Faction

Up to date for latest version, 0.98a.

There are several Factions in Starsector which the player can interact with.

These factions control multiple colonies in the Core Worlds, whether they be planets, stations, or planets with an associated station.

These colonies also features markets that the player can interact with. They would also spawn Independents fleets or fleets of the respective faction, mainly Trade convoys or Patrol fleets.

By default at the start of each playthrough, all factions are Neutral to the player except the Pirates and the Luddic Path, who start as Hostile.

Gameplay

Relationship tiers

Each faction has a defined relationship with the player and other factions. The default, Neutral stance allows basic interactions such as trade with the faction.

A more positive relationship will give a range of bonuses including reduced chances of investigations into criminal activity, and access to military markets. Conversely, increasingly negative relations will result in Hostile behaviour.

Relationship Tiers
Range	Tier	Effects
75 to 100	Cooperative
50 to 75	Friendly
25 to 49	Welcoming
10 to 24	Favourable	Player can access Military Markets belonging to the faction.
-9 to 9	Neutral
-24 to -10	Suspicious
-49 to -25	Inhospitable	The faction's markets will not permit the player's fleet to dock with the Transponder on.
-74 to -50	Hostile	The faction's fleets will now engage the player or respective faction.
-100 to -75	Vengeful

Effects of player actions on reputation

The following player actions will raise reputation:

• Trading with the faction.
• Joining ongoing battles on the faction's side.
• Completing missions posted by the faction (e.g. Survey Planet, Analyze Entity, etc.).
• Fulfilling bounties posted by the faction (includes commission 'standing' bounties, as detailed below).
• Turning over AI Cores (only for factions that will accept them).

The following player actions will lower reputation:

• Smuggling / Trading on the Black Market with Transponder on.
• Trading with the faction's enemies, in systems where the faction has a presence (exception: Pirates, you can trade with enemies of the pirates without penalty).
• Being caught with the Transponder off in enforced System space.
• Being caught tampering with a Comm Relay.
• Seizing or destroying any faction-owned equipment such as Comm Relays, Nav Buoys, or Sensor Arrays, if the faction has an active presence in the same system as that equipment (causes instant Hostile (-50) status).
• Destroying faction ships, harrying their fleets, or raiding their markets (causes instant Hostile (-50) status if player identity is known, has certain exceptions).
• Catching fleets belonging to the faction with Interdiction Pulses.
• Bombardments (causes instant Hostile (-50) status, Tactical will cause reputation loss only with the targeted faction, Saturation will cause massive reputation loss with multiple factions).
• Inflicting non-insignificant damage through friendly-fire during a battle you joined.

Note that some of these actions will not modify the player's reputation beyond a certain point.

Commissions

The Hegemony, Tri-Tachyon, Luddic Church, Persean League, and Sindrian Diktat offer faction commissions for independent operators who wish to enter their service.

Taking a commission provides:

• Immediate +5 Reputation increase.
• Monthly stipends of 20,000¢ + (player level * 5,000¢).
• A permanent standing bounty that awards credits for destroying ships that belong to their enemies factions.
  • The amount is 300¢ per ship, multiplied for larger vessels (2x for destroyers, 3x for cruisers, 5x for capitals & stations)
  • This includes pirates, and can stack with System Bounties.
• Access to higher tiers of the factions' military submarkets, with more valuable ships and equipment becoming available at higher relation levels.

All of the faction's enemies will become hostile to the player, with a maximum -50 reputation whenever they are at active hostilities with the commissioning faction. When hostilities end, reputation will return to its previous value but with an additional -10 rep penalty.

The player's fleet & faction will also gain bands of the commissioned faction's color for their circle to indicate the commission.

Commissions will be cancelled by the faction if player relations with them drop to Suspicious (-10) or lower reputation level, and may be resigned which partially restores reputation with most currently hostile factions and drops reputation with the now former commissioned faction. Resigning costs -20 reputation with the commissioning faction, which is halved if done in-person via a colony's comm directory.

Factions that do not issue commissions will not require one to make purchases on the military submarket.

Hostilities

At times, factions will declare war on each other for six months to a year, attacking each others' fleets. If the player holds a commission with either faction, they will be automatically made Hostile (-50) to the other faction; their reputation with the enemy will be restored to Neutral (0) when hostilities ends.

At the start of a game (c+206.03.02), there are always three hostilities:

• Hegemony and Tri-Tachyon
• Hegemony and Persean League
• Tri-Tachyon and Luddic Church

This doesn't applies for Pirates or the Luddic Path, who simply have negative relations to all rather than hostility events, and they will always remain hostile with their enemies.

