I think its clear who the good guys are

There areTL;DR's at the end of each empire's sections and "Extreme TL;DR" in the second post of the thread.


There's a reason the title isn't "Who is the most moral?" or, "Who are the good guys in Planetside 2?"

Planetside 1 it was a different beast. It was truly questionable who the most moral faction was as you could make any one group the heroes or villains depending on your perspective and values. But in PS2 things are a lot more clear cut. I'm going to mostly quote the "Lore" planetside 2 wiki page, b/c its a nice compilation of all the lore sources, which are made up of the story articles on the PS2 news feed, the PS2 mmorpg.com interviews, and the "Empire Brief"s also released on the news feed. Asdf asdf asdf asdf

So all this is only including PS2 Lore, which I find vital as most discussion about this topic is generally over PS1 lore, which is out of date. So who are the "good guys"? Is it the....

Terran Republic
The TR of Earth was an open and transparent democracy that held the peace for centuries. Former TR president Connery led an expedition into a mysterious wormhole that appeared in the Earth's Solar system. After an insurgency broke out, it pained Connery that he had to restrict personal freedoms in order to keep the peace by increasing curfews and military patrols. Lieutenant Commander Waterson thought that Connery valued people's "freedoms more than their lives", and sought even more restrictions by assassinating Connery and putting himself in charge of the expedition. To avoid "anarchy" he enacted martial law taking away most of the people's freedoms. After the expedition discovered Auraxis:

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TL;DRSo after roughly 2 centuries, the TR didn't take down their strict measures, still doesn't ring true to the "republic" part of the "Terran Republic", and both the VS and NC describe them as "despotic". I don't think the TR are keeping their stranglehold over freedoms simply to promote peace...


Vanu Sovereignty
The VS' founder, Henry Briggs, a xenobiologist and good friend of Connery's, touched 2 alien artifacts which gave him a vision from Vanu himself and also cured him of Asperger's. A movement dedicating themselves to uncovering the secrets of the Ancients' artifacts formed behind Briggs and flourished even following his suicide. They kept their discoveries secret to the unworthy and were ostracized by society for their increasingly obsessive research.

They remained neutral while tensions were growing b/w the TR and NC. When war broke out, Chairman Scott says:

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It is also stated in the VS art overview video that they were fighting so they could get access to land where the alien artifacts were.

TL;DR So in this version of Planetside, the VS is the aggressor, because they want to enact their vision of human evolution... or something. It is also stated that they left the TR after a crackdown on their research, and that the TR was actually hoping the VS would stay neutral, so there was no immediate reason for them to lash out at the TR and especially not at the NC, other than I guess them being "ostracized", evidence of which being that there is anti-VS propaganda from before the war from the TR and NC. They make the claim that the TR and NC would destroy Auraxis if let continue, but how? Through warfare? If so adding in another force into the fray clearly wouldn't help unless they thought they could completely dominate the other 2 sides. Which didn't turn out to be the case.

I just find them weird because they seem to be completely intolerant of having anyone ruling other than themselves, though they also believe everyone "should have the freedom to believe in the Ancients as they do." They will fight for their vision and "eradicate" everything in their way.

New Conglomerate
The NC was founded by some Earth's most influential business leaders as a party in opposition to the TR, fighting for free markets and personal freedoms, partly in order to push Connery to let them on the expedition. They believed the increased revenue from the expedition would give them more financial support to fight for the people. The NC got several executives, mercenaries to protect them, and laborers on board the expedition.

When the wormhole to go back home closed, and the groups in the NC realized they wouldn't be able to return home to get their credits, a rift was created between them and the TR. They went off to live in underground cities but were always there to help the TR, given that they were paid.

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TL;DR So the NC has changed a bit from the pro-business entity it was on Earth. The transformation of factions during their time on Auraxis actually seems like a big theme in PS2. The current TR is not the same as the one back on earth, and the VS are not the same as the original scientists and engineers that set off on the expedition. Interestingly enough, probably only the NC changed positively, even accounting that the original NC was partly altruistic and not completely motivated by profit.

The NC aren't complete angels however, as the members of the TR always valued security, and members of the Vanu movement always valued further research of alien artifacts and progress, the NC valued the cred. They were always in it partly for the money, partly being the key word, so maybe they aren't all that different from the original NC after all.

