Malos did make a good impression on the Cathayans. The CoH banked some goodwill with Cathay prior to that as well. Galiard wasn't sold on the faith but he apparently didn't meet the 'real' Malos.
Normally this would be the point where I'd suggest you join Cathay, but I am obliged to agree with Edmund and Velax that suggesting OOC cliques is a very unpopular move. All three of us (Edmund, Velax, and myself) have definitely wanted to strangle one another ICly at various times over the years but the extent to which we talk about anything OOCly is through the very occasional OOC note, usually about some arcane inside ruler joke. I am also very sensitive to people mixing up IC and OOC because FEI would really be a lot less fun if there wasn't a baseline level of trust between the players that what happens in-game stays there and we don't go after one another out of game. I would quit in a moment if that weren't true.
