Ecologist Major Faction concept

I adore the factions of Endless Space 2 and think a lovely addition would be a group of ecologists defined by their love of wild planets, open spaces, and vast possibilities. 

Their look: Maybe bug-faced humanoids wearing dusters and cowboy hats, with cybernetic implants in their arms? Something like that. 

Their purpose: Like all the factions, they would be driven by a central ethos (hopefully delivered in a Jeff Bridges-style cowboy narration):

"If you go out into the galaxy to change it, you've got the wrong idea. We're just little pieces in the big picture. The galaxy's there to change you, not the other way around. It'll teach you what it needs.  

Planets have heartbeats if you choose to listen. There is music on the solar winds. There is power in the rush of great waters, and possibility in the growth of new life.

We don't need councils or bureaucracies or complexity. The universe called us. It asked us to protect it. And we're gonna do what we can.

No one, Endless or God or machine or flesh, can truly transform this universe. But if you let it, it can change you."

Large Mechanical Ideas:

They should have a very unique relationship with planets. They don't love terraforming but are given lots of cool ways to interact with planets - even planets that aren't theirs. Can they send a small sampling of a new grass seed to an enemy planet, which in twenty-five turns will grow over the entire system and take over, rending it uninhabitable (except for you?). Can they speak to the planets and make them fight during land battles? Can they do ecoterrorist virus spreading and kill enemy populations remotely?

- Their ideal is to have very small populations, since they're cowboys who like open space and lots of solitude. Every additional pop of their own species reduces their happiness, but they can fill the remaining slots with a few purchaseable improvements (on certain planet types, Great Herds of cattle-style creatures, or Nanotech Winds that harvest crops on their own. On certain planets (if they've built Urban Centers or something) they can also house the populations of different factions without deficit.

- Maybe specific populations can be upgraded? Your guys don't wanna change the univeres but they're all for cybernetic enhancements, etc., so that they can be more powerful. And you can choose different bonuses they get, a little like they were heroes or systems to upgrade.

Miscellaneous Ideas

- They get huge happiness deficits from terraforming. They want the universe to stay how it is.

- They have a huge bonus to expansion. They can spread across the galaxy faster than anybody, creating fragile little outposts that eventually become well-supporties colonies.

- With their love of planets, they gain massive bonuses to land combat and can absolutely dominate those kind of fights, making them capable of conquering Empires that mistreat the land.

- They do like to avoid conflict if possible, and get all sorts of interesting options in combat. If they have overwhelming force, they can offer assimilation to their foes and gain population and manpower. If they are about to be destroyed, they can offer to join other Empires. If they do, you can track these lost brethren and use their help to take over other planets.

Anyway, would love to hear people's additional ideas about this. One comment could be that they're too similar to the Unfallen - but the Unfallen actually don't seem to care about nature that much. These guys are much more eco-terrorist style, and I think the cowboy aesthetic and relationship with planets could be really really cool.