Factions.

For the grand duchy I need factions. Tribes, druid circles, bandits, invaders, vikings. And as I being writing more dungeons with micro factions it is time to check out how other people have put factions together.

The 5e tome of all that is.... has a page or two on factions and although it is a start, and gave me some thoughts on a motto which could be helpful as a reminder. What is this faction? Oh they are the bandits that "Are girls that want to have fun and also build a sweet blanket fort in the middle of the city" - Not super succinct as a motto. The shirts would be odd but... a motto could be helpful.

A quick look at the stars without numbers faction pages seems a great look at the macro. And as it is a galaxy type setting, having a simple run down of what could be millions of actors in the faction, could help in the smaller "my factions are 6 unwashed pirate dudes". But that also leads to the thought, in a large year long setting write, how detailed do I need some of these factions? I will have 6 pirate boat crews that can be interchangeable or just used as a default to be upgraded when used. Do we need to know the captains name and back story of each boat? No, but it would give each boat faction some quest seeds, and an A to B for the players to interact with. Keeping it to 6, instead of 40 is also useful because it saves on time but gives a good amount of options.

A high look for religious factions would work best. In a land that shares a pantheon between most of the tribes and a monotheist pantheon for the invaders, means that, although most belief systems have difference when language and location are taken into consideration. Writing each regional difference may not be super helpful in the long run. "4 cat gods that demand shiny things and bestow fish and blessings" will suffice to enable one to have adventurers interact with that faction quite well. Making up local event variants on the run.

I wonder too if it is similar with tribal factions. In grand duchy there will be the "highlanders", the "coasties" and the "northerners". But within these will be tensions with the high leadership and the local variants. And of course the constant "No I wanna be the lord" "Nah I want" So then does one write an A to B of political intrigue, or just name a bunch of people and let the players or the GM play kingmaker as they need. Because during a "get me a goose" quest, one doesn't really need to know the high lords name. Barely need to know the local manor lords name. Unless one of the players is on the run from either of them.

So, to practice some of this, I will put in place a few examples of what I hope to go for. And maybe I will return in the future to reformat.

Example 1:

Faction

• What do they do?

• Who are they?

• Why they feature?

Water hags.

Who:

Three hags that live in a swamp.

Cousins. Names: Butter, Eggs, Milk, Yogurt, Custard.

What?

They collect many things, make potions and runes. They combine local nature magic and viking rune magic. The viking mage that taught them lays in a coffin nearby. They trade in challenges and cheeky tricks

Why?

They are one source of good magic, but with a cost. They can be friend of enemy. They have a dungeon under their weird shack village.

Who what why simplifies things as a place holder. With three simple questions we can understand that these hags could either be "just another merchant" or an epic tale of trickery and frustration that ends in a resurrected big bad.

Example 2:

Type / Title - Viking boat - Orcaboss

(Names may be changed but for now the boats will be - Viking, Curonian(coasties) and Estonian.)

Captain - Kinjergerson.

• Landless woodsman, highly respected, built his own boat.

• Will return home with treasure to buy land from his father. His land will be his land. His crew will be his family.

Driving ideal - Plunder and Fun.

Crew -

Shieldbearers - his cousins.

A medicine man and oracle.

Navigator and his 2 cousins.

13 others.

A to B - Will wildly land on a beach and take out the first village they come to. Will only be stopped by tribute or a higher power willing to join and promise treasure.

The Vikings as a meta faction are usually landless sons dreaming of riches and fame. To settle of in some exotic country or to bring the spoils home to prove their worth. The faction stands to be great allies, great enemies, traders, settlers, criminals, kings, strange new ideas. They can be unplanned anarchy or well spoken negotiations.

Type - Leader (backstory) - Driving Ideal - "crew" - A to B.

I am really enjoying looking at factions. I have definitely used them in quests before but never sat down and looked at how they work and how they could increase.