Prominent Factions

• Berskr-Krang: The Berskr-Krang are a savage brotherhood of warriors dedicated to blood and glory.  They have their origins in the far north but the group is nomadic by nature.  As members wander further and further afield looking for battles to fight and enemies to slay, occasionally they meet other individuals desirous of glory and willing to swear to the service of Stiggan and spend their lives wandering the earth in search of worthy foes to slay.

• The Watchers: The Watchers are a loosed association of poets and historians who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that great events are preserved for posterity.  Rather than write their histories down in books and papers that can be lost or destroyed, the Watchers commit their histories to memory by composing them as songs and poems.

• The Temple of Maskius: The single most powerful and influential cult in Cisallia, the Temple of Maskius has dedicated itself to the advancement of mankind.  The means of accomplishing this goal are hotly debated within the Priory and by the lay brothers as well.  Some favor a passive program of teaching and empowering, others are more militant and insist that Maskius demands that evil be confronted and destroyed wherever it resides.

• The Circle: The circle is a group of druids appointed by Faina herself to safeguard the purity of the wilderness.  In the west there are few cities not already abandoned and slowly being reclaimed but there is an ever present danger of corruption by dark forces.  Circle druids patrol their lands in search of any evidence of desecration and move to combat it by any means necessary.

• The Chosen of Rhoinn: This is a holy order of paladins who serve as champions of justice across the land.  The members of this order of selected from the most promising Prydein nobility.  Being selected for elevation to this order brings great honor both on the initiate but his entire clan and even though the life they lead often ends with a grisly death at the hands of some supernatural evil, their selection is a moment of profound joy.

• The Second Sons:The Seconds Sons are a company of mercenary warriors that travel throughout the lands of the old empire in search of a battle to be fought and profit to be made.  They are not the largest company, or the most renowned, but they are respected because of their reputation for keeping faith with their employers, not the most common trait among sellswords.

• The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists: Across the sea to the east lies a a land beseiged by evil.  Qechuay is a poor land with few resources and her people are of humble origin, but long have they lain in the shadow of darkness.  The adepts of the society travel in exile and search tirelessly for ancient teachings and artifacts of power that might aid in freeing their land from the grip of its dark overlords.

• The Road Wardens: In the days when the emperors writ held true, it was said that a naked virgin could walk from the capital in the south all the way to the winterkeep with a bag of gold and no fear.  This was so because the imperial roadwardens knew every road and path and mule track in their districts and worked ceaselessly to keep them safe.  After the empire fell the roadwarden ceased to be a paid position and became instead an inherited duty.  Today these modern descendants know the hills and forests of their homes every much as well as their forebears and snuff out evil wherever it is found.

• The Sunburst Corsairs: Originally this was a piratical brotherhood that counted amongst its members almost one in three of the pirates that plied the waters around the empire southern coasts.  Since the fall of the empire and the resulting diminishing of trade, the Sunburst Corsairs have become much more diverse in their activities.  The swaggering arrogance of the corsair holds a certain appeal for young gentleman and the Corsairs are very welcoming of rich young men seeking a place to find companionship in many varieties.

• The Night Market: In Ostwin, when one wishes to acquire something that cannot be had otherwise, one goes to the Night Market.  The Night Market is a group of unscrupulous merchants that employ all manner of cutpurses, catburglers, and outright thugs to obtain goods that are sold at cut-rate prices.  The stolen property is sold off at secret bazaars that are held in the abandoned sections of the city after sundown.  The locations of the Night Markets are a closely guarded secret and you must be invited to know where they will be held at any given time.

• The Order of the White River: On the plains outside Ostwin snakes a slender clear river.   Along a bend in this river there sits a small cluster of slender graceful buildings.  Within these buildings reside the mages of the Order of the White River.  A small school that has dedicated itself to the preservation of the arcane knowledge accumulated by the wizards of the old empire.  Members of the order go out into the world in search of the learning of a past age.  The Order of the White River is one of the few places where great magic is still taught.