[LORE] question about VANU

found this propaganda image on the internets




but I thought vanu toons were like mind-washed cultists of an alien-god-thingy! how could they be the "science" guys if they Believe in a God whose existence is not directly proved by anything?

discuss

I liked PS1s version of VS better.
PS1: Renegade scientists that dont let ethics stand in the way of technological advancement
PS2: Weird space cult that worships a dead alien race because reasons, and constantly reminds you that you are part of a weird space cult when you play

At some point soe changed them from science guys to cult guys, and forgot that it doesent make sense at all.

[youtube]XB9yHmQZmAM[/youtube]

Still my personal favorite!

The reasoning is a bit complicated.

One thing to start with is that though the scientific research done on Vanu technology the scientists started to feel that it was a Indicator of where the Human race was going, as a way to better ourselves. If you look at many religions this is one key thing in them, and when you have the TR as a somewhat oppressive government, much like other governments of this type they tend to oppress Religion as a whole.

People always have a tendency to want to believe in something greater then themselves, and the Promise of a Brighter future though the Technology of the Vanu, added with the Oppression of the Republic helped push people into this direction. As such you have almost a Scientific cult, which is a Mixture of "True Believes" who are attached to the faction in more of a religious way, while others are more Logical in their reasons for being a Part of it. Because of this Mixture, from the outside it appears to be a Cult, who's followers are all insane, while Initially, and as a larger bulk of its founders, see and act far more as a Group of people who wish to be free to continue along the lines of study and research that they believe will ultimately help elevate Humanity from the Darker path they have seen it following with the slow but steady decent into Oppression, which has historically lead to Stagnation ( think the Dark ages, or Hell Roman Empire).

As the War continues though, as it common in all human conflicts, the sides get more intrenched in their ideas, and over time it is quite possible that the VS will become more and more of a religious organization, as the longer one group fights another, the more they tend to internalize and Strengthen their beliefs that "They are right", which usually causes the more fervent or less logical beliefs to become more a Driving force, even if they were not the original reasons for the start of the conflict. Another real life example can be this constant fighting in many areas, about ultimately petty problems from before even their Great grandparents lived.

/\^^Bravo.^^/\

It's not worshipping a God. It's more like, believing the Vanu will return one day, and we already know they're smarter and more advanced than us. We want to attain this level of "ascension".

First off, the TR is not a Democracy. It's a Republic (DYUHHHHHHHHHHH it's in the name).

The Dictatorship on Auraxis was brought in through a Democratic vote.

After the explosion on one of the Terran ships, a vote was brought up. And martial law won the majority vote. In martial law, the military comes in. And the military had a leader with them. Naturally this guy will be a Dictator until the crisis is over.

Secondly, the VS....it's difficult, but a lot point to them being similar to the Borg, or the aliens from Falling Skies.

They are completely loyal and dedicated to "Vanu"

It says they're willing to destroy anyone who apposes their views. Naturally, whatever Vanu is, it wants an army. The Vanu sovereignty is that army. Its job is to destroy, assimilate, and possibly build a home for Vanu.


In short, if their minds aren't taken over, and they aren't unconscious drones fighting for their alien overlords. The VS are a cult of scientists, who worked directly, or indirectly with Vanu artifacts.

Considering the oddly ideal conditions that led to humanity coming to Auraxis, they believe Vanu left humanity a gift, their technology.

So the originally, TR scientists kept researching it, even after restrictions and bans were imposed. They were totally hellbent on researching Vanu artifacts.

Some time later, they became a separate faction, and joined the war when they decided both the NC and TR must be destroyed.

Chances are whoever made that poster loved the VS. Because they missed the part about destroying anyone against Vanu.

By the new Lore(Ps2) the VS joined the fighting after both the TR and NC started Using weapons of Mass destruction, and they felt that had to enter to Stop both sides because they belied that if they just sat by then the Very stuff that they were researching (Vanu artifacts, the Planet as a whole) would be destroyed. So Basically initially they Started fighting not because they really cared about the TR or NC, but because they thought if they did nothing then what they Valued would be lost.

