Relationships Between EVE Online's Pirate Factions

EVE Online's Havoc expansion, coming in November, is introducing a new pirate faction, Deathless Circle. The leader of Deathless Circle, The Deathless, is seeking out player support in powering up the Jovian station and exploring the secrets of Zarzakh. With players soon to wade into the politics of the NPC pirate factions, I thought now is a good time to delve into the subject. 

First, we need to look at a subject called derived standings. Players don't get good standings with pirates by having a negative security standing.

Every time you gain faction standing from a mission other than epic arc mission you will also gain derived standings. You will automatically lose standings with factions that dislike the faction and gain standings with factions that like them. The gains and losses depend on the inter faction relationships and are usually smaller than the original standing increase. This makes it very hard to gain high faction standing with more than two empire factions or both pirate and empire factions.

In other words, a player's actions towards NPCs in the game affect standings, not towards other players. Up until now, gaining standings with a pirate faction required running pirate faction missions in null sec or figuring out how derived standings work.

The formula for determining standings gains and losses is:

Derived Standing% = Gain% x (Inter-Faction Standing Modifier / 10)

So, for example, if a player completes a mission for The Blood Raider Covenant and received a 2% increase in standings, the changes in status for the other 4 major NPC pirate factions is:

• Angel Cartel: 0.8% loss in standings
• Guristas: 0.8% gain in standings
• Sansha's Nation: 1.0% gain in standings
• Serpentis: 0.8% loss in standings

In addition, both the Angel Cartel and Guristas have access to epic arc missions which do not trigger derived standings changes to the other factions.

With the explanation of derived standings out of the way let's look at the Deathless Circle and the five major NPC pirate factions in New Eden.

Deathless Circle

The Deathless Circle emerged from the shadows of New Eden's criminal underworld as a new power among the major pirate factions in YC125, with their occupation and control of the abandoned Jovian outpost system of "Zarzakh" posing a new challenge to the forces of law and order. Following years of rumor and suspicion as to the activities of the mysterious figure known as "The Deathless", the Circle has come into clear focus as a coalition of criminals, pirates, and renegades from across New Eden, though principally involving members of Caldari and Minmatar organized crime groups. The dark underbelly of Caldari society's network of crime families and so-called "disassociated", combined with the reach of Thukker gangsters and smugglers provides the Deathless Circle with a potent reservoir of talent and resources. 

The elite of the Deathless Circle's espionage and research groups are also evidently drawn from across New Eden, though with obvious connections to those operating in the shadows of the Caldari and Minmatar counter-economies. The crowning achievement of the Deathless Circle is the discovery of Zarzakh and its occupation of the ancient Jovian outpost that has come to be called "The Fulcrum". With the entire resources of a Jovian megastructure at their disposal, it is difficult to gauge the limits of what the Deathless and his organization may achieve in the future.

Deathless Circle is somewhat unique in that all values for inter-faction standings modifiers is 0. In other words, working with Deathless Circle will not impact any other NPC faction unless a mission requires shooting ships of the other faction.

Both the Angel Cartel and Guristas are called allies of Deathless Circle in the news articles leading up to Havoc. As of the time of the writing of this post, Deathless Circle gives out tokens usable in Angel Cartel and Guristas loyalty points stores to purchase the new Angel Cartel and Guristas faction destroyers. The possibility all pirate faction destroyers and battlecruisers will require working with Deathless Circle does exist.

Angel Cartel

Operating from the heart of the Curse region, the Angel Cartel is today the largest and best organized of the space-based criminal factions. The Angels are divided into several groups, each with a very special function. It is commanded by the Dominations and in the century they've been lurking in deep space they have stolen, plundered or sabotaged countless number of ships and kidnapped, molested or murdered thousands of people. The Angels recruit members from all the races, and are thus not bound to any one zone of operation, which spans almost the entire known world. Many believe that the Angels got their power by uncovering Jovian technologies hidden in their ancient homes, now infested by the Angel Cartel.

The above passage is from the in-game client. The EVE University wiki provided additional lore information.

The Angel Cartel has extensive holdings throughout the Empires but mainly focuses on the Minmatar regions, where they gain most of their recruits. Many Matari that join are disaffected by the Republic, but recent changes (most notably the recovery of the Starkmanir and the Elder Fleet invasion) have noticeably slowed recruitment efforts. Still, this hasn’t yet seemed to harm Angel holdings, which include significant control over the Caldari “grey market” (bringing in illegal, and competing products to the megacorporation’s own enclaves). They’ve also been known to work with the Sisters of EVE in humanitarian missions (per The Burning Life). There are even some rumors saying that they’ve managed to acquire examples of Jove technology to integrate into their ships, but for obvious reasons, the Dominations haven’t chosen to divulge that information. Given the fact that Curse is the home of the First Jovian Empire, however, such rumors may not be all that far off-base.

