Hi Everyone!
It’s your friendly neighborhood mods here with a Faction update!
As it stands, we like the four factions we have in place now and the possibilities they offer. In many ways our factions have struggled to find consistent niches. Occasionally, some factions have tried to operate in a similar way to the X-Men, and not everything can be an X-Men. Additionally, the X-Men have become such a swiss-army knife, it makes it hard for other groups looking for their unique role.
So with that in mind, we were hoping to more clearly define the roles the X-Men, Haven, Syndicate, and SUPER offer to the site and for plotting.
X-Men: Okay, let’s be honest, the X-Men are one of the easier teams. Everyone knows the X-Men. They’re the idealists trying to bridge the divide between humanity and mutantkind. This is the team that focuses on teamwork, handling large mutant threats or threats to mutants, and goes in when the threat is known. Anyone on the team must work to be deputized so they can also perform sanctioned city patrols and provide an on-the-street public face for mutantkind.
Notably, the X-Men are not here for investigative work. There are people better equipped for this, so the X-Men are reserved for handling major threats or being called in for specific aid.
Possibly most important to the X-Mission is the Mansion. Operating as both a school and a place for wayward mutants to find community and potential training, the X-Men act as security, guardians, and trainers for the students and residents.
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[li]You have a mutant under the age of 18 and want school age plots.[/li][li]You want to live in an all-mutant community.[/li][li]Your character may want to try out for the X-Men eventually.[/li]
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[li]You have a mutant character at least 15 years old.[/li][li]You want to work collaboratively and practice powers out of combat.[/li][li]You would like to run a two-person patrol.[/li][li]You want to be involved in big site plots, but don’t always have the time to follow long-standing plots.[/li][/ul][/font][/quote]
Haven: Here are the movers and shakers of the world. Amassing political, social, and financial capital, Haven wants to make the world a better place for everyone, but primarily mutants.
The three big aspects to focus on for Haven: social, resources, and influence. Haven has social outreach, high and low, from lavish parties and fundraisers to running the Sanctuary and other community-beneficial programs. Haven fosters a community, because being everyone's friend is a position of strength and bolsters recruitment.
Haven collects resources to put to use. If a community need arises, Haven will seek to fill it. If there is a crisis or ongoing investigation, Haven will offer the right people to lend aid. Haven is here to be helpful, because help is influence.
Which leads to the shadow organization aspect of Haven. The organization is not afraid to use their power to exert influence, push politicians, and organically foster social movements. Haven isn’t about big flashy missions; they are here for smart applications of control.
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[li]You enjoy social threads.[/li][li]You don’t mind helping other people’s ideas succeed.[/li][li]You want to participate in long-running plots with a smaller tight-knit group.[/li][li]Your character enjoys lavish living, social functions, and political schemes.[/li][li]Your character enjoys control or the illusion of control.[/li][/ul][/font][/quote]
Syndicate: Beyond some of the powers funding and coordinating things, we want Syndicate to function more like a network than a structured faction. Many criminals like to operate more independently, but independent does not necessarily mean alone.
Enter Syndicate, a network of mutants who operate outside and against the law. As a mutant-first organization, Syndicate is here to benefit mutants, but specifically the mutants associated with the network. Places to lay low, criminal job opportunities, or ways to connect with other mutants whose skill set can aid in your nefarious needs; Syndicate is here for you.
Of course, Syndicate does have some organization. For mutants looking to make themselves useful and gain some clout, they can work their way up to roles that keep Syndicate functioning. Assigning jobs, operating Syndicate-led businesses, or financing and empowering the structure that Syndicate’s web of crime is built upon.
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[li]You enjoy adversarial type threads.[/li][li]You have a lot of one-off thread ideas for individual mischief.[/li][li]Your character is not terribly worried about right versus wrong.[/li][li]You don’t mind being the cause of big plots, but may not be involved directly.[/li][/ul][/font][/quote]
SUPER: Admittedly, SUPER is a tough faction to navigate given its anti-mutant origins. Since establishing themselves within the MROverse, SUPER has toned down their overtly aggressive and questionable tactics. Now they focus on prevention and authoritarian tactics.
There may be unaccounted cells of SUPER doing shady nonsense, but the core tenets of the Official SUPER faction are to ensure safety for all people, mutant and human, from potential mutant events. The world has a history of mutant-related tragedies, and the mutants of SUPER specifically want to change the narrative of mutants in society.
As a government organization, SUPER looks to keep tabs on high-risk mutants, but the tag and release method is now reserved for necessary situations only. Mostly, this involves monitoring mutants with inherently dangerous mutations and recruiting them (if willing) or giving them resources to avoid becoming a tragedy themselves.
SUPER recruits those with high potential. For mutants or humans who want to learn to use their gifts for the greater good, SUPER will provide any training necessary so they can excel in executing SUPER's objectives. This could be investigative, administrative, or for those with the right gifts, a spot on specialized task forces for higher-risk operations. If you're powerful and looking for purpose, SUPER wants you.
A bigger part of SUPER’s mission going forward is not just in prevention, but investigation. Monitoring mutant threats is part of this, but so is following leads regarding mutant crime. SUPER might cooperate with standard government bureaus or acknowledged mutant organizations when needed. They’re still Big Brother, but more of a brother who is trying to do what he thinks is best.
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[li]You don’t mind representing law enforcement and other civil servants.[/li][li]You enjoy investigative threads and building robust motives, villains, and plots.[/li][li]You enjoy writing in pairs or small groups and do not mind writing adversarially.[/li][li]You have a character that works for the government, for the greater good.[/li][li]You have a character that can do as they are told, whether they agree or not.[/li][/ul][/font][/quote]
While antagonism is fun and good and necessary, over long-term play we tend to lean more on cooperative play to progress and enjoy plots. This change hopes to encourage that a bit more without needing direct factional hostility.
Hopefully, this serves the purpose of making the threshold for entry to these groups easier while giving them unique benefits to consider when deciding a character’s path.
Thanks for your time and happy plotting!
