Why are the advent 'deviant sinners'?

If you ask me it's a cheap shot at either Christianity, Islam, or religion in general.

Socialists as opposed to capitalists perhaps? Think of the McCarthy witch hunts in the 50's, or the Spanish Civil War. Politics can be as intoxicatingly violent as religion.

Well, we won't know for certain until the campaign comes out. Maybe the title is pertaining to the Vasari, whom consumed all until they were stopped, and now destroy everything in their path.

who knows what experiments the advent did before they perfected their 'psionic' capabilities

Actually, it seemed more to me that the speaker (current TEC) was parotting boogy-man stuff that he was told as a child. This was based on the original Trade Order meeting a bunch of people who had totally different values and psychotically over-reacting. (the leaders of the time could probably use an enemy-image to unite the people, and being "victorious" against the alledgedly evil "deviants" makes good propaganda)

Also, these people that Mr. Speaker was taught as a child were evil-bad-bad side-swiped the TEC at the most inconvenient moment possible. I seriously doubt anyone would be inclined to go "oh, they were just misunderstood" under those circumstances.

P.S. I'm a near pure Advent player with a special dislike for the TEC. Our vengance will be swift! Victory is at hand for the Unity!

No, its not. please stop babbling nonsense and lift your head a bit. yes. thats ok. thank you. *fires novalith*

I thought it had to do with the implants they did. Or am I thinking of another sci fi show/game?

It's probably like the thing chasing the Vasari, it won't be revealed until the game devs decide to (campaign? expansion?)

You don't like Advent? Don't worry, we've got a cure for that horrible affliction.

*Fires Deliverance Engine*

They love me, they really, really love me!


All the other sides wave around their big guns, but we send hot burning love rocketing among the stars. We're pacifists, really. [telepathy]Ignore the fleet approaching your colony, these are not the warships you are looking for.[/telepathy]

Material indicates their telepathic abilities were gained through genetic experimentation, some of which might be quite "deviant". I get the feeling they were like the Sith on Korriban or like Noveria in Mass Effect - on an isolated world, they hid from the ruling TEC and performed all sort of racial/illegal experiments.

well, the advent were/are humans who were banished from their home worlds because of experiments different beliefs and mind control. This is the TEC's sins. The Advent return for revenge on the human(Their sin). I see the advent as more evil than the TEC in the game due to the fact that their weapons are things that torture the mind.

How so? Off the top of my head, most of the weapons just suggest that they are strengthened through psi powers (extra focus on a laser, special accuracy, telekinetically reinforced hulls) rather than attacking the enemies brains directly.

The only "evil" stuff I can really think of is their penchant for a form of mind-control, (their culture mechanism, some capital ship powers) not very nice, but neither are the "traditional" means of takeover. Heck, the TEC seems to specialise in using long-term radiation warheads on planets, (and ships IIRC) not exactly sweetness and light there.

In my opinion, they're just at war and using all the resources they have available. You use the stuff you're best at and, lets face it, the in-game representations of the Advent (faces, the loading screen lady) don't exactly suggest much in the way of brute physical strength. You could even argue that since the Advent focus on converting the enemy to their cause rather than annihilating/enslaving them they're taking the humanitarian option in a brutal war of conquest.

If you just disregard the lies of the TEC propaganda, you'll soon realise that we offer a better way of life and that our sole purpose is to Unify everione in peaceful harmony. [telepathy]Come join us, come with us, come join us.[/telepathy]

Such cosmetic differences are trivial. Both are essentially human, and both will make fine valued citizens in the reborn Vesari Empire.

Tec officer: "We could NOT coexist..."

Well, true. Its kind of hard for a society of non-telepaths to coexist with one of telepaths. Forget star trek utopian non-solutions - if there is a person who can literally change your mind on the loose, you can banish them, or you can be ruled by them and believe it was your own idea to do so.

You can't even trust someone who's been in contact with them to vouch for them, because HIS mind might have been affected.

The person who made the intro video gets points for telling it from something approaching a realistic point of view. Some of those points get subtracted for making the person sound like someone's bad stereotype of a religious zealot.

The title, I'm pretty sure, is referring to both the TEC's (or trade order's, at the time) treatment of the advent, and to the Vasari. A common theme in the game's backstory seems to be the sins of the past coming back to wreck you.

Anyway, I like the TEC simply because the Kol is badass.

The narrator of the intro was probably a TEC officer and he thinks the Advent is the most evil thing in the universe.

*fires Kostura at ignoramouses*
*moves in fleet*
*stands victorious on ignoramouses' razed planets*
*lols(rotfl-iing is just unacceptable for a ranking Vasari officer)*

 :LOL: 

Of course they are deviant sinners. They broke the Trade Tractates, by depriving populations of their free will and denying them the access to a free market. We were merciful. We only banished them. We did not mass drive asteroids into their world's core. We did not lock our missiles on their frigates as they were fleeing. For this, they return, and wish to subjugate us all, turn us into automata - slaves.
We do not repeat our mistakes.