Colony Crises

Main article: Colony Crises

If the player starts their own Colony and meets certain conditions, they will start facing aggression over certain issues from these various factions that can be resolved in various ways.

Here is an overview on Colony Crises. Refer to the main article for more details:

Table of Colony Crises
Faction	Criteria	Aggression	Resolution	Rewards
Hegemony	AI Usage	AI Inspection Fleets	Defeat 3 sets of Fleets	Unfettered use of AI
Persean League	Player Colonies Size	System Blockade Fleet	Defeat the Fleets or join the Persean League	Gain Established Polity or League Development Programs on all colonies.
Luddic Church	Luddic Majority on Player Colony	Takeover Fleets	Defeat the Fleets	Luddic Majority Benefits Doubles
Tri-Tachyon	Commodities Competition	Mercenary Raid + Commerce Raiding	Deal with the Mercenaries + Destroy enough Tri-Tachyon assets	Possible Trade Agreement, increases Accessibility for both Tri-Tachyon & Player Colonies
Sindrian Diktat	Fuel Production Competition	Saturation Bombardment Fleets	Defeat the Fleets	25% Increased Fuel Export Income
Pirates	Player Colonies Exist	Raiding Fleets	Defeat the Fleets and/or make a deal with Jorien Kanta	Gain Piracy Respite on all colonies
Luddic Path	Sufficient Tech Presence	Saturation Bombardment Fleets	Defeat the Fleets	Luddic Path Cells interest requirement doubled
[REDACTED]	Colonized a system with their presence	Saturation Bombardment Fleets	Destroy the Battlestation in the system	None except the Crisis will stop repeating

Major Factions

Hegemony

Hegemony

Main article: Hegemony

The Hegemony is a militarized polity formed by the remnants of the Fourteenth Battlegroup that made their way to the Persean Sector after the Collapse. They consider themselves to be the stand-in representative of the Domain and all the other populated worlds to be part of it, until the day that the Gates open up again and the Domain returns.

Their worlds are located in the eastern portion of the Core Worlds. They primarily use low-tech ships, but special Fourteenth Battlegroup variants of the founding fleets' designs can also be found.

The leader of the Hegemony is the High Hegemon, and the office is currently filled by Baikal Daud.

Persean League

Persean League

Main article: Persean League

The Persean League is a large alliance of planets founded to oppose the heavy hand of the Hegemony, united to maintain their own independence. Though each member is generally allowed their own internal independence, governance at the League level is dominated by the upper class of Kazeron, whose vast Ship Hulls & Weapons production gives them significant political leverage over the other members.

Their worlds are mainly located in the northwestern portion of the Core Worlds, with a scattered towards the northeast. They primarily use midline ships and utilize DEM missiles.

The Persean League's head of state is the Prime Demarchon, with the office currently held by the patriarch of gens Hannan, Reynard Hannan.

Luddic Church

Luddic Church

Main article: Luddic Church

The Luddic Church, formally the Church of Galactic Resemption, is a religious movement consisting of various united sects that's founded shortly after the Collapse. They revere a figure by the name of Ludd and their teaching of pacifism, asceticism and rejection of technology usage for an idyllic agrarian lifestyle. Luddics believed that for their activism, Ludd was imprisoned and transferred through the Gate system, consequentually leading to the Collapse and thus, giving humanity a chance for redemption from their technological shackles.

Their worlds are located in the southwestern section of the Core Worlds. They primarily use low-tech ships separate from the Hegemony.

The spiritual leader of the church is the Arch-Curate, with the office currently held by Sophronia Jaspis. The leader of the Church's militant arm, the Knights of Ludd, is the Excubitor Orbis, currently Gideon Oak.

Tri-Tachyon

Tri-Tachyon

Main article: Tri-Tachyon

Tri-Tachyon is one of the few corporations that survived the Collapse in the Persean Sector and the only one with multi-planet holdings. They led AI Core research and development before the Collapse, of which the right over its usage led to the First and Second AI War.

Their worlds and stations are mainly located in the northern portion of the Core Worlds with a station to the south. They primarily use high-tech ships, and thus also use more phase ships than the other factions.

Tri-Tachyon is a corporate oligarchy which primarily answers to a Chief Executive Officer, currently Artemisia Sun, but their authority can ultimately be subordinated by the Corporate Board.

Sindrian Diktat

Sindrian Diktat

Main article: Sindrian Diktat

The Sindrian Diktat is a military dictatorship located entirely within the Askonia Star System and is the Persean Sector's biggest fuel producer. It was founded by former Hegemony admiral and hero, Philip Andrada, after an attempted intervention in the Askonia System went wrong with the complete destruction of its capital of Opis. Andrada is the founder of the office of Supreme Executor of the Diktat, and currently holds the title.

