers or the Collectors. The Reapers have a base in the Sirius System (or it is important in some other way) and use them to keep other species away. The five ships that brought the colonists there left before the protheon ruins were found on Mars, thats why humans there have no mass effect drives.
  • So, the Reapers ARE the Daam K'vosh?

President Jacobi knew/ordered/intended for The Order to attack the Donau

Rheinland was the one who found the alien artefacts a few months ago, it was how the Nomads infected much of Rheinland including the Chancellor. It was that point Rheinland was getting aggressive and therefore Jacobi saw the visit from Admiral Schultzky as a threat. This could also be why the president was planning to ban illegal artefacts in Liberty.

• While it's very likely that Shultzky was infested and that is why he was killed by the Order, it is very unlikely that the President had anything to do with the Order at that point. As for the banning of artifact trading, that most likely done of the advice of the other high ranking Liberty officials who had already been infested. The Nomads are supposedly the guardians of the Dom'Kavash ruins and artifacts and as such are attempting to stop their trade and recover them. This is why both of the most deeply infiltrated colonies have not only banned the trade of artifacts, but are also working to seize them from those already in possession of them.

Samura feeds their fish farms with alien organisms inundated with Cardamine

• In some news reports and rumors, I heard that people that ate or were exposed to the seafood Samura raised on Junyo became sick sometime afterward. When they get more, or when they set foot on Junyo or Kurile, the planet where they cultivate the alien organisms they use as fish feed, they suddenly recover. Oddly enough, the symptoms are very similar to that of Cardamine withdrawal. Since the Alien Organisms that Samura feeds their fish originate from the same part of Sirius as Cardamine, the Edge Nebula, could there be a connection to the addictive drug?
  • Assuming that Cardimine is an organic compound like most drugs and is produced by the life on planet Malta as opposed to being some sort of inorganic compound that is simply part of the planet's make up, this could mean that the alien organisms are actually the source of life on Malta. i.e. Life on Malta was originally seeded by a meteor containing these same organisms.

The Dom'Kavash were wiped out by the Shivans.

• Not many people know this, but according to a rumor I heard at Pueblo Station, Ageira Technologies had developed the Jump Gates from a Dom'Kavash Jump Gate relic found on Planet Manhatten. The Jump Gates, as well as the Jump Holes and the Alien Jump Gate used late in the game, function in a similar manner to Subspace Jump Nodes, even moreso in the case of the Jump Holes. If the Dom'Kavash Jump Gates used Subspace to function, they might have caught the attention of the Shivans, who are known to be sensitive to Subspace travel, and invite them to attack. Since the same technology behind the Alien Jump Gates is used by the gates developed by Ageira, the Shivans might return to exterminate the Terran colonies in the Sirius Sector.

The Corsairs are preparing for a war with the Colonies.

