Three factions fight the Ash King, but each wants something different from the shards – and each guards something it will not speak of. You choose your realm in the character creator: there are three starting cities, each tied to a faction. You get to know all three, and in chapter 6 you may confirm your oath or swear a new one.
Overview
| Faction | Colours | Emblem | Capital | What it wants from the shards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order of the Blood Moon | burgundy and black | crescent moon | Bloodmoon Keep | To reforge the stone. |
| Suncrown Alliance | white and gold | sun disc | Suncrown Keep | A resource: a forge, a weapon and eternal light. |
| Azure Veil League | midnight blue and silver | wave | Veilharbor | To destroy them before it is too late. |
How do you choose a faction?
- A shared beginning. Every new character starts in the same place, without a faction: in the first chapters you owe loyalty to no one.
- Meet all three. Over the course of the Chronicle you meet the envoys of all three factions: Tarvin speaks for the Order of the Blood Moon, Liora for the Suncrown Alliance, Sereth for the Azure Veil League (see Companions).
- The decision. You choose your faction at the end of Chapter 6 of the Chronicle, at level 50, as Act I draws to a close: in the oasis of the Drysand Waste the three envoys – Tarvin, Liora and Sereth – ask the same thing of you: choose. The choice is final: your faction's city becomes your home, and you fight under its banner in the Border War.
- Per character. Your faction belongs to your character, not your account: each of your characters can side with a different faction.
Before you choose
- The factions' cities are open to everyone.
- The factions' shops and their own quests are still closed to you.
- You don't yet take part in the fighting between the factions.
Order of the Blood Moon
Descendants of the Dawnwardens' soldiers, warriors sworn under the Red Moon. They believe in order, discipline, and that the world must be held together whatever the cost. The Order wants the stone reforged.
- Capital: Bloodmoon Keep – a forest stronghold among the crowns of giant trees, with hanging bridges and lanterns; the Order's oath is sworn beneath the trees.
- Its land: Scarlet Vale – the starting valley of Bloodmoon Keep.
- The Order's knight among your companions: Tarvin Moonblade.
Suncrown Alliance
An alliance of merchant houses and nobles; theirs is the richest city on Nareth, where the sun never sets above the domes. To them a shard is not a curse but a resource: a forge, a weapon and eternal light.
- Capital: Suncrown Keep – the city of sun-domes on the edge of the desert, where even the stone glows with light.
- Its land: Golden Vale – the starting valley of Suncrown Keep.
- The Alliance's envoy among your companions: Liora Goldword.
Azure Veil League
Mages, scholars and seafarers who study the Veil, the border between the living and the dead. They are the first to hear when the dead whisper. The League believes the shards must be destroyed before it is too late.
- Capital: Veilharbor – a city on stilts above reflecting water, where the Veil is thinnest.
- Its land: Azure Vale – the starting valley of Veilharbor.
- The League's mage among your companions: Sereth Mistvoice.
Between the factions
- No open hostility. In the regions of Nareth a member of another faction is not your enemy: there is no faction penalty, and heroes of any faction can talk to any NPC. Fighting between the factions happens in the Border War and in the arena – see Faction Warfare.
- Border War. Once a week the factions clash over the shards rising from beneath the ash in three border regions; the winning faction earns extra experience for a week.
- Renown. Your Hero's Journal shows how highly your faction regards you.
- Shared festivals. At the Frostmoon Festival the three factions lay down their arms and give gifts, and the Day of the Three Factions remembers the day the three banners first stood side by side at the edge of the Greengloom. See Events.
See also: Cities, Faction Warfare, Nareth.