The Vanu Sovereignty seems out of place.

[Xyntech]

It's pretty simple:

Terran Republic: NC and VS = Traitors to the Republic. Crucify them!

New Conglomerate: TR and VS = Enslavers of Humanity. Kill it with fire!

Vanu Sovereignty: TR and NC = Dangerous juveniles who have guns. Zap everyone who's not mature enough to know that wearing purple is awesome!

Of course the VS seem a little out of place. The TR and NC are still fighting over petty ideas like "Unity!" and "Freedom!" which are thousands of years out of date. The VS are fighting to protect humanities future transcendence.

[sylphaen]

We won't let them mess with our alien relics and artifacts ! They are OUR toys !

[Magpie]

Vanu weapons and toys are not better, theres just handle capped.

nc and tr can kill just as good as vs

[Xyntech]

Originally Posted by Magpie

Vanu weapons and toys are not better, theres just handle capped.

nc and tr can kill just as good as vs

Isn't that nice of us? We like a fair fight.

I heard that some VS infiltrators actually snuck in and increased the power of some of the NC tech such as the ScatterMAX, just to make sure the NC could have a fair fight with us.

Our sportsmanship knows no bounds

[HenchAnt]

The Vanu are that odd one out, that's true. But in a good way - they add the alien space element to this sci-fi game.

It's a tried and tested approach to sci-fi backgrounds, and it works (see Earth 2150 for example, or even better Battlestar Galactica).


The Lore:

There's a top-down faction, that believes in peace through control and organization (TR, or the military in Battlestar Galactica).

There`s a bottom-up faction, that believes in peace through diversity, freedom and empowering the individual (NC, or the civilian leadership and the workers unions in Battlestar Galactica).

And there's a third faction, that sees current humanity as ultimately flawed, and believes in peace through altering humanity by using an external factor, for example with (alien) technology. (VS, or the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica).


How the Lore is implemented with respect to the Vanu Sovereignty

The Planetside universe has something of a Cold War theme to it: Here the "bottom-up" liberal corporate-democracy faction, there the "top-down" centralist state faction, both busy making war with each other.
And now "the scientist" find something so powerful it makes nukes look like firecrackers. Instead of risking the threat of total annihilation, they decide to defend their findings and work towards a more enlightened humanity.

And this "Let the alien artifact get into your head and you'll find peace" part is where both TR and NC go "I won't let no alien mess with my mind. I'll rather die a human. For humanity!"


The Design

Of course, there's also the simpler answer: Without Vanu, Planetside 2 would just be a near future shooter. While this might appeal to the Battlefield/Modern Warfare crowd, it would totally leave out the Mass Effect fanboys and Sci-fi nerds. That's why everybody needs the Vanu. Without them, it wouldn't be a space game.

Or to sum VS up: