Factions

Several factions exist in Oceanica, some at contention with others.  There are six primary factions and nine primary independent factions.  A quick rundown of these factions, their history, and notable characters is found below..including a map of the known world.

## Centralia

One of the two main human nations. The Central Kingdom. Masters of the Seas. A prime place to find the latest technology in seafaring. Currently ruled by Princess Olivia, in the stead of her father, King Bertrand IV (House Jensen), who has gone to Vellis for reasons unknown, effectively abdicating his rule over Centralia.

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* - Princess Olivia Jensen - Daughter of Bertrand IV and the de facto ruler of Centralia in her father's stead

* - King Bertrand IV - Longtime friend of the Vellistian elves and of their ruler, Lord Eldronin. Effectively abdicated his throne and left for Vellis. The rumor is he left over the sense of guilt of mismanaging relations with Wesitia and feels culpable for the West War of 10 years prior.

* - General Quin - Bertrand IV's appointed chief military commander and long-time confidant.

## Vellis

Lords of Wood and Land. The main Elven kingdom of Oceanica. Ruled by Lord Eldronin. They hold a sense of superiority towards their distant cousins--the ice elves of Draxin--and, actually, look upon most other races as lesser beings. Not so much that other races are inferior per se, just younger and lacking world wisdom. They do manage good relations with Centralia due to the diplomacy of King Bertrand IV.

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* - Lord Eldronin - the day of his birth is completely unknown. Many people say that he is as old as time itself, but is really about 3500 years old. Supposedly was around when regular humans descended from the ancient Peykollorrii giants.

## Draxin

The Ice Empire. The main nation for ice elves, VERY long distant relation to your standard elves. Their original kingdom of ice was long lost (2100 years ago), so the ice elves migrated and established their capitol at Syrixia.  Very little knowledge remains of their original home, or even which direction it might be in. The Draxin are xenophobic and militaristic. Draxin loathe all humans, barely tolerate dwarves and other elves, but do manage decent relations with the Testifia due to their aid as the Draxin fled the Great Apocalypse. While friendly to the Golden Empire of Testifia, they still have no problem "cleansing" villages inhabited by "the old" (unorganized or "wild" Testifians that never became part of the Empire). Some wonder if Testifia's apathy to the cleansing of The Old is intentional.

Draxin rival Centralians with their mastery of the seas and are a good place to go for the best technology in seafaring. Adept in magic and wands (most of which was learned from Testifia).

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* - High Master Xardin XI - The ruler of all Draxin. Suspected to have esoteric powers, inhereted through the family line. Having even a hint of natural magical ability is a trademark of having noble blood.

## Stornin

Dwarves of the Underrealm. Masters of iron and stone. They do not deal in individual enchantments because their skills are of such aptitude that they can imbue magical properties directly into their works. They also know how to brew the most interesting beverages. They are also a major trading race and have the largest trading port (Kharazad) in Oceanica. Because they value profit, they do their best to at least remain neutral with all other nations, though they have had difficulties with Draxin and Testifia.

The leadership consists of the High King, Eonin Thunderhand, and his eorls.  On significant matters of state--decisions that affect Stornin as a whole--all eorls and the King each get one vote to decide on a course of action.  As such, it makes Stornin the closest thing to a constitutional democratic monarchy, along the lines of the United Kingdom (though still far from that level of sophistication)

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* High King Eonin Thunderhand - Ruler of Stornin.  This dwarf has a strong sense of honor and dislikes any form of treachery.  Stornin and Wesitia have always been at odds; but due to Eonin's sense of justice and honor, he has a particular dislike of Testifia--and, by proxy, Draxin, the "close" friends of Testifia.  Being the High King, he also is effectively the eorl of Kharazad and its surrounding lands.

* Inga Steelshovel, Eorl of Shieldhead - Inga is the second cousin of Thunderhand and is the eorl of all lands south of Kharazad, including the village of Shieldhead and the town of Shieldhead Bay.  In her lands is one of the richest mines in all of Oceanica.  Or so is claimed.

* Brenn Silverhand, Eorl of Highmoor - Brenn is the lord of all lands northeast of Kharazad, including the high moors of ...well... Highmoor.  As such, his domain is the closest to Draxin, Testifia, \*and\* a band of pirates stationed out of Jasper's Cove.  While he doesn't see a lot of Testifians or Draxin wandering his lands, he does have to manage troops to deal with the pirates.

* Jorn Woodfell, Eorl of the Expanse - Jorn is the master of all lands between Kharazad and Highmoor, and the Helfing Downs far to the west.  It contains a swath of land that reaches from the sea to the north--including an isthmus of land between the sea and a large lake--all the way down to just northwest of Shieldhead Bay.

* Vryn, Emissary of Helfing Downs - Vryn is what Testifia would call a "wild" or "feral" testificate, supposedly meant to join the Testifian empire.  However, Helfing Downs and its neighboring towns have opted to form their own dominion.  As such, Testifia has set its eye on "correcting" this problem.  Knowing this, Vryn has been sent to the court of the High King to ask for help.  In return for Eonin's help (in troops, primarily), Vryn had been authorized to give Stornin a deep discount on anything produced in the Reach (where Helfing Downs is located), as well as be his eyes and ears for any Wesitia activity that may pass through the area.  Vryn has also been appointed an honorary eorl in the High King's court due to his wisdom and wit, with full honors.  Vryn is even given a full vote in the king's court.

## Testifia

Great and Glorious Emprie of the Testifia. The Golden Empire. Millennia ago, their ancestors settled all over Oceanica; but under the rule of Xioben I, a sizable group organized in the town of Chengdu and became a major power. Known for their hospitality when the Draxin, traveling in ragged caravans, fled their ancestral homes. Very well-known in their mastery of enchantments. So much so that many of the other nations of Oceanica will have a Mage's Tower in their capitols, selling only the greatest of enchantments.

Testifia has a reputation for being ruthless with its own people.  Specifically, any unaffiliated group of testificates that live in their own towns, which Testifia has dubbed "wild" or "feral."  If these "wild" testificates just maintain a small village with no ambitions of growth, Testifia generally leaves them alone, but kept under a watchful eye.  If, however, any of these towns show ambition, they are first "asked" to officialy join the empire.  Failing that, the Emperor is empowered to take any action he or she feels is necessary.  In only three instances in history has this ever been an issue--in the very early days of Testifia, when a rival faction rose to challenge for supremacy; a town far inland in the western edges of Testifia; and Helfing Downs.  The early days were notoriously bloody, with Xioben I the Great as the victor.  The current remote town is about to be put under siege.  And Helfing Downs may soon follow suit.

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* Emperor Xioben XXIV - One of many Testifian emperors who took their regnald name from the Great Xioben I of 2100 years ago, who helped the Draxin.

## Wesitia

The other human nation. Lion of the West. Centuries ago, Wesitia and Centralia were of one nation under the reign of Williem III who had two sons: Williem IV and Bertrand the Bold. Due to disagreements on how to run the kingdom, they split. The Loyalists (of Williem IV) remained in Wesitia while Bertrand the Bold led his Torries to Centralia and founded the capitol of Cartisport (in honor of Williem III's father, Cartis IX). Relations between Wesitia and Centralia were strained for a long time up until 20 year ago when a misunderstanding (that some believe was instigated by the Draxin) created a full-out war between the two kingdoms. Currently, a very fragile truce exists.

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* Stuart II -

## Independent Factions

### William's Respite:

A major pirate base south of Chengdu. Relatively friendly, unless you have coin they want.

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* William the Red - Self-styled commodore of the outpost known as William's Respite.

