There's a positive or negative interpretation possible for every faction in the game, even if one accounts for the limits of their ideologiesnote — even those of the Hive or the Believers:
- Commissioner Pravin Lal: An honest politician who wants everyone to be equal, to spread democracy and freedom, and to end all wars. Alternatively; He never really does step down as the leader of his faction, so obviously there are no elections, or he just rigs them in his favour. He also is pretty prone to eliminating anyone who doesn't agree with his values of democracy and libertarianism. His government is so plagued with excess bureaucracy and absurd amounts of gratuitous voting that nothing ever gets done. Furthermore, he's ironically the most conservative of the faction leaders in a sense, seeking to preserve a traditional Earth social framework in an environment where it makes for an increasingly bad fit.
- Pravin Lal is the perfect embodiment of ethical integrity until one little quote in regards to genetics concerning his wife who was shot in the back by Santiago's men on the Unity.
- "I loved my chosen. How then to face the day when she left me? So I took from her body a single cell, perhaps to love her again." — Commissioner Pravin Lal, "Time of Bereavement"
- Pravin Lal is the perfect embodiment of ethical integrity until one little quote in regards to genetics concerning his wife who was shot in the back by Santiago's men on the Unity.
- Sister Miriam: Promotes traditional values, religion and culture, and opposes the evils of science pursued without regard to morality. She's also one of the few faction leaders shown to actually care for the welfare of the marginalized and downtrodden. Alternatively: She isn't above ruthlessly murdering anyone she dislikes in the slightest, usually people who are different and intellectuals. Also, Miriam worships a God who is described as all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-judging; in other words, everything she denounces about technocracy and more. Does she object to mass surveillance because it's fundamentally wrong, or just because it's humans who are doing it instead of the almighty?
- "We must dissent. We must dissent. Will we next create false gods to rule over us? How proud we have become, and how blind." — Sister Miriam Godwinson on the Self-Aware Colony tech.
- CEO Morgan: Champion of free market economics, hard work, appropriate reward, individualism, and friendly competition. Alternatively: Owner of human history's single most powerful economic monopoly, ever, of all time... ever! He is essentially abusing his anarcho-capitalist society as his own private cash farm. There's also his unhealthy obsession with personal wealth and refusal to commit to any sort of charity. The title of his seminal work, "The Ethics of Greed", plays to a number of interpretations.
- Provost Zakharov: The most brilliant scientist to ever grace our universe. He is single mindedly devoted to advancing technology and uncovering all of the universe's secrets. He also runs a technocratic society and government. Alternatively: In the University, your value is directly related to your ability to contribute to scientific advancement. If you aren't a researcher yourself, well... Zakharov has this thing about experimenting on live test subjects without their consent (or tricking them into it). He would blow up Chiron if he thought there was something valuable to discover in doing so.
- Chairman Yang: Firm believer in community, self sacrifice, and true long term engineering of pretty much everything from eating schedules to full scale social engineering and even eugenics. This is the guy who wants to bring humanity to its true potential via socialism and dictatorship, and does it with honesty too! Alternatively: Yang likes to sacrifice people for the greater good. If it means advancement towards a better tomorrow, Yang will most definitely dump you into a Recycling Tank if he judges it a better use of resources than keeping you alive. Also, the collectivist nature of his state really doesn't give people much incentive to work hard, get rich or do more than their share, as tall poppies aren't rewarded.
- Colonel Santiago: Survivalist, social darwinist, and general all around bad ass. Santiago intends to make all mankind strong, both mentally and physically. The master species of all species. If you live under her rule expect strong discipline, high morale, and a body so fit you could crush a brick wall with your face. You will probably have the proudest and most awesome military ever imagined to boot! Alternatively: Santiago mandates that you must prove your right to live. The weak are... weeded out. The slightest sign of sickness in a newborn is grounds for such a fate. Also, her faction is brutally militarist to the point that almost no funding at all is invested into culture, science, education, or even basic housing; You have to do that all by yourself. After all, the strong should be able to build a house and live in it under the most brutal conditions, right?
- Lady Deirdre: Environmentalism and sustainability is her hat. Deirdre seeks to build a society which lives in perfect harmony with nature and has probably even mastered the elements. Under her carefully guided economic management, industry has no pollution and every product is wholly recyclable. Alternatively: Deirdre is quick to tame local wildlife and use it to eliminate pretty much anyone who is even the slightest bit wasteful. Her total intolerance for other ways of life pretty much guarantees that her faction will never fulfill the full potential of any of their technological advancements.
- Guardian Lular H'minee: Caretaker of Manifold Six/Planet, concerned with preventing the disaster of previous Flowering/Transcendence at Tau Ceti. She can be seen as a somewhat lofty but benevolent precursor who seeks to protect the universe at large from irresponsible race towards "godhood". Alternatively: A traumatised coward who is projecting the failings of her own race on mankind and is obstructing our own evolution as a species because of it.
- Conqueror Judaa Maar: A daring leader who is willing to win the ultimate prize for his eons-old species while denying it to the unworthy specimens of humanity that have demonstrated their dangerous and unworthy nature in destroying their homeworld by constantly warring with themselves for almost as long as they existed. Alternatively: A Nietzchean lunatic who would risk a catastrophe on a cosmic scale to attain "godhood" which he/they would probably use to oppress other species.
- Aki Zeta-Five: Human enhancement, discovery and ultimately a transcendence of this reality. Aki wishes to improve mankind by getting rid of all the bad emotions and hurtful primitive drives that shackle us and ultimately aims for us to essentially conquer ourselves as hyper-logical AI-cyborg hybrids. Alternatively: She epitomizes the hyper-logical mindset that, while highly capable in certain areas, is essentially neutered in others, producing beings that are needlessly deprived of more "chaotic" aspects of life (that themselves need not be bad if moderated).
- Ulrik Svensgaard: Freedom, booty and a pirate's life. Svensgaard promotes a life of unbridled seafaring privateer, valuing personal freedom and daring enterprise while teaching arrogant factions to respect the sea and the people who live upon it. Alternatively: A rambunctious, semi-chaotic society with no strong attachments or loyalties and virtually no respect for others' property. Hardly a model for humanity's future.
- Prophet Cha Dawn: Super-environmentalism and protection of the Planet. He could be viewed as giving voice to the (mostly) voiceless Planet and giving it a fair fighting chance by utilizing technology. His faction is also, next to the Gaians, the most cognizant of the wonders and mysteries of the Planet. Alternatively: A misanthropic cult lead by a humanoid-abomination that is bent on destroying humanity (themselves included) to "save" the Planet that is constantly suffering.
- Foreman Domai: Worker's rights, an eudaimonic society and ending poverty forever. Striving to create a truly equal and happy human society in which everyone willingly contributes to the greater good and everyone has a comfortable standard of living. Alternatively: An idealist willing to stem scientific and social progress while having no regard for the environment or individual desires of his people, and whose insistence that "everyone pulls their own weight" prevents those whose talents and pursuits aren't immediately beneficial to their peers from realizing their full potential.
- Datajack Sinder Roze: Free Information, individuality and playful hacking are her jazz. She is unburdened by stifling ideologies and instead wants to live in a free, open-minded and dynamic society of weirdos, eccentrics and hackers while promulgating the free flow of information and encouraging a positive hacker ethos and outlook on life. Alternatively: A ne'er do well who causes chaos for the fun of it, casually disregards people's privacy and steals others' tech and inventions instead of putting in the effort and inventing it herself.
