Factions and Major Cultures: Alternative social Organization
While the meta-empires and stellar nations are the best known way to organize humanity in the Verge and Bleed, they are not the only way. In fact, many people reject their organization, feeling that their ideals and concepts don't fit their belief systems, or practice belief systems or political ideologies that cut across boundaries. Humans have a natural tendency for in-group and out-group organization, and with the advent of biosculpting, genetic engineering, social media, and other technologies, this has only gotten worse, not better. Subcultures bubble up and eventually grow to become political factions, social movements, or even major cultures in their own right.
Distinguishing between these can be more problematic than it appears at first blush; where a faction begins and ends overlaps substantially with where a social movement beings and ends, and both of them can work together to create a major culture or significant subculture, and all of them are capable of cutting across meta-empire boundaries. While social movements are generally regarded as temporary and factions are seen as more permanent, that isn't necessarily true anymore, while major cultures are often things that are shaped by their environment - and overlap substantially with factions and social movements. A brief history of factions and Major CulturesFactions and social movements have existed for as long as civilization has existed, and have shaped the course of humanity in numerous or fundamental ways.
Major cultures are a little younger. Major cultures are by nature defined as something that exists outside of the paradigm of the meta-empire/stellar nation cultural organization; major cultures are all cultures that share similar features despite being separated by thousands of light years. For instance, two skimmer cultures will have more in common with one another regardless what polity they're from than they will with their local polity, because the harshness of the environment causes humans to converge on similar cultural traits over the long term. As a result, major cultures often appear similar to one another and strongly independent from their local meta-empire. Thus, it's possible for an individual to both belong to a meta-empire or stellar nation and have the cultural upbringing of a major culture; in these instances, they often sport the local language and citizenship of their meta-empire, but culturally they remain identical to the other members of their sphere. Because of this, they didn't actually appear until humanity began settling those environments, which gave rise to the culture in question. The oldest of the major cultures is believed to be Skimmer culture, emerging from Saturn, but this hotly contested. |
Illegal Factions and MovementsNot every faction and movement is legal or welcome in every polity. In the distant past, things like freedom of speech were more highly valued than they are at present in the Verge and Bleed, where even the most tolerant and open of polities has their own restrictions. Some of this is for the sake of social stability - the political movement might present a danger to the social order, for instance- but in other cases, it's because the political movement encourages acting against whatever laws are in the polity. Nearly every one of these political movements is banned somewhere, and sometimes in multiple places at once. It's worth keeping that in mind when reading through them, since not all of them are welcomed everywhere. |
Factions, Social Movements, and Major Cultures
Since it can be difficult, if not outright impossible, to distinguish between factions, social movements, and the like, they are all listed here. Even religious movements are listed on this page, although for more information regarding the religion itself, see the Religions page. Most factions have a set number of membership ranks, and each rank has different required knowledge that the individual must demonstration they've learned or acquired. The following factions, social movements, and major cultures are some of the largest throughout the Verge and Bleed; this is not intended to be an exhaustive list, this is just the list of ones most likely to be known throughout the sphere.
Smaller factions and social movements
While the above list is the best known, there are always new factions and social movements popping into and out of existence. As assuredly as humanity works to achieve new goals or attain new enlightenment or political power, there will be new factions and movements that arise. Newer cultures are less likely to emerge, since they are defined by their environment, but as humanity expands into newer environments, it's entirely possible that new cultures may emerge from the old. In any situation, this list is not exhaustive and every planet has its own factions, both secretive and not, both legal - and not. ■
Build your own faction
The below factions can generally be counted on to exist almost everywhere, but sometimes, there are smaller factions that are tied only to a single world, or a single habitat, or perhaps a cluster of habitats, that players might belong to. The galaxy is a big place, after all, and there's plenty of room for little fish in addition to the big ones. In this instance, it becomes necessary to create a new faction.
When creating a new faction, consider what the faction is for; why do they exist? Are they representative of an ideology? Do they focus on providing safety to people like them, making them ethnic, or religious, in nature? Are they focused on a specific hobby or collection of hobbies, or are they a political faction that's working to acquire the political power necessary to implement their agenda? What is their guiding ideology? Once you have these questions, you can begin defining it further. The first thing to do is to determine how many ranks it has; very widespread factions pay [5/level] for rank, while lesser ones pay [3/level] - for instance, ASAI ranks means almost the same everywhere in the sphere, so it's [5/level], while Aristocratic Rank only matters in the Monarchy, so it's [3/level]. Odds are good that any minor faction that doesn't exist outside of a specific system will have a cost of [3/level] or even [2/level], depending on the size and scope. Once the cost and number of ranks are determined, determine who's in charge, who's involved, and who's on the payroll, if anyone; the last thing to determine is which networks they use, and what the networking skill is. In general, the networking skill will be one of Administration (for large bureaucracies), Diplomacy (for large non-bureaucracies), Savoir-Faire (for subcultures), and Streetwise (for criminals and terrorists). Political parties can use any one and may sometimes use two; for instance, a political party that promotes a subculture's ideology might use Administration or Savoir-Faire (subculture), although often political parties are bureaucratic mechanisms, and so they use Administration. Networks, meanwhile, have costs that range from [1/level] (exceptionally small subcultures) to [3/level] (relatively widespread, but still not common). Most cultures designed in this method will be [1/level] or [2/level], indicating a fairly small scope. Note that the cost of rank is not necessarily tied to the cost of the network reputation, either; ranks often overlap, and so if an organization uses Administrative Rank, that costs the full [5/level], since that rank is viable in every administration, despite their reputation network only costing [1/level] or [2/level]. Once you've answered those questions, think a bit about who they are and what their rank structure is, and if they have any titled associated with the rank. Determine who they are, what they want, and lastly, what individuals can expect from them; this should be realistic and tie into what the faction can realistically offer. Once you have a rough idea what the faction is like, approach the GM for further guidance and to see where precisely this new faction can fit - if it can fit - in the campaign setting and what role it'll play. |
What factions have to offerFactions can offer a number of things to those who are both members (i.e., they have Ranks) and successfully Network with them. Note that those who have Ranks within an organization add half their rank to their Networking check when calling in favors; thus, someone with Rank 4 in a faction adds a +2 bonus to their Networking check, while those who don't have Ranks simply rely on their Reputation. This means someone can have Rank 8 with an network but a Reputation of -2 and still get a +2 bonus - but only in factions that have a rigid structure. In factions that are flatter, and have fewer Ranks, Ranks can't cover for Reputation loss as easily. Below are some assistance that factions might offer:
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