(09-14-2019, 12:57 PM)Hemlocke Wrote: Cause helping your sworn enemies re-instate the Empire that cost you your livelihoods in the first place is all the craze these days, 'kind-of' like what IMG| is doing.
GMG was responsible for that, as was Interspace Commerce (war debt) to a lesser extent. There's some vanilla snippets that stated the Empire either had to massively shorten its belts or they were going to lose Frankfurt to the GMG. The empire then wobbled for 15 years before completely collapsing into the Republic during VRD.
Unioners don't want to re-institute the empire but rather the trade union protections that existed under the empire. We are about economic, not governmental, change. That is what makes us different from other Rheinland underworld groups. It's there in our lore, in both long-form and TL-DR versions. I'm going to request an infocard update so it's even more obvious. Please read it if you have Unioner questions, people. We've made an FAQ about it, as well.
This is how the Rheinland underworld works from a Unioner perspective (more or less):
- Bundschuh = Goverment bad, we can be a better government along a mix of Libertonian marketeering and Hessian values. We do this by lobbying for support at Rheinland's fringe regions like Munich and Sigma 15, where people have been left behind by neglect. Partisan. Targets the Military. Tolerates the Coalition. Quasi-militarist, quasi-civillian. Uses extensive diplomacy with powerbrokers to help them achieve objectives.
- Hessians = Government and economy bad, we need to replace it in a sweeping military invasion, destroy the infrastructure and start afresh (Dresden). Militarist. Targets largest Rheinland corps and Military. Shares values with the Coalition. Fights everybody and plays strategic wargames. Big ships, guns, flashy hardware. Not subtle.
- Unioners = Economy bad, we need to create an underworld economy that breaks the lawful economy, or make the lawful economy depend upon us (the workers[tm]) in order to effect social change. Anti-Liberty, Anti-Monopolist, anti-totalitarian, pro-emergent change. Antimilitarist. We stick up for those who have been impacted and hurt by war within the core systems, from the 80 years war to the Nomad War. Targets Multihouse Corps and Corps who benefited from the 80 years war/were responsible for mass domestic unemployment (Republican). Likes the Mollys, sees the Coalition as dictatorial hypocrites. Fully civilian and proud of it. Avoids fighting soldiers due to a lack of overlap. Fights partisans and corporates.
Each group is part of a triad that fit together and fill a different interpretation of Rheinland's underworld.
To TL;DR it and bring it back to the thread topic:
Unioners fill a different role to that of the Bundschuh and the Hessians. From the perspective of the Rheinland government, both the Bundschuh and the Hessians are a larger threat as their mission statement is to overthrow you, not just change the labour laws. If you're somebody like the GMG, or Republican, Synth Foods, or Interspace Commerce, the Unioners are the bigger problem in Rheinland space, as the Unioners will come after you first.
This is reflected in how people are playing their factions, too. Tagged Unioners watch tradelanes and try to intercept traders, or smuggle. Tagged Hessians frequently log in to kill specific groups of people, or ships that they know they can target. I'm unsure what DWR are doing right now, so I couldn't comment on them.
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)