[Brian Swartz]

You don't get any!! J/k, I was too tired to a proper write-up of that last night and I worked this morning, but here's your briefing. Not planning on advancing at all until you have a chance to look at it.

Faction Briefing: Inquistor Roe Laren

Before we get to the bad news, I should mention that there is some good news. The Kroll Sector Separatists, and the conquered Kroll themselves who wanted to return to being ruled by their own people have ceased to exist as even potentially disrupted forces. Their causes have basically been unable to attract support and empathy from the common Architreuthis. The slave issue is the only issue. Here's where we stand at the current date in terms of factions.

** Loyalists -- 83 of 149(56%). This is actually a hair better than it was a few years ago. Once again these are those loyal to the Collective and its way of doing things. The higher this is, the better.

** Emancipation Movement -- 25 members(17%), 99 Attraction, 50% support. This is the one that, indirectly, is causing the problem. Unfortunately this is the one faction that we cannot directly manage in any way. Their objective is Stoking the Fire, radicalizing several slaves, which they just achieved for the first time. They will continue to do this and, aside from possible purging a significant number of our citizens(at which point more might well just join anyway) there is no direct solution here. Potential ideas to come at the end of this briefing.

** Malcontent Slaves -- 20 members(13%), 200 Attraction, 25% Support. This is the more troublesome of the two slave factions, and the one that is the current issue. Right now there is a 5% chance monthly of activating Insterstellar Railroad, which would result in several slave pops being smuggled out of the empire. This is the least bad of their three activities -- if left unchecked, things will get worse but this is the first stage.

** Docile Slaves -- 17 members(11%), 159 Attraction, 10% Support. The less difficult slave faction to deal with, they do not yet have enough support to require immediate action.


Those are the current factions. Micaw(the arid Shantari planet) is the biggest issue here. 11 of the 20 Malcontents, 5 of the 25 Emancipators are located there. The others are all on the occupied Kroll worlds. There is not a single Architreuthis so far as I can tell who is not either a Docile Slave or Loyalist. The differences in ethics, unhappiness as being enslaved/conquered push the alien species over the edge into causing more problems.

** Governor Mitigation -- Things seemed to have improved a bit in the Kroll Sector when a governor was assigned, though they aren't particularly good. If we put our best governor in charge of the sector, which right now is Deaconi Palmieri by a mile, that would likely improve things a bit. Not enough to get rid of all the problems I don't think, but every little bit counts.

** Widespread Purging -- Stalin would have nothing on us if we did this, basically going through and 'cleansing' the empire of undesirable elements. I have confirmed this can be done even for those in sectors. It takes six months, and is likely to tick off others on the planet as well as other empires who don't favor purging(which is most of them). Possibly a last resort, but we can do it. Of course we should remember if we lose the slaves in this or any other way, everything they've been producing will be gone from the economy as well.

** Free the Slaves -- Assuming this would be the malcontents only at this point, but the freed pops would be less productive, and very likely join the Emancipation faction, helping to radicalize more of the Dociles. We'd probably end up eventually having to ban all slavery if we went this route. This is the only thing that will make the Malcontent Slaves happy though, as it's their sole demand.

** Regulated Slavery -- This makes the Docile Slaves happier, and may even totally pacify them given that it's their only demand. Regulated Slavery is a policy choice which somewhat improves living conditions for the slaves, with a 10% reduction in their food and mineral production. They're still better than the average pop in that regard, just not by much(total bonus is 15% so it would be reduced to 5%, but stuff like the recently discovered Slave Processing Facility can increase this). I don't know that it has any effect on the Malcontents though. If it does, it's almost certainly indirect(less Dociles becoming Malcontent). As with any other policy, it can only be changed once per ten years.

** Malcontent Managing Options -- There are two choices for directly affecting the Malcontents. The first is Harsh Treatment, which would attempt to break the spirit of the troublemakers by worsening living and working conditions. For a cost of 600 energy and 50 influence(we presently have almost 2k energy and 57 influence, so we can afford this), this can be done once every several months and still be effective. The second option is to Make An Example. For 400 energy and 150 influence(we don't have the influence to do this right now), we can purge a particularly troublesome pop as an example. Each of these will reduce support for the Malcontents by 20%.

** Do Nothing -- Let things take their natural course. Left alone for long enough, armed rebellion by the Malcontents will occur so long-term this is not a solution, but the stand around with our thumbs up our butts hoping the problem will solve itself strategy is always a possibility.


Inquisitor Roe Laren, you are on the clock. Also as a heads-up, I think leader lifespan was lengthened in the recent update. Couldn't find a specific notice of this, but it seems everyone will default to living past the century mark now(seems 102 instead of 72 is the 'new normal'). Not sure why, but just an FYI there.