The Mech Touch

After Master Bouderon provided a bit more clarification about the meaning of factions in the MTA, Ves realized that he and his fellow Journeymen came in touch with the Association's true power structure.

Before this point, Ves only had a vague and superficial idea on how the MTA was actually governed. Although it was not a state or star nation, its sheer size and enormous responsibilities effectively meant that it had a lot of people who had different ideas on what they should do with all of their power.

Although Ves had long known that the Galactic Mech Council effectively ruled the MTA as a whole, he didn't know much about what they discussed or what they voted upon. Such matters simply weren't publicized on the galactic net.

To the overwhelming majority of space peasants, the Mech Trade Association was a single, monolithic entity. Powerful mechers such as Master Willix and Master Bouderon never exposed their factions when they dealt with outsiders. They all portrayed themselves as representatives of the great Association.

Due to special reasons, Ves gained an early peek into the inner workings of the MTA. He was under no illusion that he would actually have a say in any matters. At best, he would become their lackey and assist them in minor matters.

This was nothing strange to Ves. He was familiar with cooperating with larger entities like the Clifford Society, the Rim Guardians and the Hexadric Hegemony.

No matter what they called themselves or how much power they possessed, as long as Ves was useful to them, they would have a basis of cooperation.

It was too bad that Ves never stuck around long enough to climb up their hierarchies and obtain greater benefits.

Years ago, Ves intended to develop a closer relationship with the Rim Guardians. He was a citizen of the galactic rim and did not possess a strong desire to leave.

The events that took place in the Nyxian Gap and the opening of the Red Ocean completely changed his calculations. Why should he waste any further time with earning the favor of the Rim Guardians when this fraternity was hardly relevant in the new frontier?

There were completely different clubs in the Red Ocean that could provide pioneers like himself with much more immediate benefits!

Ves had a feeling that the faction that Master Bouderon belonged to wasn't as limited as the previous clubs. There was no greater authority than the Big Two in human space. A faction that was powerful enough to steer the decision-making of one would never become irrelevant!

Ketis began to frown, though. As a swordmaster, she was not as restrained in front of an MTA Master as the rest.

"Master Bouderon, if I may ask, could you introduce the different factions to us?" She asked. "While we are honored that you wish to solicit us, it would be foolish to enter your faction without understanding where you stand and where your rivals stand."

"That is a reasonable request. Just to clarify, you are not obligated to accept our invitation. There are plenty of mech designers that have decided to cooperate with other factions or stay out of this game entirely. The benefits that we can provide are more subtle and mainly based on exchanging favors. We do not issue our own merits that you can exchange for different goods and services in some sort of merit exchange platform. At our level, such incentives are too vulgar and redundant."

That was easy to say for a Master Mech Designer and someone who was part of the upper echelon of the MTA. Even if Master Bouderon hadn't earned any merits, he could easily borrow favors from other people!

As for smaller figures like Ves and Ketis, the benefits they could gain from this cooperation was entirely dependent on the friendship and generosity of the people in charge.

Although this sounded like a step back compared to more structured organizations like the Rim Guardian Fraternity, Ves knew this was the only way for him to obtain direct assistance from powerful figures like Master Willix and Master Bouderon!

Such people were normally completely inaccessible to Ves, but it was a different matter if he entered into a cooperative relationship with their faction.

That said, no matter how much friendship he developed with Master Willix, Ves agreed with Ketis. He needed to know the full picture before he committed to a choice.

"There are 12 major factions and thousands of minor factions in the Mech Trade Association." Bouderon explained without any suspense. "The former are politically powerful alliances that bind together a coalition of like-minded Star Designers, galactic mech councilors and other high dignitaries. The latter usually lack the support of prestigious leaders and cannot set policy."

In other words, the major factions had a voice in the 100-seat galactic mech council while the rabble could only beg for scraps!

Master Bouderon briefly looked contemptuous. "You don't need to pay attention to the minor factions. They are only influential under selective circumstances. Think of supporting certain regions or minority groups such as heavy gravity variant humans. A major faction might cooperate with them, but they have no weight if they are not needed."

Everyone nodded. With an attitude like that, Master Bouderon's faction most definitely wasn't a minor faction.

Soon, he began to introduce the factions with no particular order.

"Let me start by introducing the most conservative faction, which is aptly named the Preserving Order Faction. As you can imagine, the Preservers are opposed to change and are the strongest advocates for a stable and predictable status quo. In practice, they oppose virtually every proactive initiative."

"They're a bunch of cowards who are afraid of breaking the vase." Jovy added in plainer terms. "They think that everything will remain just fine if we all bury our heads in the sand. They're one of the strongest opponents of the colonization of the Red Ocean."

Though Master Bouderon looked a bit irked at Jovy's interjection, he didn't do anything further.

"I see." Ves looked intrigued.

Given his penchant for risk taking and his ambition to change the mech industry, Ves was obviously a bad fit with these fellows!

He looked down on this cowardly behavior. It not only conflicted with the Larkinson Clan's creed, but he also saw no future in this approach.

Even if humanity never wanted to change, the rival alien empires would never follow suit!