Summary
So overall the story is that the TR, believing that extremely harsh regulation was neccessary for peace and unity, though they probably just did it to exert their own control and power, ironically pushed away the NC after a crackdown on personal freedoms and their corporate assets, and pushed away the VS after a crackdown on their experiments and studies. All in all, with evidence that the TR was despotic, its pretty clear the TR are meant to be the bad guys. Especially as they are pinned to assassinating their own level headed leader.

The NC seems to have the most justified cause, b/c they liked the TR of Earth, but found that the continued complete lack of personal freedoms, along with an extreme response by the TR to gatherings and protests, and dismantling of their businesses, the TR gave them no other option but to break away or cease to exist. The TR were probably hoping for the latter. The NC are justified in their fight against the VS because even though the VS are not really forcing anyone to believe in the ancients, or so they say, the VS are the ones who attacked the NC. Also the NC probably isn't cool with a technocratic government ruling everything.

Which faction, if victorious, would be the best for Auraxis? That's a different question and has a lot more unknown variables. If Vanu is a real benevolent being and truly seeks ascension for mankind, and if the followers of Briggs aren't just hallucinating, then the VS are probably justified in their rather extreme measures. If the NC, if victorious, sets up a real ****** government that leads to even more warfare, then they may not be the best cause to fight for. Maybe both rebel factions are crazy and the TR should win, so that over time even more people get fed up with it and a real and more stable revolution occurs, kind of like the French Revolution. Given the current information though, the NC have the most just cause, who is better off winning though is up for debate.

Extreme TL;DR

NC are the good guys. Get wrecked

TR want everyone to be friends, and the war to end! It's just under their rule.. so they can't be all bad, can they?

Let's face it, though. VS are clearly mad scientists. Every one of them.

I've been hearing a lot of conflicting stuff regarding the Vanu the VS take from.....

>_>

Really the NC shouldn't care what the VS want. It's all about freedom man, so if they want to become one with the Vanu or whatever it's their trip. I never understood why the NC and VS fight each other. They should join forces and destroy the TR, because everybody knows they're evil.

VS are a bunch of furries. We all know this.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...-your-faction-wins-the-war-for-auraxis.64168/

Might be a good time to rez this thread if you want to theorycraft some...

TR might be oppressive and authoritarian, but they are the only faction whose backstory specifically says they fight to bring peace and unify the splintered factions on Auraxis. The VS fights to conquer and convert and the NC fights to overthrow the TR. The TR's goal is to bring peace and unity, and after that hopefully reestablish contact with the homeworld. Regardless of the fact that TR LOOKS like the bad guys both in image and culture, they are the only ones who seem to be fighting for a good cause. NC I guess could be looked at as fighting for a good cause, but why fight the TR when all they want to do is bring order and law to keep everyone from killing each other. No one said the TR is imposing forced labor or slavery or something. The VS are just plain evil, enlightenment or not, they kill anything and everything that doesn't want to convert to their cause simply because. VS very much remind me of the Necromongers from the Chronicles of Riddick series.

NC wants free humans, not free freak human-alien hybrids OD'ing on alien tech.

The old TR got hijacked quite early on by totalitarian crazies. Prior to the war they would make modern China look like a champion in human's rights. They mostly remind me of the USSR under Stalin. Not Rome, Rome was a lot more lax in terms of how they treated the territories under their control.

I can imagine a world where the VS go whole hog into the Vanu tech, and then by watching them we can find out what's ok and what's crazy. If anything's standing against a VS NC detente, it's the VS quasi-religious order. They need to get over that, but obviously the Vanu have something to give to humanity because they have made us immortal.

I thought I read something somewhere about how early on the NC murdered civilians under the guise of the TR in order to help fuel resentment towards Terran forces and build their own forces. I might be wrong, but I could have sworn it. If I'm not, that seems pretty freakin' shady. Enough to make me wonder if they're really so good.

The NC didn't even exist until it was impossible to murder anyone.

I guess I should add in the possibility that the TR are mostly well intentioned but completely incompetent. For instance Connery knew when he was spreading his people to thin with heavy handed government intervention, the TR seem to not have this gift at all as they caused 2 large groups of people to secede.

I'm really glad you wrote this up. I had been explaining this exact lore to some people in-game for a while.

The NC have become the definitive good guys because all three factions changed quite a lot after the worm-hole closed. I love that the NC, after generations, lost their corporate wishfulness and simply became a faction that was fed up with tyranny.

