The Main Conflict: Corporation vs. Clan

[SPOILER — Reveal conditions: available after first major faction allegiance decision.]

The conflict is not new. What is new is that it has become legible.

Prospect built the infrastructure, which meant it could price access to the infrastructure, which meant everyone who needed the infrastructure — which was everyone — had a dependency. Dependencies became leverage. Leverage became policy. The corporation did not need to occupy the city; it needed to be the thing the city could not operate without.

The clans formed in the space that corporate administration left unmanaged: the social layer, the informal economy, the networks of trust that don't exist on any Prospect org chart. Some clans are criminal. Some are mutual aid. Most are both, depending on the month.

The Exploitation Mechanic

Prospect's resource model is documented elsewhere. The relevant operational fact is this: the model produces a population that is productive, traceable, and dependent — and a smaller population that has exited the system and is therefore invisible to the tools the corporation uses to manage the larger one.

The player's clan sits at this boundary. This is why both sides want a relationship with it and why neither side can fully trust it.

The Player's Role

The faction allegiance system does not require the player to resolve the conflict. It requires the player to survive while the conflict moves through phases that were already in motion. Some of those phases can be altered. Some cannot. The ones that can be altered are the interesting ones.