I have heard several rumors of another faction coming with 1.9, and most likely this would be the grey faction. If this is indeed the case, I think it would be cool to have the grey faction be opposed to UIT in the same way the Itani are opposed to the Serco. I think this would add a cool new dimension to the game and create interesting role play opportunities. I know this is a if->then scenario, but I am interested to hear others thoughts on it.

Many people have suggested Tri-KoS as a requirement for a grey name (not saying the OP said this, I am just getting in before everyone else does). I vehemently oppose this. I have lived in grey for 99% of my characters life, without being a pirate/criminal/etc. I see no reason I MUST be KoS with anyone just to be considered a denizen of Greyspace.

As far as the OPs suggestion that a grey faction be opposed to UIT as per the Serco/Itani, remember, UIT is not a single nation, it is a collection of INDEPENDANT TERRITORIES. Being opposed to a particular UIT sub-faction would be all well and good (TPG seem to consider themselves the watchdogs of UIT, I would suggest them), but being opposed to UIT as a whole is illogical IMO.

I would be skeptical of any rumors, as I could create a rumor that the next faction is a race of midgets who ride Narwhals into battle.

That being said, I would welcome any grey/unaligned faction as a next step where we could work on faction tweaks as necessary post-implementation.

What about a rumor that 1.9 will be released this Holiday season? That sounds even better than midgets and Narwhals, no?

I see no reason I MUST be KoS with anyone just to be considered a denizen of Greyspace.

You can be in Grey without being of Grey.

Why would VO continue to screw its already terrible faction/RP system by making Grey/unaligned just another achievement for carebears? We already have the idiotic results of Corvus standing being mutually exclusive with nobody and a dumbassed choice of a dedicated pirate ship for a LTS toy: everyone in the game, trader, anti-pirate, and pirate alike...flying pirate ships in Grey. Everyone, good guys and bad guys, being on equal footing in Grey...somewhere good guys should consider 'far from home.'

No need to further goat-fuck the game, it's got quite enough of that already.

I see your point, Lecter, but "grey" is not a faction per se. Like UIT, its a bunch of subfactions. Can you really argue that I am not "of grey"? I have refused trades where the buyer was in nationspace (UIT included), I have shouted my independence loudly and often. I am not opposed to subfactions in grey being opposed to subfactions in UIT (Corvus vs TPG for instance would be a logical choice), and I would wear such standings to maintain my grey sub faction standings, as appropriate.

However, should we get an option for a grey name, I still see no reason this must include criminality. That's like saying Tunguska, Ineubis, XX etc are all criminal factions, as they are located in grey.

The purpose of being in Greyspace is to avoid governmental control. That implies an aversion to governments. Governments don't like people who are averse to them, and people who are averse to governments don't like governments. So it makes perfect sense that a Grey faction would be mutually exclusive with the other factions.

You said it yourself: You refused to trade with people inside nation space. Why do you think you should be able to shun them and yet maintain good standings with them?

Further, the same rationale behind Serci-Itani mutual exclusion applies. You may not be a criminal yourself, but by supporting greyspace, you support those of us who are. Just as a pacifist who simply trades with the Itani and never takes part in warefare is still boosting the Itani economy and therefor helping them kill Serco warriors.

The only issue I have with the concept of a grey faction is that, unlike the UIT, there is no nominal government -- that's the whole point. So what would having good "grey" standing even mean? I suppose it could just be an amalgamate standing based on a weighted average of your standing with all grey factions, and used only for computing mutual exclusivity, but meh.

My preference is simply to not create an actual grey faction (i.e. no overall grey standing), but to allow the renouncing of your home nation in order to attain a grey name (and then be treated under the same rules as foreigners re: max standing). This would make you Unaligned. Corvus and perhaps the other purely grey factions would only allow admired standings with people who are unaligned, and Corvus should be mutually exclusive to the UIT, and preferably with the Serco and Itani as well (but not as harshly).

Pizzasgood: Yeah, that is what I was getting at. UIT is more affected by Corvus than the Itani or Serco, mainly because they are a trading nation and the Corvus pirates do more damage to them. I like the way you layed it out and I would love to see that implemented.
+1 to renouncing citizenship/unaligned

My preference is simply to not create an actual grey faction (i.e. no overall grey standing), but to allow the renouncing of your home nation in order to attain a grey name (and then be treated under the same rules as foreigners re: max standing). This would make you Unaligned. Corvus and perhaps the other purely grey factions would only allow admired standings with people who are unaligned, and Corvus should be mutually exclusive to the UIT, and preferably with the Serco and Itani as well (but not as harshly).

This is pretty much what I meant as well. A grey name, disassociating oneself from all nations. That said, while Corvus may be a "hotbed of criminal activity", the other grey factions are not. I would totally accept and encourage faction exclusivity between Corvus and one or more of the UIT factions (like I said before, I think TPG would be especially appropriate as they seem to consider themselves the watchdogs of UIT) or even UIT itself. My opposition is to the all too common "Grey names should have TRI-KoS" opinion many have.

Incidentally, I have +0 with both Serco and Itani, and would with UIT also if I could find a non-criminal method of lowering my UIT standing. I agree I should not be able to shun nations and maintain good standing.

Only faction that is still missing from VO and is present in the backstory is Akanese.

Technically, the Akanese is a section of the Itani Nation.
+6000 Though