They are located in the centre of the Core Worlds, primarily use midline ships and also their own special variants with Special Modifications.

Independent

Independents

Main article: Independent

The Independents are a loose collection of the various neutral / independent polities of the Persean Sector and also consists of smugglers, independent trade convoys, mercenary fleets, prospectors, and scavengers.

Their worlds are found all over the Core Worlds. Compared to the other factions, they utilize the entire tech spectrum of ships except for faction-specific variants.

As they are not a unified, monolithic entity in the way most other factions are, the Independents do not possess a "capital world", nor do they have a designated faction leader.

Pirates

Pirates

Main article: Pirates

Pirates are a vague group of mercenaries, raiders, and criminals encompassing the Underworld of the Persean Sector, attacking trade convoys opportunistically. They are hostile to almost all other factions (with the partial exception of the Luddic Path), and are often the target of bounties. Most pirates respect the Pirate Queen Jorien Kanta, who has built herself a dynasty within the Underworld and can generally be considered to be their "leader".

Their worlds and stations are located all over the Core Worlds, and sometimes in uninhabited systems with Pirate Bases for raiding organization. They primarily use low-tech ships, some of which have been modified into Pirate variants with varying degrees of differences from the original version. A majority of these variants are weaker than their counterparts due to being "technicals" or lacking access to stronger weapons.

Luddic Path

Luddic Path

Main article: Luddic Path

The Luddic Path is a radical Luddic splinter group of the Luddic Church that considers the main church to be too weak and compromising. They seek to destroy "ungodly" technology through violent means, setting up Pather Cells on planets with enough technological development to earn their ire. Though largely decentralized, they consider Livewell Cotton to be their greatest leading figure.

Their worlds are located in the centre of the Core Worlds, and like Pirates would also set-up their own Luddic Path Bases in uninhabited systems to support the Pather Cells. They primarily use low-tech ships, most of which have been modified into Luddic Path variants with significant differences, mainly due to the built-in Safety Overrides and Ill-Advised Modifications.

Other factions

Domain Exploration Derelict

Derelicts

Main article: Domain Exploration Derelict

The Derelicts are the leftover drones from the Domain's efforts in exploring the Persean Sector, located in some of the uninhabited systems beyond the Core Worlds. They consist solely of low-tech drones, often with high amounts of D-mods due to the centuries spent in dormancy and sometimes have Gamma Core as an officer. They are usually found guarding Derelict probes, survey ships, and motherships.

COMSEC warning
This page or section may contain spoiler elements for Starsector.

Remnants

Remnants

Main article: Remnants

The Remnants are the leftover "assets" from the 1st AI War originally created by Tri-Tachyon, located in some of the uninhabited systems beyond the Core Worlds, denoted by the warning beacon outside the system in Hyperspace. They consist solely of high-tech drones and can have all the different AI Cores as an officer, varying between sizes and different groups. They will actively patrol the systems they are located in, with the higher danger ones supported by a Remnant Nexus.

Omega

Main article: Omega

	"query. query. query target. is omega? omega? no. revert function."
–[REDACTED] over comms-link

Threat

Threat

Main article: Threat

	THREAT DETECTED
–In-Game Text

Shrouded Dweller

Shrouded Dweller

Main article: Shrouded Dweller

	"Sir!" Your sensors officer's voice is strained. "Picking up - from the light - they came from out of nowhere!"
–In-Game Text

Minor and inactive factions

The Domain of Man

Main article: The Domain

The Domain

The Domain was a massive multi-system polity that spanned a good amount of the Orion Arm that started colonization efforts in the Persean Sector, until all contact was lost when the Gates shutdown during the Collapse. Almost all technology ~ whether ships, weapons, etc. ~ are either its legacy or built upon its remains.

The Domain as a faction doesn't appear in the game, as it is extinct in the Persean Sector, though the Hegemony can be considered its effective successor.

So far, the existence of at least three distinct battlegroups has been confirmed: Battlegroup XIV, Battlegroup VI, and a set of "newer battlegroups" that field the Pegasus as their primary capital ship.

Corporations

Altair Exotech

Altair Exotech

Altair Exotect is a shipwright company and designed the "Cruiser School" ships like the Pegasus, Champion, Gryphon, Heron and Vigilance. Also licensed the Odyssey to frontier companies such as Eridani-Utopia. Has no surviving presence in the Persean Sector post-Collapse.

Altair is a medieval abbreviation for an Arabic phrase meaning the "flying eagle", and the name of the twelfth brightest star in the night sky.

