Factions
Julina Forway Sucks-My-Balls (855 A.G. - 895 A.G.)
“The only reason everyone calls them Factions instead of Kingdoms is because they aren’t big enough to do as they please.”
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Bagarisa Brothers
Two brothers turned passionately violent vigilantes after their entire family disappeared on the road because of scum bandits that robbed them, then buried their bodies never to be found, and revived—that’s the story they tell and convince others to join their growing ranks, but officials and scholars differ. The fact that their family was never found means it could have been beasts or a pack of wild animals, so assuming someone did it without proof is dangerous. The faction spits on that statement as they strongly believe Forway Law is outdated and wants to implement Sundeath law, where someone is not innocent until proven guilty. They believe that so much they sometimes go as far as pulling public stunts from banners to displaying corpses of bandits or even trying to kill public speakers denouncing them. Not to say they are pure evil, as they can act faster than Forway under specific scenarios, but they have wrongly punished far more than they avenged.
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Beer Balls
A small group of Toleridemian men that turned into banditry to get extra beer money. They were swiftly brought to justice, but the name and insignia stuck, and like-minded people started to get behind this insignia to prove a point. They are a genuinely decentralized group of bandits that still share a single purpose of drinking beer with other people’s balls.
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Black Magina
Whenever there's a demand for banned drugs, there will always be a business-savvy somebody to supply it. These people are the ones whose expertise is so great they created an entire franchising model out of that! Whoever is at the top keeps collecting their cut from the backend while helping set up new franchises in the countryside every year. Meanwhile, Forway has to put out quests to shut them down constantly, which is an excuse to allocate more taxpayer balls into the quest system. That, in turn, are quests Aquamarine adventurers can expect they will get yearly. It's a well-oiled machine, and everyone wins from it—except those who want to get high off Magina because it's too fucking expensive.
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Black Sapphires
Someone heard that word somewhere once and spread around saying this group is trying to create a new world where a single kingdom rules it all. The idea alone is so insane that it became a joke, and the name stuck in the collective societal knowledge. Forway of course investigated the four corners of the world, and even paid people for leads to get to the bottom of it, but nothing came of it. Their reaction was so over the top that the joke lost its meaning, and some began to wonder if this whole thing was an inside job to create an excuse for increasing taxation over the Embassy quest system to take more money away from adventurers and put into the Forway guards. The image portrayed for Black Sapphires is what some people assume their insignia is since nobody knows if it even exists.
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Blue Wozens
You probably met and had to “donate” stuff to them if you traveled between Forway and Sanbi. They probably have a decent den hidden with a small but trusted cluster of bandits somewhere around the region, but adventurers and Forway guards can’t seem to find it. At least they know Kozaku Forway is the person behind it all, but he’s close to a legend as nobody has seen him in forever—maybe it’s for the best, too, for he is presumed to be as powerful as Hifuna beasts after tampering his soul with Walking Heart.
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Fallen Tree
A group of ex-adventurers who fell from grace after growing discontent with the predatory revival fees from the Adventurer’s guild. They turned into banditry, explicitly aiming to steal money from Forway treasuries. That promise led them to grow their rank into a medium-sized faction. Most of their actions have been thwarted, and the faction’s HQ taken over by Forway, but whenever you chop down a tree, another sprouts somewhere else. The main reason they have been on Forway’s kill-on-sight list was their successful robbery of three nari stone caches which market price would put it at tens of Sapphires—they did recover part of it after identifying one of the stealers after he hurt himself opening the vault, and bleed on the floor. Forway suspects they are still in the tens of members, and because there must be some adventurers amongst their ranks, exterminating them is proving impossible due to them spying on other adventurers taking quests.
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Hidden Soreno
Their name is kind of known more for being a secret society of sorts rather than a faction. Interestingly enough, nobody knows why they are on this list, as no average citizen seems to have crossed paths with them. Still, apparently, they piss off Forway officials so much their insignia is permanently plastered on “TOP WANTED. “ Well—some scholars assume they are behind the worst gossip, which sometimes are actual truths shared about specific individuals.
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Pussy Power
A super guild of sorts after many smaller woman-led guilds banded together to help each other. Their latest self-reported size was 273 which would place them into one of the largest guilds ever. However, like many things in life, when there are too many chefs in the kitchen, things quickly turn to shit. Some members of this group began acting as if they were Forway guards and taking justice into their own hands. Adventurers are a decentralized army but can only pass judgment if authorized by a proper Forway or Kingdom representative under The Prosperity Treaty Section #2 Sub 3. Given they help more than harm as it stands, and their justice rampages have been kept in check by their members, Forway did not formally place them on the wanted list like Bagarisa Brothers. Although, Forway is not keen on promoting them either, as sometimes their misjudgment of the situation causes unnecessary grievances, such as beating a father to a pulp after his child said a stupid thing for not getting the promised candy. At least Pussy Power members are easy to spot as they wear their insignia around their right arm, so keep communication with them at a minimum and report their actions to the nearest guard—be it good or bad.
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Red Winga
Everyone knows they are dangerous if you stand in their way, but nobody knows their size precisely. Their members are very tight-lipped and loyal. The only reason Red Winga is known is because of the choker bottom-ranking individuals wear after they sign their life away in a legally bound contract, sometimes unwittingly—ALLEGEDLY! Forway could never prove those accusations were true.
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Triangle Lovers
Three small bandit groups in Triangle city merged into a bigger one over time, perhaps with assistance from the ruling family to further micromanage everything. When The Prosperity Treaty was enacted, and Forway officials came to the city to set up the embassy and gather information, they were met with resistance. This resistance grew so fierce that the city turned on Forway to establish itself as a kingdom. Forway tried to be precise in its killings to crumble the organization, but people’s devotion to the “triangle way“ proved too problematic. To prevent a massacre, Forway made a special deal where their Triangle embassy would have less administrative powers over the city, and they opened an additional room in the city embassy dedicated to this faction for the sake of preventing a simple mistake on their end or from most likely an adventurer, from blowing into a hot mess.
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Wood People
Once a famous guild of Wood People killers turned into banditry. Luckily it did not grow out of control like the Bagarisa Brothers as they shifted their goals away from hard, honest work. They are a nuisance around the Tolerideme region, and their tactics always involve using Wood People to block roads, trap wagons and carriages, and let the trees wreak havoc. Afterward, they swoop in and pick up whatever is left.