Honestly, it's up to the players to see what makes them. I like evil, I play in "evil" factions, and would like to see more of it. However, it's always up to perspective.
When I have time, I mainly fly GRN. People see GRN as the "antagonist House of Sirius". I don't see it like that. It's a bunch of squabbling nobles all under the sun-king who demands war, and the Royal Navy are just normal men and women who are dragged into the state of war or joined it for their own reasons (nobles in particular want things like fame, renown, intrigue and recognition, while common folk want to defend their House/families and do not want to incur the Roi's wrath for example).
They do nefarious things, yes, but only from the defender's perspective. From their own, it's just being in a war against technologically and culturally inferior people and following orders. It's just the side you view it from if you get into the middle of it. That, and well, the nobles just do their own CK2 kinda thing between themselves.
I think the same concept goes for all factions, just go with what you have and do what you must and what's ordinary. You don't need to be exceptionally edgy to be "evil". You can turn Malta into that slaveristic drug haven that it already is - this doesn't mean people shouldn't deal with other houses and try to appear as the "good guy" while doing all of that. It's just PR. You're still encouraging slavery and drugs. You're still evil. You just don't show it officially and want to get on their good side, making sure they don't notice the closet that leads to Mr Bones' wild ride. It's a normal way of life for them, just put yourself in their shoes and see what's reasonable for you to do. It's a whole nother thing when players try to do a 180 on the commonly accepted vanilla lore and its continuation though.
I really want to drag Mollys into this comparison as I've recently read into them. They're literally what good guys pushed into a corner are - who thinks they're actually the "good guys"?
If you disagree with the way things are being handled with a particular faction, you can't really dictate what they should do. Nothing is stopping you from making another one and showing off the aspects they lack though. Especially for a faction large enough to be considered a House (even a small one), there can be many faces of the same entity.
tl;dr There are no truly evil factions if you read into them. Do what they usually do and see why they do it - it's almost always going to be to ensure their survival, or for the benefit of their wealth, or just something they are forced to do out of necessity. Except maybe Core which is just a megalomaniac driven thing.
In addition to what Ramke said, what I remember of rumors indicates that Cardamine has unfortunate effects on birth rate. This is why I always played my Outcasts as more cautious and diplomatic - they're not good people, they're just looking to the long-term benefit of Malta. Unnecessary death is bad for anyone, but worse for them.
(04-11-2018, 11:24 PM)Thexare Wrote: In addition to what Ramke said, what I remember of rumors indicates that Cardamine has unfortunate effects on birth rate. This is why I always played my Outcasts as more cautious and diplomatic - they're not good people, they're just looking to the long-term benefit of Malta. Unnecessary death is bad for anyone, but worse for them.
That is true, but you should not forget that Malta's population was increased by million of slaves and many of them or their childeren have become Maltesians that have never taken Cardamine. My own most loved char is an ex Rheinic child that got to Malta in an age of 6 and was adopted by a Maltesian middle class family. The slavery of Malta is not the old American way with no possibility to rise; it is more the old Roman way where former slaves could become very respected people. These people are not in very large numbers, but they are part of Malta and they have a normal birth rate o.c..
(04-14-2018, 11:01 AM)misterich Wrote: That is true, but you should not forget that Malta's population was increased by million of slaves and many of them or their childeren have become Maltesians that have never taken Cardamine.
Stop there.
You've missed a fundamental part of the Outcasts' vanilla lore. They only discovered the full properties of Cardamine when they started dying when they tried to leave Malta. It's in everything.
Could filtering be set up for that? Yeah, probably, but they'd never take on the expense. Even with the known drawbacks, many of them believe themselves superior to 'normal' humans, specifically because of Cardamine. Plus, filtering it out of the air means they'd need to wear those breathers and I gotta be honest, those things don't look comfortable.
So unless there's been a retcon somewhere down the way that I missed, if you live on Malta long enough, it's in your system, regardless of conscious consumption.
I interpret the Maltesian text so, that the needing of Cardamine to live is a following of centuries of just having that grass to eat. The grass than change human DNA like a fast evolution. Normal humans can get the "drug addiction" by taking that but their body and the DNA has not changed yet. Problems like the birth rate or the needing to survilale are the followings of centuries of biological adaptation. This is nothing that happen at on person in for example 10 years.
(04-14-2018, 12:39 PM)misterich Wrote: I interpret the Maltesian text so, that the needing of Cardamine to live is a following of centuries of just having that grass to eat. The grass than change human DNA like a fast evolution. Normal humans can get the "drug addiction" by taking that but their body and the DNA has not changed yet. Problems like the birth rate or the needing to survilale are the followings of centuries of biological adaptation. This is nothing that happen at on person in for example 10 years.
Outcasts didn't eat the grass, where did you get that from? Cardamine is simply symbiotic (or parasitic) of almost every life-form it comes into contact with. On Malta, it's in everything ranging from the food they eat, to the water they drink, to the very air that they breathe.
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