• The Corsairs are the largest criminal organization in Sirius, and according to a story found on the news at the Planet Crete bar, they are getting ready for a full-scale invasion of Rheinland. They plan to eliminate the Red Hessians, and then capture their headquarters in Dresden to use as a staging ground for the Rheinland attack. Judging from their superior numbers and equipment, it is very likely that they will decimate Rheinland. Their economy has suffered since the GMG defeated them in the 80-Year War, which had also cost them their entire starfleet. Once the pirates conquer Rheinland, they will move on to invade Bretonia, Liberty and Kusari.
  • Add that to the beating they suffered by being The Nomad's whipping boys, and the fact that said Organic Security System will probably be looking for another puppet to use against human space, and.... HmmmmmH!
  • Actually, the 80-Year War did not cost Rheinland its entire starfleet (and even if it had done, decades passed between the fall of the Empire and the start of the game). That isn't really relevant, though, since the Nomad War almost did (they have a single battleship left, and an old, run-down one, at that). There are other problems with the plan, though. To begin with, the Corsairs' military may have superior numbers to Rheinland's, but there are more Rheinlanders, and groups like the Bundschuh are likely to rally 'round the flag in a time of crisis. Then there is the question of how the other colonies would react to a full-scale Corsair invasion of Rheinland space. At least Bretonia would be inclined to support Rheinland (Bretonia and the Corsairs already are clashing) early on, and if the Corsairs actually manages to win against Rheinland... and then there is the Outcasts, who hate their Hispanian brothers about as much as they hate the Colonies, to consider. Now, that they might overcome... but actually invading the other Houses as well, after they inevitable suffer damages in conquering Rheinland and has to divert forces to keep Rheinland down? There is a phrase^note Not trope, though. The trope is Attack! Attack! Attack!. for that, and it is Suicidal Overconfidence.
  • Also, a careful reading indicates that the Corsair invasion of Rheinland is simply an escalation of their war with the Red Hessians. They are aiming to become the dominant pirate faction in Rheinland, not to take territory from the Rheinland Republic. Given that other reports about the battles in Omega-5 indicate that the Corsairs are outnumbered by the Red Hessians, it seems highly implausible that the Corsairs have even a fraction of Rheinland's military power. They don't appear to have any ships larger than fighters, while Rheinland has gunboats, cruisers, and a capital ship (plus the industrial capacity to build more). This is simply a war between criminal factions.

So, what were the three other ships the Alliance built?

According to the Outcasts, the Alliance actually built eight sleeper ships, not five. Three were destroyed by the Coalition fleet. So who were the others, and what were their names?

