This collection was created with an intent to practice lore writing. The story about different factions in different worlds is one way I can share my ideas for a specific lore that I wanted to write.  Ever since I was little, the video games I play always have a ragtag group of heroes. They fight under a specific banner or in this case, under one faction. These heroes often fight under a specific order or group or whatever was needed to tell a narrative. 

To them, it was something that nails down a story and what was easily a way to intricate various mechanics of a certain game. Hunters are often placed with the woodland villages, they often have bows, forests, and other thematic things in their banner. Mages are often associated with fascination with knowledge, so they are often associated with something archaic or mystic. These visualizations go one with other classes: Rouges with daggers and animals with sneaky features. Warriors and Barbarians are often tribal in nature, associated with hammers, axes, and fierce animals.

Having various people under one banner feels like that there is a sense of belonging. The feeling of being in a circle where everyone understands you or they follow a belief that you follow. Of course, that's the bigger side of things. Most of the time, factions are the clubs, friend groups, or sport teams you are in. No need to overthink about it, but that is the closest thing you have if you want a comparison from every fantasy faction you have played in. In some terms, you might see this as a “found family” trope. Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There will be conflict, difference in understanding on what it means to be a part of that group.

By definition, a “Found Family” or a “Family of Choice” is a type of literary device that a group of characters, often from different backgrounds, are united on a familial bond. This bond is solidified further with mutual understanding, experiences, and connections between one another. These three are often seen most of the time and often seen in literature. Mostly in teen to YA literature, I feel it does make sense that you see this in those age groups. Adolescence is the time where we find ourselves and what is our place in this world. Personally, I love this trope so much that no matter how overused this trope is, each writer brings a specific nuance to it that makes the generic into something more. Most of the found family I have been clutching are from romance visual novels and let me tell you, they are something. Of course before I continue, I want to share some insights about the three bonds of the found family structure. These are the foundations of what makes it so unique for every writer. First is the mutual understanding, I think it’s already a given for this one. A found family works on that every member has this mutual understanding of each other. Sometimes they understand that they are different or the black sheep of their biological family. It’s with this that their bond goes beyond being a group of friends with similar interests. Alternatively, they are formed because they have no family left, either by circumstance or decision.

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Next one is similar to the first and this is the shared experience, as the name suggests. It is the group’s experiences that bonds them together. It can be a group of ragtag individuals who are trying their best to survive under horrible circumstances. In other cases, it can be a group of hired hands who end up in the right place at the right time. Different mercenaries in a dangerous environment settled an unlikely alliance until they escaped. One of the fondest things I can practically place this one is that they are experiencing a shared destiny. Fantasy has a way of interconnecting various kinds of people under the banner of destiny or a prophecy being fulfilled. Final Fantasy can be seen as a basis for this one, Warriors of Light are called upon by the Elemental Crystal to combat an agent of chaos. Of course, that’s what I experienced on the older versions of the game. Haven’t had the chance to play the current ones.

Last one is connections. Connections often refer to what connects them together, it can be literal or symbolic. Take it like a promise, a contract, blood oath, or the usual coven of praying to a certain deity. If you want a flavoring of a faction, you’ll get a lot from using this right here. There’s a lot to go for when it comes to connections since everything mostly intertwines with found family and more often, their connections bind them together like a giant red string of fate.

Now for the title itself, Faction by general means is a party or group (maybe a part of a government) that is often self-seeking. These factions often have the people, especially the minority, in their best interest. Of course, nothing can be assured, most factions often lay their intentions with a mask. You’ll never know what their true intentions are. These kinds of things will be tackled in due time in this collection.