As one of the finalists in the Dangerous Games, it's time to get to know the Elite Diplomatic Corps

- Tell us a little but about what the Alliance Elite Diplomatic Corps get up to.

The members of the Alliance Elite Diplomatic Corps are involved in many activites designed around the end goal of "turning the galaxy green." As that suggests we are interested in bringing star systems into the Alliance through the mechanics of the background simulation. However, we do not enforce any certain play style on any of our members. Pilots are free to engage in what activities they find enjoyable. That said, we do require that you show respect to your Alliance comrades and that you be civil. We provide daily objectives to swing influence values in our operational areas and help give Pilots a more tangible goal than just the accumulation of credits and/or ships.

- How did the Alliance Elite Diplomatic Corps start out. Tell us a little bit about your group's history?

Our group started out when a Pilot named Knac put a thread up on the "Dangerous Groups" forum we have come to call internally "Knac's Call." From this a dedicated group of Pilots have banded together to help further the Alliance's influence in civilized space. For our group, we all feel the Alliance most appeals to our desire to go about our own business and allow others to do the same. None of us are forced into any of our operations and we are extremely grateful to our Pilots for their continued efforts on behalf of the Alliance and the AEDC.

- What exactly do you get up to for the Alliance Elite Diplomatic Corps? Did you start the group?

How our members spend their time in space is really up to them. Many of us, myself included, spent a significant time exploring outside of civilized space, even enough to achieve Elite in Exploration. Though when we do return, our accumulated exploration data makes for significant gains in pushing the factions we want in our operational area(s). Alas, I am not Knac. I joined in April of 3301 and have lent my support in a few ways. From participating in a community goal to allow Diamondback Scouts and Explorers to be built and sold at a station in our operational area (during which I was taken hostage by pirates), to writing blog posts on our group's site, elitediplomats.com.

- What is it about Elite Dangerous that keeps you coming back?

I can only speak for myself, but I keep getting drawn back because of the people involved and how each of us contributes not only to spreading freedom throughout civilized space. Our members reside in many different countries. I have had the opportunity to hear perspectives from France, Russia, Germany, South Africa, and Australia. Each of these people help to make the group the fun and relaxed place it is.

- What are your thoughts about the Elite Dangerous Community?

I am continually impressed by the marked civility and creativity expressed by the Elite community. Even those players that play as pirates or "psychopaths" usually end up being quite agreeable. What threads I do get to read on the Elite forums and/or Reddit rarely devolve into cesspits of name-calling and other trollery. In addition, the community shares exciting encounters, drafts compelling personal stories, and captures stunning vistas and actions through screenshots and videos. Truly, in my opinion, the Elite community is one of the best around.

- What events or notable activities have the Alliance Elite Diplomatic Corps been involved in?

Our actions go back to 3301. For a time we were locked in a seemingly perpetual conflict in the Lave cluster for control over the Reorte system. At first we focused on supporting the Reorte Pro-Alliance League. Though after PowerPlay started we shifted focus and helped lift the Reorte Mining Coalition to ruling status as their corporate ties help Prime Minister Mahon keep influence in the region. When PowerPlay was launched, we worked feverishly to help build the strong economic foundation that Prime Minister Edmund Mahon still enjoys today. Systems such as, Leesti, Tau Bootis, Mullag, and Bonitou were brought under the Prime Minister's trade protection through our efforts. As mentioned before, a Community Goal was held in one of our operational systems (to build and sell Diamondbacks) and was a large focus for us. Even a couple of our members took the top spots in that Goal. It was during this goal that Victoria Wolf, First Merchantress of Wolf 406 Transport and Co. first lifted the ban on Wolf 406 Water Purifiers. While the system of Cupinook largely benefited from this, from there the word of the amazing properties of the Purer Water(tm) started to spread to other parts of Alliance space. Lately we have largely kept to ourselves, slowly working to further advance Alliance interests as well as expand the influence of our adopted factions. In fact, recently we achieved, as far as we know, the second system aside from Alioth in civlized space to contain nothing but Alliance affiliated minor factions. Intrepid fact-checkers can scout out Lahasim for themselves to validate this claim.

- What's next for the Alliance Elite Diplomatic Corps?

First we continue to promote our adopted factions throughout Alliance space. With these efforts come continued testing and validation of the function of the background simulation. What we discover with our experiments helps us draft up efficient operations to achieve our stated goals. Aside from this, our culinary scientists have been hard at work over the last couple of months devising a delicious new cake recipe. They assure me the sweetness will only be complemented by the hint of sodium chloride content.

- Anything you’d like to tell the community about?

As a group, we are spearheading an exploration initiative and faction expansion initiative. The first is an ambitious goal to fully explore and tag every astronomical body in the Dumbbell nebula. We have collated a significant amount of data and high-value planets to be scanned for those looking for some easy exploration credits. In addition, this is, as far as we know, the largest exploration initative to date open to the community. More information can be found by pointing your galactic information feed at https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=223660&highlight=dumbbell+sector. The other program we have begun is an effort to develop Alliance factions on the fringe of Alliance space and help expand toward (and perhaps beyond) the border of civilized space. Please visit this link for more information: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=234031.

Also, support your local Alliance anarchy faction!