This quote is really important:

At first, when I read the in-game lore blurbs, I thought the VS were the good guys. It wasn't until later when I read the extended lore that I discovered the VS are probably the craziest of the three factions.

Heck, their founder, Henry Briggs, KILLED HIMSELF after seeing visions from Vanu. He didn't leave a suicide note, so no one know what he even saw. There's something to that though.

The TR is clearly the bad guys. The red color-scheme, the massive tanks, their high-damage and high recoil infantry weapons, along with their fear of individual freedoms, should clue most of you in to what they are modeled after.

NC talk high ideals, but my understanding is they're more driven by corporations who want to profit in a lawless land.

Sorry, but TR are the good guys, not the NC. Destabilising a planet for the ruthless pursuit of profit is a far worse crime than oppression in the name of order and safety.

Don't even get me started on the VS. Spandex-wearing, alien loving pervs.

There was an insurgency on the expedition, though I'm not sure why, and apparently according to the TR, they had possible ties to the NC.

It was never proven, but it WAS likely.

Here's my abridged Planetside lore:

In the not-so-distant future, there were basically 8 countries on earth. They all got into a massive World War. A wormhole in our solar system opened and sucked Pluto into it, crushing it. Scientists sent signals into the wormhole to listen for life, and discovered there were signals coming BACK at them scanning EARTH for life. The wormhole closed, and Earth was scared. They decided to all form one giant nation called The Terran Republic. It was a Utopia.

The TR had limited the power of corporations and their profits for the sake of the people. The NC, a single collection of huge businesses, formed to overthrow them. They never had time to make an all-out attack though. They pulled their resources together and formed para-military rebel groups. Originally, the NC were definitely bad guys. They wanted to overthrow a Utopian government so that businesses could monopolize, price gouge, and overall eat the public alive.

A bit into the future, the wormhole opened again. The president (and Astronaut), Tom Connery, eventually pushed to send an expedition fleet through the wormhole. The fleet consisted of ~85,000 people, with TR military on board to keep peace, interested businessmen (from the NC) and scientists from both factions.

The fleet went through, but everything changed after [the Fire Nation attacked] the wormhole closed behind their expedition fleet. Not even the whole fleet got through; half of it was crushed in the closure of the hole.

People were pretty panicked. They had no idea when the hole would open again and there was NO sign of a safe place to land. They remained on the many vessels for many years.

The TR (mainly just soldiers) became more and more authoritarian on the vessels. Rebels attacked one of the ships to take weapons from the TR. The TR shut that rebellion down, and said it was likely pushed by the NC in the first place. No evidence though. The passengers aboard the ships voted for less freedoms and for more power to the TR who were "keeping the peace". The TR basically said "Look, you can give up your rights in order to let us find these terrorists RIGHT NOW, or we can take months going through the paperwork to do so." Everyone, scared, let the TR do as they wished.

Eventually they found Auraxis, a habitable planet. They landed. They formed a colony. They terraformed, farmed, researched, found alien (Vanu) artifacts, etc. The TR ran their military government, the NC started new corporations on Auraxis funding research, etc. This colony was completely cut off from Earth.

Generations after landing on Auraxis, the TR became more and more tyrannical and never gave up the power that was voted into place while a fleet. The original NC died off (grandparents, old age, etc.) and their kids (or kids' kids) didn't know anything of the original values on Earth or what the NC really stood for... all they knew was that they grew up in a tyrannical colony and hated the TR. The NC grandparents had handed down their corporations to their children, and so the NC kept control of their corporations on Auraxis.

The NC, as generations went on, mostly forgot about why they were formed, and cared only to end the tyranny of the TR on Auraxis.

After the rebellion really started on Auraxis, scientists from both factions split away and formed the Vanu Sovereignty because they were tired of the TR putting limitations on their research. They wanted to basically advance mankind for the sake of advancement, without petty "morals" to stand in their way.

I don't think the original NC were THAT extreme, they seemed just to be setting up a political party and saying how they wish the nation was like. Kind of like what a republican or democrat would say how they wish the nation was like. And it would probably be pretty hard to overthrow the TR of earth...

And yeah the new "New Conglomerate" are mostly just rebels, but they still are backed by corporate sponsors. It was said by Briggs that big business and all the young kids found a common bond in that they both wanted to get the TR off their backs.