Factions in Dheghom
Factions sound great on paper and are always easier said than done. There is a fine line between overly-detailed, intricate guilds or coalitions filled with quid-pro-quos and if-thens, and vague, looming, faceless entities that no one at the table can quite understand.
The degree to which you involve factions in your game is up to you. You can land on the side of political intrigue, backroom deals, and high-stakes coercion or you can land on the side of shadowy entities moving in the background. Regardless, factions should feel real to your players in the sense that their actions have impact, both within the faction they may be allied with or the factions they are in conflict with.
The goal here is to provide that range for you to explore. Factions are interconnected to allow for whatever degree of intrigue and political maneuvering you want, but ostensibly each faction has its own specific goals, allegiances, and enemies as shown in the Faction Relationships table.
Factions should not remain static within your game. They exist in a constant state of conflict, driven by ambition, survival, and competing ideologies. Their rivalries and power struggles create opportunities for intrigue and war, victories and defeats, alliance and betrayal. Adventurers navigating Dheghom will inevitably find themselves entangled in these struggles, whether as enforcers, pawns, or instigators of change.
Determining Faction Prominence
Your first decision is whether factions will drive your campaign or simply add texture to it.
If factions take center stage, prepare for missions driven by competing factional goals. Your players will constantly balance the loyalty of their characters to their faction against cooperation with their companions, creating organic tension. Make this dynamic clear from the beginning: the campaign will revolve around these conflicts, and players should embrace them as a central narrative element.
If factions remain in the background, establish a primary threat or objective that transcends factional differences (such as common enemies). Let factional interests complicate matters occasionally without dominating the narrative. This approach adds the depth of intrigue while providing more room to breathe without constantly threatening party cohesion.
Other Factions
Beyond the eight major factions, countless smaller organizations shape local politics, economies, and societies. These include guilds, unions, religious orders, and criminal syndicates, each wielding influence over their own domain. While they lack the global reach of the major factions, their presence is deeply felt in the daily lives of Dheghom's people, often controlling access to resources, enforcing social order, or fueling conflict. Some act independently, while others serve as proxies for greater powers, their ambitions quietly advancing the goals of unseen benefactors.
Local factions vary widely in structure and purpose. Guilds regulate trades such as smithing, textiles, and brewing, influencing regional economies through monopolies and political leverage. Unions fight for labor rights, often clashing with industrial giants like The Poke. Crime syndicates thrive in the shadows, running smuggling rings, extorting merchants, or controlling entire black markets. Religious orders enforce doctrine, safeguard traditions, or manipulate faith to tighten their grip on the masses. While their scale may be smaller, their impact on local power struggles and character motivations can be immense.
These factions can provide opportunities for region-specific conflicts. Players may seek favor with a local guild for discounts, get caught up in a syndicate's protection racket, or support a worker union uprising against a local baron. However, alliances in Dheghom are never secure; today's benefactor may be tomorrow's enemy, and every faction's agenda is subject to change.