Factions explained

If you become a member of a faction you will get certain benefits:

Increases to spell powers
Increases in weapon to-hit and damage
Defense bonuses
Better pricing on NPCs
Faster increases while learning abilities

Please read the following articles for the benefits of each faction.

Available factions

Joining a faction

You need to achieve the following before you're able to join factions:

At least 40 Hit Points or
One school at level 5

There are two ways to join a faction.

Move to the faction leader and ask him to join the faction. He will give you a quest then.
You say, "May I join you?"
Hand in an artifact to the faction leader.

Becoming a soldier

You are able to be a soldier when having the following requirements:

Must be in a faction
You need at least 75 Hit Points

To become a soldier you need to talk to your liege:

You say, "I want to be a soldier."

Your liege will then ask you to do a favor. After returning and talking again he'll ask you for another favor. After your task is done you'll get a soldier shield. Beware that you can be attacked by any other faction soldier when you're a soldier.

Soldier shields and their benefits

Soldier shields give you some benefits, depending on your faction and how's your current standing in that faction. You may increase your standing by killing enemy faction soldiers. Initially, you'll become 'an average soldier'.

Pro's:

You can wear the shield while using your bow, you'll simply put it on your back.
No more loyality runs to your liege.
Does not need to be repaired.

Con's:

You are not anymore able to wear other shields, for example herald shields having school emblems.

Rank	Duke Akardius	Jonas D'Accor	Princess Kateriina
"A lowly peon"	no bonus	no bonus	no bonus
"An average soldier" "A noteable fighter"	+3 Stamina +3 Agility	+3 Might +3 Aim	+3 Mysticism +3 Intellect
"A great warrior" "A supreme hero"	+5 Stamina +5 Agility	+5 Might +5 Aim	+5 Mysticism +5 Intellect

The flag game

Certain areas contain flagpoles, showing up who's currently owning the area. You'll see the faction flags raised there. You are able to attack the area by picking up a flag infront of your faction leader, then go to the flagpole and 'use' it. The following rules apply:

The player must not leave the area for at least 5 minutes
The player must not loose the flag
The player needs to wear a soldier shield (be a soldier)
There must not be another conquering attempt
You can only conquer areas next to an already conquered area
At least 20 players need to be logged in
There need to be at least four members of your faction in the area

Artifacts and Councilors

Councilors are able to support your faction, when they become believers in your liege. You can raise their standings by returning their artifacts if they are gone. To find out which artifact is missing, ask your liege a few times for it:

You say, "Is there any artifact missing?"

Your liege will tell you which ones are missing, and where they have been seen lately. The locations are not absolutely accurate, you should ask several times before you start moving.

You need to have at least 40HPs to be able to pick up an artifact.
You are not able to hold anything in your hands while transporting an artifact
Soldiers are not able to hold artifacts
Death whilst having an artifact in your hands does not cause any death penalties

To find out how's the standing of a specific coucilor, ask your liege about the person:

You say, "How is Alzahakar standing to us?"

There are four states for each councilor:

Is a weak believer
Is a dedicated believer
Is a strong believer
Follows Shal'ille (doesn't believe at all)

Available councilors and their artifacts:

Name	You get an extra faction increase when..	Artifact
Alzahakar	... you've got one school at level 5	Runed Coffer
Bei Naq	... you've got at least 10.000 shillings in your inventory	Jeweled Egg
Cylill	... you've got Weaponcraft at level 5	Jade Cat
Drechx	... you've got at least 85 Hit Points	Demon Skull
Esseldi	... you've got at least 65 Mana	Crystal Sphere