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I am attempting to create several factions, these will (at the moment) only be kept track of out of game and will create a second layer of society. The factions will have specific requirements of different degrees and each are ran differently. There are 4 types of main-factions each with subgroups. Each subgroup is separate from the others within its faction. The factions are as followed:
Fae Courts
Arcane Councils
Holy Order
Royal Courts
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These factions each have their own basic requirements and ideals, and will be lead by player characters. Below I will explain the basics of each faction.
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Fae Courts:
Members: The Fae Courts are for any member of the Fae, these include but are not limited to Elves, Half-Elves, Orcs, and Halflings. Other races that are Druids can also join these courts.
Subgroups: The Fae have 2 courts, the Winter Court and the Summer Court. This post will cover both separately.
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Summer Court: The Summer Court is the ruling body of warmth, the southern winds and the land. The pinnacle of their power comes at the Summer solstice and quickly depletes at the end of the solstice. They are regarded as kindhearted compared to the members of winter but are no less dangerous.
Organization: The Summer Court is lead by 4 ruling members, the 3 queens and the Winter King. These are mother Winter, Winter Queen, and Winter Lady; along with the Winter King who does not wield as much power as the queens. The queens also choose a champion to do their bidding (battle in their name, assassinate, gather information, attend meetings, etc). Under the queens are the Lords and Ladies of the Court, these each hold control over their own Circles. Each circle can contain up to 50 members and 2 Lords/2 Ladies.
Membership: Members must obey the orders given to them by higher standing members.
Members are not allowed to join the Winter Court.
Ideals: The Summer Court are generally kind toward others and don't tend to be evil. There are exceptions and this isn't a rule but a guide to the kind of members to join this court.
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Winter Court: The Winter Court is the ruling body of cold, the northern winds and the sky. The pinnacle of their power comes at the winter solstice and quickly depletes at the end of the solstice. They are regarded as intelligent if not cold and calculating.
Organization: The same as the Summer Court.
Membership: The same as the Summer Court, you cannot join the Summer Court.
Ideals: The Winter Court are generally out to gain power at any cost, they use foul tactics to complete goals and usually show little emotion. There are exceptions and this isn't a rule but a guide to the kind of members to join this court.
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Back Story: The courts of winter and summer recently had a great war that wiped out most of both courts, a truce has been made to stop the bloodshed and both courts work on rebuilding their strength. The seasons are closely tied to the courts, a ritual is performed during each solstice to bring about the next season. If one court should gain an advantage over the other, global temperatures will tilt to that court's side. The ice ages were caused by winter defeating summer in a war a millennium ago.
The Arcane Councils:
Members: Any Human who "Specializes" in the arcane arts (a fighter with one level in wizardry does not apply) your highest level must be in one of the arcane.
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White Council: This council governs the rules that neutral and good aligned arcane users must follow, the White Council does not practice dark magic and condemns acts of evil and chaos.
Organization: The White Council is lead by the Merlin along with the Senior Council. The Merlin is the leader of the White Council and has the highest authority, the Senior Council makes decisions deemed to important or not well known by the rest of the order to properly vote. Their are no other ranks or micro associations within the council. Decisions are made by majority vote by all members during planned monthly meetings, a Conclave can be called for an emergency meeting to be held.
Membership: Breaking one of the 7 laws of magic removes you from the council and bans you from joining again. If members are called as part of the black council they are immediately removed.
Ideals: The White Council does not interfere with mortal politics and exists simply to protect mankind. Assistance can be given to members and knowledge can be exchanged during Magi-cons.
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Grey Council: A secret organization that hand picks its members, it is similar to the White council but does not follow the 7 laws of magic and is not afraid to interfere with politics.
Ideals: The Grey Council does not have set ideals and changes as the Senior Council members change.
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Black Council: A secret association of evil practitioners of the arcane arts. Their motives are not known, they do not keep track of members and simply go by word only. The council is ran by individuals creating circles in the name of dark magic and each circle has its own goals and ideals. The circles within the Black Council are not unified but a select few may join forces.
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Back story: The White council has existed for countless centuries and was started by the great wizard Merlin whom the highest rank is named after. The White Council has always hunted members of the Black Council and a recent engagement has left both sides devastated. The Grey Council has recently disbanded as they failed to stop the councils war and the winter and summer courts war, the secrets of their order were passed onto a select few new members and is now reconstructing and gaining strength. The Grey Council once was nicknamed the free masons by mortal society.
Royal Courts:
Members: All races and classes are welcome to the Royal Courts.
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Gold Court: The Gold Court uses a business political system. Its goal is to become a economic giant.
Organization: The leader is the President which is voted by majority vote every year during the new year festival. Under the President is the Board of Directors who help govern the Court. Under the board are the Managers who create their own guilds and companies that benefit the Gold Court. Each Manager manages his/her guild differently and different ranks will be present.
Membership: To apply for the Gold Court, a Manager must own a company that has at least 10 members and possess a amount of wealth undetermined as of yet. Membership requires a by-weekly payment to continue being a recognized member. Membership can be terminated by either party for any reason.
Ideals: The Gold Court believes in fairness and will not use underhand tactics to make a profit. At the same time it believes that risks are a part of business and what the public doesn't know won't hurt them. Anyone caught cheating out buyers or uses illegal means to make a profit will be removed from the court.
