Five Factions (Campaign Seed)
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As a faction member join the fight as one of the diverse Alliance people or a Savage Brute. Or dwell underground as a Cavernous Creature or the evil Resounding Occult. Or get in touch with nature and play as a Sylvan Advocate. Each faction has different lands and different people, a campaign can span from a city to a nation to an entire realm.
As a religious character you can crusade for your god and even meet the divine in the flesh! As a member of an organization you can build from scratch or just do your everyday chores. Take out the leader and get into a place of power. Or work for the highest bidder.. Or, just maybe you want to sit down and take a break for once.
Factions[edit]
Alliance[edit]
The Alliance allows the players to play with larger more diverse lands, armies or people. Their combat strategy allows for the players to join the army at quite early levels and allows them to rise in the ranks or they could join the army at a later level and still have a quite good standing. The quests you get asked to do as a member of the alliance is either for the military, the government or for a certain merchant.
The largest of the factions they are coordinated and balanced, they have a great need for equipment and vehicles though not a big need for troops. Their troops aren't very strong individually but work together to take out the enemy. Their diversity allows for a large skill range although they don't have many good specialists.
Their military has the most ranks going from normal troops to generals. Each team has from 3 to 12 people, depending on the mission. The teams are commanded by a "captain" and they have a "lieutenant" as second in command. They have "Majors" which organize the military implementation of missions and are spread out to about one per town. Their "Colonels" organize the military of each state, approximately 10 to 20 towns, and the "Generals" co-ordinate the entire factions military operations and only receives orders from the "Consul".
The "Consul" comprises of 3 people from each city, the leader and second of the elected party and the leader of the opposition. It also has the highest ranked general in the military and two tacticians as to suggest military actions. The "Consul" controls all the actions of the military and construction.
The difference between the Alliance and the other faction is that they use most assimilated materials and items. The specialty of the Alliance is not in their use of one particular thing, it is their sheer numbers and co-operation. The Alliance's military force is a well rounded one, it has what it needs for any situation, most of its warriors can use a wide variety of weapons as they have had diverse training. The Alliance's cities are large and factor in many architectural styles, from underground cities to ones in the trees. This allows for friendship with a wide number of races and accommodates for all.
The Alliance isn't one to cause fights, they try to avoid using their resources and let the others fight among themselves. They have large stockpiles of resources and can cause a war if they need to.
The Alliance doesn't have many rules, just the basics:
- Murder is a Capital Offense
- Inner-Alliance Corruption is Treason
- Taking or receiving secretive information is a high-crime
Brutes[edit]
The Brutes are a savage race, built on combat prowess. They are surprisingly peaceful - until they are in an argument, then they will fight for who is right, as is there way. Most of them worship Grack, God of Strength, or Myev, Goddess of Endurance, though there aren't many overly religious characters - other than the war clerics, the ones that lead their armies into battle.
The Brutes are savage, they kill to live and they don't ally with people unless it benefits themselves.
The Brutes don't have any rules, they base power on strength. If you can beat the other person your way is correct.
Most of the Brutes don't practice magic and those of the Brutes that do use magic are usually part of the Brutes military force and often co-operate with a mages guild that spans over multiple of the other factions (the Brutes don't have their own magical society). A common tactic for brutes is to remove the magic users from the battle - making an "even" battlefield. The magic users that are in the army usually support the warriors - but only once they need it. It is rare to see a magic user from the Brutes military cast a spell unless needed - doing this they also developed greater physical strength than their counterparts from the other factions and will usually participate in melee combat. They can give quite a "shock" to the enemy!
Resounding Occult[edit]
The Resounding Occult is an evil faction - they seek out people to kill and their society isn't the best. Their government allows corruption and certain races are favored over others. If you find yourself playing in the Resounding Occult you should watch out for the changing government even as you are working for them. Their primary focus is arcane energies and most of them worship Tialie, Goddess of Arcane Energies, or Ferresti, Goddess of Necromancy.
The Resounding Occult is a race that hates others, they will kill and pillage the enemy. The Resounding Occult is ruled by the greater drow families. They focus mostly on arcane magic and the drow still worship the strength of the spider.
The Resounding Occults law is based on the ruling families of the greater drow, these drow compete with themselves to figure who is the true ruler. Then the winner is the ruler of the drow, and the ones that make the rules.
Cavernous Creatures[edit]
The Cavernous Creatures are quite strong, mostly for their high level of technology. They have steam weapons and greater siege weapons that they can use if required, they already have defenses in place that utilize their technology and are a strong fighting force - both mentally and physically. They worship Gimmin, God of the Forge, or Aifra, Goddess of Craft, this allows them to be excellent craftsmen - they have the most structurally sound cities and have weapons of excellent workmanship.