The inter-faction standings modifiers for the other four pirate factions are:

• Blood Raider Covenant: -2
• Guristas: -3
• Sansha's Nation: -2
• Serpentis: +8

I think the extremely high modifier for the Serpentis deserves further explanation, so I found the following in the EVE Lore Portal.

In the century since it achieved control of Curse, the Angel Cartel has rapidly grown in power and currently is, without question, the most feared criminal organization in New Eden. One of the organization’s most important moments came in YC 75, when it struck a deal with the Serpentis Corporation to provide protection in exchange for access to Serpentis stations and research.

This deal turned out to be so mutually beneficial that the Guardian Angels, once tasked with R&D, became security specialists for the Serpentis Corporation and their former responsibilities were passed on to the Salvation Angels division instead. Stations were erected in each other's respective home regions as well, making it so that both are special in having stations not only at the heart of their seat of power but also on the other side of the cluster. This has given both organizations strategic advantages in having multiple staging points spread widely around the edges of the New Eden cluster.

Given the faction's history, is there any wonder that the Angel Cartel may want to align with The Deathless?

Blood Raider Covenant

The Amarr Empire has had its share of religious cults and fanatics in the past, but few have been as successful, or been feared as much, as the Blood Raiders. The Blood Raiders are a sect of an ancient cult called Sani Sabik, which uses blood in their rituals. The Blood Raiders believe that cloned bodies have 'purer' blood than other bodies and this explains why they operate mainly in space, attacking unwary space farers and draining their bodies of blood. The Blood Raiders are led by the fearsome Omir Sarikusa, who has remained on top of the DED most wanted list for many years now. Under his leadership the Blood Raiders have become more organized and they have established several bases in the Bleak Lands region.

The Blood Raider Covenant is memorialized in game with the seasonal event Crimson Harvest. The original Scope video from 2015 demonstrates some of the horrors of the ceremonies of the Sani Sabik.

The inter-faction standings modifiers for the other four pirate factions are:

• Angel Cartel: -4.0
• Guristas: +4.0
• Sansha's Nation: +5.0
• Serpentis: -4.0

The high standings with Sansha's Nation probably is due to the similarity in ethics of the two groups. The EVE Lore Portal went into more depth on why the Blood Raiders are so reviled.

Before Omir Sarikusa took leadership of the covenant, the sect was already infamous for killing children, who were considered to have “purer” blood. Omir added to this practice by beginning to target those who were clones, believing their blood better suited for their arcane blood rituals.

In their search for cloned people, Omir’s sect has taken to space. In the time since, their frequent attacks on passenger ships and other space vessels have made them feared and hated across the entire cluster. While the fact that they originated within the Amarr Empire is still a sore point for the Amarr (and rarely brought up in conversation), the covenant do not return the Amarr’s hatred. Instead, they are inclined to view them as believers who have been led astray, faithful who could realize their true potential if they could only accept the true uncompromising and savage nature of their own faith.

The fact is that the Sani Sabik doctrine still shares a substantial number of beliefs with the Amarrian faith. It simply applies a different approach, paying particular attention to a number of scriptural passages that the Amarr would just as soon gloss over.

Guristas

Formed by two former members of the Caldari Navy, the pair go by the names Fatal and the Rabbit, the Guristas are a constant thorn in the side of the Caldari State. The Guristas are traditional pirates in the sense that their operation is not based around some creed or ideology, but rather a plain and simple greed. The Guristas have bases close to Caldari space and from them they embark on daring raids, often into the State itself. Though the Guristas are considered more honorable than many of their counterparts, they are still extremely dangerous and not to be tampered with.

The EVE Lore Portal had a little more information about the founders of the Guristas.

Jirai Laitanen, better known by his nickname "Fatal", was a member of the Caldari Navy 37th (Octopus) Squadron and later went on to found the notorious pirate group the Guristas with Korako Kosakami - "The Rabbit".

Laitanen was a shrewd and gifted captain, with a glib tongue and charismatic smile. Many expected him to reach a position of authority in the end. But he was also vain and greedy; traits that led to his eventual desertion. Kosakami was much more introvert than his friend Laitanen, but he had a brilliant mind and was a technical wizard.

