Industrial trade coalition who rock at making money and don't pay much attention to the damage of heavy industry and nuclear weaponry
vs.
Psi-using matriarchal cult that was kicked out of their original society and know how to dominate and influence
vs.
Aliens on the run who specialize in multispecies enslavery, miniaturization, and mobility, and can exploit resources better than anything.

I'm quite pleased with the intellectual balance these three formative groups bring to the game.

I think IronClad has come up with a pretty good compromise between stereotyping (meaning your usual robotic assimilation, insectoid swarm, or infection-based races) and keeping things too much the same, and I think given the demanding gaming audiences that play these rich and complex gaming experiences, that's rather hard to do.

Thoughts?

-- Retro