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 Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:20 am
Faction Quick Guide:
Factions: (Former Occupations) | (Current/Prospective Occupations)
Hermes: Thieves and tramps/beggars | Merchants
Artemis: Halflings | Craftsmen/Teachers
Dionysus: Prostitutes, drunkards, junkies, overall misfits | Builders/Laborers/Matchmakers/Teachers/Medical Personnel
Erinyes Faction: Violent people, former prisoners | Soldiers/Brewers/Farmers
Icarus Faction: Runaways | Farmers/Laborers/Students
How the Faction System Works
The factions, having each selected a leader by their own means, had a meeting called the Summit when they first landed in the new land. In this Summit, names for the land and the rivers running through it were chosen, as well as names for each faction. The names were chosen from myth, and the land was called Hestian for the goddess of hearth and home. It was decided that instead of having completely seperate countries bordering one another that could potentially have conflict, there would be areas that maintained themselves partially. For the most parts, these areas would specialize in something in order to make use of each groups talents and make up for each groups weaknesses.
This led to a setup of five seperate factions in treaty with one another and one area of neutral ground in the center within which there would be trade between the groups. In the neutral area, Axis as it was called, there would be a school, a hospital, stores, guilds, and a meeting hall where the leaders of each Faction would come every few months to discuss things and negotiate as necessary.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:20 am
Overviews:
Hermes Faction:
"A life is no life if it isn't earned."
Made up of many who were formerly thieves and headed up by former infamous master thief Enid Baker, this faction is named for Hermes--Greek God of messengers and thieves. Many of the members of this faction are either jobless and housed with other members or hold jobs selling loot they hoarded from years of thieving. Those who wish to sell loot but don't have enough to create a full shop often pawn their wares at Enid's. They were the first to be hunted down after the Edict of Cleansing was passed, and so are the fewest in number. Many of their kind were lost to the work camps.
All Hermes Faction members bear a similar mark somewhere on their body from being caught at one point or another in their lives. To not bear the mark is to not be a thief, and many who were not branded have gotten it tattooed on themselves so as to be known for what they are--it is a mark of honor and a symbol of hardships overcome and lessons learned. The mark is in the shape of a stylized 'T' ((image to be added)).
Hermes Faction resides in a large structure made up of mostly arches and ruined rooms. Roofs are often made of cloth or some other added material, but Enid and her two Enforcers make their homes in three of the few intact rooms--Enid's being highly vaulted. It has been surmised that the building was once a church, and meetings and special marketplace gatherings occur in the large sanctuary area.
Public shops are located in the main square of the ruins that form the hub which connects the factions, called Axis.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:29 am
Overviews:
Artemis Faction:
"Sentience and intelligence is based not on the texture of one's skin, but on the contents of one's mind."
Made up of a scattering of half-breeds and inhuman creatures, Artemis Faction is named for the Greek Goddess of beasts and the hunt. Their kind were barely tolerated in Loread, and once the Edict of Cleansing was passed down they never stood a chance. They are led by Zasha Cravid, since she is one of the few of the wise dragon half-breeds left alive.
They live by the sea to accomodate their halfling cousins who need it to survive, although their strong ties to the fish of the harbor prevent them from being fishermen. As they were in the land of Loread, the members of Artemis Faction are skilled craftsmen who can be commissioned to design and create everything from the most delicate of glassware or porcelain to the sturdiest and most trustworthy of swords. The halflings are a people proud of their work and their achievements, and so many have their own home or live in communal or guild homes dedicated to their craft.
Many of the halfling breeds are known for their wisdom, and for that some of them have become teachers at the communal school in Axis. Others choose to take on apprentices of many species to pass on their craft. Guilds and shops owned by halflings are interspersed between the miscellaneous Hermes Faction shops in Axis.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:37 am
Overviews:
Dionysus Faction:
"Those who have seen life at its worst know best how to teach it"
Named for the Greek god of wine and celebration (aka, debauchery), Dionysus faction is a refuge for former junkies, drunks, and prostitutes and is often where those who don't fit into any of the categories of the other factions or who have been shunned by their own kind go. The area is run by the former women of the night with a motherly hand, and Dionysus faction often speaks for the benefit of Icarus Faction out of that same motherly instinct.
Dionysus faction, though it holds the least amount of land, provides the most varied of services to Hestian. They are builders of the highest quality, general laborers, teachers, and matchmakers. The move to a new world has given many of the former prostitutes a renewed hope in romance, and has saved the younger of the trade from losing their faith in it.
Many of the former drunkards and junkies have had no choice but to kick the habit due to the fact that they can't get their hands on their drugs of choice in this new place. To meet their needs, a few of the more experienced Dionysians have formed a hospital in Axis in order to treat withdrawal and general aid those in need.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:45 am
Overviews:
Erinyes Faction:
"Perspiration and discipline are the fuel of a nation."
These violent offenders and former inmates of Loread's prisons have made up a group known as Erinyes Faction. Named for the Furies of Greek legend and dedicated to the protection of their new way of life and preserving the peace in Hestian, the Erinyes are strong and ever willful. They are soldiers, brewers of a beer they covet and hide from Dionysians, and farmers.
Energies that were once aimed towards harming others have now been redirected towards military training and hard work. The freedom of having their own land to govern as they choose has caused many of them to become fiercely protective of it instead of as violent as they once were. There are still bad seeds, but the leadership of Erinyes Faction have made a pact with them that they get the furthest reaches of the land to inhabit in small unnamed hermitages.
The Erinyes are fierce and just, and are not a force to be trifled with.
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:01 am
Overviews:
Icarus Faction:
"A new home for those without one."
Icarus Faction is named for the mythical boy who flew too close to the sun. The Icarans are runaways of varied ages; urchins and orphans, the abused and unhappy--if a child was homeless at the time of the migration from Loread, they are in Icarus Faction. They are lead by a group of elder orphans and runaways who make joint decisions and moniter the adoption and employment of their people.
These young men and women range from the age of five to the age of seventeen, and live in communal homes where they can support each other. This is the one faction that has the most steady of populations despite the number of members that leave to join apprenticeships or find homes with families of other factions. As the laws and edicts of Loread increase in their stringency and its people increase in their cruelty, so too increases the number of children who are left orphaned or who flee on rickety boats to the promised land of exile.
Elder runaways work the land as farmers and labor for other factions in their stores in Axis, but all runaways sixteen years of age and younger are required to attend school at least twice a week.
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