A decade ago, Laitanen was passed over for promotion and Kosakami was blamed for a lethal crash landing, all within the space of one week.They stole a couple of Condor-class frigates, the same they still use today, and set off to a pirate-infested sector between Caldari and Gallente space, deserting from the Caldari Navy and eventually founding the Guristas - an amalgamation of two Caldari words meaning 'naughty people' and also a slang term for 'gang'.

I should add that the story above was written 20 years ago. Since then Fatal was podkilled by capsuleers and due to an inferior clone awoke with memory loss. He was later ousted from the Guristas.

The inter-faction standings modifiers for the other four pirate factions are:

• Angel Cartel: -2.0
• Blood Raider Covenant: +5.0
• Sansha's Nation: +3.0
• Serpentis: -1.0

I looked further into the Guristas and the only reason I can see for the favorable standings with the Blood Raiders and Sansha's Nation is a shared interest in human trafficking. Perhaps I missed something.

The Guristas focus primarily on interstellar piracy in the outer regions and low-security space. The Guristas maintain hundreds of deadspace listening posts and staging points on the Caldari border, and are known for being unafraid to stage strikes deep within the Caldari State.

Typically their business revolves around black-market trading, including human trafficking, illegal weapons manufacture, and smuggling of illicit goods. In addition to this, the Guristas control a large share of the gray market within the Caldari State, smuggling unregulated products into megacorporation enclaves within state borders.

Possibly the most lucrative of their operations, however, are their counterfeiting circles. Unafraid to knock off anything from designer goods to hard currency, the Guristas will bluff any market that can cut them a clean and sizable profit. Just one example is their illegal currency exchange of Caldari corporate scrip, the largest network of its type in New Eden.

Sansha's Nation

Sansha's Nation was founded more than a century ago, shortly after all the empires had come into contact, just when space exploration and colonization was taking off. Sansha was a Caldari tycoon that carved out a sizeable piece of space for himself. There, he set out to create an utopian state. His vision and charm attracted thousands of people and for some time the Nation flourished. But Sansha became ever more warped as his success increased. He started experiments, combining capsule technology with the human mind, creating zombie-like creatures that had the cold, calculating mind of a computer, but the ingenuity of humans. When this became public knowledge Sansha was condemned and the other empires joined forces to bring him down. His forces were decimated and scattered to the winds. Remnants still remain far in the outer regions, but the once glorious Nation has been reduced to pirates and pillagers.

Whereas the Blood Raider Covenant has a dedicated seasonal event, Sansha's Nation had an expansion, Incursion, with the incursion feature still running some 12 years later. The below trailer showed the return of "Master Kuvakei".

The inter-faction standings modifiers for the other four pirate factions are:

• Angel Cartel: -2.0
• Blood Raider Covenant: +4.5
• Guristas: +7.0
• Serpentis: -2.0

Sansha's Nation perhaps has the most official lore written about a pirate faction. I couldn't figure out the high standings modifier with the Guristas until I found a passage about True Creations.

Once True Power established itself as the sole heir to the Sansha’s Nation legacy, it found a need to spin off certain related functions into a separate corporation. True Creations was established to run the various assembly plants, shipyards, logistical support, and testing facilities scattered across the Stain region. Naturally enough, many True Citizen scientists gravitated toward True Creations, and the current head of the organization is Koratama Akkaga, a notorious supporter of Sansha Kuvakei from the old days. Akkaga is wanted by every security and police agency in the core empires, but the Republic Justice Department in particular would like to get their hands on the scientist, due to his record of assisting Kuvakei in experiments on Minmatar slaves.

Oddly enough, given the nature of Sansha’s Nation, True Creations has numerous business and political connections beyond the confines of the Nation. The Intaki Syndicate’s Intaki Bank even lists True Creations on its stock investment boards. As the Intaki Bank facilitates anonymous investment quite happily, this makes a certain amount of sense, extraordinary as it may be. Certainly, there are known to be a large number of investors in True Creations, possibly reflecting a latent support for the ideals of Sansha’s Nation across New Eden. Given the recently demonstrated advances Sansha’s Nation has made in several areas of science and technology, many have begun to look more closely at True Creations and its work.

I'm still not convinced this is the actual connection, but I think the setup is much what a smuggler would look for to hide its operations from authorities.