Based on technology and intelligence. Even though dwarfs excel in these two areas, their technology is still limited to things which can only use gunpowder and steam engines. Thanks to Dwarven stubbornness this limits their "Minds" into a narrow view of how they might be able to advance their technology. This is where their allegiance with Gnomes becomes beneficial, for Gnomes can pretty much think up even the most ridiculous of ideas, the problem is they have no concept of reality, while Gnomes think up the wild ideas of "Flying machines" and "Hand held flame cannons" it is the dwarfs who must limit them to stop them from killing themselves and every other Gnomes who hears about the idea.
For years the Bonds between Human and Dwarf has held strong in the past, as strong as blood ties between brothers. Unfortunately, in recent years the Humans have become more aggravated towards the other races and have been pulling the dwarfs into combat so to best suit their own agenda. It is because of this that the dwarfs resolve has been weakening, their trust broken, to many times to ignore, and now, with war consuming the most part of their lives, it is found, that some Dwarf Clans are willing to side with anyone. So long as they are paid with fine goods and finer women.
Their government is based on kings, they will not tolerate any fighting within their walls. If so much as a bar brawl starts up, a dwarf who participates may find himself on a death sentence. Others may be forced into army recruitment (this seems to be mostly seems to hing upon the dwarfs age).
History[edit]
A long time ago, in the middle of Ragnarok, the war-god Temoku decided he didn't like killing, and become a god of whatever. Temoku was only in his late 18th millennium and was at that rebellious stage of his unending life. He had only recently got twelve and a half thousand piercings in his left ear and was getting bored of killing things, it was because of this that Temoku fled the battlefield leaving his brethren to die. it was because of this, his father Motoko, in his dying moments having realized his own, three hundredth and eleventh, son had forsaken him that he cursed him, tearing his mind from body, he tore his son through every plane of existence scattering him into every possible plane. Unbeknown to his father, but beknown to us, Temoku was able to tear his mind from every plane, into one entity. His body forever lost, he set about rebuilding it, hiding in the center of Hakkaruzi Volcano he slowly reforged his body, over the following twelve thousand years he forged body after body, but every time he was dissatisfied with the result, tossing one after another aside, they slowly gained souls of their own, it was said the first body to have been forged was that of a Giants, who became the Elders. Then Trolls where to follow, the last he made where the Goblins, after so many failures Temoku couldn't handle his failings and destroyed himself within his own forge, blowing apart Hakkaruzi Mountain and leaving boulders in all directions, this is how it was said that the Uldarian Mountain Ranges where created, this is also where the rumored "Forge of the Ancients" is located, although the Dwarfs themselves have never located its precise location, many believe it is protected by the Elder Giants, who have never revealed where their main keep is located, let alone any keep or outpost they hold. This has been widely accepted as the creation of the Uldarian Mountains and how most hill-dwelling creature came to exsist, but there have been claims that the fabled "Forge of the Ancients" was destroyed when Temoku cast himself into it, leaving nothing but rubble, which is why no one has ever located it.
The Iron Citadel[edit]
The Iron Citadel is the most secure military complex of the Cavernous Creatures Faction. It is nearly impenetrable from the outside and boasts an excellent entry prevention system, backed up by a hundred tonnes of stone! The complex itself (once you get on the inside) is guarded adequately but only for the fact that 70% of the people there are military personnel with the other 30% being the families of those posted there. Built in the wake of a war with the Alliance the Cavernous Creatures decided that this would be in their best interests to build an underground complex that is impenetrable - and they have gotten quite close. They have not revealed the location of the Iron Citadel to anyone except high ranking officials and officers that are now posted there. All operations are on a need-to-know basis. Any resources they need are brought on a small caravan once per month, this can supply them for the month due to the fact that there is only about 100 residents within the complex.
The entry prevention system is situated as the only entrance to the complex and it is located 1000 feet away. Firstly, the door is concealed from the outside and appears as a natural rock face and it is also on the inner side of a ridge, with lush vegetation in front of it. The primary prevention system consists of two large solid stone doors re-enforced with iron and a room that is a 30 ft wide circle (fits 25 medium creatures comfortably). There is also another room a level above this one, it has two large levers, one smaller leaver and some pulleys on each side. Four people may attempt to open the door. Once the door is open it may be closed via either pulling another leaver or moving the other large leavers again. If you pull the other lever the door will almost instantly close.
The top room also has another special function, after the invaders are stuck in the bottom room the soldiers in the top room are able to open slits in the floor that allow them to fire at the enemy and also grants them cover. They also have chutes in the walls that they can roll oil vials down and other small vials. When sliding the vials down treat the attack as an area attack, originating from a location picked from the outside of the circular room. It hits an area of with a 5 ft radius, the liquids are all placed in the same ball like containers, they all affect the same area.
The defense of the entrance doesn't end there, the top room also has access to a large fuse to a large batch of explosives that will block of that entire passage within 2 rounds. Also, if they get killed then as a last resort the leaders of the complex may use the explosives (as there is a second fuse in their command hub) to block off the escape of their enemies (and kill any more invading forces). Once the entrance is destroyed the residents can either use teleportation (or a similar ability) or they can go to the top room on the entrance and open the four arrow slits (in the correct order) and then wind a central hatch that also has 10 slots in it, open these in the correct order and then rotate the hatches latch to open it. If the player fails to open any one in the correct order the latch wont open and they will have to start again.
Sylvian Advocates[edit]
The Sylvan Adovcates are a peaceful community and will allow players to get more in touch with nature - but doing so may cause some of the players to be hunted for their.. abilities. This can be detrimental to the party but is a great adventure hook - to find out who is hunting you and why. They worship either Ru'an or Na'Traira, the god of natures creation and goddess of its powers of destruction.
These creatures all love and protect nature, they are the guardians of the woods and defend it at all costs. They are a Theocracy as they are believers of the power of nature, they get their orders from nature. They use their skills to prevent any harm to nature, they also use their abilities to fight people that are hostile to them.
The military is mostly defensive but when they need to attack they attack in small groups and use nature to their advantage. They are militarily ruled by the leaders of all the different races grouping together to make tactical decisions.
They have no real relations within the faction, they have mostly individual cities and are the least defensive race but use the natural environment to prevent the enemy getting to the cities.
Religion[edit]
The deities of the realm are at war. They are also trying to dominate the realm on a higher level - this just increases the intensity of the wars in the realm. These deities aren't as strong as others but they are the only ones with access to this realm - and the only ones confined to this realm. Unlike other deities these deities often take corporeal form and protect their high clerics, some stay corporeal for days - just to protect their worshipers. Due to the nature of the realm no other can become a deity but these deities get resurrected a month after their death. During this month their followers are disorganized and will usually get stressed or worried, they may also change their religion due to the fact that they won't get the spells from their deity for a month.
A deity is always corporeal and treated as a normal NPC. They have to meditate for 1 hour per day to grant spells, this is independent of the deities study of spells from classes but can be done at any time of the day. Once the deity meditates to grant spells their followers will gain spells for the next 48 hours. A deity follows the rules that he sets to his followers and acts in accordance to its theme. The deities within the same category will almost always help each other out and are always on friendly terms with each other. Though deities of one categories aren't normally allied with ones from other categories there are some that are friendly (including the natures gods). The deity categories on the interaction star are usually on friendly terms with the gods to the right and left but are usually hostile to gods on the opposite side of the star.
When you decide to pray to another deity you will usually not be answered the first day and when you get answered the second day you don't get granted any spells. Also, after the third day you may be asked to do a test of your skills or some task that the deity needs an expendable to do. On this day you will be granted a limited number of spells (half of what you would normally get, rounded down). If the god doesn't require any tasks to be done then he may grant his spells on the second day and will grant all the spells on the third. Otherwise, he will grant the full number of spells on the fourth day.
The deities are split into five categories: Destruction, Creation, The Arcane, Battle, Knowledge.
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Other Worshipers: The Divine[edit]
Others that don't wish to worship these deities worship the 'divine'. This god has a wide range of temples, one in almost every town and is the only deity that doesn't care for the realm. He has control over all and doesn't interfere with the work of mortals or even immortals. He always grants spells but doesn't grant anything else to worshipers - so a cleric worshiping the divine cannot call on his god for aid. The Seekers of Origin believe that the Divine is the reason for their imprisonment in the Five Factions Realm.
Planar Travel[edit]
The Five Factions realm is impossible to exit and impossible to enter unless summoned. This allows for summoning spells to still call creatures from the other planes and allows them to leave when the spell finishes. Some say that the creatures don't come from their own plane and the owner of the realm (The Divine, as believed by most) calls them to the realm. The creatures don't suspect anything and there is no way to prove anything. There is no planar travel so hence spells that transport you to other planes aren't available. Any spells or affects that store items still work and any spell that doesn't keep the creature on the plane is still available. Spells that creature your own plane aren't removed though when you create a plane there is a focusing item or a door that allows for travel. With the focusing item they travel to the focusing item inside the plane and with a door they walk through it to enter into the plane. The owner of the plane may use a full round action to create another focusing item or door on the prime material plane. Creating a 'door', which is actually more like a portal, requires a door frame. The door can be made to look like anything and likewise with the focusing item.
Transporting to the planes is limited to using the focus item or transporting via the door. You cannot use a planar transporting spell to move to another plane.
The Deities in the Five Factions realm are stuck just as mortals are, they don't even have their own plane. The Divine is the only deity that can communicate with planes outside of the Five Factions realm. Some believe that the Divine is the reason for their imprisonment in the plane. These are few but they still have a quite substantial fighting force and cause constant conflict with the Clerics of the Divine. They call themselves the Seekers of Origin, a group of mages that experiment in the ways to exit the Five Factions realm.
Associated Pages[edit]
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