On Fighting Dreamers, in addition to being organized by villages, we have what are best referred to as factions.

When you create your character, you need to choose a classification and (optionally) a faction. Keep in mind that even if you pick one at creation, a person's loyalties can change -- meaning that you won't be stuck with your chosen faction forever. You're free to request a change to your character's classification. If you do, be sure to supply links to topics that support this change with in-character evidence.

Classification

A character’s classification is simply what kind of ninja they are in terms of residence (and associated loyalty). There are a few different options:

A ninja that is loyal to their village or residence, whether they were born there or not. They are often viewed as "common ninja" by those in factions. It is possible to be kicked from your village (either making you a wandering ninja or a nukenin) and, though a rare occurrence, a village head may allow you to simply leave and forfeit your position and loyalty to a village. This usually means you’re forfeiting loyalty to a village because your faction takes priority. Leaving a village in this manner requires an in-character audience with your respective village head, and should make sense for your character (as usual). Deserting a village (that is, leaving without setting things straight with the village leader) automatically brands you as a Nukenin, putting a bounty on your head.

(Also called "Wanderer Nin" or simply "Wanderers") These are free spirits - they have no ties to any specific village, cause, or faction, and are most often seen as a neutral party. It's not uncommon for villages or factions to ask for the help of a Wanderer, but whether they choose to accept or not is dependent on their personal morals/values and goals. It is important to keep in mind, however, that officially joining a faction (becoming listed as a member) causes you to lose this status - if you’re not affiliated with a village and join a faction, you would either affiliate yourself with the village (if applicable) or you would become a Faction Nin. It’s extremely rare to see a younger wandering ninja, simply due to the dangers that can present themselves to any ninja. Most wanderers are those that have tossed away their loyalty to any particular cause, though they can often feel themselves preferring a particular village or faction. Becoming a Wanderer Nin at creation requires administrative approval, and to become one through RP it must make sense for your character.

(Also simply called “Faction Nin”) These are ninja that are not affiliated with a village, but are part of a faction. These are the most common ninjas around. They can choose to take up residence within a village without becoming village nin as long as they reside within designated residential areas of their faction. Alternatively, they will reside within one of the faction’s territories outside of any ninja villages. The faction structure determines whether this option is available to you or not.

(Also known as "Missing Nin[ja]") They are, at their core, criminal, rogue ninja. They are those that have done something, no matter how insignificant, to earn the title of criminal, and have fled any village they may have been associated with. It's important to note that defecting from a village (short of retiring from service) automatically counts as treason, and you would be labeled a Nukenin. There is no particular “direction” when it comes to Nukenin joining or refraining from joining a faction - some do, and some don’t. But a Nukenin within a faction can cause a lot of tension unless it’s a Nukenin-specific faction, so it’s a very risky move.

Factions

A faction is a group of people that share similar ideals or goals. While they don't have to be a hivemind and all feel the same way about everything, they should have ideals or goals that overlap in some fashion. At the very least, being in a faction means you're supporting each other and relying on each other. In an environment where your faction house is the only safe place to be, it's important that you maintain good relationships with the other faction members.

Factions will always have a "home" location - this must be specified on the faction's listing, as well as in the description of the location that they’ve claimed as their territory. It's possible to have outposts and branch locations in countries outside of the faction's home location, but this must be requested via the registry so it can be amended in the Faction Info.

The Fighting Dreamers staff will not create empty factions for players to join. You're always welcome to create your own faction. If so desired, you can create an NPC faction - this is a faction that is almost exclusively populated by NPCs, and is also run by NPCs. These can be fun for personal plot but can also be used to create missions for others to undertake, or even for user-created events.

Even if you don’t choose to join a faction at the start, you can do so later through RP, so feel free to simply pick a village and go from there.

Joining a faction at creation is the easiest way for your character to “gain membership” into a faction. You’re only required to contact the people responsible for approving new members for permission before sticking the faction into your character’s profile at creation.

Once your character has already been approved, you’d have to gain entry into the faction through RP if you didn’t do so at creation, and though this could be done quickly with the right planning, it’s more time-consuming than the first method.

Either way, your entry into a faction rests with the creators of the factions (or those they grant that power to)

Check here to see if any factions are currently accepting members.

Due to the nature of factions, they are all member-created. This means that, before you create your character, you need to decide if you're going to create a new faction or fill an available slot in an existing one. Keep in mind that newly-created factions consist of 5 Player Characters maximum. It's fine to create NPCs to be part of your chosen faction (and they don’t count toward your maximum), but be reasonable with your uses of them. Once your faction has been created, you can add more slots as you see fit.

If you're creating a new faction, apply for it in the Registry before creating your character, as the faction you're going to be a part of is listed on your character's basic profile. Keep in mind that even though the maximum at creation is 5, you're not required to have that many and can refuse to accept members beyond your chosen few.

The template will include the following information (note: your Faction application should be split into two posts as detailed below):

FIRST POST
Your first post should serve as the “info at a glance” post. This is where the basics of your faction are laid out for people to see. The information in this post should not be changed by the member - if anything here needs to be changed, ask for a mod to do it for you - no edits should be dated after your faction has been approved and moved to the appropriate board.

Faction Name: This is what others will know the faction by. It can be whatever you like (within reason - try to give it a proper name, please). Whether there’s symbolism in the name or not is up to you, it just needs to have some sort of name that other identify it by. Even if the members of the faction never formally gave it a name, you can use this to explain a “nickname” given to it by others.

Focus: Is your faction a purely militaristic one? Diplomatic? (Etc.)

Ideology/Beliefs: Essentially, you need to explain the general beliefs of your faction’s leaders. For example, if your faction’s leaders believe that curry is an abomination or if you believe that your clan is superior and everyone else should serve under it, this is where you’d say so. This can be as in-depth as you want it to be, but at a minimum you should summarize your faction’s ideology in bullet points. Keep in mind that this is something that can be changed over time as necessary.