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Silver Court: The Silver Court uses a Feudal political system. Its goal is to rule over vast amounts of land.
Organization: The Silver Court is lead by the Monarch who is chosen by the previous monarch each year. Under the Monarch are the Dukes who own their own land in the name of the Silver Court. The Dukes employ Vassals to run companies under their control. The members of these companies are often referred to as common folk. A Vassal includes Knights to run armies, Counts to run smaller pieces of land, Barons to run economic companies, and a personal council if he/she wishes to have one. A council consists of a Chancellor for diplomacy, a Steward for the treasury, a Marshal for military, and a Spymaster for intrigue.
Membership: Membership is associated by your liege (your direct superior). Membership is done directly through your liege. Membership rules vary from liege to liege.
Back Story: The Courts have only recently popped up after the other large factions recently took heavy losses and are attempting to take advantage of the situation.
Holy Orders:
Members: Must be lawful good and of a holy class.
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Knights Templar: This faction is dedicated to eradicating evil and instituting order.
Organization: The Knights Templar is split into 3 ranks: the Knights, the Sergeants, and the Chaplains.
Knights: These members are among the highest ranking, they have 1 or 2 squires under them and are the main fighting force of the order.
Sergeants: These members make up the skilled working class of the order, being in charge of such things as item creation, building, cooking, and other work.
Chaplains: These members are ordained priests who deal with healing, decision making, and research.
The Order is lead by the Grand Master who oversees are aspects and is assisted by a council of 5 who are chosen by himself. It is up to the Grand Master to decide how to run the Order and way things are handled may change drastically from one master to the next.
Membership: Is done in waves of training sessions held at the end of each month. A ceremony is held to welcome new members. Membership can be terminated at any time by either party.
Back Story: The Knights fell in numbers and almost dissolved after a fierce attack on their lands from dark forces. The Chaplains are working on what the enemy was but so far nothing is known about the mysterious attackers who dissapeared after the short war.
Interesting idea. Not sure why you're doing it out of game when you could create companies within the game to serve the same purpose.
These factions are intended to be behind the scenes, you could for example be part of the White Council yet be in a company that does something not affiliated with magic, like mining or mercenary work. It provides its members with more options to play the game.
How would these factions support meaningful player interaction? How do you expect them to enrich gameplay?
The factions will interact with the world at a different level than companies or other in-game associations; the Winter Court may, for example, hold a formal ball and invite dignitaries from the other factions. Members come on behalf of their respective factions instead of their companies or settlements, this gives players that would normally never see eye-to-eye due to different alignments or ideals a chance to mingle with one another.
Keep in mind that only a tiny portion of the game population cares about anything outside of the game.
These are the players this idea is intended for, these factions are for a more in-depth role playing experience. They give little in terms of actual game mechanics so limiting yourself to them solely won't be a very good option either, this allows you to play the game the way you want with bonus content on the side.
I came up with this idea after finishing book 4 of the Dresden Files, thought I'd get that out of the way now.
Goblin Squad Member
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These factions are intended to be behind the scenes, you could for example be part of the White Council yet be in a company that does something not affiliated with magic, like mining or mercenary work.
You can just as easily be in a company called "White Council" and still be in a company that does something not affiliated with magic, like mining or mercenary work. One can be in up to three companies simultaneously.
There are in-game systems designed to meet the needs of what you are trying to accomplish. I would recommend using those before trying to create your own.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Considering that we can be in three separate companies at once, these might totally work in game at that capacity, since you don't intend to be claiming settlements/POIs.
Also, if any of these organizations intend to do anything meaningful in terms of declaring war, joining a specific Kingdom, or eventually owning a POI/Settlement HQ then you couldn't do it.
While I like the idea of these, I feel like people will be too constrained to worry about outside organizations much.
These factions are intended to be behind the scenes, you could for example be part of the White Council yet be in a company that does something not affiliated with magic, like mining or mercenary work.
You can just as easily be in a company called "White Council" and still be in a company that does something not affiliated with magic, like mining or mercenary work. One can be in up to three companies simultaneously.There are in-game systems designed to meet the needs of what you are trying to accomplish. I would recommend using those before trying to create your own.
I was unaware that you could join more than one company, could I get a link to the blog that covers that? This behind the scenes idea was under the assumption that you could only participate in one company at a time.
Thank you Nihimon, with this in mind the factions could easily be your second or third company and makes this much simpler.
The principle is still the same (background forces in play) but the means are more direct. I intend to slowly build these up over time instead of trying to get many members at once, I tried getting as many different play styles into the factions as possible and made it possible for more to come into existence or even replace the current ones. I know the idea isn't for everyone but believe that it'll be an interesting addition to the overall politics of the game for whoever participates.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Thank you Nihimon
You're quite welcome :)
I think with the change in direction, this belongs in the Guild Recruitment & Helpful Links list. If you have a brief description you'd like to appear there to let people know about this project while they're browsing that list, just PM me or post a clear request here. That list may not be quite as useful now that the Guild functionality on Goblinworks' site is live, but I'll maintain it anyway :)
Good luck!
Thank you for your help, I think I'll wait till the game launches to continue work on these since it doesn't seem very popular at the moment.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Thank you for your help, I think I'll wait till the game launches to continue work on these since it doesn't seem very popular at the moment.
It's only been a few hours, there might be renewed interest later. Also, I think most folks are very focused on trying to help their Guilds in the Land Rush.