Option 3: Become a telepath yourself. The Advent background explains quite clearly that only a vanishingly small number of people does not have the potential for telepathy. The reason the Advent are so much better at it than everybody else is that they augment their capabilities with drugs/implants and that they spend their whole life improving them. Whereas the TEC probably do their utmost best to squash any potential anyone might have.

Of course the TEC leaders don't like people having telepathic capabilities, it gives their subjects the chance to see what their "noble leaders" are really up to. In the Unity, on the other hand, the leaders thought processes are quite accessible to everyone. In fact, the whole purpose of leaders in the Unity is to distill the collective will of the people and carry it out. Direct democracy at its finest. [telepathy]The Unity welcomes all, join us, reject your opressors and join us[/telepathy]

In the Beta version, the storyline was all about the Vasari being given birthright to all the territories in the universe (or something like that)

I think the developers just watched too much Stargate and went on a crusade against the False Gods of the universe

The campaign better have an awesome story.

The advent sounds like the people who are actually good with a catch. The process of assimilating everyone to form a group mind to eliminate conflict and allow everyone to (hopefully) live well is noble, but people who've lived in a society like the TEC's (or ours) where the most valuable possession is freedom, it's natural to fight them off. This is the conflict that makes the collective such a beautiful faction in sci fi.

I agree with ParDream, The campaign better be awesome....yet simple. Not "bad guy good guy" simple. More of a "Not writing myself into a coner and having to retcon most everything to save myself" simple.

As for the Advent, My guess is as good as anyone's. It's explained in the intro and the lore that they were a isolated culture praticing social taboos. There are many mirrors in real life situations, human experimentation, use of drugs, forms of marrige, religion, ect. Past experiance has shown that when "normal" (larger more connected) society comes across an isolated one (smaller) everything comes across as "shocking" to the observer, yet is normal to the observed. Anyone remember a certian west Texas religious fellowship??
Anyhow, I'm sure everything will be explained in campaign. The TEC most likely acted as they thought was the best way to handle the Advent when they were "discovered". Banishing "socialy corrupt" to be "out of sight out of mind" than try some messy military operation by an empire that did not have a military to speak of. The Advent on the other hand is an uprooted and displaced empire that had the very foundations that they had built thier society around declared "wrong" by thier own people. So they are out to reclaim what they belive to be rightfully thiers. Trowing in "sins" is probably nothing more than a propaganda tool, a very old propaganda tool.

Guys, there's something called a 'Lore' tab on this site. Top-right.

I was going to ask this question myself I thought the Advent sound like nice people.

Another thing I thought was funny about the intro was the part about "an entire planet, banished to the depths of space." I'm sure the guy meant they just cut off all contact and trade routes and whatnot, but I'm amused by the idea of the TEC literally hurling an entire planet into the void (possibly by crashing all of their ships into one side of it and firing full thrusters?)

advent suck... get over it

I heard that it's because of what they did. Gene tampering, mind altering drugs, artificial implants, social collectivization and who knows what else. The Trader's believed that they shouldn’t play god and tamper with the human body and it seems as if every other human world had these taboo's when they were found and brought into the Trade Order. When they discovered the Advent and discovered the various aspects of there culture and attitudes they were shocked. There oldest and deepest taboos, all of them broken. A group of humans actively interfering with the human body was as an abomination. It's a wonder that the Traders didn’t end there heresy right then and there.

Now the reason why they had these taboos. This would most likely be covered in the Expansion pack, but if I had to guess there was a War that ravaged human space, those worlds not outright destroyed were reduced back to pre-space flight technology. This war might have something to do with the Advent whether they were a group of people that advocated certain principles that could be quite similar to the advent philosophy (Gene Modification, social collectivization and etc.) except for being MUCH milder. A certain branch of this group split off just before the end of the war and survived later becoming the Advent. Baseline humans achieved a Pyrrhic victory against these Proto-Advent. The idea is that the war was so destructive that the human worlds were cut off from each other. This period of isolation and probable technologic regression could be classified as an “Old Night” scenario. The remaining scattered, isolated human worlds shared history. (Earth, The War, the Proto-Advent.) would have faded into myth and legend. However the War could not wholly be forgotten and while the forgot the Proto-Advent as a whole there Gene Tampering, Collectivization, Implants and etc. would become socially taboo. Eventually Man relearns space flight and takes to the stars once more. Thus creating the Trade Order, there history reduced to speculation, myth, legend and tradition

"Heathens will be purged." Non-telepaths being outcasts. Strict meritocracy, with the weakest being looked down upon and shunned. Yep, a real utopia.

The point with Sins, just like Alpha Centauri, is that the choice isn't good/neutral/evil, but which kind of evil?