Factions

This page contains information about the factions and organizations throughout Andaria and the Storm Coast. As needed, individual pages will be created if more information about a specific faction is required, for now general summaries are presented.

## The Lords Accord

The Lord’s Accord was the name given to the groundbreaking treaty by the city-states of the East after the fall of the Eastern Kingdoms. In this agreement they swore to work peacefully together for mutual protection while maintaining their independence. It has led to their strong alliance ever since that has safe guarded the city-states of the Storm Coast as well as the entire eastern realm allowing them to flourish. Over time, the name of the accord itself was given to the makeshift organization that represented the network of Lords and their servants implementing the treaty - soldiers, knights, spies, messengers, etc. All working towards the goal of their common protection.

There is not a central leader figure of The Lord’s Accord, it is organized like separate cells working towards the greater good, each for their liege lord, or independently with a lord’s permission as part of this far reaching alliance. When needed in dire times, the organization pools its resources and the armies of entire Kingdoms can be rallied. The faction has spread to neighboring human kingdoms that make up Heart Vale, and there are even a few representatives in the kingdoms of the western Gold Coast and North Reach. For the protection of civilization is more important than the internal squabbles of the various kingdoms… when threats are extremely terrible anyway.

## The Dominion

The Dominion of Druids is the collective organization of Druid Circles and their agents and allies from across Valdemar. The leadership is formed from the two great Druid Circles - the Circle of the Land and the Circle of the Moon - each made up of numerous druid circles from across the land. Other members of this organization include many non-druid advocates for the protection of nature, including: rangers, monks, clerics, farmers, hunters, fishermen, etc. The Dominion will also routinely seek out aid from others to assist in their endeavors, especially if it requires great force or numbers to accomplish - things the Dominion lack in any one region of Valdemar.

## The Black Brotherhood

Wherever civilization congregates crime is sure to follow, and sometime long ago, no one really knows for sure when, the various criminal enterprises from across the human kingdoms of Valdemar struck a great pact. Together they formed a single criminal organization where each crime bosses territory was respected, but inter-kingdom operations became coordinated. It was only a matter of decades until almost all Valdemar city criminal networks were absorbed into what is commonly known today as the Black Brotherhood. This influence and power has been used to great benefit by the crime lords of the Brotherhood ever since. The vast resources at their disposal has led to highly specialized underground schools where the arts of stealth, deception and death dealing are taught.

## Order of the Sword

The Order of the Sword seeks out evil directly wherever it hides or rears its ugly face. The Knights of the Order and their sworn banners engage on the offensive to protect those they love and are duty bound to. The Troll Crusades are a particular major example that was orchestrated and commanded at large by the Order. The armies brought to bear by the Order’s Knights from a multitude of Kingdoms was key to the ancient defeat of the Lich Kings at the dawn of the Second Age of Man, while the Kings squabbled the Order took the fight to the enemy. Some scholars of the Order say this was actually the founding event of their organization, and that many of the surviving Knights and Lords realized the importance of banding together for the sake of peaceful civilization against such terrible threats.

## The Arcane Alliance

The Arcane Alliance is a widely spread network of mages, spies, knowledge seekers, and their associates who seek to spread magic-use freely among the Kingdoms of Valdemar while keeping power in balance. They vow to never see the tyrannical rule of a society such as ancient Sorcia again. However, they want to allow the establishment of peaceful wizarding communities promoting acceptance of mystical knowledge and education over fear and weakness to solve the problems faced by magic. They would see great schools of the arcane arts arisen to ensure mastery over the temptations provided by magic. Naturally, not all Kingdoms or even cities view these agents the same, and in some parts of Valdemar it feels as if another social struggle against magic use may be upon the world.