DESCRIPTION: Loud noises, bright lights and sudden movements are all abhorrent to the hyperactive senses of the Whisperers. Their homeworld is a bleak, dark, frozen place, whose ruling class of Listeners enforces stability by any means necessary, for they (claim to) believe a sufficient level of chaos may awaken their dread gods and bring about the End of All Things. Now, the Whisperers bring harmony and prosperity to the galaxy with the same desperation, and all those who refuse to work with them must be silenced forever.

AFFINITY: The Whisperers may pay (Possibly Dust or Influence?) to 'Haunt' planets occupied by other Factions, improving the planet's output (except for Influence) gradually by up to [-10 (Cold War) / 10 (Peace) / 30 (Alliance)] percent, and generates Influence for the Whisperers (peace and alliance generates more Influence), as well as showing them what that planet is doing. If the owner of the planet is at war with the Whisperers, the 'Haunting' is dispelled automatically, but at the cost of a one-time War Exhaustion penalty per planet cleansed. Otherwise, the owner of the planet may pay to remove the 'Haunting' normally.

FACTION TRAITS:

-Generates additional influence

-Diplomatic pressure requirements for forcing a deal agreement are reduced

-When losing a war, war exhaustion rates are increased

-Increased sensor range

-Sensor range of other races is considered reduced for the purposes of detecting Whisperer ships

-Ships gain experience from battles in adjacent systems

-Mild accuracy penalty at medium range, moderate accuracy penalty at short range.

-Lower manpower generation

-Significantly reduced system defense for the purposes of resisting invasion

-All approval penalties from war (enemy ship in system, recently conquered, etc) are increased

-Approval penalty for being in a system with a non-positive un-'improved' anomaly, approval bonus for planets with no anomaly

-Can only rebel at zero approval

PLAYSTYLE: The Whisperers are designed to generate tons of Influence and Pressure, both through their natural aptitudes and by Haunting their neighbours. Those willing to work with the Whisperers will find themselves wealthier through the Haunting mechanic, but occasionally forced to agree to some very unfavourable deals. The Whisperers aren't completely helpless in the event of a war, but their Affinity encourages making as many friends as possible, and strongly discourages those friends from betraying them, as a heavily Haunted faction who declares war on the Whisperers will start off Exhausted. However, if the Whisperers are unable to quickly and quietly end a battle, or a war, they will quickly start to suffer for it, and when they lose, they lose hard.

[EDITED 16/08: Based on feedback, made the piety and intentions of the Listeners more ambiguous, made the effects of Haunting gradual rather than instant, added 'Faction Traits', expanded 'Playstyle'.]