Tell me about the factions in your setting, Veeky Forums

Tell me about the factions in your setting, Veeky Forums.
and sum up their general behaivor to an alignment.

>the mayorate

Are they ruled by a mayor? What did he do that was so evil?

its Mayo-rate

Mayonnaise empire

I'm going to pull from my book. It's called The Elsewilds.

The Basillica
- This is a city built by the Malgarii, squid-faced creatures created by the Primordial, and banished to the center of the Moon. They are lead by the Princess of the Moon, a human girl with magic powers called a sleepwaker. Lying is lethal to them, but they use colorful language to get around the truth. L/E

The Grand Library
- A colorful city where every living being who can dream has their life story written in real time and stored away at their death by thousands of scribes. The Librarians were killed, and replaced with the Host of Many. A parasitic bug that attaches to the faces of the sleepwakers, and takes over their bodies, wearing them out and filling them with eggs before cocooning them, and having a public ceremony attaching to a new unwilling host. N/E

The Mechalith
- A giant floating monolith where the Simulacrum live. Tall, beautiful people with sharp features who never age. They are synthetic, and have split into castes, where the lowest castes are sacrificed and cannibalized for parts for the ruling caste. N/N

The Circus
- Home of the Hobs and Goblins. They were ruled by a king who was killed by one of his sons. The seven Jacks, his sons and generals, were either killed or banished. The Jack of Lanterns wants his father's kingdom back, but the Jack of Cats is in power. C/E

The Terminus
- A citadel and prison above a great infinite pit surrounded by waterfalls and suspended by chains. The Primevil is imprisoned here. This is where the King of Nightmares lives, an ancient sleepwaker who entered the Elsewilds thousands of years ago as a defector German soldier in the Roman army. N/E

The Duergar
- Stour, hairy, cave dwelling people. They are lead by Maga, the matron mother. She lead the Neanderthals from Earth after the Primevil was captured and imprisoned.

The rest of the lands are home to other mythical creatures, and humans warped through generations in the Elsewilds.

It's late and I'm on my phone. So if none of that makes sense I understand.

>total lack of good
Well that was unexpected.

Before we go on, let me first mention that the theme of the campaign is Lawful Evil, and how people handle themselves when Lawful Evil winds up winning.

>The Empire
Lawful Evil for sure, your classic pro-human, one million laws, the royal family is the most important, evil empire. The people within the empire are just trying to survive each day without stepping on any toes.

>The Orcs
Chaotic Evil, forced into the mold of Lawful Evil. The land of the setting is a vast desert that was once a vibrant jungle nation, before magic shenanigans ruined it. Now their war chief is trying to force them into a lawful mold so they can survive the harsh landscape, with varying degrees of success.

>The Natives
The original natives of the nation, cursed after their leaders made deals with devils to keep the nation safe. Things backfired, they got sent to hell, and now some of them escaped. These cursed people are actually still good, for the most part, but their leaders have fallen to lawful evilness, trying to do horrible things in order to get the rest of their people back and start up their nation again, and justifying it by attacking the other evil factions without considering the people in the mess.

>The Colonists
People from the evil empire just trying to get as far away from it as possible. The only real good faction here, they just want to survive and do right while doing it, and it's up to the players and how they deal with the big factions that will ultimately decide what happens to them.

They obviously have more complex names in game, but for the sake of the thread I just used these general names.

>corporations
>not inherently evil
Dropped.

The idea is that the Moon is much more ancient than the Earth, and wandered here, becoming trapped in orbit. And inside is an ancient alien machine called the Gossamer, that uses psychic energy from the life around it to open a gateway to the Elsewilds.

The Primordial/Primevil was the first intelligent life on Earth that jump started it. A giant octopus-like creature. And after consuming all of its own kind, use the magic from the Gossamer to experiment and create humans and the Malgarii to rule them.

Once the first Human awoke and became a sleepwaker he used his magic to banish the Primordial into the Elsewilds and trap it. Then took the first humans there.

He then vanished the Malgarii to the Moon, where they can't free the Primordial, or oppress the Humans again.

Jump forward several tens of thousands of years, and the King of Nightmares, cornered and about to die, triggers his animus, a small inanimate object that works as a key to open the Gossamer, and fights the existing sleepwakers for power.

Then he builds an army using the goblins and conquers everyone.

Then he disappears for a decade, and the goblins lose control in a civil war, and each faction becomes taken over by a different, strange kind of warlord.

The King of Nightmares returns, but locks himself away. And that's where the story starts. A young boy is tasked by the Princess of the Moon to enter the Elsewilds using his newly awakened animus, to retrieve her animus from him, so she can return and defeat him and restore order.

