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Organizations Index











 
This article is Fan Fiction
The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official Birthright lore or history.
The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and are applied for roleplaying purposes only.
 

See Also: Organization (Creature Statistic) - the kinds of groups that creatures might form
When adding your own organization please add a turquoise band to the page which includes ?FB Organizations: xxxxx? in the banner. Please also add the FanFic template.
Organizations come in many shapes and sizes, the gang of a half-dozen knaves riding the road in search of peasants to rob and merchants to ransom are an organization, as is the crew of a ship, the network of priests throughout a province that answer to the Abbey on the hill, or the government of Boeruine.
In Birthright the immediate focus is on the domain of a regent - the holdings that reflect the hundreds, even thousands of people who in one way or another answer the the will of the regent. These are important to the game, and the original books left substantial collections of holdings undescribed aside from lists of holdings.
The smaller organizations should not be overlooked however, for domain-level play aside players most frequently inter-act with much smaller organizations, or sub-groups of the main organization. For example the game may describe Prince Avans law holdings, but to the adventuring PC the important organization may be the 'Blue legions' who patrol the Princes (and many other regents) roads to keep them clear of bandits, operate road and bridge tolls, and oversee matters of low justice. Indeed it may be the patrol of Sergeant Adeare 'Roarer' MacTaggart who left Mhoried over a matter of honor and now scours the lands around Avanil to hunt down brigands, troublemakers and unlicensed armed bands - and also ensure that those who have overlooked the Prince's tax laws over treasure trove are reminded of the need to pay the Prince his share who impacts on the PC's most strongly.
I have referred to organizations of up to few dozen or so people as a 'band', organizations of a hundred or so as a 'faction', organizations of several hundred as a 'order' and larger holdings as regent domains.

[top]Collections


Collections are not really organizations, in that they do not reflect a number of people who are centrally organized, instead the people are simply being proximate in some way, or have a common characteristic.
The crucial difference to a character between a collection and an organization is that being a friend/foe of one person in a collection, does not impact the relation with other members of the collection - the two 'members' may be completely unaware of each other. Members of an organization may not consider themselves such - a village for example could be described as an organization but the villagers would not see it in that manner - but they will know about and react to the way a character interacts with another villager.


[top]Bands


Ranging from a collection of childhood friends, to the staff of an inn, to an elite unit of troubleshooters reporting directly to the crown; bands can have an influence that crosses the kingdom or be unknown outside the street in which they live.
When creating a band try to give some background color - a history, an idea of the areas in which the band may be found, the purpose for which they are together, their goals and tactics; a band which is simply a collection of statistics is of little use to others.

For advice on creating an adventuring party in a Birthright campaign go to DM Hints Party Formation.

[top]Factions


Factions are organizations of a reasonable size that can influence hundreds of people (note that a small group of wealthy nobles would properly be described as a faction not a band as through their wealth they can employ dozens of laborers, a double hand of men-at-arms, etc)
Factions include military units, the occupants of a reasonable size monastery or Abbey, an assassins guild, members of a gentleman's club, etc.
Factions are almost always well known in their area of operations, those who avoid publicity may avoid public knowledge, but will still be known to the wise. Factions may amount to a level 0 holding.
Factions typically needs an activity to generate income on an ongoing basis, an internal set of rules, have some means of identifying one another (i.e. a uniform, badge, etc). They may well have a fixed base of operations, possibly secondary sites in which they gather, may have connections in local politics, etc. A faction typically has a single strong leader, with perhaps one or two potential rivals/heirs, and either a detailed history, a strong ethos which caused rapid growth, or both, it will typically have a few major long term goals and several minor short term goals.


[top]Orders


Orders will often be represented by a L0 or L1 holding in domain play, or be part of a larger holding. These include mercenary groups that can muster a unit or two, a priestly order within a larger church, inhabitants of a village or even residents of a city street who have a strong sense of community.
An order is so substantial in size and influence that it is always known of in its areas of operations, even if details are misunderstood or the facade presented to the outside world truly believed. Only a pathologically secretive order could escape the attention of the authorities - although if its goals do not seem to be objectionable it may be overlooked so long as it is careful. For example the local sheriff would know that the hunters lodge is 3 leagues upriver, have an idea of who is a member or not, but would not know of its secret worship of Belinik and moonlit hunts of young maidens through the forests until the sheriff came across the hunt in full cry, similarly the folk of Talhundt in Danigau will know 'all about' the independent church of Sera to which they go each godsday, but know nothing of the Ice Lady of Kriesha who secretly controls the church.
An order is so large that most members know only a small number of the other members well, making some means of identification necessary, encourages subsets to form with potentially divergent philosophies. Orders frequently have several potential leaders although only one or two recognized leaders.
An order has a single very substantial base or several lesser bases - each of which will have its own internal politics. An order will typically have a few clear common goals, with each area having local goals and methods, these will generally support the longer goals but may conflict with another element of the order if local politics over-ride the orders general aims. An order generally has a long and detailed history - the firebrand preacher who raises the masses into a fanatical church being one of the few exceptions.


[top]Regent Organizations


Regent Organizations are large gatherings of power, typically having influence over at least a thousand people.
Regent organizations are typically based around a single type of holding, although various areas tend to ignore this rule, for example most province rulers also own Law, although to a lesser extent in Rjurik, while in Brechtür Guilders often control law and in Khinasi the province holder may control sources but leave law to their underlings.
For example: The Red Kings of Aftane.

[top]Military Organizations

[top]Province based organizations


These are more commonly called realms or nations. Counter to common misconception being ruler of a realm does not necessarily give the ability to have much impact over peoples lives, the ruler can set tax levels, control the mustering of troops, arrange or bar the construction of roads, bridges, ports and other major works, but otherwise must leave the micro-management to others.
This is the place to enter your own realm write-ups, either as replacements for the existing realms, or for 'off-map' areas such as Aduria, Djapar, the Dragon Isles, etc.


[top]Law based organizations


An organization based around law holdings could range from a legal institution, to a pirate band, they are noted for their ability to influence other holdings and have a substantial effect on the minutiae of peoples lives.


[top]Temple based organizations


Temples are holdings which have reasonable, albeit not spectacular income, but have a true influence over the people they influence - commoners will shift allegiance to a guild as their fortunes wax and wane, but a temple is for life - and beyond.
Temple holdings could include actual church-based organizations, wide-spread philosophies, or even certain sports clubs!


[top]Guild based organizations


Money talks, in these organizations it talks very loudly. Guild based organizations make reasonable income, but can make extra-ordinary amounts by the creation of trade routes.
Guild based organizations include trading guilds, merchant co-operatives, labor collectives, spy networks, crime rings, Viking raiders, etc.


[top]Source based organizations


Other domains centre around people, around wealth and influence. Not source realms, whether tied to the surging mebhaighl created and embracing all life and even Aebrynis itself, or the dark awnmebhaighl of the shadow world source holding based organizations are noted for their magical nature and opposition to the cities and roads favoured by other holdings and instead exult in the wild, the unspoilt, the fey and mysterious.
Source based organizations frequently consist of a single mage and their apprentices and allies. Regents of Source holdings can wield mighty magic - but need substantial income to do so, often making them dependent on an ally.
Powerful source based organizations are so tied to nature that they obtain income in a manner similar to guilds (under [[BRCS]] rules a source holding realizes income as a guild holding 4 levels lower), these fortunate organizations sell the arcane herbs and minerals they find in the wild lands for coin needed for their arcane rituals or simply the wealth of the wizard who controls the domain.

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