The Importance of Factions (World Building Notes)

Factions are an important element in most stories. Now, if a story revolves around a small group of characters, lets say, a group of people camping, who get picked off one by one for a baddy. Then factions don't really serve much use. Fair enough, if we know why the baddy is doing what they're doing, that's great. But, it doesn't change much about the story as a whole.

If your story is a Sci-fi or Fantasy, set in a world or galaxy far removed from Earth, then factions are a really important element. They're not more or less important than other elements of the story, but, they can really fill stuff out and make planets or different parts of the continent feel different. You can give a faction a goal or a reason to exist and that in turn can help to paint a picture of what the area they live in is like.

Source

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Project Preservation
This is more of a project, teamed and spearheaded by concerned citizens, who are completely funded by donations. The goal of this Doshan-led project is to try and preserve and restore the planets of Free Space to their natural habitats, before the invasion and destruction of their worlds.

Using plants and animals that are native to each planet, they hope to slowly re-populate the wilderness and bring it back to its pre-war state. Doing so only because they want to and feel that this is important if they have any hope of rebuilding and moving past the recent war.

They have started to receive small sums from the Free Space Alliance (FSA) however, these grants are under one condition. Project Preservation does not extend to the borders beyond the handful of FSA worlds. So, in a way, this project is being used as a bargaining chip, to the worlds outside of the FSA.

Prior to the war, the Free Space Alliance was an intergalactic agreement between all worlds. But, since the war, Dosha, Beskin, and Jex are the only true FSA worlds. They are all situated close to each other and have been able to aid each other easily. Neglecting the Fringe Worlds, which are, Zun-Kulla, Schoosha, New Trisk, Kah-Vita, etc.

The Fringe Worlds have refused to join the Free Space Alliance since the war, some because of the lack of aid during the war and others for the lack of aid after the war. Some are forming their own alliance and some are independently considering joining The Confederation, in exchange for aid.

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Skabba One Eye's Pirate Clan
Operating from a base, which is on the third largest moon of Kah-Vita, called Demora. This pirate clan is one of the largest in the area and they target anyone who thinks they can come and go from Kah-Vita, without paying them a toll.

Led by a Doshan woman, who carries the scars of her Confederation abusers, this pirate clan has extream rituals a person has to go through if they hope to join. They are relentless in their attacks and have garnered a reputation for brutalising their victims, especially if they try and fight back when they spot one of the Clan's ships approaching.

The Kah-Vita government has tried to reason with them and potentially stop them from operating, but the group has become too numerous to stop by force and they refuse to listen to reason. There are however bounties placed on any members of the group, there is also good money if anyone can destroy one of their ships. No one has owned up to placing the bounties and no one has yet to claim any of them.

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Marauders
There is a huge fleet of the people of Junarus, whose planet was destroyed during the occupation. After being deemed uninhabitable, the people of the planet took to space.

They never stay in one place for long, which makes them hard to track. They attack sight if they need supplies and are even known to raid planets in times of desperation.

The main fleet always stays together, but, oftentimes, small splinters of the group take off to fulfill independent work. They are said to enter Confederation territory and they direct the majority of their attacks at The Confederation as a means to take revenge on what happened to their planet, but, they have very little love for Free Space because no one sent aid to them during the Invasion.

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Un-notable Factions
There are many small and independent raider groups and bandits who live on each planet and some of which have even managed to take to space.

A good way to make money for some space-fairing raider gangs is by blockading Jump Lanes.

Jump Lanes are used to quickly traverse the stars. There are plotted courses that make it easier for a ship's navigation system. But, it comes with a cost.

One is that Raider gangs can use large walls of debris, to block ships. The ship's system will automatically drop a ship from its Jump if an obstacle is spotted. Meaning that many ships can drop from their lane to find a group of enemy ships and since it takes a few minutes for the engines to cool before another Jump Lane can be opened, most of these incidents result in disaster. Although, it can end badly too for the raiders. As what they could be stopping is a military convey. It's a risk, that sometimes pays off for them.

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Other Factions
There are a lot more, but, the ones I mentioned here are ones who haven't physically shown up in the book. But, each has a part to play and will be important.

I have spoken about the factions who are currently in the book and there are more who haven't been given any time and who haven't even shown up in these Note Posts.

I like these posts as they give me a chance to write and think solely about whatever the notes are about and they have given me some great ideas and have inspired me a lot while writing.

Sometimes, factions can be great for the world of the story, as I could end up thinking of something which then spurs an entire sub-plot or arc, and during the writing of the chapter, I have a chance to really get exploring and come up with things I would never have thought of.