"The Guidance Faction adopts the opposite approach, much too many people's dismay. The adherents of this faction believe the MTA must make the most of its power and authority and take a more active hand at governing human civilization."

Jovy released a chuckle. "The Guiders are meddlesome grandmas and grandpas that think they should rule humanity because they know best. Admittedly, they're scarily smart and wise, but they can never persuade everyone to submit to their rule. That hasn't stopped them from trying, though."

That sounded even less pleasant to Ves. While a united humanity might be stronger, he had a feeling that he wouldn't enjoy living under a single overpowering authority!

"The Mech Supremacist Faction are relatively straightforward. The members of this faction are obsessed with mechs to the point of dismissing other war weapons such as warships. They support any policies that strengthen the value and importance of mechs."

"They will also fight against anything that will make mechs or less relevant." Jovy said. "You don't want to see them when they think that someone is trying to dethrone mechs."

The Mech Supremacists certainly sound like extremists to Ves. That was a pity because he was initially attracted to this stance. As a mech designer, his goals aligned a lot with this faction!

"The Expansionist Faction supports fast and aggressive expansion of human territory. As you may have already guessed, the Expansionists are in ascendancy at this time. They are the principal promoters of the colonization of the Red Ocean."

Jovy smirked again. "Their ambitions aren't limited to a single dwarf galaxy. Their intentions are much bigger than that. The Expansionists have always set their sights on other galaxies comparable to the Milky Way. One of their most popular slogans is 'Andromeda or Bust'!"

Ves almost coughed when he heard that. That was way too ambitious and completely unrealistic!

Master Bouderon moved on to introducing another faction.

"I do not believe I have to provide much clarification for the Warship Abolitionist Faction. Its members do not have strong opinions on most matters aside from any topic related to warships. The abolitionists oppose the existence of warships to such a strong degree that they even call for our Association to abandon its own warships."

"The Warship Abolitionists get along a lot with the Mech Supremacists." Jovy smiled. "Sometimes, you can hardly tell the difference, but the Warship Abolitionists are much more dangerous. For better or worse, we still need the power of warships to safeguard our own power, but these idiots are so blind in their hatred that they can't accept any responsible use of weaponized starships."

That sounded like a big fight that Ves wanted no part in. Personally, he agreed with Jovy. Mechs weren't powerful enough to replace the role of warships in external conflicts.

"The Transhumanist Faction are more interested in promoting the evolution of the human race than mechs. The Transhumanists are of the opinion that baseline humans are outdated and that our race must undergo a comprehensive 'gene update' in order to increase our competitiveness compared to other alien races."

"The Transhumanists are the best augmentors in the MTA. They are more daring when it comes to trying out new and less well-tested treatments, but the results aren't always good. Some of them obviously aren't right in the head."

These guys sound dangerous to Ves. Although he was not opposed to human augmentation, the Transhumanists clearly wanted to take it to the next level.

"The Unbound Humanity Faction has close relations with the Transhumanist Faction, but is ultimately more broad. The Unbounders want to unleash our species by dissolving all taboos and rules that restrict human conduct. They believe that humanity will never mature and advance if it is not allowed to learn how to handle powerful means such as warships and weapons of mass destruction."

Jovy had a strong opinion towards this faction. "There is only a single faction that attracts more hatred within the MTA than this faction. The Unbounders might have a decent argument, but removing all of the safety rules that prevent fellow humans from driving our race to extinction is too dangerous!"

Ves again agreed with Jovy. He had seen how ugly humans could be and did not think that human space would become any safer if nutcases were able to wipe out an entire planet with just a single press of a button!

Master Bouderon briefly twitched a smile. "The even more controversial faction that Mr. Armalon is referring to the Dissolution Faction. While it shares much common ground with the Unbounders, the difference is that the Dissolutionists wish to dismantle the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance. In their view, the existence of the Big Two sets the human race back!"

"How can a faction of the MTA exist that openly calls for its collapse?" Ves couldn't help but ask. "Isn't that hostile behavior?"

"Not when there are galactic mech councilors and Star Designers among the Dissolutionists." Jovy sighed. "Most people feel the same way as you. They're abhorrent and don't belong in our Association. Don't mention this in their presence, but most of us refer to them as traitors."

"Due to their extreme stance, the Dissolutionists have never managed to gain traction in the Galactic Mech Council." Bouderon dismissed these strange fellows. "The Longevity Faction is much more moderate. It is another single-issue group that does not take a strong stance on any issue aside from matters that are related to extending the human lifespan. They strongly support allocating more research towards improving life-prolonging treatments and increasing the production of life-prolonging treatment serums."

"No one wants to get on the bad side of the Longlifers." Jovy helpfully said. "The Longevity Faction has a lot of influence on how the MTA handles life-prolonging treatments. While they always ask for more resources than what our Association can give them, the Longlifers are never marginalized. No one wants to live shorter."

This group sounded important to Ves as well, and not just because he wanted to get his hands on more vials of high-grade serum.

Ves suspected that the Longlifers had likely been backing the Supreme Sage's research back in the Life Research Association!

He never realized this before, but now that he became enlightened to the divisions within the MTA, he became aware that his conduct probably altering his standing towards many of these political factions!