Some clarification regarding Hispania

[Nodoka Hanamura]

I know this is more than a little bit of a Necro post but I wanted to add a little bit more to the conversation considering this thread shows up in the top google searches on this topic.

As others have already pointed out, the two factions both share a mix of Spanish, Italian, and Greek naming conventions and dividing them along ethnic lines doesn't make much sense. It's clear the occupants of the Hispania were a mixed bunch.

The clearest line one can draw solely from in-game sources is that The Outcasts tend to theme around organized crime, with clear allusions to drug cartels. The Corsairs, while also engaging in their own share of crime, tend to operate as more of a fledgling "nation" with some pretty clear allusions to Greco-Roman traditions (Corsairs sending adolescents out into the Malvada nebula as a rite of passage immediately brings to mind the prevalent - but historically inaccurate - idea of the Spartan rite of passage wherein a Spartan boy must venture out into the wilderness alone with only a spear and single cloak/blanket and return with a kill. Again, historically inaccurate but a common/pervasive myth.)

The names of the factions are their own sort of "tell". The "Outcasts" were not cast out of the Hispania, nor can they be considered outcasts of the other houses so why are they called Outcasts? Their willing break from "civilized" society is what makes them Outcasts. They engage in drug trafficking, slavery, and are violent criminals as a near whole. The "Corsairs", conversely, take their name from French privateers having been granted a letter of marque (lettre de marque, also called a lettre de course, giving "corsairs" their name). Corsairs, generally speaking, were legalized pirates but they were distinct in conducting themselves in accordance with admiralty law and didn't possess the same brutal notoriety as other "pirates". The word became synonymous with a sort of swashbuckling high-class rogue archetype. Barbary pirates of North Africa and the Ottoman Empire were sometimes called Turkish Corsairs owing to their wealth and power along the southern mediterranean. The "Corsairs" of Freelancer seem - thematically - to be a mix of these two groups of corsairs, as the Corsairs of Freelancer do not engage in slave trading, have their own codes and laws, and primarily target other unlawful factions, or military targets for plunder.

A worthy note as to how the Outcasts came to be RP'ed as primarily Italian is owed heavily to the influence of The Sopranos television show at the time Freelancer was being played by a lot of people. People wanted to RP Mafioso types, the Outcasts have dark, sleek ships and planet "Malta" sticks out as a recognizably "Italian" place to most people that may not otherwise recognize or think about the other places and names amongst the two factions. So, the Outcasts ended up being filled with players wanting to RP the mafia even though in-game material paints the faction as more mexican drug cartel than mob. As an ironic consequence of this, the Corsairs ended up being filled with players wanting to RP Mexican and Spanish archetypes.

In the end, the clearest distinction in-game between the two factions is a matter of lawfulness, not ethnicity.

The Outcasts are fairly clear-cut criminals that engage in drug trafficking, slave trading, and more. The faction uses the drug Cardamine in an attempt to control the other house factions, rather than trying to be a faction of their own.

The Corsairs are more of a fledgling nation that you could see as what "House Hispania" might look like. Their criminal activities are born more out of necessity than anything and they tend to target other unlawfuls and military targets rather than civilians.

As far as Discovery RP is concerned, I'd personally love to see the Corsairs and Outcasts unite into a "House Hispania", with radical elements of the two factions clinging to the criminal underbelly. As the user Batavia brought up above, I think it would be amazingly rich RP to see Hispania as a sort of split Roman Empire kind of faction. The factions are seperated by pretty vast distance with a lot of hostile territory in the middle. Solidifying that territory and making the Omicrons the territory of a united Hispania would be pretty neat if you ask me.

As someone who has had discussions about Hispania in recent weeks with people in the Aux discord, (especially those of Hispanic/Latin descent, of note), I feel merging the two groups into a sixth house and fleshing them out from their stereotype-ridden original writing (no offense to those who play in those factions, or to the story devs, this were the cards dealt to us by DA, and we've played them as we can) would be a good idea at face value, but could pose an issue for factions like Order, Core and Zoners unless appropriate partitioning of Hispania and those smaller factions' territories are preserved at least to some degree - possibly with the introduction of systems betwixt Rheinland and the Omicrons/Omegas. There also lies the issue of lore - I'm no expert, but I don't see how we could feasibly get Corsairs and Outcasts to surrender their mutual sovereignty to form a house, at least not without a lot of internal upheaval. I don't see how logistically a House Hispania could be feasible from a lore or game design perspective without ripping out plenty of kitchen sinks.

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