The nerve-staple function in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri can lead to this fairly easily. From a gameplay perspective, you click the button, and drone riots go away. You get trade sanctions on you, but you weren't making that much off trade anyway, and besides, it's just for a few turns. It really doesn't amount to much worse than a Strongly Worded Letter. Then you turn around and think: "Nerve-stapling?" What could that mean. And then it hits you: it means exactly what it sounds like. And you just did that to thousands of people. Some of the material implies it has rather nasty lasting side effects, too. E.g. the book title "How to raise a nerve-stapled child".
The very existence of such a book raises all kinds of Fridge Horror. What does a child have to do to be nerve-stapled? Or worse, how freely is nerve-stapling employed if it's being done to children?! And worse than that, think about how many children have to be nerve-stapled before there can be a market for such a book...
Michael Ely's book Dragon Sun shows exactly what nerve-stapling is in a Body Horror fashion. Once everyone knows that Yang does this to his people and any prisoner his faction captures in battle, everyone turns against him, even Deirdre, his former ally.
The game is full of seemingly innocuous things that become horrifying after the fact, like the Mind-Machine interface technology, or the recycling tanks and research hospitals. This is usually due to the often creepy and revealing quotes that follow them. It's not uncommon for a new player to finish building something at one of their bases, or discover a new technology, and think nothing of it, only to go "Wait. What did I just do?What did I just do?" after listening to the corresponding quote.
In order for a faction to unlock the Recreation Commons base facility, they will need to research the 'Social Psych' technology first. The same technology that, when playing as the two Progenitor factions, enable you to communicate with the humans. Does this somehow imply that the two Progenitor factions have been fighting each other for so long in their civil war, and their society became so militarised, to the point that the entire concept of recreation and entertainment has become lost to them, until the relearned it by watching the humans?
The factions do represent traditional civilizations, and the leaders are a blatant tell.
The Human Hive = China. Communism, Confucianism and Buddhism all uphold selflessness and unity. Yang took it to extreme by neglecting everything else. Their main weakness being that the people are being held back by the lack of political freedom (negative economic ranking), but that is counter balanced with a hard-working and fast growing population. Additionally, Yang's given name Sheng-ji can mean "upgrade" in Mandarin Chinese with the appropriate tones, which ties in very well with his obsession over transcendence.
UN Peacekeepers = Modern India. Largest democracy in the world comprised of unified states, home to many religions and languages, favors mental pursuits. But with an infamously sluggish civilian bureaucracy.
Alternatively, Progressive/Liberal USA. Promotes the ideals of democracy and freedom, celebrates cultural diversity and seeks to get other nations to work together. But occasionally can be a bit too enthusiastic in intervening in the internal affairs of other countries or outright launching 'police actions' against them in the name of defending human rights.
Or the European Union - pro-democracy and extremely pro-human rights, as well as international consensus and co-operation - alongside a ton of bureaucracy and inefficiency.
University of Planet = Soviet Union/Russia. Advanced science and powerful technology. But human rights tend to be optional.
More specifically, a sci-fi take on the Novy Sovetsky Chelovek, or "new Soviet Man/Woman" concept, which in the pre-war and immediate postwar era, sought to marry the dialectic materialist view of the social world (from Marxist-Leninism) with the advent of scientific and social development; the game's setting is naturally more oriented towards super-science than philosophical radicalism. By contrast, it doesn't fit with the wartime and late-Soviet Union's tolerance of public religious traditions (particularly Orthodox Christianity and West Asian Islam), or the obvious spiritual awakening important to the religious revival of Russia through the 1990s.
Lord's Believers = Fundamentalist USA. Obvious, considering mega churches, creationist museums and Jesus camps. Highly suspicious of technological advances and is largely viewed as a pariah by other nations. But extremely powerful militarily.
Gaia's Stepdaughters = European Union. Has more ecologically sustainable policies than anyone else at the expense of actual economic power. Mainly rules with a democratic socialist ideology and has plenty of female leaders. But also have a dark side of a history full of wartime atrocities.
