More factions? I say: hell yes!
here comes mines!
>>> The Secret Caliphate
Who do they represent?: Iran, Oman, Irak anl amost every Shiite part of the muslim world
Capital: Tabqazhan (acronysm of the 3 historic Safavid capitals, Tabriz, Qazvin and Isfahan
Special Ability: The hidden Imman
Gain a free SP for each 3 successful "secrets" revealed (carrying out a successful exploratory or spyionage mission). You can still flip cities even with security buildings present inside them (albeit it will cost you additional intrigue levels).
An original combination of spyionage, cultural and exploratory gameplay, the Secret Caliphate will be an extremely versatile faction due to the extra SP bonus, but it will force the players to have a strong exploration and spyionage corps in order to make the most out of it.
AI Behaviour: Will be initially peaceful, but will turn extremely agressive towards any faction that has adopted a different affinty as the game progresses. While trustworthy allies, their desire for adding new cities to their Caliphate via covert operations will not be deterred by friendship or alliance
Flavour quote:
"It was prophetized that this day will come. The veil has fallen, the lies have been exposed and cleansed with the help of the light of God. The end of times have come and gone, and after these last days, now Paradise on Earth awaits for the true believers" - Transcriptions of the second coming.
>>> Neue Hanse
Capital: Port Lübeck
Who do they represent?: Germany, Scandinavia, and the Baltic states, that is, most members of the old Hanseatic trading Leage plus a big chunk of Northern Europe
Special Ability: Meerkommerziellstrasse
Your maritime international trade routes yields +1 production for each sea resource worked by your city, they have a +25% increased range
A civilization that will force you to adapt both the location of your cities (towards a keen coastatal spot) and your gameplay, which will reward a focus in international commerce routes over internal ones, with all the pros and cons that it gives
AI Behaviour:Extremely reliable allys, they have a "moderate" level of agression and a tendency to grab outposts that they deem of interest for their maritime trade network
"Ours is a model that has been proven to create an industrious, prosperous society back in the Old World. This is not an opinon, but a raw fact proven by numbers again and again. However, this model needs constant revision, constant tweaking, and yes, constant expansion too. The seeding project was the only logic answer to the aforementioned necesity" - Neue Hanse 33th annual report, "projects and long term investment" section
>>> The Voice of the Pacha Mama
Who do they represent?: Indigenist movements from South America, most of them based around Bolivia, Peru and Chile
Capital: Tiwanaku la Nueva
Special Ability: Customs of our ancestors
Each defeated alien and assimilated alien nest will have a chance to join your army (30% and 60% respectively). +1 culture per citizen working non-improved land terrain (note how both miasma and terrascape won't be considered "improved" terrain...)
A civilization that will thrieve on either puriry or harmony route, the voice of the Pachamama will allow you to have a strong initial cultural push that can be renewed at the end game via affinity. The (possible) alien recruits are just the icing of the cake for a more flavourful faction in tune with nature
AI behaviour: Extremely expansionist, albeit not necessarily agressive. Very fickle, sometimes a downright erratic faction
Flavour quote:
"If the land is the mother of us all, then our people is a child who have been mistreated by our brothers back on the Old Earth. So we will stand it no more. We will embrace this new planet as our new mother, in hopes on landing on a better, more loving adoptive family and becoming the prodigal sons that we have always meant to be" -Excerpt from the last chapter of "The Children of Moon Clay", essay written by Nobel Price winner and leader of The Voice of Pachamama, Carmela Yupanqui "Ayacucha"
>>> Merkhaban Jewish diaspora
Who do they represent?: A newly form sect of Jewish mystics at odds with the old (well, current) interpretation of Judaism. The birth of Merkhaban Judaism was one of the key factors that desestabilized the Middle East and helped to detonate the third world war. Expelled from Israel yet more united than ever, they seek to find a new land to call home
Capital: Bei Ilai
Special Ability: The Ark of Bei Ilai
+50% to the yields of wonders inside your capital, -50% to manteinance costs of improvements worked by your capital, +1 production on resource tiles inside your capital
A civ built for tall gameplay, the Merkabbans will compel you to emplye a carefully planned building gameplay style. Place your capital well, plan for the long term and aim for the wonders that will bring the most of its special ability in order to build a truthly promised land beyond the stars!
AI beahviour: Very pacifist and isolationist, however, they will hold into grudges if attacked, sometimes to the point of being bone-headed
"Us Jewish people was expelled from Zion, and then, we came back to it. Man was expelled from the garden of Eden... and now, we will come back to it. And if we don't find our way back to it, this time we will build it from scratch" - Speech at Tel Aviv's launching pad
>>> Bilderberg Trading Company
Who do they represent?: A bunch of rich, secretive and powerful people that you have probably never heard of, along with their most loyal righ hand men and their families
Capital: Nova Liechestein Canton
Special Ability: First Interplanetary bank
Gain a free diplomatic favour with a faction of your choosing whenever you gain two affinity levels. Excess health is turned into energy (1 extra health = +2 extra energy)
Bilderberg's Trading Company is a faction meant to rule by using a skillful combination of diplomacy and economic domination. Use your "free" favors wisely, and buy more of your own by using the money generated by your health surplus. By the end of the game you may very well be untouchable without needing to fire a single shot, just by the mere virtue of people owning you favors...
AI behaviour: Treacherous and opportunistic, will gladly backstab you if they see any hint of weakness or think they can gain something from it. They won't hestiate at instigating conflict between factions in order to weaken two rivals at once
Flavour quote:
"Everything and everyone is up to be negotiated, sold, and bought. The misconception when envisioning a pan-econmical world lies within the presumption that the only currency valid at life's market is money alone" - Van Hemsleight VI, private notes.