This is absolutely at the top for me.

Involving tribes can go really far in giving the politics of Atys some serious depth, and perhaps even solve the deadlock and boredom of Outposts as they are today.

The first thing would be to define the tribe's behavior, which I believe should include messing with existing (built) Outposts to create an annoyance factor, and that can start right away!

Ruling out the possibility of a Guild owning an outpost flat out may go too far, but by sheer game mechanics (running fame, reacting to aggression, etc.), one could end up having tribes owning a majority of Outposts over time; this, in turn, would create a challenge for large guilds to truly become organized and challenge and retain the outpost, as the threat from the tribe that lost it would pose a constant threat for weeks on end, not just with outpost attacks, but kill-on-sight from patrolling tribes as well, towards the new owner and perhaps even the guilds that helped challenge the outpost.

This perhaps should be restricted to tribes having a true place in lore, and with an established aggressive mindset. The behavior of the tribes (and how much they're willing to share and with whom!) should be consistent with what they are today (for example, there are Kamist tribes who will never harm a Tryker, and that's as it should be according to their tradition), but with the possibility to evolve (very) slowly according to homin behavior and missions run for them. One could consider other options for "peaceful" or "aggressive but too roguish to care" tribes (perhaps with the ability to steal from one's bag for the latter, huge annoyance factor).

A LOT can be done to make the planet alive with this, and it can happens slowly, over time, by and by, as a looming threat, causing homins to think about the tribes they choose to run fame for, etc., etc. It also gives newcomers the possibility to count in Atys. And it gives the powers in place something to worry about, and the capacity to stage events to try to undermine those tribes. Lovely.

The question as to how to instil that growth is important. I think the number of homins having a significant and steady fame (perhaps even having declared allegiance to that tribe, as is hinted in the title) could be paramount, but perhaps too static, leading to a stalemate all over again. This needs to be thought out, as it needs to be a living world, and ruling out the possibility of an uber guild owning a Q200 outpost or two would go against that spirit.

I'd LOVE to see this thread gain serious thought and ample discussion!