Varient Sigil Factions?

[fireinthedust]

Imagine you've got a Planar city of some sort. Three examples: Sigil (sure) but also Sharn (eberron's city of towers), and Ravnika (Magic the Gathering city covering a whole planet).

Now, having enjoyed Sigil with its factions is fun, but I'm thinking: what if I wanted my own factions? Heck, the ones I grew up on disappeared thanks to some kak-brained module ("hey, let's get rid of a lot of the interesting part of this setting!").


so questions:

1) What is a faction you might have, or differnt ideas for factions? For any city, mind you.

2) What is the purpose of factions? I mean, did the old ones represent ideologies? Political or religious?

 

[Asmor]

Not exactly what you were asking, but since you mentioned Ravnica I thought you might find this interesting. A while back, I did a bit for using Ravnica as a D&D 4e setting.

Encounter-a-Day » Archive » Steal This Setting: Ravnica, Part 1
Encounter-a-Day » Archive » Steal This Setting: Ravnica, Part 2
Encounter-a-Day » Archive » Steal This Setting: Ravnica, Part 3
A compiled PDF is here

 

[Piratecat]

Sigil's factions were all philosophy-based. If you move the city, you might wish to change the focus of the factions. For instance, the city of Eversink in my last campaign had factions based on the great merchant houses of the city.

The best factions are inclusive and can accept people of any race and class, so long as they're ideologically aligned behind an idea or a goal. A faction of people who believe that the city itself is a living, thinking organism might be a good one; the fighter's guild really isn't unless it has less-than-obvious plot hooks.

Also note that the best factions have reasons to travel beyond the city of their origin. You don't want to make a really cool longterm group who dislikes leaving their home neighborhood.

 

[Piratecat]

Sigil's factions were all philosophy-based. If you move the city, you might wish to change the focus of the factions. For instance, the city of Eversink in my last campaign had factions based on the great merchant houses of the city.

The best factions are inclusive and can accept people of any race and class, so long as they're ideologically aligned behind an idea or a goal. A faction of people who believe that the city itself is a living, thinking organism might be a good one; the fighter's guild really isn't unless it has less-than-obvious plot hooks.

Also note that the best factions have reasons to travel beyond the city of their origin. You don't want to make a really cool longterm group who dislikes leaving their home neighborhood.