Thank you everyone who participated in the poll. Though the poll is close your opinions continues to be important.
I came across the explanation of the higher powers, the nations, and the neutrals in the wiki.
I am now hesitant to title the Neutral topic as Theists and give Marauders their own topic, though it seems the game is moving towards giving players the opportunity to become full-fledged Marauders. Technically Marauders fall under the neutral flag, which is what our good friend Suboxide was trying to explain.
I continue to do more research and to try and figure out the best method to have these topics without them becoming a means to flaming.
I came across the explanation of the higher powers, the nations, and the neutrals in the wiki.
From the very beginning, the players who didn't align with any faction and thus remained neutral have often been referred to as the third faction (in the case of the higher powers) or the fifth faction (in the case of the civilizations). It's a matter of opinion whether neutrality is actually a faction or rather the lack of faction.
This issue was only complicated further when different kinds of neutral were implemented: Hominists who are friendly with all nations, Marauders who are hostile to all nations, Theists who are friendly with both higher powers and Antitheists who are hostile to both higher powers. All those groups also get their own Faction PvP icon.
And of course, there are still the remaining neutrals who don't fall into any of those groups. So all in all there are now 6 different neutral factions.
I am now hesitant to title the Neutral topic as Theists and give Marauders their own topic, though it seems the game is moving towards giving players the opportunity to become full-fledged Marauders. Technically Marauders fall under the neutral flag, which is what our good friend Suboxide was trying to explain.
I continue to do more research and to try and figure out the best method to have these topics without them becoming a means to flaming.