Discovery Gaming Community

I have made this thread for people to submit their thoughts and ideas regarding the Zoner lore. If you have something you want to share, RP stories, concept ideas, historical accounts, info on old factions, etc, please place them here.

If you are a veteran (3-4 years on the server) you may want to share your views and recollections of how the Zoners were like in the early days. All manner of ideas are welcome here.

When I first showed up the Zoner motto was "Together we must stick apart".

*shrugs* I'd really like it if the zoners were localized. I.E. separate ID/IFF/Reputation for each FP. But that's a ton of work, so meh.

Also, read the infocards on vanilla zoner bases.

zoners are a diverse group of individuals that - for some reason or another - felt that leaving the core systems was the only way to live. - they come from all different social classes and educations, as well as different wealth.

that causes that zoners range from workers to academics and bring the most diverse skills and needs into the edgeworlds.

back then, zoners settled where they wouldn t be disturbed - in the bordersystems - in abandoned stations or rockbases. they were sometimes skilled enough or wealthy enough to convert those stations / repair the stations to allow normal life on them.

the early movement of zoners is a nomadic movement - a bunch of people whos only common denominator was a general dislike of the core systems - and that wouldn t make a very stable community. - additionally to that... similar movements happened throughout the whole core - resulting in very different small communities - only labelled "zoners" by others, but as a matter of fact, they had little in common.

however - since a general dislike of the ways of the houses wouldn t feed even a small community, they had to get resources and goods for their living - as well as develope protection against groups that operated from the borderworlds, too ( pirates )
zoners started to trade - and developed the idea of freeports, which would function like duty free stations - allowing a free trade of different factions, sometimes to the great dislike of the large cooperations, but never powerful enough to really cause any major uproar. - or in other words, they were an insignificant power if you can call them a power anyway.

in that process, they developed complex interdependencies between the rivalling pirate factions as well as the houses. - instead of raw weaponpower, they rely more on a balance of political power - maybe by being unimportant and "invisible" - maybe by threatening or blackmailing. since they managed to work independly on many fronts, this diverse group managed an understanding of many of the political subsystems - an understanding that isn t necessary for a single house - but still giving the zoners a political and economical advantage.

with time - zoners grew - and they seeked out new aread to develope - and so they travelled into the edgeworld, which are beyond house space - and built stations far beyond the borders. by doing so - they created relais stations for information and trade - for those factions that operated that far out. - since the idea of a freeport was a successful one, they kept using the idea of a freetrading station instead of a battlestation for protection - still using the same recipe for neutrality - either groveling in the dust cow-tow-ing ( see freeport 10 ) ... or politics with a dagger ( see juggernaut in theta ).

the destruction of freeport 7 might have brought the "zoners" as a faction to attention on a wider spectrum the first time - especially in the houses, cause the houses had to deal with the survivers who then became refugees. - but other than that ... zoners remain a minor power in both, political and economical terms ( compared to the super cooperations )



nowadays - things have changed. - firstly .... zoners are not only people who were born in the core and left the core some some reason anymore, but most zoners are probably born in the edgeworlds - or borderworlds and hardly share the dislike for the core anymore ( they might love the edge more - but thats not as strong a reason as to leave the core )

zoners also built up a fleet of ships - which are mostly classified as supply ships. - the jinkusu is a generation / colony ship - which is also used to supply deep space installations, the fearless does the same duty, only on a smaller scale - wtihout being a generation ship.
the corvo functions as a vessel for further exploration - and the conference is meant to be an armoured transport mk2.

the aquilon is a warship alright... uh, they just had the second battleship - so what else can it be...

political ties are not locally based anymore - but more and more centralized, which also happened due to the settlement of gran canaria - and the colonization of diverse "guard" systems.

zoners today have little in common with the original zoner movement - and its debatable if they have grown to a significant economical power, which at that time also makes them a political power. - they have build up political ties to the GMG and the order, supporting a strong political cause - as well as supporting an uprising economical power. they have build up a monopoly on certain materials that are needed throughout sirius ( deuterium and iridium ) - and operate larger networks today.







personally - i believe that zoners still maintain neutrality by a policy of threats. they threaten to strengthen enemies of potential enemies - indirectly threatening with violence. they also try to maintain hostilities. - it would be a financial ruin as well as a political destabilizing if outcasts and corsairs - hessians and corsairs, IMG and outcasts ... etc. lay down the weapons and started talking - so they ll push their hatred along.
that policy requires a very good network and anticipation of political trends ... it also means that zoners should rather act than react, cause reacting means loosing the initiative. for that... its a good give and take to work with the order, who is supposed to have a siriuswide network - which can probably be used to sense political mood changes, too.

zoners do have a warfleet, that is mostly scattered all across sirius. - it is also not referred to as a warfleet, but as a fleet of heavy supply ships. ( old juggernaut ID card referred to the juggernaut as to be mostly rumor - but possibly seen once in house space - doing a supply run from munich to some bordersystem )

many of the zoner stations are in remote places - and by the lore, a destroyer is a much safer vessel than a light fighter ( even if game mechanics tell us the opposite )



there are some facts that are problematic for zoners.
- they have a planet ... thats a fact that goes against many characteristics of the faction, takes them from a more nomadic faction to a settled one.
- they have become a significant power, due to the number of players and interactions. - zoners work best... when in RP ... they are totally ignored, no matter what they do. ( except by their allies )

Jinx opened my eyes a little on the zoners and their larger ships. It always got to me how they seemed to have this massive war fleet, but it's not. If only people would use them less for that purpose.

