D&D 5E What Organisations do you Use in 5E?

[Zardnaar]

As the title says? What factions do you use in your games? Here are mine and their rough goals.

The Guardians
The PCs do not know this name yet but this group has approached them and purchased several items off them. Basically they want to bury the past so any books, artefacts, magic items etc they want to acquire. When the members are not hiding their affiliation they often wear outlandish clothes of unknown materials (they have access to cotton, fluorescent dye etc). They have access to advanced technology, firearms, flying ships and spelljammers, and cannon. Based on the far side of the moon.

Red Mantis Assassins
From Golarion/Paizo I have ported over this assassins guild. They can wildshape into giant mantis warriors in addition to being erm assassins. Not exactly evil at least in a conquer the world type evil they rule one of the safest cities in the world.

Knights of Vanya
Based off the group from BECMI's Mystara they are LN Teutonic Knights types operating out of Kriegsburg. They also have a LE inquisition though that wants to purge heretics (everyone not worshipping Vanya). They tend to have well trained troops (Knights, Veterans) lead by war priests with access to counterspell. They control a land similar in size to Crete/Cuba and have one of the strongest navies around.

House Jerith' Kor.
Elves on my world are not CG hippy live in tress types. I have modelled them after the East India Company and the worst aspects of the British Empire. House Jerith Kor is the worst of the lot worshipping snake demons/Zehir/Yuan Ti deities. They seem to be in decline

Coiled Cabal
Secretive group of Yuan Ti spellcasters dedicated to serpentine supremacy. Corrupted house Jerith' Kor primary driver of the slave trade. Virtually unknown as they use fronts such as The Iron Ring slavers.

New Thyatian Empire
Thyatis= Rome, this group are the remnants of that empire with an empress and the Last Legion- perhaps the finest military force in the world. The Empress claims dominion over the former lands of the Empire which is most of the known world. Her ambitions exceed her reach however. Think Byzantium in 1280 AD wanting the lands of the Roman Empire back.

 

[n0nym]

I've used only 2 so far, one of them acting as the BBEG of my campaign :

Church of the Holy Flame
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Fire worshippers with little tolerance for other people beliefs (forceful conversions, eradication of older faiths, mass murdering of apostats / dissenters). They're slowly burning down every last tree on the continent because of their rituals, causing a massive ecological disaster. Their leader is Albeorn of Dunswich, Slayer of the elves and 8th champion of Raajat (Dark Sun). He's using the cult thanks to his silver tongue and formidable charisma, perverting its beliefs to complete the genocide of the elven race.

Inspiration : roman cult of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus) / Elagabal, roman catholic church and lately the Witcher 3

[/FONT]The Circle
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Formerly an order of sacred assassins dedicated to Nergal (god of death and the Underworld). They used to hunt those who tried to prolong their life beyond its natural limit. They were overwhelmed during the First Empire, because suddenly everyone (from peasant to noble) was freed of disease, war and death thanks to the discovery of magic. Human beings started spreading, multiplying and destroying the world for profit (this is pure fiction of course !). Emperor Heliogabal, the man responsible for bringing peace and longevity to mankind, foresaw the extinction of all life because of this. He took control of The Circle and set it on a new path : plunging the world in a constant state of war, disease and death in order to limit population growth and to build a "stronger" human being through natural selection.

The PCs will be offered the following choice : destroying the Circle (hence bringing peace and relative happiness to mankind, but eventually leading to its extinction) or helping the Circle (bringing constant suffering to mankind, but allowing it to survive virtually forever).

Inspiration : the News, medieval "assassins".[/FONT]

 

[ammulder]

In my current games I'm using cities as "factions". I'm not sure to what extent I buy into sprawling organizations with coordination and influence throughout villages, towns, and city-states, like the factions described in the Forgotten Realms material.

OK, to be more accurate, I don't buy into it much. Sure conquest spreads influence, but the Harpers? The U.N., I mean, the Lords Alliance? (Do they use Facebook to keep in touch?)

So yes, there's a group trying to influence other cities via poison, but that's just how the Yuan-Ti city does diplomacy in the game. The Dwarves will try to talk anyone around into fortifying the frontier against Orcish invasions, but really only anyone pretty nearby. And so on.

From the original post it sounds like I'd align more with the Knights of Vanya and the New Thyatian Empire, for instance, and less with the The Guardians.

 

[Shiroiken]

They exist in my game world, but I'm not using the mechanics and such with them in my current campaign. They'll probably have more of an impact on my next campaign. These are the ones they come across so far.

Knights of the Hart - worthy warriors who band together to protect the Kingdom of Furyondy, the Archclericy of Veluna, and the Highfolk. Since all of them are feudal in nature, it takes time for defenses to be organized, so the Knights of the Hart serve as a first response and prevention against threats. Knights are considered to be the least nobility, just above the Elders of the Realm.

Knights of the Watch - knights dedicated to protecting the Shedlomar Valley, particularly against the Baklunish threats from Ket. Similar to the Knights of the Hart, but some positions are hereditary and all owe fealty to the king of Keoland.

The Circle of Eight - powerful archmages have agents that serve to keep stability across the land. While neutral in theory, they work more against evil than good (because evil tends to destabilize more than good does).