There are five basic Factions that you can play in Dark Age:
The Forsaken The most apt word to describe the Forsaken is ‘Survivors.’ These remnants of humanity had survived the collapse and subsequent abandonment of their United Worlds benefactors. They s urvived the riots and the dark years that followed. They s urvived for centuries more on an inhospitable planet with minimal resources. It was then no real surprise that such a people would survive and adapt to an overnight explosion of religious fervor. Nobody knows who discovered the first religious texts, or how the words within spread across the wastelands of Attr so quickly. What is known is that the Forsaken people took to those words instantly and voraciously.
For 500 years, the self-named Forsaken had struggled simply to survive, battling against the very planet itself a nd had finally achieved some kind of equilibrium. Starvation was no longer an everyday occurrence; drinking water, while rationed, was unlikely to kill you and the prospect of being hunted and killed (or worse) by bands of barbaric outcasts declined rapidly with the formation of more and more permanently stationed military forces.
The Outcasts For centuries the humans of Samaria have been little more than tribal scavengers, living by raiding one another among the crumbling ruins. That age is passing as the Forsaken co-ordinate their efforts, driving out bandits and bringing civilization to the wastelands. Many resist the change however, unwilling to trade their independence for the oppression offered by the Prevailers. Religious dogma drives the Forsaken to vehement loathing of these godless Outcasts and whole villages have been slaughtered in retaliation against bandits or to seize valuable resources. The very name “Outcast” has come to be synonymous with heresy, crime, and a hatred of progress among the people of New Ashkelon. For those living in the wastes however it means freedom, as precious as clean water – and like so many things on Samaria – worth dying for.
The Dragyri The Dragyri Caste system is incredibly complex, with subtle nuances and variations invisible to an untrained eye. Since the War of Ascension and the formation of the numerous splinter factions there have been few which have rose to the same level of strength as the four primary elemental castes. One of the most successful is the Ice Caste. Their rise to power started shortly after a great battle between the Fire Caste and the Water Caste, years after the War of Ascension had ended. The Water Caste was defeated, another in a line of such defeats, and many were discontent with the leadership of their current Arbiter. This new planet’s elements were not as balanced as the beliefs of their ancestors and some Trueborn took it upon themselves to break off from the Water Caste and form a new splinter faction.
Like many of these foundling castes, they did not stray far from their previous beliefs, instead subverting what they already believed until a new set of convictions had taken place. Believing that water was at a permanent disadvantage in their new environment but not wanting to abandon their teachings completely, they did the next best thing, they made it stronger; thus the Ice Caste was born.
The Air caste has long valued skills and characteristics uncommon for Dragyri warriors. Like their patron element, Air Caste warriors are usually light, fast, and fluid. Transcending even the usual Dragyri dexterity and grace, they sacrifice a large degree of the strength for which Trueborn are so often known in favor of speed and agility. The swift and acrobatic are the most prominent among them, given the greatest respect and achieving the highest ranks among their warriors.
The Skarrd The Forsaken clergy has long spoken of “devils wearing the skin of men” and nowhere is this more true than in the ruined laboratories and outposts of the Great Expanse. From the savage cannibals of the Skarrd, Johann is building an army. The sinister adherents of the Toxic Cult have allied themselves to him in order to sustain the life of their foul and terrible warlord, Father Curwen. Meanwhile the merciless Blood Cult prepares for the greatest hunt of all time and the kill that their leader, the demented Father Mayhem, believes will make him immortal. He sees the mountainous region of Talen as a huge trap, baited with rich resources, into which will draw all the peoples of the north down into an orgy of killing.
The Brood In the murky swamps of the south the Brood Mere has spent centuries watching the development of her children. Now they find themselves at war, drawn into a conflict she has long planned but could never prepare for. The Creator Gods have entered her world and the nightmare has come alive. Already the Forked-Tongue River is choked with corpses and the Brood ready themselves to cross into the Greenbelt in force. They stand just a few miles from John’s southernmost outposts but the crossing will be more challenging than anything they have yet faced. They have seen the face of their Gods and witnessed the terror and weakness but they have also felt, through their nebulous hive consciousness, the dread in the mind of their mother. Like the human soldiers from which they have inherited their culture, the Brood respect authority and fear the breakdown of the chain of command. Yet the further they go from the swamp the less they can feel their mother’s presence and the more their minds turn to madness and disarray.
Bounty Hunters Although not a faction Bounty Hunters are troop selections that may be taken for the Forsaken and Outcasts alike.
Local law enforcement is harder in the wastelands than in the oppressively controlled Forsaken cities, where militiamen watch from platforms and checkpoints – constantly on guard against criminals and heretics. In the gullies and rugged hills however bandits can roam with ease and justice is often dispensed only with the bark of a gun. This is the realm of the bounty hunters. Far from aid of any kind, without support to call upon, grand courtrooms, statute books, or underground torture chambers they face the criminals alone. Only the fittest survives and so the hunter must be as ruthless, cunning, and unrelenting as their prey. One slip, one careless moment, is all that stands between success and failure.
In spite of the danger, becoming a bounty hunter can be lucrative for those who possess the skills. Saints and Outcast leaders alike are willing to pay to have those who prey upon their people removed. Experienced guides, hunters, and scouts often take the chance to supplement their income in this way, arming themselves with the weapon of their choice, provided it is suitable for hunting men and shooting game alike.
You can find out more about the different Factions by clicking on their Faction symbols above.
