http://forums.riftgame.com/public-test-shard/329634-faction-fiction-bridge-gap-pts.html
This was brought to my attention on the Rift subforum of the MMO-Champion forums. Looks like with patch 1.10, they are looking to almost do away with faction divisions. So, this could possibly help with the lack of activity on the Defiant side, as from what it looks like, Defiant and Guardian will be able to join the same guild. This will also help with the Crafting Rift raids as well.
Personally, I think this is a good thing. It will help people who just can't play Guardian or Defiant to actually play with their friends from a different faction that previously was unavailable to them. From what I have read, I can only see good things come from this for Gaiscioch.