Hello to everyone, 

Even before the end of the major faction contest, I would like to create a data base gathering brief resumes of most of the ideas from the first phase in order to :

 1. provide to anybody wanting to inspire oneself from what was presented during the contest a place where to search without being flooded by pages and pages of too long submissions ;

 2. provide to drawers like Digitalhawk96 material to use (because, to my mind, well presented ideas can help a lot illustrators ^^) ;

 3. provide a gathering point where those who want to create much complex factions can submit their ideas and be advised by experimented members ;

 4. finally, make the creation sub-forum more lively (for now, there are only two threads in this part of the forum : the Legion project and the sketches from Digitalhawks96).

In order to not see this thread flooded by too long propositions, I'll give an idea of what is for me a resume of a thread. For that, I'll use my own submission from the major faction contest as a counter-example.

For commodities, I'll call their race the Pauci (sg. : paucus).

Description :

Remnants of an ancient warmongering civilization that destroyed itself through endless conflicts, the Few are an handful of individuals who have modified their bodies and their planet for centuries in order to construct a new, peaceful and self-sufficient society. Now controlling their entire planet, the dozen (their number can vary, but I want to give an idea of why they are called the Few ^^) now superior individuals that forms the Few are searching for more ways to protect themselves from the madness of war, which led them to look upward, to the stars.

Society : Protocraty whose hierarchy is maintained through genetic dependencies. 

- The Ones : survivors of ancient wars, the Ones serve as mentors to all Pauci. Because they have lived and worked together for centuries, they have attained a high level of understanding which facilitates consensus.

- The Seeds : created thanks to blends of the Ones' DNA and conditioned to share with them memory and knowledge, they are responsible of most of the contacts with other species. As such, they serves as counselors and experts wherever they are.   

- The Cells : semi-sentient servants created using the Ones' own DNA and controlled by Seeds, they are the backbone of all manual labors and the bulk of Pauci troops.

Gameplay : 

- Preferred ideology - Pacifism/Scientific/Industrialist : The Pauci are pragmatic beings who value all forms of knowledge (some of them are brilliant martial artists, others famous architects etc) but whose dedication to peace is unparalleled. If they declare war, they'll try to make it quick and decisive, using large scale attacks and alliances to bring the warmongers down. 

- Faction affinity - The Ones who know : Respected among other people for their wisdom and their knowledge, the Few can influence the elections of the factions they have encountered (ex. : if Pacifism prevail during their elections, others factions will see more systems voting for this ideology during the next elections).

- Faction traits - Natural predator : Because their violent tendencies were consequences of their DNA, the soldiers of this faction can return to their primal nature when cornered, boosting their power when fighting on the defensive during a ground battle but also forbidding them to surrender.

                          - Unanimity : During elections, the player choice have a far greater impact on controlled systems.

                          - Master proselytes : Increase the effects of propaganda originating from player's systems

                          - Expertize : Each ship has more experience when constructed, but gains less experience in combat.

                         

                          - Arks of legacy : 250% upkeep and production cost for all ships /  and  are used to produce ships / Each ship acts as a civilian ship (so no civilian ship model) with one to three "ark charges", each one providing  1   and sometimes , and is recycled automatically after colonization (without  gain) / Ships and troops production doesn't consume  on systems.

                           - Everlasting loyalty : When inhabiting a system not controlled by their original faction, the Pauci provide no population affinity bonus.

                          (- Optimized hierarchy : Laws can be enacted at a smaller cost.)

                          (- Advanced homeworld : Homeworld population full at the beginning of the game.) => in order to respect the lore

                          (- Terraformed homeworld : Homeworld benefit from a positive anomaly) => in order to respect the lore

- Population affinity - Artificial paragons : In any system adjacent to a system where Pauci are present,  per non-Pauci  increased for each Pauci  in the system by a small percentage. / Their  cannot increase from  on a planet and are immune to propaganda.

- Ships :

Class	Civil	Corvette	Destroyer	Cruiser	Battleship	Dreadnought
Name	NA	Libra	Gemini	Sagittarius	Scorpio	Virgo
Base Cost (based on ES)	NA	100	100	400	300	1000
Unique capacity	NA	Gives back as much  as its cost when recycled after colonization.	Gives back as much strategical resources as its cost when recycled after colonization.	After last ark charge as been depleted, isn't recycled. Instead, gain + 30% attack and +5 .	- 25 % cost in	+10 %  and +10 %  on system for 10 turns after colonization
Ark capacity	NA	1 x	1 x	2 x	1 x ( + )	3 x ( + )

Unique technologies - Growthless society (Era III) : Give access to the Equilibrium, an infinite improvement that stops any population growth or decay in the system.

                                    - Overinspiration (Era IV) : Give the possibility to sacrifice a Pauci  in a system to provide a boost to  and  (+20% maybe) or a non-Pauci  for a smaller bonus (10% maybe) in the system for 10 turns (the bonus doesn't stack if multiple  are sacrificed) => This sacrifice could be automatized every ten turns if wanted.

                                    -  Endless genetics (Era V) : Increase  production by 50% in all systems / Increase population limit by one on all planets.

                                    

Explanations : 

- Pacifist diplomats : The Few is a faction whose goal is to assure their survival by maintaining the galaxy in a peaceful state and by forging formal and informal alliances using indirect methods (little to no bonus to influence or diplomacy) : its faction affinity (in combination with its preferred ideology) allows it to decrease others factions militaristic bonus and to make their laws (and so their behavior) more predictable, and its population affinity make settlements in the middle of other empires a viable strategy for both sides (it gives you intel and commercial presence, it gives to your partner nice bonus) while enhancing minor faction-based strategies.

- Control your population : One of the main features related to this faction is the way it allows you to control your population : because Pauci cannot be produced naturally, are immune to propaganda and use it efficiently, you have much more influence on the balance of populations in your systems (minor faction/major faction balance I mean) and so can optimize the fids production in the way you want. This, in synergy with the adjacency bonus, allows you to benefit from a polyvalent and strong economy in the mid and late-game (the unique technologies you to manipulate even more accurately your population). Unfortunately for your enemies, this control isn't granted to them, and it will be impossible to move Pauci  and to multiply them in their empires (which reduces the interest to conquer your systems, and so increases your chances).

- The Arks of legacy : Because each Pauci  is produced through expensive genetic experiments and represents a part of the Ones' legacy, the vessels used by the Few are difficult to product and to maintain, but are made to inspire awe and to help colonization efforts throughout the galaxy. In terms of gameplay, there upkeep and production costs can be staggering, but each of them will be a valuable asset during any battle : Pauci ships will be designed to use as many modules as possible (because, if it is already expensive, why bothering making it even more ?) and, by using both  and  to product them, a specialized system can even overcome this initial difficulty and construct these ships relatively quickly. Overall, it gives to this faction a military made for important battles and not so much for attrition wars. On the other hand, it can be a viable idea to construct fleets of exploration ships with minimal weaponry in order to colonize entire systems more efficiently than any other faction. 

- Playstyle : Thanks to its adjacency bonus, this faction allows you to create tall but spread empires based on outposts or minor-faction based dense ones. At the beginning of a game, use your exploration ships to find and colonize the best systems in terms of

I think the best way to makes things work is to put the resumes as comments on this thread, and put more fleshed versions if it is asked as independent threads in order, for example, to develop the Society or Gameplay parts, or even to put more illustrations.