Serpentis

The Serpentis Corporation was founded a few decades ago by V.Salvador Sarpati. At first it was engaged in hi-tech research, but with time its ties with the underworld grew and the Serpentis research stations, scattered around in remote areas, became infamous pirate havens. Sarpati made a deal with the Angel Cartel early on to provide protection for his stations and the duty was taken on by the Guardian Angels. Both sides have prospered enormously for this deal - Serpentis can operate in peace and the Angel Cartel gets access to the illegal research efforts of the Serpentis. It is strongly believed that Serpentis is the main developer and manufacturer of illegal neural boosters, especially since Sarpati's father was a renown specialist in that field. The home of Serpentis is in the Phoenix constellation in the Fountain region.

The EVE Lore Portal went a little further into the lore surrounding Sarpati's beak with the Gallente Federation.

At the beginning of YC 75, Sarpati settled on a plan. He acquired a system in the Phoenix constellation and named it Serpentis Prime. Rapidly building an advanced space station, he transferred his core operations to Serpentis Prime and began to expand his research ventures into forbidden territories. Part of Sarpati’s strategy was to open his station to the inhabitants of the Fountain region, earning their support and favor. That many of these locals were criminals and outright pirates was of little concern to him. Once he had established himself, it is believed that he retrieved his father’s old neural booster formulas from the family archives and turned his research facilities over to working on them. The Serpentis Corporation was now set on a path that would lead it well beyond the confines of the law.

Salvador Sarpati took a great risk when he opened his station to outlaws and pirates, but he made sure to get his corporation powerful protection. In an extraordinary and dangerous move, he struck a deal with the notorious Angel Cartel for protection of his station and facilities. In return the Angels would get a cut of Serpentis trade and access to any research breakthroughs the Serpentis Corporation made. As the Serpentis operation expanded, the Angels expanded their protection force. Over time, this deal has been so lucrative for the Angels that they have found it worth building an entire division, the Guardian Angels, dedicated to protecting Serpentis space. With the help of the Angel Cartel, the Serpentis developed their own security forces, with Salvador Sarpati eventually able to command a powerful navy in his own right.

The inter-faction standings modifiers for the other four pirate factions are:

• Angel Cartel: +8.0
• Blood Raider Covenant: -2.0
• Guristas: -3.0
• Sansha's Nation: -2.0

The high standings for the Angel Cartel are easy to understand. But what of the lower standings for the Guristas? Fatal and The Rabbit's dislike of the Caldari is matched by Sarpati's disdain for the Gallente.

... The Sarpatis Corporation was contracted by the Gallente Federation to investigate the potential for neural booster use in their military. When the Federation Senate later banned boosters, Sarpatis quickly collapsed, sharing the fate of almost all other companies that had invested in the booster trade. Not long after the company closed down, Igil Sarpati died. Suddenly leaderless, his family looked set for obscurity and relative poverty.

The Sarpati story might have ended there had it not been for the drive and determination of Igil’s adopted child, Virge Salvador Sarpati. Of Caldari parentage, the young Sarpati became the head of the family after his father’s untimely death. The collapse of his father’s company, and the worsening of the family’s circumstances that followed, marked the young Sarpati for life. Evidently the youth endured much mockery from his contemporaries, but the experience only fired his determination to restore the Sarpati family fortune. Preferring the name V. Salvador Sarpati, and with a talent for business, the new head of the Sarpati family was eventually able to found his own company. Taking an old form of the family name, he called it the Serpentis Corporation. Sarpati knew that research and development could be lucrative fields so long as the work were sufficiently diversified to limit the risks. Over time, he maneuvered the Serpentis Corporation into a leadership position in the field of space colonization and industrialization technologies. In an echo of his father’s work, space medicine became a particular field of interest to the young executive, and thus by proxy to his corporation’s large R&D division.

Looking at the relationships of the NPC pirate organizations, they are split basically into two camps, Angel Cartel/Serpentis and Blood Raiders/Guristas/Sansha's Nation. The Deathless' decision to reach out to the Angel Cartel and Guristas wasn't happenstance so much as a reaching out to the two pirate groupings. From what we know from both the news stories and Scope videos published as well as from the inter-faction standings modifier information available in the game client, The Deathless is supposed to appeal to all players who fly around with negative security status. Our mysterious figure who owns a Jovian station doesn't care what players do in their off time as long as they do what he asks when he asks it.

As for the original pirate factions, perhaps one day the AI will improve enough to put in more advanced decision trees similar to the ones running diamond rats. But for those who want to play with the NPC pirates and reaping the benefits, I suggest looking into The Deathless and Deathless Circle.