Membership within a faction carries several benefits.
- Members of a faction are able to send in-game messages to one another easily using Faction Mail
- Factions may define a location as a Stronghold that provides a place of relative security for their members. Strongholds include a shared inventory (a "safe") as well as crafting stations for ammunition and Alchemy.
- Additional bonuses (such as forges and medical bays) may be available in the faction stronghold. Faction leaders purchase such special items by spending Faction Honor.
One of the greatest benefits of faction membership is faction mail. You are able to send a type of "email" to other members of your faction.
Faction Mail is more fully discussed on the Faction Mail help page.
All members of a faction are given a rank within the faction. Each faction has four ranks (which may be renamed). Each rank has some default permissions granted to it, though these permissions may be changed by any member of the faction with the permission to edit faction ranks.
Ranks and permissions are more fully discussed on the Faction Ranks help page.
Factions are given an alignment. Factional alignments are either Good, Evil, or Unaligned. Factional alignment sets restrictions upon the types of characters that are able to join the faction thusly:
- Unaligned factions may draw members who are of unaligned character classes only. Angelic and demonic characters are forbidden from joining these factions.
- Evil factions may draw members who are of unaligned character classes as well as demonic characters (those who have taken the Pariah or Defiler class). Angelic characters are forbidden from joining these factions.
- Good factions may draw members who are of unaligned character classes as well as angelic characters (those who have taken the Paladin or Shepherd class). Demonic characters are forbidden from joining these factions.
Factional alignment does not care about an individual character's Morality score; an evil character may join an unaligned faction (or even a good faction) provided that they are of an unaligned character class (Mortals, Myrmidons, Sorcerers, and their child classes).
The only exception to this rule is if the faction mode (see below) is set to aligned. If a member's alignment falls out of step with the alignment of the faction itself, they are automatically removed from the faction.
There are three membership modes that a faction can exist in. The ability to join a particular faction depends on the membership mode (and the faction's alignment).
Multiple characters owned by the same user are never allowed to join the same factions. This is a measure to prevent "zerging", or multi-account abuse.
The faction membership modes are:
- Open: This is the default mode. It allows any character to join the faction and does not require an invite.
- Closed: Entrance to this faction requires an invitation to the applicant be sent before the character can join the faction.
It is possible to restrict faction membership with one or more "membership filters". These filters will require that all members match every restriction that may be applicable
The types of membership restrictions are:
- Aligned: All members must share the alignment of the Faction.
- Class: All members must be of the same character class in question. Note that this includes any child classes - restricting to Paladins will allow Paladins as well as Divine Champions and Seraphs.
- Cult: All members must be dedicated to the cult in question.
- Tier: All members must be members of a character class that has a tier equal to or greater than the restriction.
Factions may define political stances towards other factions. This allows members of a faction to easily recognize who their faction is hostile or friendly to. Factional politics is sometimes a two way street. The default political stance is 'neutral'.
The political stances are:
- Friendly: Your faction is friendly to members of this faction.
- Allied: Your faction is friendly to this faction, and they are also friendly to yours.
- Hostile: Your faction is hostile to members of this faction.
- Enemy: Your faction is hostile to this faction, and they are also hostile to yours.
- Neutral: Your faction has no political stance towards this faction.
The links to a character's name will change color depending upon the political stance of your faction to that character's faction. This is discussed in the game interface page.
Factions may claim a building to be used as a stronghold. A stronghold is a safe location, protected by powerful magical wards, where members can gather.
Strongholds are more fully discussed on the Stronghold help page.
To join a faction, simply go to its profile page (accessible from the Factions section, or via faction search) and click on the "Join Faction" button.
If you are unable to join the faction for some reason, the reason will be displayed above the button and the button will be disabled.
To leave a faction that you are currently a member of, go to the faction page and click the "Leave Faction" button. It's that simple.Any character can create a faction. However, if the character is currently a member of a faction, he or she must leave that faction before creating a new one.
The steps for creating a faction are as follows:
- Choose a name for your faction. This must be a unique name.
- Optionally, you may enter a website address for your faction.
- Select an alignment for your faction. If you have a doubt, select "Unaligned."
- Enter an optional description for your faction. This should be a short bit of information about your faction's goals and requirements.
- Optionally, you may change the names for each rank within your faction.
- Optionally, you may choose one or more membership restrictions for your faction.
- Finally, choose the default permissions for each faction rank by checking or unchecking each permission for that rank.
These settings can be changed later by anyone with Edit Faction authority.