Maybe instead of wipes, we should be looking at what goes beyond a Major Faction? If AoC and Darkwire are Major Factions, how can they be compared to groups like the Sith or Silvers who are titans on the map? A select few of these factions are not that much different compared to Minor Factions besides the Map Cloud presence. Nothing wrong with that, it's just...when you do get to be that Titanic presence on the map, there's not much left to do afterwards.
This question gets asked a lot, and not always explicitly: "Why is Darkwire a major faction if you're not worried that much about territory?"
I think the answer to this lies at the heart and soul of what makes the map game important to Chaos. There's little doubt that Chaos uses the map game as a vehicle to tell its story, and not just as flavor or background setting. The map is an intricate part of the living atmosphere here, and that's okay.
Darkwire didn't choose this to be the case, and Darkwire won't cease to be viable if the map wipes. The faction is, at its core, a group telling stories about criminals in a cyberpunk setting, working against
the man (aka our corporate overlords). It's our take on the criminal underground in Star Wars that so rarely gets traction on Chaos, despite its prevalence in the main source material. So Darkwire could technically take place anywhere and still work out, it just surely benefits from having its specific placement for the flavor it can build on Denon and the surrounding worlds.
Why is Darkwire on the map and not a minor faction? Primarily because of the mechanics of Chaos. Major factions own their space and largely dictate the stories told there. If we want to tell a story, we're asked to join the map game in order to have it recognized. I know there have been many past arguments for how minor factions can influence the story, but by and large it is the major factions that make story on Chaos. Having a spot on the map is not only a claim to fame, it's the very focal point of legitimacy for Chaos storytelling. Without a colored hex of your own, it's an almost certainty that your stories will get only casual appreciation and, when it comes down to the wire and a major faction wants to contradict your story, ignored.
If you truly need a map game explanation for it, call AoC and Darkwire as "playing tall, not wide." Any strategy game enthusiasts will probably know what I mean by this, that we're focusing on building up our smaller story rather than trying to build out a large one over a big territory. It's not easy, because of Chaos' constant revolution around the map game. Dominions are a big draw for storytelling in factions, often
because they serve the needs of a faction as well as telling stories. Regular faction threads just don't carry that same level of urgency.
To be quite honest, Chaos puts too much emphasis on the map. There are great stories being told, just hiding behind the urge to push cloud tendrils out further and paint the map in your preferred color. Bring those stories to the forefront, make your faction stand out for more than just what colors dominate the map.
Then you won't need to ask why Darkwire is a major faction. Its stories will speak for themselves.
