Factions: NPCs on the Rise

Haern

What are factions?

Factions are a multifaceted project I've been working on for sometime now in an attempt to bring further roleplay developments to Aetolia that will reflect on guild organizations, city organizations, and the players themselves in a myriad of outlets. These factions are organizations run by NPCs to give further life to Aetolia, ranging from the proud Research Society of Delve to the dour Earthcallers that hail from the Pillars of the Earth.

What do factions do for cities and guilds?

Factions for cities and guilds shall first and foremost, give players a chance to explore roleplay options and ideals that coincide with their organizations' own. Furthermore, it will add quests (specific to your guild and city) and storylines for players to follow in one-shot events!

What about factions unaffiliated with a city or guild?

Factions in the world of Aetolia are going to have a strong presence amongst a variety of players. I shall give several examples to touch on these points:

In the far reaches of the Ironspine Highlands of Albedos, a clan of wyrm-hunters have taken up residence. Following the wyrms across the taiga throughout the year, they battle these mighty beasts to prove their worth amongst their kin and gain trophies (also meat for curing, hides for protection, and bones for their weaponry). This clan leads a simple life, spending their days hunting, nights drinking, and are forever on the trail of the greatest Ironspine wyrms. If a player were to ally with them, they would gain access to special attributes that helps them with the hunting of dragonkin, gear and clothing to assist in the cold climes of the taiga, and, finally, the ability to break and tame a wyrm of their own to use as a mount.

In the depths of the Bonro of Albedos, an ancient cult; a fraternal order of assassins, awaits the return of their Goddess. Bearing the sigil of the red asp, they are the knives in the desert and keep a constant vigil over their territory. If the players were to ally with this clan, they would have the ability to cut off the ears of their player targets after a successful kill or be sent on missions to assassinate those who have wronged the cult. This cult shall definitely resonate with PKers (or even the hardiest of RPers!).

In the highest reaches of D--wait a second, I can't talk about this! Rest assured, folks, we've got a lot coming out for Sapience as well.

There are roughly 55 factions currently planned on that are outside of the realm of guild and city based factions and there will be many more to come as more and more areas across both Sapience and Albedos are released.

What if I find myself at odds with another faction? It seems like these factions would have rivals!

Rivalries and, indeed, all-out wars may occur between factions with clearcut rivalries. It shall be fairly obvious to players when they ally with the faction the gravity of this choice, because they will find themselves under fire. Choices matter for these factions and they will depend on you during these trying times.

How will we learn about factions?

Guild-based and city-based factions shall be all encountered from the start as you join your city. For factions that exist beyond the interests of guild and city? Discovery. Players will only unlock a faction by meeting with certain NPCs, doing certain questlines, or participating in events as they unveil across the world. The newly announced boars and crocodiles are not the only shapeshifters that walk the lands now, so discovery is key.

How will we gain favour with these factions?

As a veteran of a certain MMO, I know too well the grind involved for the sake of unlocking titles to show off your insanity or prove you're a hero of some sort to some space squids and elves in a city. I did it! However, I feel that might do little to interest our playerbase at this time. Questlines, events, and weekly quests will allow you to explore these factions and gain their trust.

Lin

I'm intrigued by the idea of getting cozy with a faction, then getting perks that help you bash in that faction's hated area. Would we be doing more of this? For instance, maybe raising reputation with the innocent villagers in Arbothia, which somehow allows us to have an easier time bashing the crazies.

Seir

Clearly, I want a Vermin of Sapience faction where I defend all the poor prosecuted rats in sewers and in cities.

Haern

Lin said:

I'm intrigued by the idea of getting cozy with a faction, then getting perks that help you bash in that faction's hated area. Would we be doing more of this? For instance, maybe raising reputation with the innocent villagers in Arbothia, which somehow allows us to have an easier time bashing the crazies.

You may see more things like that, yes!

Rivas

Just going off your two examples listed:

Will the factions solely be limited to Albedos, or will they start popping up around Sapience first/as well?

Iosyne

They aren't limited to Albedos.

Haern

Rivas said:

popping up around Sapience first/as well?

In the highest reaches of D--wait a second, I can't talk about this! Rest assured, folks, we've got a lot coming out for Sapience as well.

*fingerwaggle*

Rivas

Oh. I probably should've read to the end instead of collapsing into a giggling fit while grabbing the keyboard to type my question.

Kiyotan

This looks really cool. Am I correct in understanding that, like WoW, we're going to be able to raise our reputation with certain factions individually, and then our orgs will have their own reputations to raise with factions? Is it going to be similarly tiered?

Haern

Kiyotan said:

This looks really cool. Am I correct in understanding that, like WoW, we're going to be able to raise our reputation with certain factions individually, and then our orgs will have their own reputations to raise with factions? Is it going to be similarly tiered?

That's correct. In allying with a particular faction as an organization--let's say, for example, the Sentinels have two factions allied with their guild: the Rangers and the Edgewalkers (note: these aren't names, I just needed something to throw down to illustrate my point). The guild decides, for now, they wish to throw their support behind the Rangers because the Edgewalkers aren't jiving with the current guild ethos or direction. Players in the guild can support either faction, independent of the guild, but the guild itself has their own tiers and quests to unlock/achieve/discover/whathaveyou.