' Wrote:I would rather see them a bit more gray, because I haven't seen an evil or grey zoner for a few years now.

I am mostly leaning towards Jinx's post, though it gives the Zoners a bit too much credit. They aren't the Sirius illuminati, I doubt they would be starting wars or that they would have the kind of influence amongst any larger or even smaller faction to pull this kind of thing off. A policy of nigh absolute neutrality does not bring about much influence you see, as the needed trust is never there.

And that is what Zoners are: ignored when they keep to themselves, heavily mistrusted if they take involvement in a matter that does not concern them directly.

In addition to that, I am still completely convinced that Zoners are not an organisation in any way or form. They are rather a label for people who have decided to live in the border worlds where house influence does not reach. The Zoners just try to live and survive peacefully by trade, rather than raiding or outright making war on the houses like literally every other edge world group does. It is highly doubtful that individual Freeports maintain regular contact and the exact same laws. That's my way of looking at it.

Well I kinda disagree with Jinx on some of the ships stuff, from what I've read in the wiki (a few months back so bear with me)-

Jinkusu - Colony ship, or a warship (according to Jinx, not wiki)
Aquilon - Explorer ship
Fearless - Heavily (well ridiculously really) armored transport
Corvo - Research AND exploration ship
Conference - Debatable

To be honest, Zoners are many things. Even Zoners themselves can't decide what Zoners are. A few months back I started the ZDF (Zoner Defense Forces) mainly because of the intense crap that Zoners were going through at the time, which hit us pretty hard (QCP blowing us up, The Bret - Ku War expanding into Omega 49, relations with the Corsairs destabilizing etc etc). While the formation of the ZDF was met with great support, it was also met with great hostility. Some argued that Zoners needed to finally stick for themselves, and evolve into something new while still maintaining their tradition of neutrality (somehow. Others argued that neutrality could not be maintained through a military force, and that Zoners -HAD- to take the crap from other people, be pushed around and what not, generally remain weak.

Today, I just feel each Zoner has his or her own idea of what being a Zoner means or is. Some may feel Zoners need to stick up for themselves, others feel they should give in. Its really up to you who -you're- Zoner is and -how- he or she will act. And if you manage to find some people who believe the same thigns you do, group up with them and tag along, if you want. Thats what being a Zoner to me really means.

' Wrote:zoners are a diverse group of individuals that - for some reason or another - felt that leaving the core systems was the only way to live. - they come from all different social classes and educations, as well as different wealth.

that causes that zoners range from workers to academics and bring the most diverse skills and needs into the edgeworlds.

back then, zoners settled where they wouldn t be disturbed - in the bordersystems - in abandoned stations or rockbases. they were sometimes skilled enough or wealthy enough to convert those stations / repair the stations to allow normal life on them.

the early movement of zoners is a nomadic movement - a bunch of people whos only common denominator was a general dislike of the core systems - and that wouldn t make a very stable community. - additionally to that... similar movements happened throughout the whole core - resulting in very different small communities - only labelled "zoners" by others, but as a matter of fact, they had little in common.

however - since a general dislike of the ways of the houses wouldn t feed even a small community, they had to get resources and goods for their living - as well as develope protection against groups that operated from the borderworlds, too ( pirates )
zoners started to trade - and developed the idea of freeports, which would function like duty free stations - allowing a free trade of different factions, sometimes to the great dislike of the large cooperations, but never powerful enough to really cause any major uproar. - or in other words, they were an insignificant power if you can call them a power anyway.

in that process, they developed complex interdependencies between the rivalling pirate factions as well as the houses. - instead of raw weaponpower, they rely more on a balance of political power - maybe by being unimportant and "invisible" - maybe by threatening or blackmailing. since they managed to work independly on many fronts, this diverse group managed an understanding of many of the political subsystems - an understanding that isn t necessary for a single house - but still giving the zoners a political and economical advantage.

with time - zoners grew - and they seeked out new aread to develope - and so they travelled into the edgeworld, which are beyond house space - and built stations far beyond the borders. by doing so - they created relais stations for information and trade - for those factions that operated that far out. - since the idea of a freeport was a successful one, they kept using the idea of a freetrading station instead of a battlestation for protection - still using the same recipe for neutrality - either groveling in the dust cow-tow-ing ( see freeport 10 ) ... or politics with a dagger ( see juggernaut in theta ).

