I’m not sure about svalarheima. There doesn’t appear to be much to do there. I’d still probably go neoterra or Varuna. Agree with your three points too, PanO is fine unless you’re an atek and yu jing is probably okay to live in.
From my POV: 1- Haqqislam Yes, I know I'm biased, but hear me out, Haqqislam values Humanism and Knowledge above all; and to me personally, that's the standard all Mankind should strive to. Yes, they have corruption and crime, but they have mechanism in place to counter them. Not even the Sultan is beyond oversight. 2- O12 Similar to Haqqislam, O12 is a place of understanding. They actively try to include every faction, so they can retain their seat as overseers of thr Human Sphere. They rank #2 because Politics, like dice, are fickle bitches; and can change for worse if a good disinformation campaign succeeds in changing people's opinion. 3- Bakunin A place where you can re-invent yourself and actually live what RPGs have allowed you to pretend for ages? Yes please. What if I have to grow a tail for it? I'm going to be Wolverine and no one will stop me! 4- The rest of the Maya-connected Human Sphere and the Combined Army. Whether it's PanO's Corporate Hypercapitalist mentality, Yu Jing's Authoritarian Dogma or the EI controlled Galactic Empire; a world where you have to "sit down, shut up, and let your 'betters' rule every aspect of your life" has never been healthy for people like me, so I'd steer clear of those If I had a choice. 5- Ariadna Being an Atek is hard at best and life-threatening at worse in the Human Sphere. Living in a world deliberately forced to remain at best "Second Class Citizens of the Human Sphere, good for fighting the Combined Army because they don't have Cubes" feels sketchy to me. However, if you don't plan on leaving home and experience all the advancements Humanity has made, it's not such a bad place to live in.
I feel myself not comfortable, when some talks about hassassins begins (like snake is hissing...) So, someone are beyond oversight or trying to be so. I don’t like to have some people choosing who deserve humanism and knowledge. It is like with position: “But you are not guilty, why to worry about?” Because they are not understandable for some people and use terroristic methods. Could it be excused because of higher goal? I am not sure. But I really like this part of haqqislam. Lots of complex stories and characters could be created. So, this is just a separated thoughts) (I like all of this discussions about the world of infinity.) Oh! Not long time ago we discussed with a friend NA2 factions. And I hope no one would be against to touch this topic too. Because life under some forces is a world of mercenary) Let’s image some brawlers group that are sitting and relaxing in some kind of room. May be one of them had a good job and generous emlpoyer. And then they’ve started to talk about their places of work. - But do you remember that run with Druze? - I’d prefer to forget, but it was really hard. At first I was sure, that things are going well. They are tough guys, have reputation. We were met before the mission, but after that I was in some kind of mod of thugs... - You are a thug too! *laugh* - Shut your... pfff it is different *laugh* I mean, there was not much of them. Some diggers with patched old armor (I doubt, they had a proper soft for it), yuan yuans, those weirdos, and that king of things. Had to push myself to the limit. It was not only about job, it was about to survive. After that no one ask, what we did and why... - True, like my run with Ikari. There you are doing what you told. And if you are afraid to get hands dirty - better not to touch it. - Then go StarCo! - Hah! If they would get me, but who knows. Everyone deserves a chance, I guess. They have a good reputation. And worked hard for it. It would not be a vacation, but good reputation also requires fair payment for the job. I just think, that sometime they are spare some money and patch old tech. - Better to spare some on remotes than on people. They treated you well, but asked not less in return. - ForCo. - What ForCo? - The guys with money. - Yes, I felt myself like a super star while I was working with them... - You were only on a couple of photos in Maya with them and in the mask! - I know... their stars got lots of attention, but they know, how to make business. I am sure, that they would not make something problematic. If you want to be a hero - choose fight you would win. - They are cold... but Kaplans are working there. - Too much pathos. Kaplans are not a quality mark. - But a good reputation mark, I guess. I worked with them. May be they are idealists, but I like their sense of honor. You could be sure to not get shot in the back. Trusty guys... but never mention druze near them! - I saw them in a WhiteCo! Such guys like us are not allowed there. Something serious structure. And it is strange to see such tech together. - Hey, don’t underestimate us. Some serious structure for us is Dahshat. I worked there. Had to deal with discipline. Mostly it was a problem for those desert bikers, but even they were used too it. We were protecting a sector in oasis. You’d never be in such a place for your own money... - Yes, worth even that bullet in my leg. (Sorry is this format isn’t for this place.)
While prominent on the tabletop due to their military forces, the Neocatholic church is not the only religion with significant political power, not is it the sole arbiter of resurrections. The are lobbyist groups that represent secular, geographical, and ideological interests. While the church is powerful it has peer organisations, and the Hexahedron controls military resurrections, the church is however unusual in the way it allows people to earn resurrections through service.
I don't know whether Combined is top of the list or several spots below the lowest part of the list. It's likely one or the other, and I'm leaning towards the latter. Bear in mind that Infinity is a bright vision of the future. It isn't your typical dark grim cyberpunk setting (outside of Japan). Most places are going to be good places to live and most factions are actually quite dialled down on the authoritarian or inequality side of things; PanO is hyper-corporate, but the shareholders are the general public and they've managed to move away from late-stage-capitalist-dystopia; Yu Jing is an authoritarian two-party system compared to PanO, but it is aggressively enforcing egalitarianism for most of its ethnicities (as opposed to just one of them). I also do think Deirann has the correct take on it that it's more about where you live than in which faction.
Agreed. My choice was made on a very personal level and saying upfront that I'm biased towards Haqqislam because it's the Faction that made me look into Infinity and the only one I like to play. But going with the fact that the game's background is the shadow wars fought behind the scenes, tells us that indeed living a regular life under any of the Human Sphere banners is at the very least an acceptable lifestyle. As long as you don't live on Earth. That place is a cesspool