>The Duchy of Whytner

The duchy makes its home in a land ravaged by rain and swampy, mountainous regions. Having had a history of civil war, the dukes have been united for now. Gallows, crows and plains of wheat rack the countryside. A militaristic society, the duchy values might, cunning and service. With hardly a metropolis to speak of, the average panorama in the duchy consists of abandoned, crumbling castles and moss.
Average alignment: Lawful Neutral/Evil

>The Blue Kingdoms

While technically a few kingdoms having formed merely an alliance, the culture and customs form a wholesome, easily recognizable land. Settled around and in the midst of the rainbow sea, sailors rejoice in the flocks of seagulls to pass over the glimmering, gem-reflective water. Ruled by three sentient, yet immobile statues, the nobles of the blue kingdoms never take off their masks, for which every one of them is known for. Debauchery, yet impecable perfectionism spread like a plague from the noble houses and the populace is either none the wiser, or thankful for it.
Average alignment: Neutral Good/True Neutral

>The Queendom of Palenoy

The imperial and looming structures of Palenoy could hardly hope to hint at who ar what runs the empire. The virgin rose, a merchant guild, has an iron grip on the trade surrounding the region, and it seems like their influence spreads far beyond simple trade. A nation built on blind faith, the people of Palenoy worship the Pale Lady, a goddess that while not new to this land, her increasing worship caused quite a controversy leading up to a religious coup. A court of vampires rule the empire, pledging their and their subjects' bodies and wills to the goddess. Due to how the vampiric strain is formed, mixed with Haemophilia, male vampires never survive past a week. The queen and her court of female bloodsuckers hold a red dominion and the populace accepts their new, vampire overlords.
Average Alignment: Neutral Evil, True Neutral.

>The White Shield Society (WSS)

Essentially Doctors without Borders or Red Cross, but also incorporating engineers, scientists, and more rarely soldiers. A totally donation run organization but large and respected enough that they can operate across most of the known territories. Shaded with some faintly religious practices, as society as old the WSS would. Has problems with corruption around their central bureaucratic hub and the occasional mad doctor, generally speaking the most peaceable and well liked group in the whole setting. Firmly LG or NG.

>Guild of Bookbinders

Equal parts university, national museum/archive, and religious institution. The Bookbinders are not particularly well loved in Asylum, but they are respected and feared. Their libraries are vast and privately operate some of the civil book-keeping. They use their profits from teaching and operating part of the bureaucracy to fund expeditions to the surface and across the Underworld into Terra Noctis to collect new information. Definitely LN, though they can edge down into LE in their most extreme members.

>The Lamplight Liberation Coalition

A guerrilla organization that's existed for more than sixty years, working to free the city of Lamplight and associated territories from Asylum Senate control. Increasingly desperate as Lamplight's state identity dwindles and public support dries up. Every passing month the Coalition becomes more like a glorified gang than a freedom fighting group. Generally ill regarded, even in their home town. Have taken to supporting secessionist and isolationist militias across the Underworld to try and destabilize the Asylum government. CN to CE at this point, though originally they might have been CG.


The setting is still pretty rough around the edges, but those are a couple of the players. In general there aren't many "factions" though. Mainly just general groups or concepts.

>The Iron Dominion

To the far east, in the black deserts, a breed of man has lived for as long as anyone can remember. Those who douse themselves in black sand and ash, those whose newborn sprout horns and antlers, only to perish after a day or two. Ruled by a mighty emperor, one who has survived such a birth, the black sands value honor, skill and servitude. No wonder others believe them to be devil worshippers, for they forge their weapons out of iron and sinew, blood and steel. Ronin from the black sands are valued mercenaries, yet none compare to the samurai of either one of the black barons.
Average Alignment: Lawful Evil/Lawful Neutral

>The Half-Moon

An elven kingdom in the far north, frozen by ice and sorrow. Only taking up half of the mountainous region, the other half is inhabited by their more savage bretheren. A kingdom built on worship of the dream mother, the legends and tales of yore, the servitude of bladesingers and the history of raiders and sailors. A sturdy people, bearded and white of pupil, teeth bared to reveal disproportionate canines, the elves trade with the human kingdoms, but remember fondly still the days of an axe in their hand and a raid down south.

>The Lonely Kingdom

A land of perpetual fall. An elven kingdom that once stood tall and loomed over the bordering factions, the lonely kingdom is now desolate and uninhabited. A question rises immediately to why nobody would take a no man's land, but the forests of the lonely kingdom are quick to whisper a violent response. Guerillas, witches and more sinister abominations have made this land their home. And word with the caravans is, the dead king still holds a grasp over his lonely, desolate kingdom.
Average alingment: Chaotic Evil/True Neutral

I find it interesting that a lot of factions in dark settings tend to go evil when they tilt towards the lawful side. I guess that's a given since it would be near impossible to make things work perfectly in a fucked up world, but cutting corners(as in cutting physical/methaphorical value, not as in skimming rules and stuff like that) might make it just opssible for it to work.