From the color scheme and the similar function of being explorations vessels to the Odyssey it can reasonably assumed that the Apogee is also a product of Altair Exotech.

The corporate logo for Altair Exotech is utilized on the display of the Midline Blueprints package.

Eridani-Utopia Terraforming Corporation

Eridani Utopia

Eridani-Utopia is a terraforming megacorporation dedicated to transforming suitable planets into habitable worlds. They designed and created the Stellar Mirrors and Stellar Shades, Autonomous Mantle Bore, and Soil Nanites. Defunct after the collapse, stranded elements of the corporation managed to terraform Qaras.

Known planets that Eridani-Utopia was developing/developed:

• Barad, Garnir Extraction Depot (Corvus). Built mass drivers to export volatiles to feed terraforming efforts on Asharu.
• Asharu (Corvus). In the process of terraforming before the Collapse using ice from Barad for water and Stellar Shades negate the heat.
• Kapteyn Starworks (Isirah). Built to serve the corporation's needs.
• Gilead (Canann). Successfully stabilized the climate and ecological processes after initial spore ship seeding. Was occupied by the Luddic Church after the Collapse.
• Ithaca (Penelope's Star). Intended to be terraformed before the Collapse threw the sector into chaos.
• Ogygia (Penelope's Star). Was to be terraformed with its sibling Ithaca.
• Yama (Naraka). Was terraformed and colonized to support Nachiketa fuel refinement.
• Qaras (Yma). Terraformed Post-Collapse by remnants of the corporation.

Eridanus is a constellation in the southern hemisphere, often depicted as a flowing river in ancient star maps. Its Greek name may have originated from the Kengir/Sumerian city of Nunki/Eridu, one of the earliest Mesopotamian cities. Utopia is a phrase coined by English writer Thomas Moore from Greek meaning "no place", and is commonly now used when describing impossibly perfect societies.

Ko Combine

Ko-Combine

Ko Combine is an industrial corporation with a post-Collapse presence in the Persean Sector. They are the creators of the civilian drone tender Shepherd, the experimental Monitor frigate, the Catalytic Core, and the Combat Drone Replicators. Tactistar, a mercenary corporation and subsidiary of the Ko Combine, purchased the rediscovered Mark IX Autocannon blueprints and built a prototype.

Ko Combine has purchased administration rights to the Barren World Agreus in the Arcadia Star System, rebuilding their fortune on shipbreaking and reconstruction.

Tactistar Space Security Corporation

Tactistar

	"I would be pleased to accept your offer on behalf of the Tactistar Space Security Corporation," the fleet commander beams. [He/She] waves a hand, "We have people who can sort out the details, but provisionally we'll substitute a few of the ident tokens in the standard form and proceed from there. In fact, we could begin shifting operational assets immediately... upon payment in full."
–Tactistar Operations Command Admiral

Tactistar, formally Tactistar Space Security Corporation, is a nominally Independent mercenary contractor. Previously operating as Tactistar-Combine when the Ko Combine corporation had ownership, they were able to re-privatize themselves from the licensing and sale of the Mark IX Autocannon.

They now primarily serve as the hatchetmen of the Tri-Tachyon Corporation. Capable of fielding several large, well-equipped, and specially modified fleets, they are sent to deal with organizations that executives at Tri-Tachyon consider to be potential threats or rivals, though these actions are not necessarily unanimously sanctioned by the whole executive board.

They are brutal and efficient, though their loyalty lays with the highest bidder. So for the right price, they may even be convinced to turn their guns against their original contractee. While the "Independent"-flagged Commerce Raiders Tri-Tachyon employs against player colonies also utilize specially modified and very advanced ships, it is unknown if they are also Tactistar assets.

Mbaye-Gogol Autofab (MGA)

Mbaye-Gogol

Mbaye-Gogol Autofab is a manufacturing company that created the Dealmaker Holosuite, the MGA-440 Starliner, the MGA-430 Nebula and the MGA-220 Pegasus/Mudskipper and 2 models of Explorarium drones: the Defender and the Bastillon.

A portion of its directorate that was stranded in the Persean Sector survived the Collapse in uncertain ways and is rumored to rule over Nomios and its Cryosanctum in the Arcadia system.

Mbaye is a Senegalese given name that can also be a family name. Gogol was the last name of Nikolai Gogol, a Russian novelist of Ukrainian descent and was one of the first to use the technique of the grotesque.

Known in pre-0.95.1 versions as Huan-Gogel Autofab (HGA).

Orion Shipyards

Orion Shipyards

Orion Shipyard are a ship-manufacturing company that produced some of the heavier ships in the Domain navy. They designed the Drover and had a rivalry with Altair Exotech in naval procurement for the Domain navy. Post-Collapse status in the Persean Section unknown, though presumably destroyed.

