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Lancer's world building I think just highlights the usefulness of politics as catalyst for conflict. The muddyness, the ideal without teeth, the fear of past mistakes. Change is coming, and like everyone else here, it will wash over us no matter what.
It gives so much potential for play as well. You could have a crew be a squad in another new conflict in any area or faction, Militia on a rebelling world, Bounty hunters, Mercenaries, Researchers on a new planet, Hunters of megafauna, there is just so much potential.
What I absolutely love about Lancer lore is it's a world in motion. Things never feel static. It never feels like a faction is simply a 2 dimensional facet or idea, but a government made my people who's minds and views can change over generations. I think especially for the KTB because a lot of space opera settings have a very negative way of establishing itself or maintaining itself and that doesn't change much. Meanwhile, in the Trade Baronies having houses inevitably accepting more democratic takes due to cultural change and exposure to Union not only makes sense but shows that this is a place that can change. It's just so refreshing to see something that feels both more dynamic and in turn feels more authentic for that reason.
"Ah, you misunderstand. They are not citizens, they are cloned biomatter optimized for hard labor. Cheaper and more flexible than subalterns, cost efficient mineral retrieval! So you see, this technology allows us to treat our citizens very well." - Unofficial Union-KTB diplomatic meeting, recorded by UIB agents, 4890u.
Politics as usual. The feudalists fight the fascists, the utopians work to build and maintain their sandcastle on the tideline, and the maggots squirm in the underworld clamoring for carrion. And yet we cannot give up on the promise of a better tomorrow. What would be the point of all this pain otherwise. We shall not die, but transform.
One very interesting thing I read in the KTB fieldguide is that serfdom is not actually all that common and also officially illegal. There are obviously minor houses that just ignore that and even brag about doing so, but it's not actually something everyone does. Additionally the extreme conservatives that do so are broadly speaking on the backfoot like you mentioned towards the end.
I love this setting and your coverage of it! I actually ended up making a character that was very much a revolutionary firebrand type, the my group and I are head cannoning as the kind of guy that gets sent to be a lancer so he dosent make a huge stink at home. Like he's actively hostile to people like HA and the barronies, to the point that its causing trouble out in the frontier, and my group loves having him as a deniable asset as much as Union does when a slaver or crooked boss mysteriously winds up dead.
Damn, last time I was this early I told a joke about being this early, but I can't remember what it was. Anyway, you fill my head with ideas Dragonkid.
I love the Lancer community, where people will in good faith debate the in universe politics, and then a liberal or conservative will wander in being like "but wait I thought socialism bad." And then people have to be like union and try and painfully get them to understand this a pretty leftist space, the authors are leftists, ect. And hope they change while some people choose to be like lancers and basically tell these bad faith kinda arguing neolib types to get lost.
