TenTonHammer interviewed Jumpgate Evolutions' producer, Hermann Peterscheck, and delved into the subject of reincarnated factions and missions from the first classic Jumpgate title, their functions and progression throughout the game:

TTN: What sort of role will the factions play when the player is progressing within the game? Can he advance in the ranks of this particular faction? What are the rewards for doing so?

Hermann: This is something that we are looking into. We feel that having a relationship with the various factions and nations within the game is critical to long term believability. It's also a great way to reward players for doing things and to allow players to affect the flow of the game - two big goals of the game. The rewards for advancement are things I'm sure you can imagine: medals, access to special items and information and so on.

TTN: Does a player have to be a part of a faction? Are there any negative repercussions if they choose not to be a part of the faction system?

Hermann: It depends what you mean by being "part of a faction." When you start the game, you choose which nation to play for: Quantar, Solrain or Octavius. Jumpgate does not have hard and fast rules about allegiances however. That is to say, the factions can interact with each other: trade, talk, fight, etc. We have made a deliberate choice to put more of this into the player's hands as opposed to forcing a war or peace situation onto them .While it is important that players make choices and that those choices have consequences we want to be careful not to make people feel like they might make the "wrong" choice.

Read the full interview at TenTonHammer.