Powers that own territory, quarrel with each other, and decide what counts as a crime.
Factions & Law
A faction is a power in your world: a city, a clan, a guard order. It owns ground, it has opinions about its neighbours, and — the part that makes crime work — it writes its own law.
There is no world-wide list of crimes. Each faction decides what counts as one, what it adds to a player's bounty, and what its people do about it. Two cities can disagree, and a faction that lists no crimes at all has no law: nothing you do on its land is a crime. That is how you author bandit country or open wilderness.
Where to Author
Database → Factions. Each faction has five tabs: Identity, Law, Territory, Neighbours and Jail.
Setting One Up
1. Open Database → Factions and press New. 2. Name it, pick its colour (nameplates and territory tint) and write a description. 3. Leave Polices its territory ticked for a city or guard order. Untick it for a merchant guild that keeps no guards — its law is then ignored. 4. Go to Territory and claim the maps it owns. Leave the region box empty to own a map whole, or type a region number to claim just that painted region — so a faction can hold part of a map nobody owns. 5. Go to Law and press Use a starting law for a sensible city, or tick the acts you care about yourself. 6. Go to Neighbours and set how it feels about the other factions. 7. Save.
The Fields
Identity
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Shown to players | The name players see. Blank uses the internal name |
| Colour | Nameplate and territory tint |
| Polices its territory | Off for a faction with no guards — its law is ignored entirely |
| Bounty fades per day | 0 (the default) means a bounty never fades. Raise it to forgive players slowly |
| Dying clears what you owe | Off by default: death is not a pardon |
| Guards loot criminals they kill | Lets its guards take from a criminal's corpse |
| Struggle window | Milliseconds a rooted player may break an arrest. 0 = the arrest lands instantly |
Law — what counts as a crime
One row per act: theft, pickpocketing, breaking a lock, trespassing, assault, murder, escaping jail.
| Column | What it does |
|---|---|
| A crime? | Unticked, this faction does not care about that act at all |
| Bounty | Added to the offender's bounty with this faction |
| Standing lost | Reputation lost with the wronged party |
| Only if seen | On (the default) means an unwitnessed crime costs nothing |
| Tell allies | Allied factions hear about it, and their own rules decide what they do |
Law — what a bounty leads to
Bands of bounty, each with a response: ignore, demand a fine, arrest, or attack on sight — plus what a guard does if the player resists. A typical city: 1–50 a fine, 51–500 an arrest, 501 and up attack on sight. With no bands, guards never act whatever the bounty.
Law — who reacts
The same bounty means different things to different people of the same faction. Guards act on the bands above. Civilians report crimes and run once you are frightening enough. Adventurers hunt wanted players for the money. Each has its own threshold, so a town can be nervous long before it is dangerous.
Territory
Rows of maps, optionally narrowed to a painted region. Whose law applies is decided by the ground you are standing on.
Neighbours
Per other faction: a stance (ally, neutral, rival, at war), whether members attack on sight, and whether this faction honours their bounties.
Gotchas
- A faction with no crimes has no law. That is deliberate, and it is how lawless ground is authored — not a mistake.
- Territory decides whose law applies. Rob someone from another city while standing in this one, and this one hunts you; the other only thinks less of you.
- Allies only care if you tell them. Tick Tell allies on the crime, and Honour their bounties on the relation.
- Deleting a faction forgives every bounty it was owed — its standings and sentences go with it.
- A faction that arrests needs a jail. Without one, guards set to arrest fall back to demanding a fine.
- The whole system sits behind the Crime & Law feature flag. Off = nothing is a crime, and factions remain useful for territory and rivalries alone.