[Cancelled] Federation Of Labor Station Event

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

It's always been important to me that the lore we are creating is represented on station. This is in big ways (the antag contests or serial killer thriller) or small ways (changes to vendor or cargo prices) and I have always liked experimental changes to gameplay.

There is an opening for another impact of the lore on the station. To make the overview brief; humanity is going through some stuff right now. A lot of this is a long process to setting us up where the NBT feels like a natural evolution.  We've built up one side of the situation (ATLAS, and we're now working on the response from the opposing side (GAIA/Mars). Right now we are going to be seeing the creation of the Galactic Federation of Labor. It is one big union that will, ideally, bleed out into various star nations.

All of this could be going on in the background without much impact on the station but I don't really think that would be entertaining. It would also be less fun for me, since writing lore without some impact on the station feels so much like writing fanfiction.

The Union will be a faction with two subfactions that advocate for changing the way the station operates. The goals and methods of each of the primary factions for union agitators follow existing gameplay phenomenon or community meta. All rules would still apply, IC and OOC.

NanoTrasen will not be automatically firing characters who are discovered to be union agitators. There will still be a talk with CCIA about what possibilities there are in terms of punishing it IC'ly without being a pain in the butt on an OOC level - or swamping them with IR's about union agitators.

This would not be a permanent state of affairs, but how it ends is more or less up in the air due to the nature of how often players swerve my best laid plans into wildly new directions.

Martian Reds / “The Red Plebs”

This faction within the GFL are more moderate compared to the Radical Democrats, but still radical to the rest of the galaxy. Martian Reds want to see workers band together within their different fields and defend their own interests.

As NanoTrasen employees Plebs and Martian Reds are likely to,

Quote

 

Want to have all Heads elected, just like acting Heads are. We still need a delegate after all.

Cap the amount of credits Command and the station can make, and give any excess to people who make less than the bottom floor

Be wary of anyone in Command who wasn’t chosen by the department itself

Try to recruit members of Security. It is within our interests to have members in security who will fight for the rights of crew and prevent abuse of power by other sec.

Peacefully agitate for union membership for employees and encourage public debate and disagreement on station policy that hurts the workers.

Despise xenophobia, but encourage species-based collectivizing. We can be more effective organizing with our own kind as we have common interest.

 

Radical Democrats

    This faction of the GFL are the most militant of the GFL. It advocates revolutionary unionism. They seek to defend and support the workers of the galaxy, who they say are constantly under attack by the oligarchs that exploit the bountiful natural resources of the cosmos and then selfishly hoard it for themselves. They argue against organizing with workers of your own field, and instead say all workers should unite with a single identity.

There are a high number of Tajara in the RadDem faction.

As NanoTrasen employees, Radical Democrats are likely to,

Quote

 

Want to remove all Command positions. We know how to run our department democratically.

Requisition the wages of Command and the station and distribute it based on need. We all need that money, not just them.

Encourage lavish spending of station funds on department projects, renovations, and other pro-crew shenanigans. This is our station, and we should make it how we like.

Hack vendors to give food out for free. Food and water are rights, not commodities.

Have a deep distrust of Security. They aren’t your friends. Anyone in security that wants to join the GFL should engage in direct action or quit.

Argue that xenophobia is a tool that ATLAS-style politicians use to divide the working class.

 

 

Would these issues be something you want to see play out on the station, or do you think these would be negative changes?

Also the people I asked for questions have been AFK for too long for me to gather a FAQ section so I'll make one based on questions spawned by this thread.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Marlon Phoenix

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Oh my god this new forum blows my mind with how it turns my simple bulletpoint list into a list where there's an entire saharan desert between each line

[Carver]

What is the purpose in attempting to make the bullet points unreadable due to text colour?

Thank you, now it's readable for the dark theme supreme.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Carver
GIVING THANKS

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

It was a real struggle as the forum would refuse to recognize my changes to the color. I just turned the list into a quote. Let me know if there is still issues reading it.

[Butterrobber202]

Holy shit I now have a valid, corporate backed reason to oppress socialists.

 

its gamer time

[VTCobaltblood]

The writing of this document seems quite clearly very biased towards a certain point instead of geniunely asking for an opinion, but I'll let that slide.

You already made the arc affect the station. Why ask for our opinion now, especially if you've already made up your mind and aren't afraid to show it in the writing of this topic?

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

It's a possible played hand, even if it would disappoint me, that the union is dropped entirely. Right now the impact on the station is an increase in the price of raisins and soda. There is currently no impact on the station in regards to the union, as it does not yet exist.

