Drawing Maps - Season 6 Faction Creation Pt. 4 - Squads

Hey everyone, hope you're having a great Saturday so far! First up, reminder that we'll be recording Tips at the Table in just about an hour, live for all Hacker tier backers and above! 

For now, though, here's another Drawing Maps update! Today, I dig into how I'm going into detail about Stel Columnar, the newest galactic power on the block, so to speak, and about how I'm creating Squads in Beam Saber. I go through each step of the the Squad creation process, but also address sort of larger ideals about how to fill in these gaps, especially w/r/t making a faction come alive and giving both GM and players enough to work with.

You can find my notes on Stel Columnar below! Next time: the final Stel and creating regions!

 Stel Columnar

1. Type: Democracy (Highly data-driven, poll-obsessed.)
   1. Fence sitting and happily protected by their neighbors. Populace will not vote for dramatic action, let alone revolution. The slowest possible reform, and only aimed at domestic policy. No interest in stopping the war with the Branched (or the ongoing internal conflict, at least for now).
2. Corruption: 2 (But corruption is the be-all-end-all of morality, right?)
3. Goal
   1. Hearts and Minds: Make Columnar appear stable, forward-thinking, and flexible--a better strategic and economic partner than fellow fence sitter Stel Orion, specifically.
4. Aesthetic Notes, etc
   1. FUTURE - Grad School, experimental science and research, avant garde art & culture, speculative marketplaces. - Willing to break rules and norms to generate "advancements" which will filter to the rest of the empire. Because of this, Columnar citizens “on average” enjoy greater freedom and support than in many other stels. They invest heavily in access to rare, under-studied resources. While Orion takes the obvious mineral wealth, Columnar takes the material that serves no obvious purpose yet….
   2. Imperial futures are only ever stolen presents. The Columnar Tabulary is a step ahead, because they are constantly identifying and instrumentalizing the other (or exploiting the world and its resources directly and dangerously). They criminalize or assimilate cultures and subcultures (small like hacker collectives, large like the cyborg Equiaxed), then take their research and use it as the basis for “useful” state projects. (Artists in Stel Columnar find themselves on both sides of this recurring cycle.) And sometimes, the present being stolen is… their own, as they figure out ways to export algorithmic culture. 
      1. All of this is not only accepted, but encouraged by the central government, which offers grants, legal protections, and police/military defense of these endeavours. 
   3. Deconstructivism and computer-aided architecture. Makoto Sei Watanabe architecture. Asymmetrical, almost polygonal. Two historical lines brought them here: First, before the Perennial Wave, Columnar society included structures that could’ve housed thousands of (hyper-compressed) complex, digital beings instead of hundreds. Now, buildings must allow for their free-standing bodies hold only thousands or hundreds. Second, their architecture is one place where Columnar has been a historical locus of resistance to their own assimilation into the Principality.
   4. The appropriative, boundary-breaking streak continues with their mechs (and with the bulk of goods produced by the Columnar. 
      1. Leans towards “high anime” sheen--extremely stylized prototype units, defined by their bold gimmicks.
      2. Driven by technologies lifted from others, and powered by resources that require disruptive and harmful extraction. Elevator pitch: What if the mechs from Gundam Wing were actually Evas. Toyetic armor covering writhing muscle. Gem-stone chest pieces that blink like eyes. Targeting systems that use tethered alien minds. Jetpacks that smell like sulfur and rot--it will be fixed by the time the production model is finished, assuredly. 
      3. Try not to show the same mech twice--always a new variation, a new prototype, a Mk. II or a Ver. X. 
      4. Deploy either as lone legends, or full, color-coordinated teams. 
   5. NPCs
      1. Kalmia - Elect of the Divine Luminance 
      2. Tessence Row - Operations Lead at the Zenith Fund 
      3. Jerica Vault - [Title] at the Progressive Church
      4. Roland Tenten and Aerie Izz - Musical duo and and performance artists sponsored by the Parallax project.
5. Squads
   1. The Divine Luminance and Kalmia - Tier V - Luminance once stalked the Memoria Teardrop, destroying those who sought the land’s mineral wealth. But when a former-Equiaxed looking to prove himself leashed it, it became a source of light and power for all Columnar on Partizan. (Goal: To spread its light to the whole moon.)
   2. Progressive Church of Asterism - Tier IV - The second largest faith in all of Divinity began on Partizan, but by de-emphasizing the state (and giving power instead to individual divines), the central institution of the church itself wields “only” respectable power.  (Goal: To establish Partizan as the first Divine-led territory of the Principality)
   3. The Zenith Fund - Tier IV - A public institution that incubates, defends, and offers testing for research teams developing emerging military hardware. (Goal: To develop a weapon that can permanently kill a Divine).
   4. The Divine Asepsis - Tier III - Vigil City is the densest urban settlement on the moon, and yet, every morning, it is spotless. Give thanks to Asepsis’ swarm of robotic servants. (Goal: To dissolve anything that doesn’t belong.)
   5. 21st Voluntary Composite Division - Tier III - Unlike most other Stels, Columnar doesn’t segregate Hallow and Hollow units, and instead assigns Hallow pilots to officer roles in combined arms divisions like this one. (Goal: To claim territory from neighboring Stels).
   6. The Parallax Project - Tier II - The Columnar budget earmarks substantial funding for “the elevation of local arts and culture that bridges the most innovative parts of our communities with the rest of Divinity.” (Goal: To spread positive sentiment about Stel Columnar.)
   7. The Golden Devils - Tier II - While this group of Branched defectors would do anything to prove their loyalty, their leaders at the loathsome Waning Institute has something more utilitarian in mind. (Goal: To turn the Branched into unstoppable war machines). 
   8. Strand Semaphore - Tier II - Using ancient Hyphan technology, this messenger service is able to send text-based communications to anywhere on-moon, so long as they’ve built an outpost there. (Goal: To spread the network as far as possible.)
   9. 301st Appraisal Unit - Tier I - Before the Columnar commits the resources necessary to take something for their own, this small reconnaissance unit comprised of soldiers, engineers, and academics needs to find it. (Goal: To locate and identify rare resources)
6. Regions
   1. The Memoria Teardrop: A range of mountains and high plains, dense with mineral resources. Named for “memoria,” a rare metal with a high, natural storage capacity. 
      1. Vigil City
      2. The Memoria Mines 

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