How to make clans more appealing?

[Nyr]

Perhaps the pendulum shifts in that regard.  Right now, I would say that we actively try to encourage PC leaders in GMHs to deal with competition from independents.  Buy them out, make their lives miserable, kill their crew, price them out of the area, etc.  If the House truly has the stance that no single independent is competition, then they're not that good of a monopoly.  

Historically, these clans were not meant to be absolute monopolies, merely huge merchant clans. In the present, they're still not absolute monopolies: plenty of NPC vendors exist selling gear of the same types these Houses trade in. The monopoly, such as it is, lies in their trading relationships with the rich and powerful city clans. But these relationships are cemented above PC level; PCs aren't going to stop Borsail as a whole buying Salarri weapons, or end Fale's reliance on Kadius. There is no possibility of PC competition. If we ignore this and assume that they're greedy for every last sid no matter how grubby, and that they're going to shift their sights downward to pick on those who could be construed to be a far-future threat, however, there is no compelling reason for a GMH member to pick on a couple of itinerant peddler PCs over an NPC with enough substance to own or rent premises in the competitive bazaar.

*shrug*  It gives GMH leaders something else to do if they choose to do so, and it is an option for GMH staff to pursue if they choose to do so.  You may (and apparently do) hate it.  Nuff said, I guess.

The problem is one of scale. On the one hand we have clans written into a position of massive wealth and untouchability; on the other hand we have dribs and drabs of perhaps half a dozen people. There is no sensible way to have the former feel threatened by the latter, and any conflict that does take place is guaranteed to end in the favour of those with infinite resources.

This is the same lack of realism that used to be seen in the templars who insisted that all PCs bow to them when entering a virtually crowded room. Yes, picking on PCs creates interaction. When it's unrealistic interaction, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. If such unrealistic interaction is viewed as somehow necessary to the role, there's a problem with the role. The creation of "conflict" which is no more than PC bullying is something that was supposedly ironed out of templars long ago, and shouldn't be allowed to find a new home elsewhere.

It looks like you have strong feelings about what sponsored roles should be doing with their time.  Differences of opinion, I suppose.

If city clans of an intermediate size existed, the gulf between the small groups of indie PCs and the huge clans could be filled by entities with meaningful grounds to interact with both. For now, there's no reason for these huge clans to interact with the groups of indies save malice. Exciting as it may be to attempt to hold out against infinitely deep pockets and documented influence, GMH intervention condemns player created businesses to an eventual death, and in doing so, squashes one of the main outlets players have to fight staleness entering the setting. I am disappointed to see the "pendulum" swinging toward giving that malice imm support.

Your view of what is appropriate to play is certainly valid but it's only one view.

Since this thread seems to still be you barking up the tree of "I hate GMHs" I think it'd be a good choice to go ahead and lock it.  I've pointed out what we're doing for clans overall and I've pointed out some reasonable feedback, but your obsession with GMH stuff needs to find a different outlet.