* Captain Carina -

### Jasper's Cove:

A major pirate base on a volcanic island, nestled under the shadows of Mts. Kamanawanalaia and Wanahokalugie. Much like any other group of pirates, they can be fairly welcoming unless they want something from you.

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* Jasper \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ -

### Ramshackle:

A pirate base off of the east coast of Centralia

### Peykollorr:

The High Kingdom of Peykollorr is ruled by an ancient race of giants, similar to the humans of Wesitia and Centralia, but of a much older lineage and of course of much larger size. Their knowledge and practice of the rule of law predates known history, as evidenced by their great courthouse. They don't bother with the trifles of the lesser races and are generally welcoming unless you break one of their many MANY laws. Centralians and Wesitians share similar traits with the Peykollorrii--especially to the approach to jurisprudence--so it is believed that the Peykollorrii are ancient forebears of the modern humans.

### Crag Keep:

A distant realm, ruled by the master of the Keep, Lord Duncain.  He and his subjects are known for not being the friendliest to outsiders, barely tolerating the intrusions of the outside world.  Due to their reluctance to interact with the core nations of Oceanica, you will not find a merchant's exchange here.  Rumor also has it strangers should not wander the town at night.

### Sisters of Beirah:

A group of "naturalists" (witches) who are commanded by their deity Beirah to protect the land from corruption.  They very much do not like "corrupted" witches (essentially, your vanilla witches) or other corrupting influences.

The Sisters are the arch-enemies of the Scion of Chaos:  minions of the Mad Beast, Varis, whom they treat as their god.  The Sisters are also wary of the Guild, as they view their technology as a blight upon all things natural.  As a result, if you gain enough faction with the Sisters, they may allow you to use their royston-crows to travel great distances at great speed; though it would be impossible to use them to transport commodities other than whatever is already in your inventory.

Some Crones and Hags of Beirah can be found in the more lush lands of Oceanica, and they can sell advanced beneficial potions to players.  They are hard to find, though; but they do wander the realm, searching for corruption and weeding it out.

### The Guild:

Members of the Guild come from an unknown race, that \*seems\* related to the Vellis elves.  If there is any connection between the Guild and the Vellis elves, that knowledge is lost to history.

The Guild controls all advanced technologies that allow the residents of Oceanica to move about the world.  Their gadgets allow ships to sail the tempestuous seas in *relative* safety.  Individual transport (traveling on foot, horses, llamas, other beasts) are not controlled by the Guild; though in some instances they try to quash any advancement that is a threat to their monopoly on power.

### Scion of Chaos:

A shadowy group of beings intent on sowing discord throughout the Known Realms and beyond.  They worship Varis, the Mad Beast, one of the bosses players will have to fight at some point in the game.

### The Exchange:

Keepers of the commodity exchange system. Exchanges in each city and at the Great Exchange may have a representative that will give you quests to help boost your Merchant skill, which leads to earning more profit from trading.

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* Bertrand Angus - The Chief Commerce Executive and leader of the Exchange.

### THE LAW:

Oceanica has wandering lawmen, searching for outlaws to apprehend. They will generally only attack you if:

* you are carrying illicit goods (i.e., stolen commodities, forbidden commodities, etc)
* you have a large bounty on your head (currently 1000 or greater (1 platinum))
* your faction with THE LAW is too low from lawbreaking, etc.

If you're in trouble with THE LAW, you can see a Fixer to have your bounty reduced or removed, kill other outlaws (i.e., Pirate Swabbies or Veterans on beaches, etc), or do certain quests to improve your standing. Lawmen with THE LAW are not generally affiliated with city guards; but city guards can also attack you if you're carrying illicit goods or have a huge bounty on your head. Your standing with THE LAW will not cause a city guard to attack you. Usually.

## Diplomatic relations in Oceanica

Some factions are friendly with others.  Some factions are not. Generally, the six main factions are split into two groups: Centralia-Stornin-Vellistia and Draxin-Testifia-Wesitia.