Also it is my belief ( lore wise) that one of the reasons why the fighting so so limited right now (limited warpgates and such, even the Rotations) is due to something that the VS did Initially as a way to try to stop the use of Nukes, using the nanites and such (for anime buffs, think of the stuff they had in Gundam Seed that stopped Nukes there), and as a side affect caused the Rebirth Network to be limited to the initial continents and caused the Unstable Warpgate ownership.

What new lore?

There is really 2 sets of Planetside Lore, some from the Inital Game (planetside 1) and then the stuff they wrote up for PS2. I'd have to go digging to find it but it is around there somewhere.

The most advanced faction has the worst/outdated weapons......

Yeah that's pretty much how everyone gets their lore. There doesn't seem to be one concrete site. You have to use a bunch. It seems like whoever wrote it never wrote one solid line.

wow thats interesting! would be nice to have more lore-related stuff in the actual game.

Love it when people try to label VS as the faction for "intellectuals" and scientists.

I question the intelligence of any willing to endorse military infrastructure entirely dependent upon reverse engineering. When all your tech is just rehashed, millennium-old archaeology exhibits, what happens when you run out of fossils to RE? It doesn't bode well for the "advancement" of humanity when you run out of artifacts and are left sitting with your thumb in your higby because you haven't had an original thought in centuries. The VS have no capability to adapt to advancements in enemy tech, preferring archaeology excavations to actual R&D.

The Sovereignty has forgotten the meaning of innovation and advancement.
The Sovereignty has abandoned human ingenuity and thought, and instead have become reliant on scraps of the dead.
The Sovereignty seeks the future by stumbling blindly towards the past.
The Sovereignty has no future.

Regardless of ideology, one cannot argue that the Conglomerate is the only force on Auraxis concerned with the development of multiple new technologies ala Railguns and Gauss weaponry; tech which could only come about from the combined might of countless pioneering scientists and conceptual engineers. At the same time, the NC also have shown the greatest penchant for adaptability and jury-rigging ingenuity. From original MAX designs born of mining equipment to the unconventional Phoenix launcher, the NC arsenal is full of the sweat and blood of MacGyver-level engineers.

The Vanu Sovereignty is the faction for "Science Enthusiasts". The NC is the faction for any self respecting man or woman of science on Auraxis, as they are far more concerned with advancing technology than the VS. As we are mere players and not characters in this hellish universe, your motivation can be whatever. Just don't mistake the VS as the "smart guy" faction.

Not an NC fanboi, just an rl engineer addressing an issue which is close to my heart. (scientist vs science enthusiast)

VANU SOVEREIGNTY: An Idealistic regime that classes as a "Technocratic Theocracy". This means that their political and economic systems are governed by Technological, Logical and Scientific reasoning and that they draw their pphilosophy from an outside or other wise unreachable source (the Vanu). They are considered "cultist" because they tend to portray more barbaric traits; hence their quote once they joined the war to "Eradicate ALL who will not join them". They, unlike what many are lead to believe here on Forumside; are not peace loving at all. They are lead entirely by logic and use the Vanu as their "End Goal". The Vanu are more advanced, and by logic (from a VS POV); mankind can survive any other known threat if we simply evolve to be like them - become as advanced as them. From a pure logical standpoint - the VS POV actually makes sense. It's flaw is that it's society is ruled by statistics and logic which means that they have something similar to a "Caste" view to the Human Race and therefor do not believe in Free-Will or equality.
Technocracy's would have people in higher power based on things like their IQ, mental and physical capabilities: things that could be measured by pure logical value. This is why the VS are primarily intellectuals. Their base line is intellectual individuals and their statistical ability is measured against the Vanu (what knowledge of them they have). He who is closest to the Vanu (through genetic mutation and cybernetic evolution) gains more respect - as each change improves them. From what it sounds like, VS soldiers would over time become like Terminators. The only reason why the VS have a fighting chance despite most of their population being nerds is that their advancements give them the needed reflexes, knowledge and ability to fight on par with the battle hardened Militarists and Patriots that are the TR and NC.

