What is the ideology of the Council?

[The_Warpact]

4 hours ago, Greycat said:

 

OK, no. This needs to be talked out, as that's not an "of course."

 

Nazis are fascists. Fascists are not necessarily Nazis. Franco, for instance, was an authoritarian with a lot of fascist tendancies, but was not a Nazi.

The 5th Column came from Italy, and would quite literally have been Fascist (Mussolini's party and ideology.)

 

Fascism is:

- Ultraconservative (right wing,) politically

- Very nationalistic (and typically mixes it with militarism)

- Antidemocratic - elections might get them into power, but they want nothing to do with them afterward.

- Socially conservative - typically looking back to the "traditional" roles, men working, women having babies and housekeeping, etc.

- Tied with that, they'll tend to be very classist, pushing a social order / rule by elites

- The nation tends to be more important than the individual.

 

Other things are added or stressed differently in individual "flavors" of fascism, but those will usually define it.

 

That being said - are the 5th or the Council all that fascist? They're obviously militaristic, women are rare in their (public) ranks, they seem to be ono the conservative and classist side, but they're missing that nationalistic flavor. It's something that would make sense to be a WWII-era enemy - they were sent over as a fifth column, to hamper the US / Allies in fighting against their home nation and allies, after all. But there's no longer a home (fascist) state aligned with them to fight for or support.

 

It's *possible* the 5th Column would be aiming at "revolution in the US to turn IT into a fascist state, then spreading it." Which leaves the main question, to me, of "would they survive the Center being taken out?" Or would they just be a paramilitary group then?

 

That said, the OP's asking about the Council, which has its own goals, and I'm not sure they fall under "fascist" any more. They're not nationalistic, they're being driven (at least behind the scenes, somewhat) by the Nictus to attempt an invasion in *their* war against the Peacebringers.  Sure, the Nictus would be glad to take over, they'd be authoritarian, by the lore docs (and this doesn't seem to indicate any sort of change by the time we ssee what's in game) they're certainly classist, but they'd mostly use the Earth for resources and for a base. They may have an outer crust of fascism, just from their origins, but I don't think it goes down to the Council's gooey center. At least as I'm remembering lore.

 

Regardless, they all need a good punching.

I agree with this. They might have started as Nazi (5th column) and facists (council) but ultimately because, of history they have evolved into an authoritarian entity. Although is the 5th now a dictatorship under Reichsman?

[Optimum_Man]

I've always imagined them as a hybrid between the Fifth Column and the mob. They're like a Bond-esque villain organization at this point, I thought that's why the Fifth Column split again?

[Ruin Mage]

5th Column is now once more led by Requiem, for the record.
The most recent split (seen as of DA) was because Requiem wants to lead, and has his own plans.

The Council is a paramilitary force with a lot of connections & troops + delving into all sorts of advancements.
The most recent one left off was the acquisition of a serum during the Marchand arcs.

[Optimum_Man]

23 hours ago, Shadeknight said:

5th Column is now once more led by Requiem, for the record.
The most recent split (seen as of DA) was because Requiem wants to lead, and has his own plans.

The Council is a paramilitary force with a lot of connections & troops + delving into all sorts of advancements.
The most recent one left off was the acquisition of a serum during the Marchand arcs.

because he wants them to be Nazis again or just because he wants to be in charge again? I never could get a definitive answer for that.

[Ruin Mage]

Requiem is a bit in an odd space. He's got this Nictus in him called the Dirge of Entropy. So ancient evil alien thing bonded to him. The Nictus are just all around bad - look at the Cyst Crystals.

Requiem himself does not like obeying - especially to other people. He makes Reichsman kneel to him, but by that time Reichsman is pretty depowered. Plus there's probably bitter fighting between him and Arakhan. I mispell her name, but yeah.

It's a little hard to pin point, given retcons but Requiem is power hungry and the Dirge likely wants to flood the Earth in Nictus.