Goals: What are your faction’s goals? These can be short-term, long-term, small-scale, large-scale, whatever you deem appropriate. These can also change over time, but you need to have some sort of plan here.

Hierarchy: If you have some sort of particular hierarchy and different roles within your faction, list them. Having one isn’t mandatory, but if you do have one, you need to include this information. This hierarchy explanation does not include names or links of any kind, though - that information is included in the second post.

SECOND POST

This is the post that will include information that can/will change more frequently.

Recruitment Status: How you word it is up to you, but essentially, you need to specify whether you’re openly recruiting (people can freely ask to join), only recruiting through RP, invite-only, etc. It doesn’t matter what it is, it just needs to be clearly/easily visible. This will be listed in your faction’s thread title upon approval.

(Suggestion)Relationship with other factions: If, as a faction, you have enemies, allies, etc, they should be listed here.

Member List: Self-explanatory. You can either list any faction NPCs here or on a separate list, but this must be shown with links to each member’s profile. Members should be listed by character name, not player username.

(Suggestion)Missions: If you have missions for your members to undertake, you can list them here - but be sure to specify whether the mission details have been pre-approved or not, as members will have to get them approved themselves if you haven’t done so already.

(Suggestion)Bounties: If your faction has placed a bounty on another character, you can list it here as well.

(Suggestion)Open/Planned RP: List any open RP/planned RP your members might be interested in.

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First post template:

Code:

[center]<h1>Faction Name</h1>

[b]Focus:[/b][/center]
<blockquote>[b]Description:[/b] Describe your faction. Think of this as flavor text. You can include some form of history here if you want.

[b]Ideology/Beliefs:[/b]

[b]Goals:[/b]

[b]Hierarchy:[/b]</blockquote>

Second post template:

Code:

<h3>Recruitment Info</h3>

<blockquote>[b]Recruitment Status:[/b]

[b]Diplomatic Relationships:[/b]

[b]Member List:[/b]</blockquote>

<h3>Roleplay</h3>

<blockquote>[b]Missions:[/b]

[b]Bounties:[/b]

[b]Open/Planned RP:[/b]</blockquote>

If you need to request changes to your faction’s listing, simply create a new thread in the faction creation area - when completed, the thread will be moved to the archives to prevent clutter.

Ranks

On Fighting Dreamers, a character's rank is not an indicator of power, nor does it place a limit on how powerful you can become. Ranks are exclusively used as an indicator of status, and affect your potential Bingo Book bounty. Generally, higher ranks mean you are more influential in your respective village or faction, but it can also make you a bigger target since it puts you in a higher political position.

Ranking up is not necessary if your only goal is to be powerful since all attributes and aptitudes can be upgraded to any level regardless of your character's rank. However, there are some things in-character that may be "rank-locked", such as higher positions within a village (a village head must be of a high rank). Your rank also affects your mission funds gain (explained below).

The letter ranks for Player Characters range from C-SS, with C being the lowest and SS being the highest. D-Rank is exclusively used for NPCs (usually civilian/non-ninja characters). The requirements for increasing your rank and the effects each rank provides are as follows (note that the thread count requirement resets for each rank, meaning you have to use NEW threads):

C-Rank

Those that are C-rank are considered a fledgling ninja. They don't have much experience yet, but they can hold their own well enough to take on missions. C-Rank ninja usually stick together on missions and often seek mentors to help them rise in the ranks.

Requirements:

• None. Starting rank.
  

Effects:

• +2 Funds reward bonus for completing ★★★ missions.
  
• +5 Funds reward bonus for completing ★★★★ missions.
  
• +10 Funds reward bonus for completing ★★★★★ missions.
  

B-Rank

B-Rank ninja have proven that they can handle themselves fairly well in missions and can be trusted with slightly more important tasks. They tend to undertake missions in smaller groups than C-Rank ninjas, occasionally on their own.

Requirements:

• Complete 3 Missions and 1 Combat Thread
  OR
  
• Complete 3 Combat Threads and 1 Mission
  

Effects:

• +4 Funds reward bonus for completing ★★★★ missions.
  
• +6 Funds reward bonus for completing ★★★★★ missions.
  
• Reward cap of 8 Funds for completing missions ★★ and under.
  

A-Rank

A-Rank ninja are experienced and often trusted with more sensitive tasks as well as information. They're typically the ones chosen to teach and assist newer ninja with missions and training as their experience helps them understand what's important and what isn't. These are also often the ones who gauge the potential of new faction recruits.

Requirements:

• Complete 5 Missions and 3 Combat Threads
  OR
  
• Complete 5 Combat Threads and 3 Missions
  OR
  
• Complete 8 Combat Threads
  

Effects:

• +4 Funds reward bonus for completing ★★★★★ missions.
  
• Reward cap of 8 Funds for completing missions ★★★ and under.
  
• +5 Funds rewards bonus per B- or C-Rank ninja taken on missions (ignores reward cap)
  
• Access to techniques A-Rank or below on the limited/restricted list (with approval)
  

S-Rank

S-Rank ninja are the elite. Their power is well established, and they are important figures in their villages and/or factions. They have a strong political influence, and are usually the ones that make important decisions that affect their village or faction.

Requirements:

• Complete 6 Missions and 5 Combat Threads
  
• Successfully participate in an Event OR Capture a Wanted Ninja
  

Effects:

• Reward cap of 6 Funds for completing missions ★★★ and under.
  
• +7 Funds rewards bonus per B- or C-Rank ninja taken on missions (ignores reward cap)
  
• Access to techniques S-Rank or below on the limited/restricted list (with approval)