Groups/Factions in Constantinople

## [Written by Josef Cullinane, 1702298]

 After the Re-Enchantment, the Turkish government - like all others - collapsed. In its place, several factions rose to the challenge of restoring order and claiming those lands in their name.

The groups in question are as follows:

## The Knights Templar

The Knights Templar, also known as The Poor-Fellow Soldiers of Christ or the Order of Solomon, is a group of holy warriors who operated mainly between the Eleventh to Thirteenth Centuries. After the Re-Enchantment, The Vatican - headed by Pope Constantine II, who re-Christened Istanbul in his name - sought to gain control of what was once known as the Byzantine Empire. To set this plan in motion, The Pope used a power that had remained untouched for almost eight centuries and declared the beginning of the Tenth Crusade, prompting the fractured militaries of several countries (including the former Turkish military, as they saw no other options) to amass and march on the city.

The battle was hard-fought and resulted in catastrophic loss of life and collateral damage to the city itself, but the Templars eventually gained control of it. Following this, they segregated the city into the Eastern (non-magical) side and the Western (magical) side, using the Bosphorus Strait to mark the borders between the two.

The Eastern half of the city is a hub of technology and a bastion of the pre Re-Enchantment way of life. It has a huge Templar presence, with them acting not only as the military but also as the city's guards/law enforcement. The Western half of the city is very much the opposite; it's officially under Templar Rule, but it's largely self-governed barring armed security present on the bridges that go across the Bosphorus and within government-operated buildings. The West Side is populated by human and monster alike, resulting in the culture of this half of the city showing signs of changing to something resembling the Ancient Greco-Roman Empire.

The Templars' uniforms change depending on whether they're town guard or military; the military wear modern style uniforms with the Chi-Rho (pronounced KEE-roe) on the shoulder, while the town guard/police wear something much more akin to the Templar uniforms of old, albeit made with modern materials.

The player will have the option to side with this faction during the game; doing so would set them on a particular set of questlines but they may also leave and join a different faction, should they so desire.

## The Vatican Technocracy

In the months following the Re-Enchantment, Roman Catholicism saw an enormous surge in practicing members: with this, they also saw a likewise increase in their power and income. The newly sworn-in Pope, Constantine II, set his eyes on Istanbul; as stated above, he successfully invoked his powers, called for a Crusade and took the city, renaming it to Constantinople both in honour of himself and in homage to one of the city's prior names.

The Roman Catholic Church created a new secret order known as The Vatican Technocracy; this order operated in the shadows, behind everything the Knights Templar did. They supplied food, weapons, resources and anything else they required, using the Templars as the face of the Church and as the means to their desired ends.

### The Technocracy's goals

Simply put, the Vatican Technocracy is using Constantinople as an experiment to see which direction they should take their planned Empire; they separated the city between technology and magic, but placed no actual laws stopping such things from going to either side. Their goal is to see if one side eventually fails and is taken over by the other or if they eventually homogenise and the entire city becomes a mix of technology and magic, the end result becoming the basis for their New World Order.

This group will be either the 'good' guys or the 'bad' guys depending on the player's decisions.

## The Brotherhood of Tartarus

This is a group of pro-magic, anti-technology zealots who believe the Re-Enchanting to be the return of the 'true Gods' to the world: their only desire is to wipe out every trace of the Modern Era and return the world to how it was during Ancient times. They mainly make their home in the West Side's Great Labyrinth, but are known to venture out - even to the East Side - to gather supplies or terrorise people into destroying all of their technology. Their end goal is to steal and drop a nuclear warhead and detonate it inside the Tartarus pit, believing this will open it up far beyond a controllable size and allow magic to spread far and wide across the world with unrivalled power, resulting people simply stopping using technology in favour of magic.

This faction will be available for the player to join.

## The Stygian Order

This group of death-worshipping assassins holds no fealty to anyone other than Hades, Greek God of the Underworld; they care not what form their members take, allowing monsters and humans alike within their ranks. Neither do they care about the means used to accomplish tasks; be they magical or technological, all they want is for as many sacrifices as possible to be carried out in order to appease Hades. They will accept payment from people in return for killing someone, but may also simply go out and kill people whom they feel it right to (often extremely unstable Gifted), then throw them into the Bosphorus Strait in the hope that it will link it to the River Styx, giving them a direct portal to the Underworld on Earth.

This party is available for the player to join, but their questline is secondary: it does not especially contribute to the conflict between the Templars and the Brotherhood.