If, in the duration of this thread, the dynamic presented is unwanted, the union would become a Sol-entirety matter and we would simply try to find other ways to bring the lore to the station from what is happening in the universe around us.

This is hardly set in stone. If my mind was made up I would proceed without stopping to gather everyone for a talk about it. Few initiatives I have launched have come with a prelude discussion where its entire existence is in possible question.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Marlon Phoenix

[Carver]

In my most simplified opinion, sounds fun tbh. Always fun to put the boot to unions and the treacherous sorts that involve themselves with them. Though I'm not entirely sure how many people will make characters for this, or have their characters even give a shit about it/involve themselves. Worst case it ends up dead in the water, at which point it'd be no different than if you simply opted not to do it.

So, why not.

[Mogelix]

I really don't want this. Sorry to come off as anti-fun but the last thing this server needs to do is encourage 'hoho, I'm so quirky cocky and rebellious' type characters.

These unions have no downsides and seem to be one hundred percent 'the good guys.'  All this does is encourage border line self antagging, as theres more tension between 'good guy working people' and 'evil rich security/command'

This will make this angsty rebellious cesspool of a station more divided and chaotic then ever, as command can't deal with actual threats cause suddenly the union demands a payrise. This could make a good rev round back story kind of thing, but dealing with this every round? Haha, no.

 

EDIT: How about we flesh out Sol culture lore, before we start with Sol 'fires of revolution'.

EDIT 2: Maybe just make GAIA into a commonly referenced thing without starting stupid rebellious stuff, like a normal left leaning party? Everyone won't shut up about ATLAS cause they're actually interesting and keep doing stuff, while GAIA just sits in a corner watching Sol get torn apart by ATLAS.

EDIT 3: or we could become a kaiserreich meme, Syndicalist gang.

 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Mogelix
Continuing my point

[SatinsPristOTD]

I play a lot of Sol characters. In fact, only one of mine isn't Solarian. 

With that being said, sure. I don't want to see this spill this hard onto the station though. We can pull our own Sol lore though our characters ourselves. We don't need anything that feels forced.

 

Sol lore needs a lot of work. Instead of throwing more conflict at us for the sake of conflict, give the station Sol culture. Drama for the sake of drama gets old, fast. This will get very tedious if people railroad the idea.

 

Martian's already act red vs. blue. Adding lore to it just means we up our own RP. 

 

But radical Democrats at a work environment in a different SOLAR SYSTEM for a major corporation? Uh..... If it's done tastefully it might do some good. You can have a radically Democratic Solarian now. I do. 

 

Just keep in mind people don't really play this game to get sucked into the polar vortex of politics. Captains will shut down radical thinking quickly because it eats into productivity and crew morale. All you're going to achieve is a headache. 

[Coalf]

So can non-factioneers "win" the event?

Are players going to be rewarded for reporting them?

What is security going to do about all this?

Isn't this technically corporate espionage? Something I believe we already have laws for?
 

[SatinsPristOTD]

Also, on a side note: 

 

You're treating the Aurora like it's this.... Mini-colony instead of a work facility. I don't go to my job and say "I should be able to vote for my boss!" despite my political alignment..... 

 

That's some really back asswards thinking.

[DeadLantern]

2 minutes ago, SatinsPristOTD said:

Also, on a side note: 

 

You're treating the Aurora like it's this.... Mini-colony instead of a work facility. I don't go to my job and say "I should be able to vote for my boss!" despite my political alignment..... 

 

That's some really back asswards thinking.

In the NBT, will it not be a little mini colony?

 

[SatinsPristOTD]

20 minutes ago, DeadLantern said:

In the NBT, will it not be a little mini colony?

 

Yeah but that's a LONG ways away. This is for what's going on right now.

[Butterrobber202]

If we were to do this, we need to clearly outline the pros and cons of each side, then outline acceptable measures for Command to take to minimize player reports.

 

in responses to making ‘rebel’ characters, I believe it should be allowed, but they should expect to be dealt with like a rebel should be. With force.

[CampinKiller]

Both of these organizations goals very quickly veer into sedition/mutiny territory. Is association with these groups cause for arrest on these charges?

 

Also, this seems very hamfisted, as others have said, into a "unions good, evil corporate bad" mindset.

[ComradeCorbyn]

I agree with the opinions stated above in the fact that if this were to happen with new rebellious angsty characters popping up there would need to be some kind of player opposition, not just CCIAA as stated in the post.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Ill provide an in depth response as a FAQ later today or tomorrow to the great questions flying my way.

