@Dab: Never! Knock on wood. Not the Oro.de.Veranda nor any of its many predecessors has ever been shot at. I think most folk are superstitious.. They think they'll be whisked away to the Region of Thud and put to work polishing "Precious Mao" buttons. I use my gun barrels for Scrubby hatcheries.
@Raekur: Here ya go, lad. Your hot-headed, impatient, rebellious youn zoners might like to put a year or two in service with this Republic. They might even get to shoot at someone occassionally...
And finally, @snowm: A Republic, eh? That would mean like.. Leaders, and.. laws, and.. taxes, and.. other stuff.. right?
If you've done any homework on the TAZ, you may know that, when enough of us can get together down at the Cafe, we'll toss dung chips to see who gets stuck with the leadership for the next month, and has to do all the bloody paperwork. Unfortunately, most of the other TAZ have gotten wise to this, and are conveniently absent when it's time to toss the chips. Ergo, I'm stuck with the job..
Then there's our Goddess worship thingie. A prime Catma of Discordianism is "We must all stick apart." Eris would drop a log if she even knew I was tossing this "Zoner Council" idea about. (BTW.. you do read the forums, right? Would you be interested in registering for a seat on the Council?)
Now, there's also the "Law of Fives", which the local Gods seem to invoke when looking at new Factions. Five members doth a Faction make. I saw no list on your opening doohicky. Just an oversight, I'm sure.
Now, as to the "tax" matter. "Providing for the general welfare" usually means pouring one's hard-earned Flax into bigger and meaner vessels of war. I'm really leery of this one. Maybe I'm just paranoid, or a dyed-in-the-wool cynic. The TAZ trade, they donate when they feel a cause is worthy, and they seek donations from your average cabbages when all else fails. "Tax" is a three letter word, my friend.
Oh, and as Dab failed to mention, Bafflin' Baffin will also contain "Freeports". Shasta Outpost to begin with; and later the Sedona Station, and the TAZ HQ at Chaco. Free as a bird, all of 'em.
I'm not saying don't go for it. Just filling you in a bit on where the TAZ stand, and why "Republic" might be considered a four-letter word in our neighborhoods.
I'd like to thank everyone, who posted here so far, i've thought on the subject and I'm downgrading this post from recruitment to just debate, and wearing my asbestos suit and steel plated underwear:)
The idea i have presented here speaks of o group of Zoners, just like the BD are a group of Kusaris, that are tired of the lone, forever neutral, merchant/farmer archetype.
I'll try to express myself with a story:
There was this young Corsair, who one day he had the misfortune of crossing an Elder [insert motive here], and sought refuge in a Freeport.
Arriving there he asked the community if he could be one of them, to erase his past and start a new life, to what the Zoners said, "yes, you can but stick to our rules".
Now this fledgling Zoner, started hauling food supplies to the Zoner allies, the Order and the GMG. One day on arriving at Toledo he went to the Ship dealer and...looked at the Nephtys, went to the armoury and looked at the Inferno cannons, the Battle Razors etc. and asked "Can we Zoners really buy this stuff from you?" and the answer was "Sure, we are allies aren't we".
The following day he arrived on a GMG outpost near a debris field, and asked the ground crew, "Why is there so many debris around here?", some of the GMG ground crew answered "have you never heard of the GMGxRheinland war? we drove them out here", to his disbelief he said "...The Rheinland, are we talking of the Rheinland", "why, yes of course, you see, when we can H-fuel boycott whoever supports our enemies, and we have enough money to pay the latest ships, weapons and mercenaries, no one will mess with us"
These notions planted a seed on his mind, he was a Zoner now, but like many Zoners he wasn't born a Zoner, he became one.
Anyway this is just the story of a young Corsair, to young to start anything, but maybe receptive to some more "proactive" ideas.
Societies are dynamic, people change when they interact, some change for better other for worst. I'm trying to add here some new RP elements, fear, greed and a new flavor hypocrisy.
The unknown citizen of the speech in the start of this topic has a name and a purpose, he instigates fear on the people to get support for his cause, he instigates greed [credits, personal power, etc] on the fighters so they'll join the cause, and finally uses hypocrisy to gain time, resources, and influence.
Now the concept of hypocrisy i very difficult to RP, simply because I'm saying here that it exists, and i describe it on the OOC part.
So the perfect world the ZR citizen might look like you average hippie Zoner with a more "righteousness" style of speech just strolling around, but, secretly researching Nomad tech, bribing left and right and plotting...something.
Anyway think of it as Greenpeace falls to the Dark Side. It's just more fun to corrupt the "good" that the "bad"
I've read the "How should Zoners behave" thread, and my conclusion was: some people think A others think B, and I'm just happy with that.
Your dymamic ideas are just as valid as those of a stupid old weird fool who, on the one hand, touts the virtues of the pure zoner way; yet on the gripping hand has played fast and loose with politics in Kusari and in other arenas. (And who also probably spends way too much time on this bloody computer building "castles in the air" to replace other crumbled ruins...)
I've had my beefs in past with those who can't see past the built-in, static mechanics of Freelancer. And now, I see that I'm doing the same bloody thing myself. When did i become the arbiter of good taste and correct roleplay around here? It's frightening.
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