Canonical Term: Guilds
Nature: Player-Founded, Player-Led, World-Recognized
There are no hardcoded “main factions.” All major factions emerge from player action, reputation, and persistence.
Guilds are not just social groups—they are institutions the world learns to trust, fear, mythologize, or resist.
Any group of players may found a guild if they meet one of the following in-world conditions:
Secure a persistent base or claimed territory
Achieve public recognition through deeds
Be formally acknowledged by an NPC authority
Become known through repeated, visible action
Once founded, the guild becomes a recognized world actor.
Guilds persist even if founders leave the campaign.
They may decay, splinter, or be inherited—but they are never erased casually.
Player guilds may organically gain influence over:
Trade routes
Dungeon access or protection
Sanctuaries and Rebinding sites
Mercenary work
Knowledge monopolies
Magical research
Political leverage
Cultural norms
Nothing is “locked” behind a guild by default—but guilds can make things easier, safer, or more dangerous through reputation alone.
(Not presets—emergent patterns the world recognizes)
Frontline fighters, dungeon pushers, raid specialists
Often mythologized as heroes or walking disasters
High visibility, high casualty rates
NPCs track their deaths closely
Explorers, scouts, cartographers
First contact specialists
Often uncover system anomalies first
NPCs rely on their maps—and their warnings
Protect Rebinding sites or safe zones
Act as medics, grief-keepers, or caretakers
Often trusted with sensitive emotional aftermath
Their betrayal would devastate the world
Information brokers, spies, fixers
Influence without territory
NPCs speak their name quietly—or not at all
System cracks often surface here first
Law, arbitration, or ideology-driven
Enforce contracts, oaths, or codes
May clash violently over interpretations
NPCs may follow their rulings over kings
Mage circles, researchers, anomaly hunters
Push mechanics, magic, and system edges
Often blamed when something goes wrong
NPC scholars both fear and envy them
Guilds have collective memory in the world.
NPCs remember:
How often guild members die
Whether they abandon allies
If they keep promises
How they treat NPC lives vs efficiency
A guild can become:
Legendary
Distrusted
Sacred
Feared
Quietly erased from public favor
Reputation spreads even when players aren’t present.
Guilds are not mechanically protected from themselves.
Internal schisms become world knowledge
Betrayals leave lasting scars
Splinter guilds inherit grudges
Leadership changes alter NPC expectations
A guild’s identity is as fragile as any Eidolon’s—and just as persistent.
Important rule:
There are no official dev-made factions that outrank player guilds.
Any NPC organization that matters:
Can be rivaled
Can be replaced
Can be infiltrated
Can be dismantled
The world was not designed for guilds—but it learns to revolve around them.
This reinforces the core themes:
Identity is built, not assigned
Persistence comes from memory and action
Power emerges socially, not mechanically
The world reacts, it does not reset
Guilds become shared Eidolons—collective selves shaped by choice, loss, and continuity.