The corporate logo for Orion Shipyards is utilized on the display of the Low Tech Blueprints package.

Orion is a prominent constellation, named after the giant huntsman of Greek legend who was venerated as a hero.

Stencor Corporation

The Stencor Corporation was an arms and industrial equipment manufacturing company dating back to the very early Domain Era. Primarily known for the production of high-velocity linear catapults for mining and terraforming applications, Stencor would branch out into military contract work by hardening these tools for combat applications. Failure to meet production timetables set in place by the Domain Armada would see their contracts for arms terminated, and handed to rival Orion Shipyards.

Between their loss of Armada contracts, and mounting controversies ranging from defective, black-market copies of their mass driver designs flooding the market to increasing use of their heavier models by insurgent forces, Stencor's reputation entered rapid decline. Despite being found not at fault for the proliferation and weaponization of their designs among brigands, and attempting to sue Orion on the accusation that they were responsible for the leaks, Stencor ultimately succumbed to bankruptcy and dissolved long, long before the Collapse.

Bhilai Astra Group

Bhilai Astra Group (also known as the Bhilai Space Group or Bhilai Exospace) is a weapons manufacturer and was a key supplier to the 200th Legion. They were the original designers of both the Ion Pulser and Ion Beam. The fragments that survived the Collapse now serves the Hegemony Navy.

Bhilai is a city in eastern central India and is a major industrial center. Astra is the accusative plural of Astrum meaning star in Latin.

Exodyne Biotech

Exodyne Biotech is a corporation presumably for biological technology who created the Biofactory Embryo. Post-Collapse status in the Persean Section unknown, though presumably destroyed.

Fabrique Orbitale

Fabrique Orbitale is a manufacturing company and an old rival Tri-Tachyon. They created the Kite-class shuttle, the Fullerene Spool, the Plasma Dynamo, and the Terminator Drone's chassis and systems. No longer exists in the Persean Sector post-Collapse.

GA-X Industries

GA-X Industries is a corporation who manufactured the Assault Chaingun. Post-Collapse status in the Persean Section unknown, though presumably destroyed.

Interstellar Dynamics

A Domain-era corporation, only mentioned in the Timeline. Destroyed in the Persean Sector after the Collapse.

Administrations

Askonian Polity

The Askonian Polity was the original polity that ruled the Askonia Star System from the capital moon of Opis which orbited the Gas Giant Salus. The Askonia Crisis started in c+180, a civil war over domestic issues, potential Persean League membership and various outside interference.

In c+181, the Hegemony deployed an intervention fleet led by admiral Philip Andrada to counteract any potential Persean League expansion. Opis was destroyed by a Planetkiller by unknown perpetrators, leading to immediate chaos, after which Andrada formed the Sindrian Diktat with the aid of most of the Hegemony intervention fleet.

Surviving remnants of the polity formed the Askonian Revolutionary Council.

Askonian Revolutionary Council

Commonly referred to simply as the ARC, the Askonian Revolutionary Council is based on Umbra, and has been actively fighting the Sindrian Diktat as freedom fighters or terrorists, depending on who you ask. Given how resource-sparse Umbra is, and with the Sindrian Diktat's control of the majority of Askonia, the ARC relies heavily on smuggled goods and pirate contacts to sustain itself.

They do possess a network of agents and informants across the Askonia system, though agents of the Diktat appear to be more aware of their operations than the ARC would like. Moreover, ideological differences have resulted in them struggling to form alliances with other anti-Andrada organizations, such as the Luddic Church dissidents operating on Volturn, or the Charterists of Nortia.

That being said, despite its shortages and shortcomings, the ARC is still sufficiently organized as a military force to have its own distinctly-named defensive fleet operating near Umbra, and controls one of the two Pirate-operated Military Bases in the Persean Sector.

Maxios Charter

The original polity of Maxios in the Magec Star System that evacuated the world in c+5 as the terraforming project failed. The survivors settled a mining station in the Guayota Disk and re-organized as Nova Maxios, ultimately building the station up into the primary shipyard for most of the Sector's Independent polities.

Mayasuran Terraforming Cabal

The Mayasuran Terraforming Cabal was a once powerful polity that ruled Mayasura of the Mayasura Star System. It was annihilated in c+82 when the Luddic Path sabotaged one of its 3 astropolises, enormous orbital habitats, to drop on the planet, killing millions, after which the Hegemony victoriously attacked the Mayasuran navy and temporarily held the system.

In response to this, the Persean League was formed in c+83 to protect its own independent sovereignty, which Mayasura later becomes part of.