That might just be me though.

So blue kingdom nobles are essentially slaneesh worshippers?
Ny sinew and blood, how are the incorporated in creating weapons?

Interesting. The white shields I mean. Don't see international NGO LG groups often.

Wait that's not yhe image I was going to post. Also, by
>Don't see international NGO LG groups often.
I should have added"apart fron the 'truly good, non-corrupt never-do-evil goodguy church knightly order' and stuff like that"

They're actually vaguely knightly. A consequence of a nearly five hundred year history and the broken telephone game that accompanies it. They're descandants of a Red Cross type organization from before the Great War. They borrow mainly from the Followers of the Apocalypse from Fallout though, what with really only caring that people get by. The setting is slightly more advanced/developed than Fallout though, so they're not doing as much teaching as they are directly helping and mediating.

I just came up with them now because I realize I didn't have any straight up "good" groups in the setting. I think they fit real well with the general tone though, so I'm keeping them. Thanks for making the thread OP.

>Successor Principality
Former oversea colony of an empire that was destroyed destroyed by zombie orcs. Turned into prosperous merchant republic. LG/LN at time

>Hammer Island
Another oversea colony of the same empire. Unlike Principality, they didn't land on unclaimed land and too to enslave and oppress natives. Think they are the master race and true heirs to the imperial glory, actually a bunch of inbred nutcases nobody likes. NE

>Emerald College
School of elemental magic (Mostly Earth). Usually don't bother anyone and don't like to be bothered, but are elitist pricks. Opress ungifted people on their territory opressed, but not much worse than most medieval people. True Neutral

>Temple of the One
Leading religion of the civilized world, believe true god was tricked into exile from creation and destroying pretender gods would bring him back. Hate pagans. LN occasionally LG

>Pagans
Loose association of people who believe one true god left the world and turned it over to his children. Worship spirits and lesser gods, practice pagan magic. All over the place

>The Immortal Engine
Believe that "One True God" created the world as a prison that is meant to be broken. Worship the guy everyone else think is devil. CE

>Children of the Wolf
Members on once great nation now reduced to fragmented forest-dwelling tribes. See the legendary Wolf King as a misunderstood messiah and not as a poor fool tricked into becoming a werewolf and destroy his nation. Are dicks CN

>King Niclas and his loyalists
Young king of a major nation of questionable legitimacy and reformist ambitions. LG/LN

>Queen Aderyn
Simple woman, Niclas' younger sister of less ambiguous legitimacy. A figurehead exploited by her evil husband in attempt to overthrow the king. Too mentally impaired to have an alignment, exploited by the NE faction

T- thanks.

Another thing, I dunno if this is because of low amount of posts, or if NG/CG factions are this rare. Sure by nature chaotic should be hard to group up, but still...

CG and NG are far more likely to be the motivations of individuals. Neutral Good is stuff like charities or NGOs when it comes to organizations, who are really unlikely to be major political players so you won't really mention them in a list of major factions with most settings. There's also stuff like benevolent kingdoms or what have you, but people in general are hesitant to make monolithic organizations like that too neutral unless they control the entire setting. Chaotic Good is pretty much never gonna form an organization, unless you're talking about maybe a superhero team or some other band of vigilantes. Similarly, they're rarely gonna be major political players but in an even more extreme way.

I am open to having my mind changed but I don't think the D&D alignment system, designed to assign alignments to individuals, works well to describe groups.

Partly because most groups will be composed of people of multiple alignments and partly because the whole Law/Chaos axis is partly about how an individual relates to a larger group and their attitude to being part of an organisation.

It also elides the distinction between a insular group that treats in-group members well but outsider poorly and a group that is vicious both internally and externally.

I just don't think it's the right descriptive tool for this job.

The game is Dungeons the dragoning 40k 7th edition. In the vein of the game being plagued with references each of the factions is clearly a reference to something I like personally

The setting is a single planet, no space travel because we didn't want a campaign with that, the world has three continents and the factions are the following:

1-Scarlet Mansion: Rules an island nation of fairies with aesthetic of Not!ShowaJapan and is ruled by a loli vampire, take a guess how she is called.
2-Wei Dynasty: a nation of giants and aaesimar of Not!MingChina, ruled by CaoCao
3-Theocracy of the cog: a faction of techpriests, nuff said, the fun part being these techpriests being of several races. The leader is a techpriest lamia: archimagos Marisa
4-Kingdom of Rance: a kingdom with high magic that is the most reminiscent of traditional high fantasy settings like Forgotten kingdoms. Leader is our beloved rapeboy Rance
5-Yatagarasu corps: a small island nation that prides itself on being all mercenaries, not much is known because my players have yet to interact with them
6-The electric hive: a giant metropolis similar to a hiveworld with constant gang wars and cyberpunk shit. The policeforce is in charge and slowly recovering the control of of the streets. Leader is a female tau comissar, just don't ask
7-Black Hole: Not!50sUSA with lots of dieselpunk stuff lidered by a warforged Sturm, yes its from Advance Wars, but with a total different, more happy and nice personality
8-The Mage Academy: controls a nation of Not!XIXcentury-Central-Asia (because arabian nights has been done to shit) as a bunch of asshole aristocrats, who are mostly the characters of Fate Stay night, ruled by Caster/Medea
9-House of Dust: a dynasty of necromancers who rule a dessert region of Not!40sManchuria/Korea lidered by an old as shit lich called Manniarco (the king of worms from Daggerfall)
10-Mountain tribes: a nation of werewolves living in the jungle with aesthetic of Not!Khemer-empire
cont.

