Just wanted to chime in, after playing a full phase as Station Security Chief & high-ranking-mafia-man David Marcoli, who is not a Figure of Note. (We have 4 players + GM so one had to be the odd one out.)
In short, the experience was awesome! Initially I was worried that I would be less central to the story, since in any particular phase I would neither be Featured, nor being setup to be Featured later.
But the opposite was true – by virtue of being nominally less aligned with the Human side than the other players, I was able to play both sides in pursuing my Beliefs. I often found myself at the center of the situation, as both sides tried to gain my allegiance – or to punish me for a betrayal.
There were even a couple maneuvers when I gave help dice for the maneuver roll to both sides!
All of this put me in a good position to earn Moldbreaker and MVP artha often, and I got my share of Workhorse too. Not to mention plenty of Fate for beliefs!
I still wouldn’t turn down being a FoN if you had less than 4 players + GM. You can still do all the above stuff as a FoN, if you play as “able to tempted by the other side”. But if you’re stuck as a non-FoN in a game with lots of players, go for it, and enjoy the ride!