I am pretty happy with N4 rulechanges and believe Nomads got a reasonable boost with the profile updates. It may be strange for most of you, but I still feel seriously bummed by N4 when it comes to Nomads. And that is simply because of the background, something most players simply ignore or they choose to ignore the bits they don't like. I loved the Corregidor background in N3 and it was the reason I started with Nomads. Corregidor were anarcho-syndicalists. Free people who have to survive in a Human Sphere that is ruled by capitalism and still maintain their ideals and lifestyles. They can defend it because they are specialised workers and have their armed forces to defend themselves against exploitation coming from greedy companies who employ them. Union power! A great theme, something that inspires me, a force I feel good about playing. And now? Alguaciles are employed to smash the heads of workers who demand their rights if what ask for goes against the "best interests" of Corregidor. Do the Alguaciles now fight against the Intruders and Mobile Brigadas who still defend worker's rights? UTRACO sounds like one of those shitty unions from real life that actually work for the benefit for the employers, not the employees. They want the workers to be "sensible" and back away from their rights, allowing themselves to be exploited. That is seriously sickening and not something I want to represent on the tabletop. It is too close to real life to just ignore. I understand that all the Infinity factions have their deal of evil, but this new idea for Corregidor is just a bummer and does not make me want to play them. I accept that in cyberpunk, everything has to be in shades of grey, but why can't there be a faction that is more of the good guys? Corregidor already has a shady past and present written into it, CB really did not have to ruin the unionist idea.
Admittedly I haven't read the fluff of N4 yet, but keep in mind that fluff in Infinity seldomly seems to be written objectively. Who's good and who's bad is very much in the eye of the beholder and subject to who (in the Infinity universe) provides the information. And a lot seems to be hyperbole. You probably could treat this section about Nomads/Corregidor very well as hyperpower propaganda. Or not. As you like and as suits your idea of the universe. And just because some parts of Corregidors seem to be bad (they are former criminals after all) doesn't mean that all parts are and that your faction of Corregidor/Nomads isn't on the 'right side' of things and standing for some good ideals.
/Mexican General sips another beer - Yep, those poor irradiated miners can sure take care of themselves. Here's to Corregidor!
So gutier went full grimdark again? I mean, the fact that the line infantries of the """anarchist""" faction are all cops was kind of a red herring, but that's certainly an, eh, turn for the alguaciles. I guess even in space ACAB still applies.
I think that change was to show that nomads are more of a capitalist faction than anarchists or comunists (As some people wrongly thought). Seems to me that, because the nomad society has become stronger, their rulers want a better control over their people, so this changes make a bit of sense to me, at least until I finish to read everything.
Then don't? Or create your own fluff for your own very special army. That's just a game, after all, and it's not that bad that CB drives and shifts the narrative and that Infinity universe is not static.
advancing narrative that bring some changes is good, changes in the old lore to fit new one is not so good.
The part about UTRACO is written from the pov of a Hexahedron officer. Sorry, Pal, but you are believing PanO propaganda And later in that article it is mentioned that there are still workforces without UTRACO members - and that there are always infiltrated Intruders to be expected. As for the Alguaciles clashing with the then-to-be Evaders: do not forget that in history some of the fiercest fights in left-wing groups were against groups with nearly common believes (Bolschewiki/Menschewiki/Trotzkists in post-revolution Russia or Socialdemocrats SPD/USPD against Communists KPD in german Weimarer Republik in the 1920s-1930s).
It could also be worth remembering, beyond that fact that a Hexahedron officer wrote the UTRACO part, that a small starship cruising the void with always limited resources and always in a state of undeclared war with several of the powers of the sphere has a little less wriggle room to work with in any kind of dispute.
That's a retcon about as heavy handed as GW making Templars (who in 4e codex were last vestiges of all out Imperial Truth in 4e, just hiding behind quasi-religious semblance), into all out Emperor-worshippers on par with being essentially loyalist Word Bearers. It's a bad move, it alienates old fans from any future fluff and from being on even ground with any new players who will only know the "new version of Alguaciles / Templars". I still cringe from all the Templar players who are all acting as if God-Emperor was the core of Templar belief all along. This will be the same for Nomad players and seems what OP is feeling right now.
Stagnant narratives are the best narratives. I want a setting to play in, not a story that changes as I try to understand and represent it.
Apparently, this is a framed piece written by an unreliable narrator. It's similar to KoDali downplaying the EI's influence over its servants – not exactly a retcon but rather an attempt of misdirection.
Well, the info on the strike that led to the formation of the EVAders is from Sabot!, the Maya channel, while the info on UTRACO is from a Hexahedron captain, and written for an internal Hexahedron audience. Additionally, it is some what interesting that the Red Auction sits fine with people, as does the child labor on the Green Teams, or the giving maras free reign in multiple housing modules in Lazaretto, but the actions of a government on a permanent war footing with other nations seeking their extermination to maintain stability and income are bridge too far. Still, de gustibus non est disputandum.
Yes. Corregidor was always pragmatic to the extrem. Since the begining in the background, you have to be useful to the ship in one way or another or you literally get out of it. EVAders but also Wildcats and Jaguars, they were all created by using the same method: do what the ship want you to do or go say hello to the stars. Alguaciles were always ruthless enforcers of the ship survival. But as soon as you are usefull to the ship, it will do anything to save your skin because you are an asset working for the common survival of Corregidor. Intruder will teach you how to hold the line while Brigadas are coming to the rescue. Bobcats will jump in hell to extract you from it. I don't see Utraco as a deviation of the initial fluff. Just an added detail showing that Corregidor survival is above anything else.
And that those tasked with the survival of the ship (the Warden and Sarmiento) will do whatever they deem necessary to save that ship.
Exactly, the ship has always been all. And they have never been afraid to put down those who threaten the good of the ship.
From the faction (Nomad Nation) that buys babies to shove their brains in jars, a little skull cracking isn't out of character. Survival and profit.
Corregidor is extremely pragmatic. The Alguaciles seem to me to be more like internal enforcers of the Union in this circumstance; basically you cannot strike without Union approval. Corregidor have not build an anarcho-syndicalist paradise, they have structure their society on those terms but have their fair share of good and bad. It's working nothing that we also have backgroud (Heliod mining disputes) where Corregidor 100% backs it's striking workers and indeed deploys to protect them against corporate interests.
