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Factions and Groups
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Overview
Factions are often a sticking point of sims. Between some being overly strict in what players can do, to others giving small or inactive factions thousands of NPCs that make them difficult to deal with in RP, to yet others encouraging factions to pile on individual low experience players. With Orcrest we aim to do better. Our faction system is designed to promote roleplay first, while giving players the freedom to make groups and factions that they are inspired to engage with. The first, and most important part is: there are no sim factions on Orcrest. Every faction is player made, player run, and can be ousted by another faction should the roleplay go in their favour. In previous sim projects (Llorkh and Mhirdrun) we have found the effects of this to be immediate, healthy, and far more inclusive than the alternative. Getting together with other people you like to RP with is the entire point of roleplaying sims, and we want to encourage that as much as possible.
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​​Groups
Players on Orcrest are free to make groups at their leisure. Groups must be lore appropriate, but otherwise have no restrictions on character count or association. Groups can represent any type of character association, including special parts of a faction, if so desired.
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​​Factions
Factions are groups that have taken over a Control or Resource node. Factions are given a spot on this page, a faction storage box, and access to a limited amount of guard NPCs, determined by the type of nodes they own. Factions must have a member of the admin team invited to the group as the sole owner, and characters may only be a part of a single faction at a time. In becoming a faction, a group becomes part of Orcrest lore - and as such must be free to become fixtures beyond the tenure of a single character. Factions become open to leadership changes, coups, and similar things that might see control of them pass from the initial leadership group. In exchange, they are given increased sim and story support, as well as given an allotment of prims to decorate their nodes with.
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Resource Nodes
Resource nodes are small outposts that factions can control. Each one can be harvested once a week by any member of the faction, and each one produces a different resource. Resource nodes come with two guard NPCs placed at their entrance or in a central location. The five resource nodes are: the Den, the Hollow, the Market, the Mines, and the Ruins. Factions may hold any number of resource nodes.
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Control Nodes
Control nodes are larger faction bases that have some degree of control over the local territory. The faction that holds a control node is considered the legal authority not just within that node, but across the whole sim layer that node is found on. Control nodes come with twelve guard NPCs: four at the main entrance, two groups of two in important secondary locations, and four singular guards scattered in less important locations. In addition, twelve guard NPCs will be scattered around the layer they have control of. The three control nodes are: the Blackwood Camp, the Palace of Alimáqa, and the Rosehand Keep. Factions may only hold a single control node.
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Taking Control and Resource Nodes
Both start in (and may return to) neutral control. If it does, there will be a series of NPCs residing in the node. To claim a neutral node, you must defeat all the NPCs in a single, uninterrupted process, with the same members in combat. This means no swapping people out, no leaving to go heal, no capitalizing on someone else's failed attempt. Once a node is in the hands of a faction, it can be taken from them by another group or faction with a 4v4 planned battle. The attackers must coordinate with the controlling faction to find a time that works best for both groups. Each node can only be attacked in this fashion once per week, and if both sides agree they may do a larger event (ex. two 4v4s, with winners facing each other). To take a node you must also defeat the primary NPCs (the two resource guards or the group of four control guards). The defending faction can choose if that happens before or after the 4v4 fight. Lastly, in order to take a Control node from a faction, that faction can not have any resource nodes (though if a battle is scheduled while this is true, and then the faction gains a resource node in the interim, the battle may still take place and the control node may still be transferred).
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Losing Faction Status
Factions that no longer control any nodes are not automatically dropped from faction status, though they will lose access to their faction storage and prim allotment. If the faction leadership so chooses, or after a lengthy period of time without managing to reclaim a node, the faction will revert to a group and lose its restrictions. In addition, if a faction becomes inactive it may lose faction status even if it currently holds one or more nodes. In this eventuality, the nodes will be returned to the neutral state, or the storytellers may make an event out of it at their discretion, and the faction will become a group once more.
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