the destruction of freeport 7 might have brought the "zoners" as a faction to attention on a wider spectrum the first time - especially in the houses, cause the houses had to deal with the survivers who then became refugees. - but other than that ... zoners remain a minor power in both, political and economical terms ( compared to the super cooperations )
nowadays - things have changed. - firstly .... zoners are not only people who were born in the core and left the core some some reason anymore, but most zoners are probably born in the edgeworlds - or borderworlds and hardly share the dislike for the core anymore ( they might love the edge more - but thats not as strong a reason as to leave the core )

zoners also built up a fleet of ships - which are mostly classified as supply ships. - the jinkusu is a generation / colony ship - which is also used to supply deep space installations, the fearless does the same duty, only on a smaller scale - wtihout being a generation ship.
the corvo functions as a vessel for further exploration - and the conference is meant to be an armoured transport mk2.

the aquilon is a warship alright... uh, they just had the second battleship - so what else can it be...

political ties are not locally based anymore - but more and more centralized, which also happened due to the settlement of gran canaria - and the colonization of diverse "guard" systems.

zoners today have little in common with the original zoner movement - and its debatable if they have grown to a significant economical power, which at that time also makes them a political power. - they have build up political ties to the GMG and the order, supporting a strong political cause - as well as supporting an uprising economical power. they have build up a monopoly on certain materials that are needed throughout sirius ( deuterium and iridium ) - and operate larger networks today.

***

personally - i believe that zoners still maintain neutrality by a policy of threats. they threaten to strengthen enemies of potential enemies - indirectly threatening with violence. they also try to maintain hostilities. - it would be a financial ruin as well as a political destabilizing if outcasts and corsairs - hessians and corsairs, IMG and outcasts ... etc. lay down the weapons and started talking - so they ll push their hatred along.
that policy requires a very good network and anticipation of political trends ... it also means that zoners should rather act than react, cause reacting means loosing the initiative. for that... its a good give and take to work with the order, who is supposed to have a siriuswide network - which can probably be used to sense political mood changes, too.

zoners do have a warfleet, that is mostly scattered all across sirius. - it is also not referred to as a warfleet, but as a fleet of heavy supply ships. ( old juggernaut ID card referred to the juggernaut as to be mostly rumor - but possibly seen once in house space - doing a supply run from munich to some bordersystem )

many of the zoner stations are in remote places - and by the lore, a destroyer is a much safer vessel than a light fighter ( even if game mechanics tell us the opposite )
there are some facts that are problematic for zoners.
- they have a planet ... thats a fact that goes against many characteristics of the faction, takes them from a more nomadic faction to a settled one.
- they have become a significant power, due to the number of players and interactions. - zoners work best... when in RP ... they are totally ignored, no matter what they do. ( except by their allies )

Eyo Jinx, can you provide info on how the Persephone was discovered and all the RP stuffz about it?

actually - not really, i never wrote a backstory - let along any story about my chars. - but i can think of something ... mind you, its not my char story anyway... any zoner faction can write / think something up there.

its not finders-keepers.. my char was most certainly not part of the original expedition.


however - maybe its better when such details remain a myth / rumor.



one can easily keep it the way that "some time - in some place that is never specificly mentioned, zoners found a derilict wreck and restored it somehow" its also never told how they towed it to a shipyard - or maybe build a shipyard around the ship itself ( where it was found )

since the juggernaut - and the leviathan class even more - is a myth and zoners wish to keep it mostly a myth, no one should know too much about it.



authorities in the houses are hardly aware that zoners have a jinkusu class warship ( yes, lore, not reality ) - they will certainly have no real idea about the leviathan ( by their count, it would be the third zoner battleship class ship ) - and although its certain that factions like the LSF or selected navy officers might know about it, they don t know much about it ( not more than a few scans that are only skindeep and visuals ) - and such scans won t reveal a single thing - since in-game... all stats show as "classified". ( so any "real" knowledge about its stats are pure metagaming, cause i am fairly sure that my char never even told other zoners the stats )

' Wrote:actually - not really, i never wrote a backstory - let along any story about my chars. - but i can think of something ... mind you, its not my char story anyway... any zoner faction can write / think something up there.

its not finders-keepers.. my char was most certainly not part of the original expedition.
however - maybe its better when such details remain a myth / rumor.
one can easily keep it the way that "some time - in some place that is never specificly mentioned, zoners found a derilict wreck and restored it somehow" its also never told how they towed it to a shipyard - or maybe build a shipyard around the ship itself ( where it was found )

since the juggernaut - and the leviathan class even more - is a myth and zoners wish to keep it mostly a myth, no one should know too much about it.
authorities in the houses are hardly aware that zoners have a jinkusu class warship ( yes, lore, not reality ) - they will certainly have no real idea about the leviathan ( by their count, it would be the third zoner battleship class ship ) - and although its certain that factions like the LSF or selected navy officers might know about it, they don t know much about it ( not more than a few scans that are only skindeep and visuals ) - and such scans won t reveal a single thing - since in-game... all stats show as "classified". ( so any "real" knowledge about its stats are pure metagaming, cause i am fairly sure that my char never even told other zoners the stats )

OK, keep it a myth, as you wish. I just thought that this could be really interesting to add to the zoner lore. Plus, you said you allow the Suvain Fragment to have it in their story, yes?

yea - well, but the reason i don t paste it here is cause i don t have a story about it....

the SE wanted to use the leviathan class warship - but wouldn t really use the story how zoners got hold on it - thats not their story ( at least from what i understand )