 

As to encouraging certain characters, the objectives and goals of each faction already follow existing meta. If there is a rebellious rebel without a cause in a hopeful situation this gives them a cause.

 

How nt handles them is still up for discussion. On top of existing regs, rewarding snitches was brought up as a possible alternative to firing.

[Mogelix]

 

1 hour ago, Senpai Jackboot said:

If there is a rebellious rebel without a cause in a hopeful situation this gives them a cause.

Again, this is a small research station in Tau Ceti space. Revolution rounds come off as over the top and often don't make good trains of thought: Sol annexed Biesel, therefore I kill NT command.

But let's say, security cracks down on the union. After a long, drawn out battle /standoff against the cargo anti authority snowflakes, security has most if not all of them in cuffs.

What then? Fire them all? I'd love to, but it comes off as a waste of a character. No one on the station, people who might've developed meaningful relationships with the character, can interact with this char because their now no longer on the station. Or maybe let them keep their job with a negotiated punishment, so the very next round, they can do the /exact same thing/, or encourage others to do /the exact same thing./

We can't force character development related to the trauma of getting your ass beat by police, so what's to stop them consistently being terrible? Again, all this does is make lore justified self antagging. 

What do you mean by the "the objectives and goals of each faction already follow existing meta"? Its bad enough we have to deal with one snowflake anti-authority figure who hacks vending machines, disagrees with security even if it'd cost them their life, and disobey command, why make it more then the meta for that character and instead the meta for a sizeable chunk of characters?

Rewarding snitches? Or as has been previously stated, some kind of player opposition to the unions? Jackboot, if you wanna host a canon rev event where the revs and loys have to be just a pain in the neck and not change anything on the station, be my guest, but don't make every round a rev round.

I know your FAQ hasn't come out, but it seems like you've already made up your mind.

Edited February 12, 2019 by Mogelix

[Carver]

I find it rather amusing in this thread that it isn't readily apparent to people that the unions are the bad guys here, not the 'good guys'.

[Mogelix]

1 hour ago, Carver said:

I find it rather amusing in this thread that it isn't readily apparent to people that the unions are the bad guys here, not the 'good guys'.

Not a single flaw, controversy or issue with the unions is stated. Meaning they are 'perfect'. Its a Mary Sue organization, and the morality of defensive but greedy and bloated corporation vs active and aggressive yet flawless workers union, paints a picture of good vs evil morality that is going to be done to death by union agitators, which I think is really one sided.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Mogelix

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I havent already made up my mind..... stop saying that.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Marlon Phoenix

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

23 minutes ago, Mogelix said:

Not a single flaw, controversy or issue with the unions is stated.

Have you seen their demands? dont you think raddems are a bit extreme? Do you need me to tell you how to argue against them? I can do that. Youre really making a lot of assumptions here and then using loaded terms like mary sue. its a bit weird dude

[Scheveningen]

The problem with this (and many of the other events in the past) is that the present gameplay setting is centered around a small station within the bounds of Tau Ceti but not in close proximity to Biesel, which makes it very disconnected from the issues that other facets of the Auroraverse has to deal with. It's very uncommon and also expected that most of the external problems to the Aurora won't affect playing the game very substantially, and nor does it end up affecting the state of affairs of what people discuss in-character. The NT relay does not count in regards to this, and nor do particular individuals who all do their own thing in intentionally pushing their background into the matters of a round.

This seems rather forced and ham-handed. Biesel itself is already rather disconnected from the problems of Sol (not to mention that the Alliance would reasonably prefer not to screw with a megacorporation with a list of Fleet Security Forces that are hardly exhaustive in themselves, and hires elite commando units to protect their own assets in the worst case scenario: https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Nanotrasen_Corporation#Stations.2C_Merchant_Fleet_and_the_Fleet_Security_Force), considering how it's essentially a liberal stronghold with massive corporate influence and corruption rather neck-deep in the culture.

I don't see why Tau Ceti needs to bear the brunt of internal problems the Sol Alliance is facing. Unless the setting changes to that of being inside Alliance territory, it's gonna seem really forced if you try to apply the SA's problems to Tau Ceti short of what's reasonable such as embargos and price hikes.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Scheveningen

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I thought that it would have gone without saying that this is not something just affecting the aurora, but the entire tau ceti system in some way, and be built up and explained properly, with a good explanation as to why it is impacting tau ceti as well as the alliance.

These issues bleed over borders. Do you not want more intersectionality between factions?

Edited February 13, 2019 by Marlon Phoenix