Stealing some of these memes.

11-Knights of purity: an order of paladins dedicated to the gods of order and light. Legitimately assholes, besides the paladins themselves, who are stereotypical, they live in a country reminiscent of Not!19thCentury-Europe. The leader is a dragonborn of bahamut with no name
12-Crusaders of Ruin: paladins dedicated to the chaos gods and legitimately people who do good deeds. Almost the same as the knights, being reminiscent of 19thCenturyUS. The leader is a female tiefling called Abbadon
13-Midland: Not!Reinassance, typical dark fantasy like warhammer fantasy, pretty much the country of the setting of Berserk. No leader because the players have fucked it up to its core
14-Eslavia: A country in the northren tundra that is totally not a mix of 70sURSS and Balkan Peninsula. The leader is a very powerfulI wraith that lives inside a bottle of vodka. must admit I went full stupid with the memes in this faction, but my players love it and give me a excuse to use my really bad and funny russian accent

>Federation of United Planets
True Neutral, leaning towards CN (in the "dislike of centrally run goverment" rather than "lolrandumb" way). A collection of Terran colonies that have banded together for common good. Each is essentially independent, however, with the federal goverment only really running the navy and making sure all members follow the treaties they have signed with each other.

>Terran Corporate Dominon, or Terracorp for short
Lawful Evil. Technically part of the Federation, but different enough to warrant a separate entry. Terracorp is a gigantic mega-corporation that rules the Sol system. Produces everything from cheap consumer goods to starships to private military contracts and organized religion, and is generally considered to be extremely unscrupulous and pretty much breaking as much human right laws than they can reasonably get away with if it means more profit. Still, they do sell quality products for very cheap price.

>Ni-Hir Hive Collective
Lawful Neutral. A civilization of eusocial arthropoids, the Ni-Hir society is composed of thousands of hive-cities, each ruled by a queen. Vast majority of population is made from sterile workers who are considered to be little more than cogs in the machine. A complex web of political intrique exists among the ruling class, with each hive lord trying to increase their favour in the eyes of the queen and each queen seeking to elevate their city above those of their rivals, while at the same time following a code of conduct formulated to keep the whole civilisation from collapsing into a massive free for all battle between thousands of hive-cities.

>Demosian Hierarchy
Lawful Evil. An essentially feudal empire where rulers of individual planets swear fealty to sectorial rules who swear fealty to the Hierarch. The Demosian society is highly militarised and seeks to dominate the galaxy and turn all other civilisations into their vassals.

>Seiran Star Republic
True Neutral, leaning towards NG. Allies with humanity, a peaceful civilization that prefers diplomacy and trade to military action (probably mostly because they're physically quite weak, and have a hard time living on planets that differ much from their homeworld so they'd have little to gain from aggressive expansion and conquest). Their economic power and diplomatic ties have resulted in them becoming a very wealthy and powerful civilisation.

>The Idrass Confederacy
Chaotic Neutral. The Idrassi are widely considered to be some of the most intelligent and brilliant scientists in known space. They're also widely known to be extremely antisocial and detesting every other member of their species as being clearly inferior to themselves. Their goverment, if you can call it that, is composed of their greatest scientists who the rest of the population can sort of grudgingly respect, and hold little power aside from acting as the spokesmen for the Idrassi when dealing with other civilisations.

>Yugh Hegemony
Lawful Neutral. A strict theocratic civilisation, the Yugh consider all other forms of sapient life to be inferior and spiritually impure. Fortunately, they're not the "purge the unclean" type fanatics, but would rather just be left alone to contemplate philosophy without being disturbed by filthy heathens. As such their interactions with anything outside their borders is at best limited, and are largely ignored by their neighbours, aside from probably unfounded rumours about their homeworld containing ancient relics of some extinct precursor civilisation.

>The Counter-Life
Neutral Evil. Silicon-based collective intelligence that considers individual thought and carbon-based life in general to be a blight upon the galaxy which must be cleansed. Its fleets travel around the galaxy in a circular path which takes approximately 250 million years to complete.