Well, I dont know how much I can offer, having been an elder before but not in present times.
But anyway, the situation of the Corsairs really stressed me out back in the day. When the flow of new Corsairs was lower than what the factions could handle, it was fine. Then there was bickering between the factions (of which I myself in no small part instigated). By the time we were done with each other, the territory that we'd been politically manoevering for had become filled by the unwashed masses. The reason why the Council of Elders has basically been nullified? The leaders dont get along well together when making decisions about the Corsairs (though, they get along well together as friends). Whoever's fault that is is up to debate.
Thats not to say that the fault lies solely with the factions. Simply put, I see a lot of people here saying 'someone should fix it!'. Frankly, I've tried before, a long time ago. The time it took to educate one person from scratch, to have him then leave disco all together, was just not worth it. My patience, and the patience of my peers ran out long ago with these people. The way I dealt with it then was to spend most of my time pretending they didn't exist. Not satisfactory, I know, but I do have better things to do with my time.
And dont think we're only lazy. I know that I was driven on some rare occasions to tears (sad, I know :mellow:) by the situation in Omicron Gamma and within the Corsair Empire itself. Luckily, I had intervention from Ench, who told me outright that enough was enough, and that I should quit it until I feel I can handle it again. Since then, my TBH characters became AFA characters, and I've moved even further away from the homeland of Crete.
Advertising factions for people who seriously want to roleplay as dedicated Corsairs for a large bulk of their server time also isn't such a good idea (whether OPG, TBH or Benitez). The ridiculousness of perhaps, 75% of the Corsair population drives most of the veteran players to play on other characters for most of their server time, so you usually wont have a wingman who knows his left from his right. Im not going to go and advertise one Corsair faction over another however, since I have my own opinion and I'd probably get an earful from Gentle if I voiced them in my typically arrogant way.
The short-term solution for each faction is generally different. The Brotherhood have decided to haul up in Omega 50 and engage in diplomatic ties with the Zoners, far away from the stupidity infesting the Omicrons. The OPG have decided to call Cadiz their home and act raiders on the shipping in Cambridge, Omega 3 and Omega 7. Unfortunately, they've drawn quite a few failures from Omicron Gamma to their banner as well, but that's a different story. However, I've not seen the Benitez out in force recently. Considering that this is the Summer, Carlos should be on his summer holiday so I don't know what's happening on that front.
Teschy: You're almost as bad with the Corsairs as you are with the Phantoms.
