Starfield's factions are already triggering some Skyrim civil war-style discourse among fans

The United Colonies and the Freestar Collective in Starfield.
Credit: Bethesda.


The United Colonies and the Freestar Collective in Starfield.
Credit: Bethesda.

Most of the hardcore Bethesda RPG fans who’ve invested thousands of hours into Skyrim and Fallout 4 can't wait for the release of Starfield.

Some have been passing the time until September by creating tabletop RPGs that allow people to take an early trip into space, getting ready to make some mods for it, or submitting questions for this week’s developer Q&A session.

Thankfully for those who’ve been desperately hoping for more information about the game to speculate about prior to its arrival, Bethesda has recently released a timeline detailing some key events in Starfield history. Unfortunately, it seems some fans have already begun debating the philosophical virtues of its factions.

Have you already picked a Starfield faction to stan?

As we reported yesterday, one of the many aspects of the timeline that got soon-to-be players on the game’s subreddit talking were the lengthy conflicts between the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective that it described.

Some were quick to theorise that the rift between the two morally grey powers might lead to a similar amount of debate as Skyrim’s infamous civil war between the Stormcloaks and the Imperial Legion has over the past decade and a bit.

Now, Reddit user eso_nwah has taken it upon themselves to try and fire off the first shot in what they think will be an inevitable UC vs Freestar war of words, putting together a lengthy post extolling the virtues of the United Colonies.

After arguing that since the UC seems like the dominant cultural and economic power throughout much of The Settled Systems, resisting them would be futile, they signed off by declaring: “Good luck to the underdogs out there, fight the good fight I guess!”

A few of their fellow spacers have played along in their responses, proclaiming their support for either the UC, Freestar, or the Crimson Fleet pirates.

On the other hand, plenty have argued that they don’t think Starfield’s ruling factions will prove as divisive as Skyrim’s warring parties, since it doesn’t seem like players will be pushed to join either one or the other, exclusively, in order to complete a major questline.

Much like those in the thread who’ve mused that they want to learn more information about the factions before becoming a cheerleader for one of them, we’ll just have to wait and see if Starfield’s federations are still inspiring essay-length discussion posts long after the game’s arrival.

Regardless of whether you’ve already devoted yourself to spreading the good word of the United Colonies, make sure to follow us for lots of guides to Starfield’s world and mechanics.

You can also check out our latest mods of the month for some impressive works for other Bethesda games that might help tide you over until it arrives.

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