Factions Part 2

Last time, we began taking a look at a new concept: Factions, groups of like-minded individuals there in the world to bring individuality and structure to the PCs. Today we continue that:

Okay, a brainstorming session, complete with thesaurus and Latin dictionary, and I've got some the skeleton of the factions worked out.

Each faction will have a society name, and be associated with a powerful organization and a religion that provides the base for their philosophical bent.





Firstly: I removed two ideas from the list I posted last time. First, the self-sufficient Kivian Taoists and the self-interested Church of Lies seemed to follow the same basic ideology (see the word "self" in both), and Kivian Taoism is more interesting, so I eliminated the latter and took the name I had associated, the Egoists, for the Taoists.

Second, I consolidated the Free Association of Merchants and Businesspeoples and the Triocheans. The reasoning behind putting together an association whose goal is "money" and one whose goal is "utopia" might not be immediately apparent, but let me explain. The Elder Trio, the mysterious beings who rule the City, are the quintessential laissez-faire rulers -- they hardly ever interfere with the City's goings-on. Add to that the Objectivist dystopia seen in Bioshock, which I recently played and am fascinated with, and you have the notion that utopia is best found through the application of money in the free market. With that idea, suddenly the idea of simply wanting "money" feels meaningless, and the two become one seamless whole.

Okay, here we go:


The Canonists work for House lev-Barun and are associated with The Church of the Blinding Light. They work towards peace and order. This was an easy one. The Church has been around since the beginning of the concept, and of course they needed an organization and political arm. So I looked around in a thesaurus for another word for "believer," and decided "canonist" had a good ring to it (and is pretty obscure). The house name came from the Everchanging Book of Names I've mentioned before, working with Hebrew sounds -- the language I've decided the priestly Leovites are associated with.

The Egoists work for House Naught, practice Kivian Taoism, and believe in enlightened self-interest. As we've explored before, Kivian Taoism is based on the principle that every person has their own "way" through life, and they should follow it to the highest heights -- to the detriment of others if necessary. Nothing else to say at the moment, except that I love "House Naught" -- that is to say, house nothing, because the Egoists don't work together enough to have a proper House.

The Enders work for The Enders and follow The Entropic Circle, and want to spread entropy and chaos. That's just about all I got so far -- I just think that the idea of a faction based around nihilism has great potential, and could make both good conflicted heroes and great bad guys.

The Epicureans work for House Daceas, follow the Promethean Heresy, and desire art and pleasure. This was another easy one -- I'm bringing over the same basic notions as the Hedonists from Crosstime and the Sensates from Planescape, and emphasizing the love of art that is a defining characteristic of the Promethean bloodline. Worth noting is that the Promethean Heresy is one of several splinter religions diverging from the Church of the Blinding Light -- in the Church, Prometheus is regarded as somewhere between Eve and Satan, as he pulled early man from a state of grace by giving them technology and art; in the Promethean Heresy, he is revered as having lifted man from a state of ignorance. Other than that, the religions are virtually the same -- but because of that, they don't get along. Also of note is that "Epicureans" comes from ancient Greek culture... via the thesaurus, and "House Daceas" comes from the Greek section of the Everchanging Book of Names.

Okay. You go hide, I'll count to three days, and I'll find you on Friday. Go!