Introduction

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is one of the most enjoyable strategy games ever produced. It combines the famously engrossing gameplay of the Civilization series with a very compelling plot, incorporating a living and proactive natural setting and late-20th century ideological conflicts. At the beginning of the game, players choose one to play as one of seven factions, rather than as a "nation" like Rome or Russia, and each of these factions has an ideological imperative. They are as follows:

Gaia's Stepdaughters - Airy Biocentrism; an exaggerated version of a Green activism from Australia
The Human Hive - Brutal Collectivism; an exaggerated version of Chinese communism
University of Planet - Amoral Technologism; an exaggerated version of Russian scientific utopianism
Morgan Industries - Ruthless Free Marketeering; an accurate version of Ayn Rand's Objectivism
The Spartan Federation - Belligerent Militarism; an exaggerated version of American survivalism
Lord's Believers - Intransigent Religiosity; an exaggerated version of American fundamentalism
Peacekeeping Forces - Soft-headed pacifism; an exaggerated version of Chamberlain's methods

Each of these factions has "natural" enemies and allies. The Peacekeepers and the Spartans are simply never going to get along, so you're likely to gain an enemy from your first turn. However, other factions are more or less compatible, depending upon the player's choices.

What is truly intriguing is the degree to which the factions are all alive today and active in the world. Indeed, the American Republican Party of 2012 is something of a coalition of Morgan Industries, the Spartan Federation, and the Lord's Believers, while the American Democratic Party is an amalgam of Gaia's Stepdaughers, University of Planet, and the Peacekeeping Forces.

I started this blog to document when one of the factions does or says something that appears in the news.