A bit of headcanon, but one thing I often like to imagine about the NC military was that its equipment and doctrine were borne out of necessity based on the expertise of a bunch of business owners and available resources. You imagine the Terran Republic, eager to stamp out any prospects of rebellion, had a state imposed monopoly on what they considered strategic resources, their assumptions being naturally that anyone trying to fight them would use the same kinds of weapons they do. Don't have access to gunpowder, lead or brass for conventional ammunition, but you have some low priority scrap iron and industrial strength electromagnets lying around? Some jury rigged prototypes later and you've got yourself the NC1 Gauss Rifle. Need a tank? Slap some armor onto a repurposed construction equipment chassis and you've got yourself a Vanguard. The MAX? A refinement of a homebrew power armor suit when someone schemed up the idea of welding armor and weapons onto a mining exoskeleton. The Vanu Sovereignty would have similarly gotten around the same restrictions on strategic resources by coming up with entirely new ones based on the paradigm of reclaimed alien technology.

As for the doctrine of the NC, a bunch of paper pushers and accountants may know jack about fighting a war, but as they say, amateurs study tactics and professionals study logistics. What they don't know about unit tactics or individual troop training, they make up for in spades with their savvy with maintaining supply networks, getting the right stuff to the right people on time and on budget. You figure swap out bearer bonds for bombs and bullets on the spreadsheets and you've got half the equation figured out already. Throw in some trial and error doctrine development based on the combined knowledge of political prisoners, shady fringe cases and outright criminals and you got yourself a ragtag army of thieves and harlots who probably knew seventeen ways to kill a man before their first growth spurt, and you're still projected to post a profit this quarter.

Fair enough interpretation. Although 2 years in and I've run across decidedly few harlots, NC or otherwise.

planetside 2 lore is rebooted , not a continuation from planetside 1. Had to explain that to a T.S group before they went "ooooohhh that's why."

[quote="[/quote]



Heyo guys

Lore Master here, any indepth enquiry pls contact through the http://www.reddit.com/r/Planetsidelore

Reddit forum

(I've begged Radar X for a Lore Writing/Discussion Sub Forum on here, but declined politely - support the lore build)


and here Have a free Planetside 2 encyclopedia being constructed by StrottingLemon.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eZQw_jqQoIpSzDXk-gooxrqBXRy8PaYO0fE0ANO-zSY/edit

have fun

Well looking at this lore wise (not game balance), we are talking about Relics of Technology that are thousands if not 10's of thousands of years ahead of Human technology, So reverse engeneering something more advanced is still innovation from our prospective. You also have to remember that by trying to figure out how this stuff works it ends up Pushing our own knolage forward to the point where we can not just be copying these technologys ( or more accuratly imitating them to a lesser degree of effectiveness then the originals probibly are) we can start to innovate and advance even further.

The best way to describe it is that the VS are Being taught by the relics of the Vanu and with enough time they will no longer be students but the teachers are they progress further.

Now the NC are a interesting beast as a whole, where they are a mix of Liberalism and Conservitism. On one hand they are much like how Capitolism is now, where there is a steady advancement, but it tends to be more of an iterative process rather then the Giant, if sometimes blind, leaps that the VS are trying for. At the same time they reminise on the Older Ideals of Earth's goverment of Indepence and Indiviguality for everyone, which in the Lore has ultimatly lead to ruin of the world (one reason the TR came to power in the first place).

If you look at the NC in this light you can see that In a way the NC are both the Noble ideal of Democrocy ( think Tea party movement in the US), but unfortunetly over time, while for the General masses it remains true, much of the "Leadership" has become more corrupt, and while pushing for the Idea of the Masses, do so only as far as they feel they need in order to retain and build their own power base, while Giving the Promise of What they have, which becomes harder and Harder to obtain. It is that Promise that Drives people, even while evidence shows that it is less likly.

In a way the NC and VS are kinderad spirits in that they both want to Free people to advance and be better, it is just that they have enough diffrences, and the Nature of how the conflict happened that caused them to ultimatly be enemies, and as the War continues they will Spread further apart to the point where they are just as diffrent in ideologys as they already are with the TR.