Morgan Industries = African Union. Who would be more focused on wealth than the recently poor? Blood Diamond writ large. Alternatively, Corporate USA. Strong emphasis on economics. Staunchly capitalist and at least nominally Free-Market, though more focus on MegaCorp. Limited to no government due to said market idealogy. But is also interested in becoming the de-facto government of the entire world.
Spartan Federation = Latin American Union. Juntas, revolutionaries, cartels, gangsters, police, kidnappers and private security - everyone is armed.
Alternatively, Conservative USA. Encourages and promotes values such as discipline, loyalty, and self-determination. Highly suspicious of foreign powers and in response have a massive 'defense' budget and all citizens being given the right to bear arms. Viewed by outsiders as aggressive and violent, while seeing themselves as the Only Sane Man in a dangerous and hostile world.
Continuing from the post above, the same goes for the human factions introduced in the Alien Crossfire expansion pack, but instead of established nations, they represent vocal ideological groups that have yet to take power in real life.
Free Drones = Social Democrats. Believe in the idea of eventually achieving a functional workers paradise by working towards a Eudaimonic society. But unlike Stalinism (or the Human Hive), they have no problem getting power though democratic means or by employing free market economies in the short term. Lack the funding or backing compared to other political groups (slow research), but can level the playing field by easily rallying popular support.
Data Angels = Minarchist Libertarians. See government as something that is necessary but only in a very limited manner (democracy as the closest equivalent to their ideals), which makes some people mistake them for being outright anarchists. Looks down upon the idea of a large military spending for national defense, but encourage individual initiative in taking action. Also, expand their influence by spreading their propaganda and reaching out to others via the Internet (the planetary network).
Cybernetic Consciousness = Utilitarians. The greatest amount of benefit to the largest amount of people, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome. Therefore the sacrifice of individuality and emotions is justified by all the resulting benefits of a cybernetic society.
Nautilus Pirates = Anarchists. Svensgaard "leads" them in the sense that he's got the most individual power, but the pirates are intent upon gaining as much wealth and power for as much of their faction as possible. Otherwise, anything goes. Are able to exist as an entity because of the extreme advantage they have over other factions concerning Planet's oceans.
Cult of Planet = Combines Transhumanism with Voluntary Extinctionism. The Cult seeks to remove humanity as an entity one way or another, and it's implied that if they can't Transcend after destroying the other factions that they'll wipe themselves out in order to let Planet exist free of human influence. However, as Planet is doomed to an endless cycle of awakening and withering without humanity's help; it follows that the option of Transcending to save both Humanity and Planet is the preferred outcome.
A nitpick: turns in ancient times in the Civilization series tend to be many years long. Even if messages take months or years to get somewhere, you can still conclude a negotiated agreement if you have a five or ten year "turn" in which to do so.
The Human Hive's symbol is this◊, an obvious reference to a the Taijitu symbol. However, consistent with Chairman Yang's "Yin-Yang dualism can be overcome" philosophy, the Human Hive symbol only depicts one side of the symbol.
The tech quote for "Unified Field Theory" is Sister Miriam Godwinson saying that "you are trampling the garden of an angry God, and He awaits you just beyond the last theorem." Unified Field Theory is an immediate prerequisite for Secrets of Creation.
This may be fridge hilarity or fridge horror. The Voice of Planet secret project seeks to awaken the nascent planet-mind to full consciousness by uploading to it the full contents of the human datalinks, an expy for our internet. Now, think for just a moment about what kind of personality would emerge from having the full contents of the internet uploaded just as you're becoming self-aware. Apparently Planet is about to become a sarcastic, cynical, cat-obsessed sex fiend.
◊, an obvious reference to a the Taijitu symbol. However, consistent with Chairman Yang's "Yin-Yang dualism can be overcome" philosophy, the Human Hive symbol only depicts one side of the symbol.