So, to clarify this point further:

• The Sentinels support the Rangers. They are currently Rank 3 with the faction. The Rangers give the Sentinels bonus 1, 2, and 3. They have a quest to conquer Ranger Tower for the week
• Kiyotan supports the Rangers. He himself is Rank 2 with the faction. The Rangers give Kiyotan bonus A and B. He has his own questline to follow concerning the Ranger leadership.

I don't want to go any further into detail such as spillover if you're supporting the same faction for your personal gain or guild gain or "can I slaughter my guild's other faction to be edgy as heck". It'll come, no worries.

Kiyotan

That's pretty awesome. From an administrative perspective, are orgleaders going to be permitted to enforce their orgs toward certain factions, and punish sternly discipline members who join opposing orgs?

Haern

Kiyotan said:

That's pretty awesome. From an administrative perspective, are orgleaders going to be permitted to enforce their orgs toward certain factions, and punish sternly discipline members who join opposing orgs?

I can't really comment on that right now as they'd be more Razmael's domain. As of now, none of the guild or city-based factions are so wildly against each other that you should be doing that. A difference of opinion and perspective needn't always go beyond tension to wanting to bash in their skulls.

Kiyotan

Are factions going to be coded to reject people already belonging to opposing orgs? For example, if the priests of Arurer became a faction, would they automatically spurn those people who are undead? Or, if Tarissa and her archaeology crew became a faction, would all members of Duiran be unable to improve their rank with them?

Haern

Kiyotan said:

Are factions going to be coded to reject people already belonging to opposing orgs? For example, if the priests of Arurer became a faction, would they automatically spurn those people who are undead? Or, if Tarissa and her archaeology crew became a faction, would all members of Duiran be unable to improve their rank with them?

Yes, that is possible.

Calipso

This sounds really awesome and im super excited for it! ^_^.


Will other faction-like areas in Sapience be customized with this new system (of the 55 mentioned) or are we moving along with the new ones? My question specifically revolves around Djeir's two factions, which already sort of had this gimick in a way.

Haern

Calipso said:

Will other faction-like areas in Sapience be customized with this new system (of the 55 mentioned) or are we moving along with the new ones? My question specifically revolves around Djeir's two factions, which already sort of had this gimick in a way.

Yes, we'd like to bring everything up to date to coincide with the release of the new dialogue and questing system. Some will be touched on before others.

Mastema

This all sounds amazing, thanks for the hard work

Haven

How much freedom will organizations have in choosing factions in relation to a player's freedom in choosing? Will organizational factions be ultimately in the hands of the GM/CL or will it require admin intervention in choosing/changing the faction for your organization?

For example, say the vampire Dominion was aligned with the Vilimo Fields (faction bent on making all living sentient forms cattle) and opposed the Feral Cave vampires (faction who will only feast on animal blood or whatever). If somewhere down the line the Dominion decided to change their roleplay for whatever reason, could the organization drop the Vilimo faction and choose to pick up the Feral vampire faction of the Vashnar mountains instead provided the org met the prerequisites? And if so, will it be as seamless as individual player selection or will it largely be regulated via events by the admin?

Also, will there be factions that allow conflict between organizations on the same side of the overarching Aetolian theme of Living versus Undeath? Or will these factions largely support Aetolia's general theme of EnoDui versus Bloodreach? Will there be a mix?

Will Divine Orders or IC player clans also be able to dabble in this feature too?

Haern

Haven said:

How much freedom will organizations have in choosing factions in relation to a player's freedom in choosing? Will organizational factions be ultimately in the hands of the GM/CL or will it require admin intervention in choosing/changing the faction for your organization?

For example, say the vampire Dominion was aligned with the Vilimo Fields (faction bent on making all living sentient forms cattle) and opposed the Feral Cave vampires (faction who will only feast on animal blood or whatever). If somewhere down the line the Dominion decided to change their roleplay for whatever reason, could the organization drop the Vilimo faction and choose to pick up the Feral vampire faction of the Vashnar mountains instead provided the org met the prerequisites? And if so, will it be as seamless as individual player selection or will it largely be regulated via events by the admin?

You asked a lot of questions, @Haven, but I only want to touch on a few of them for now in a bit of detail. As we get closer to our first release wave, I'll be a little more open!

The first of your questions is something we're still deciding on in terms of the initial choice being made (is it CL chosen, do all citizens vote, do only leaders vote), but switching should be entirely in the hands of the players. It won't be something lightly done, but--players should note that choosing one organizational faction over another doesn't mean you're going to be at odds with the other as enemies. They're still for the guild or city, ultimately, but with differing agendas and paths to achieve their goals. Tension is a thing!

Orders? Maybe! I'll shake that 8-Ball for you later. As for player clans? No. That's far too hard to police for what people determine to be their IC or OOC clan.

Alexina

If factions become a way to add more, interesting endgame races, I will love you forever and ever. I would totally run around doing tasks for chaos plane lords if I could become a devious daemonkin.

Haern

Alexina said:

If factions become a way to add more, interesting endgame races, I will love you forever and ever. I would totally run around doing tasks for chaos plane lords if I could become a devious daemonkin.

You may be seeing such things.

Marharet

Aetolia - Rise of the factions: They're taking over!