• France is probably the most obvious candidate. In Starlancer, they did actually have one known ship and squadron survive. Possible names would be the Gallia or Aquitaine.
  • According to Discovery Freelancer, the sleeper ship was named the Gallia.
  • One can't help the feeling that the French would launch 3 ships, namely the Liberté, the Égalité, and the Fraternité.
• Italy is another. There was one surviving Italian squadron, and presumably unnamed Italian ships (not to mention civilians). Dunno what their name would have been.
  • Possibly relating to its long history: the Roma. They could also follow the Rheinlander approach and use the name of one of their important regions, such as the Latium, or a geographic feature like the Tiber. Finally, they might go for the name of the father of modern Italy, the Garibaldi.
• Israel is a possibility. Israel is never mentioned in the first game, so its status is unknown - for all we know, it joined the Middle Eastern faction of the Coalition. However, if there was an Israeli sleeper ship, there are 4 obvious names: the Zion (refers to Jerusalem), the Yehuda (means "Jew"), the Tevat (refers to Noah's Ark) and the Hatikvah (although that is the name of the State of Israel's national anthem, it literally means "the hope").
• If South Korea wasn't destroyed by North Korea or any other Coalition member, possible ship names include:
  • Names for Korea such as Daehan, Hanguk or Chosŏn.
  • Sacred places such as the obvious Baekdusan.
• Any number of former British colonies - those that didn't get stuck on the Bretonia. Some possibilities come to mind:
  • India. If it didn't join the Coalition, India would probably have a ship, maybe the Hindi, Mughal, or even Ahimsa or Swaraj. However, if India was a member of the Alliance, it almost certainly would have fielded warships, so it probably did join the Coalition.
    • Unlikely, given their real life issues with Russia and China; coupled with the fact that the inverse can be used: if India was a member of the Coalition, it's almost certain we would've run into them at some point especially with bit players like Egypt popping up.
  • Australia (and possibly New Zealand). Geographically distinct enough. Uluru might be a good ship name. Other options are Koori, Eureka, Southern Cross or Tasman. Due to their tiny populations, they could have joined the Bretonia.
  • Like above, the Caribbean islands could have joined Bretonia or Liberty. After all, Dr Kendra Sinclair is a Bretonian archaeologist who has no British accent and seems to be of Afro-Caribbean descent.
  • South Africa (and possibly the rest of southern Africa). We know South Africa was a member of the Alliance (one of your fellow pilots is South African). Their ship could have drawn its name from any African tribe - the Bantu, Zulu, Xhosa or even Boer (despite referring to mainly Dutch-descended White South Africans, "Boer" itself means "farmer", which is good for representing a proud agricultural heritage both on Earth and Recycled In Space), for example, or alternatively after historical events or places such as the Voortrek, Drakensberg, or if you want black comedy (pun not intended because {{dude, it's not funny}}), the Soweto.
  • Canada. Close ties with the Americans and a major country that could have supplied a lot of the materials that went into building the ships. It could have been named the Polaris, the Acadia or something similar. Bonus points for their ship ending up on Single Biome Planets consisting of cold, forested tundra. But then again, Liberty has a Battleship Yukon, therefore, it is possible that their small population forced the Canadians to join Liberty.
• Hispania ostensibly covers Spain but is portrayed as Spexico. Even then, it seems very odd that one sleeper ship serves not only Spain but also the entire Spanish-speaking world and possibly even the Portuguese-speaking world as well?
  • Like the French example of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, one could realize the symbolism for Spain to colonize the New World IN SPACE! using ships named Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria.
  • If the Alliance included Brazil (remember, Brazil's population is currently the 5th largest in the world), possible ship names include the Tupi, Amazônia, Pindorama, Cruzeiro do Sul (the Portuguese name for the Southern Cross) or even Progresso (from the motto Ordem e Progresso).
  • Despite its small population and size, even compared to Spain, Portugal has a long history of empire building and cultural influencing. Possible names for a Portuguese ship include Belem, Ajuda (means "aid"), Tejo (after the Tagus, Portugal's longest river and a major part of its geography - do remember that the Rheinland takes its name from a district named after a prominent river), or Caravela (refers to Caravels, a type of sailing ship that formed the basis of the Portuguese naval, exploratory and trading prowess).
  • Another obvious missing nation is Mexico. Possible ship names include ''
  • If Argentina joined the Alliance, possible ship names include "
  • Even then, what about other former Spanish colonies like The Philippines and Equatorial Guinea? If they didn't join the coalition on the basis that they are in Asia and Africa respectively, possible ship names for the former include '' and for the latter include N/A (Equatorial Guinea is just an Appeal to Obscurity).
• Although many have a misconception that Turkey = Middle Eastern Coalition = Qurac = Fundamentalist Islam = Arab people, Turkey is the 2nd largest military in NATO, is an ally of many Western nations and is trying really hard to join the EU. Therefore, if Turkey joined the Alliance instead of the Coalition, and survived as a nation to long enough, it could have built one of the 3 mystery sleeper ships. Possible names include the Boğaziçi (aside from being the Turkish name for the Bosporus, it also means "the straits"), Anatolya, Marmara, Kapadokya, Çanakkale, Asya (do remember that despite meaning "Asia", the Ancient Greeks invented the term "Asia" to refer to Anatolia, which is where modern Turkey is now), Ottoman or Bizans; alternatively, they can stress their European-ness by naming their ship Thrakya (after Thrace, a region that is now part of European Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria). They could also name their ship after certain values such as Başı (means "leader"), Cumhuriyet (means "Republic"), Yurtta or Sulh ("Yurtta" means "home" and "Sulh" means "peace"; it is from a quote by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk "Yurtta sulh, cihanda sulh" which translated to English means "Peace at Home, Peace in the World" , which is a pretty powerful message).
• Finally, there are the Scandinavian countries. Assuming they didn't get the treatment, stayed with the Alliance, and didn't join up with Rheinland, their are 3 glaringly obvious names for their sleeper ship the Scandia, the Víkingr or the Norden. Or they can use themes of discovery from Erik the Red or Leif Erikson such as Vinland, Grønland (some black comedy here because when Erik the Red discovered a mostly uninhabitable landmass, he named it Greenland to trick people into settling there, therefore this situation can be RECYCLED IN SPACE) Leifsbúðir, or Skrælingjar (refers to Native Americans in Greenland and the Leifsbúðir area which is now modern day Newfoundland, Canada; this is in the same manner that Native American tribes lend their names to various items and places in the US and Canada).

