I know. But my point here is that if you're mafia, and everyone else has said they're empire, the incentive is just to say you're an imperial and figure out your character later. So Whiteflame's move stands directly against any incentive scum would have.
And that's why it's hard for me to scumread him. It would be a massive blunder under basically no pressure. The mafia equivalent of walking your king into checkmate from a solid position, just to help a random pawn in the midgame that was never gonna promote anyway.
It's eyebrow-riasing for sure, but it makes me wonder if there are a few other non-imperials and your theme split idea is just busted. Who hasn't claimed empire v. rebels yet?