Claudius Aetius"I am willing to believe into lucky coincidences during terms of certain politicians, but in case of Mahon these happen WAY too often."

What I see is a constant and sometimes intense pressure on Empire's rulers in many ways. The scenario show Empire's center of power surrounded by -- if I could say it -- traitorous dissidents, dangerous revolutionaries and dubious loyalists.

Is this really a case of an embattled Empire Dynasty facing serious risks of overthrowing or Arissa Lavigny-Duval is the ultimate devious ruler and she is creating grounds to a even more repressive government?

We still need to consider that all Great Powers' leaders are -- essentially -- benefiting in some way of this situation.

Many possibilities, many underlying threads. The great question after all seems to be: is there a hidden Puppeteer pulling those threads? If it is the case, who?

Isaiah EvansonThere's some beacons in the Teorge system that go over this...

Eris
Usually I'd say there wasn't anyone behind it and X Organisation (in this case the NMLA) is completely genuine, and that all the politicians and CEOs who have benefitted are just very good at taking advantage of the situation - they seem suspicious but they're not responsible, and at most the NMLA had received funding from Federal and/or Alliance Intelligence prior to blowing up Federal and Alliance stations, when having an insurgency fight the Empire was beneficial. Things similar to that have happened in real life; see the CIA's Operation Cyclone or Timber Sycamore.

Elite's universe, however, isn't a usual place so I can say with confidence that there's at least one puppeteer behind this. I can't say with confidence who, previously I would blame Hudson, but now he just seems too easy a target. With this recent 'leak' accusing Hadrian Duval the likelihood of it being someone within the Empire has increased in my mind - painting Hadrian as a target doesn't benefit outsiders to the Empire nearly as much as it would benefit an insider to Imperial politics, but then again that could just be a red herring.