Most of the houses are only selling "monkey models" of their fighters.

Think about it, the Defenders and Patriots that you can buy are outgunned by Liberty Navy fighters of the same type later in the game, as well as several other ships in the game completely outperform them. This is likely also true of Bretonian and Kusari ships. Rheinland however, may well be selling full-power military fighters to pay off their massive war debt.

Freelancer is an alternate future timeline of Starlancer

In Starlancer the player (if they managed to get best results) manages to become the Alliance best fighter ace, who squadron manages to save the Alliance from destruction and even turn the fortune of the war against the Collation, liberating the outer planets collanies of the Solar System and may have been on their way to liberating the inner solar system. Yet the Prolouge of Freelance seems to ignore this and shows the Alliance barely holding out in Pluto buying enough time to build generational ships that would be sent to another star system. In my view I think Freelance Prolouge is where the player got killed fairly early in Starlancer as a result the war never turned in the Alliance's favour.

• It's fairly clear in the Intro that the war has been going on for at least a generation or two, it's more likely that the PC from Starlancer died at some point after the game(retiered honorably after a lifetime of fighting if you want to imagine it ended alright for him/her).

There is something very wrong about the Outcasts beyond what is already known

...which says quite a lot, as the Outcasts are already very dangerous. A dedicated player can already find out about their master plan - to get so many people addicted to Cardamine that the Sirius governments will not dare destroy them, enabling them to gradually exert influence on the Colonies.

• Beyond that, however, there are many small hints about the nature of Cardamine. It grew on Malta and might also exist in Carinea (the un-landable Death World in the same system). That region of space is, as we know, Nomad country. Cardamine plants themselves are also described to be of purple coloration, which is associated with Nomads and the Dom'Kovash artifacts. There is also the fact that the substance alters the user's genetic code. There was also a blurb that implied the Outcasts worship Nomads - they were referred as "spirits" by the Outcasts and it is why they inter their greatest pilots and leaders near the Nomad jumphole in the Alpha system, the greater implication being that they knew about Nomads before the Order even existed.
  • Putting all these together, I can't help but feel that the Outcasts (or at least their leaders) are secretly under the thumb of the Nomads and are laying the ground for their return. Or worse, the return on the Dom'Kovash. They certainly feel no love towards the other Colonies for them to care what happens to them. Alternatively, they are in the process of becoming Humanoid Abominations due to generations of Cardamine use, which is hardly a more comforting prospect.
• Cardamine alters DNA. What if Cardamine (or Planet Malta itself) was an invention by the Daam K'Vosh to gradually alter the DNA of Human drug addicts over several generations until they get to create new life forms, possibly how the nomads started, or even to allow the return of the Daam K'Vosh using the bodies of human Cardamine addicts to produce new Daam K'Vosh. This plan is slightly reminiscent of the Dark Voice's plan in [[Video Game/Starcraft the Starcraft franchise]].
• The Outcast are unlikely to be direct or knowing allies of the Nomads / Dom'kavosh, they are allied to the Order in the story missions after all. Even after the missions where they show up they have a neutral disposition towards you.
  • That could simply be the Outcasts not yet being under the control of the Nomads. Alternatively, they might be under the influence of whatever it was that drove the Daam K'vosh from Sirius in the first place.

Sean Ashcroft was working for, or at least with, the Order

It's pretty clear that he was disappeared by the Nomads. Now, it's possible that he was working for them, and they rescued him, but when you set out on the first mission to Willard Research Station, trying to smoke out Ashcroft's mole, who is it that ambushes you? Outcasts... allies (and possibly backers) of the Order.