Faction Actions
A Leader can orchestrate one of their Factions into performing an Action with them, such as Resting an Army or stockpiling assets using the Faction’s collective labor force. Many Actions are in fact designed exclusively for use by Leaders who are orchestrating a Faction & require that a Faction be involved, as Factions cannot perform an Action without a Leader commanding them to do so.
When an Action is set for a Faction by its Leader, the GM writes down a Description of what the Action is set to accomplish adjacent to the Faction name on his list along with the Duration on the calendar, the date on which it will be completed.
Predefined Faction Actions
Faction Activity
Duration:Variable
Trigger:When your Faction undertakes an unusual action that doesn't fit a predefined action.
Lots of weird Faction actions won't cleanly fall into any other niche. In these cases, a GM may determine a Duration based on the nature of the act & use the Success Save template table to determine the general outcome.
When the Duration elapses, Save.
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| Crit (≥12) | The action succeeds twice as well as anyone hoped for, or in an exceptional way. If the outcome directly benefited or aided other Factions, they grow Pleased. |
| Pass (8–11) | The action succeeds exactly as intended. |
| Seven (7) | The action succeeds half as well as intended. |
| Failure (3–6) | A new, secondary problem has emerged that prevents the completion of the action until resolved. Pick a Faction (preferably an Idle one that would be opposed to the action) that's to blame for or related to the new problem. |
| Fumble (≤2) | The action fails catastrophically. The worst possible thing that could happen (for you & the local environment) happens. |
Create Subfaction
Duration:Variable
Trigger:When you promote a Retainer and gift them a Capital to form a new Subfaction.
To create a new Subfaction, you must:
- Promote a Leader: Promote one of your Retainers or someone else you know to the position of Leader.
- Define its role: Determine the nature of the Subfaction. This has a direct impact on its actual ability to serve you; you are shaping the structure of the institution, and that's limited by what your realm is actually capable of supporting.
- Gift a Capital: A physical Settlement or other Capital (such as a castle, or a building or district inside a larger Settlement) suited to its nature must be gifted to the Leader. The new Capital must:
- Transfer assets: You may need to transfer assets such as Settlements located within the territory granted to a Subfaction.
The Duration for creating a new Subfaction is set based on the table below & the Followers in the new Capital.
| Followers in Capital | Faction Level | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1+ | 2 | 1 day |
| 3+ | 3 | 1 day |
| 10+ | 4 | 2 days |
| 30+ | 5 | 2 days |
| 100+ | 6 | 3 days |
| 300+ | 7 | 4 days |
| 1,000+ | 8 | 5 days |
| 3,000+ | 9 | 10 days |
| 10k+ | 10 | 20 days |
| 30k+ | 11 | 30 days |
| 100k+ | 12 | 100 days |
| 300k+ | 13 | 200 days |
| 1,000k+ | 14 | 1 year |
When the Duration elapses, the Subfaction is automatically formed; no Save required.
Sabotage
Duration:1 month
Trigger:When you commit espionage, debt warfare, or indirect political conflict against a target.
Intangible forms of harm — trade deals, subterfuge, espionage, debt, political & religious conflict, & other forms of intangible & indirect conflict — are handled via this action. To commit Sabotage, explain the plausible means by which you would conduct it. You need a valid attack vector on the target & the tools & methodology to exploit the weakness.
The Duration is set to 1 month from the day that planning begins.
When the Duration elapses, Save.
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| Crit (≥12) | The target loses 50% of their current Followers. |
| Pass (8–11) | The target loses 30% of their current Followers. |
| Seven (7) | The target loses 10% of their current Followers. |
| Failure (3–6) | The GM picks a Faction (preferably an Idle one that would be opposed to the action) that's to blame for or related to getting in the way of your sabotage (by incompetence, opposition, or accident). That Faction grows Angrier with you. |
| Fumble (≤2) | The sabotage fails catastrophically. You lose 10% of your Followers; roll for a Random Faction Event & interpret it as the worst possible consequence of the failed sabotage. |
Make Action
Duration:Variable
Trigger:When you build a non-commodity physical asset such as a statue, fortress, bridge, or road.
Make a non-commodity physical asset, such as a statue, building, fortress, bridge, or road.
The Duration is equal to the asset value in $ times 6, divided by your number of Families.
Alternatively, you can invest $5 per month (or ~$0.17 per day) per Family to calculate the Duration.
The minimum Duration is 1 day per $1,000. Even if you have liquid capital (i.e. silver, gold) on hand, expensive assets require extensive negotiations as well as search & construction periods.
When the Duration elapses, Save.
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| Crit (≥12) | The asset is complete on time & clever management has eliminated the debts involved in the asset's creation (if any were made through prior cost overruns). |
| Pass (8–11) | The asset is complete on time. |
| Seven (7) | There were cost overruns. You can either find a valid Faction who will loan you 10% of the asset's value within the next week to complete it, or set a new Duration to finish the project using the remaining cost as the basis. |
| Failure (3–6) | There were cost overruns. You can either find a valid Faction who will loan you 50% of the asset's value within the next week to complete it, or set a new Duration to finish the project using the remaining cost as the basis. |
| Fumble (≤2) | The construction fails catastrophically. You lose 10% of your Followers; roll for a Random Faction Event & interpret it as the worst possible consequence of the failed efforts. |
Then again, even a master blacksmith is Level 3 — he has journeymen & apprentices under him — and a fundamental tenet of Glass Empires is that no man is an island. If you need better production capacity, the best place to get it is to learn to command.
Plunder Settlement
Duration:Variable
Trigger:When you order an Army to plunder a controlled Settlement.
To plunder a controlled Settlement, you must order an Army whose BR is at least equal to the Settlement's Families to do so.
You may simultaneously plunder any number of smaller nearby controlled Settlements so long as they aren't closer to a Settlement larger than the main target. Add 1 day to the Duration for each additional Settlement plundered in this manner.
The Duration for plundering in days is equal to the Army's number of troops divided by the total plundered Families (across all afflicted Settlements), minimum 1 day.
At the end of the Duration, you & your Army gain $5 × 3d6 × [Families plundered] in $. Afterwards, each affected Settlement's Families score is halved & you may destroy any notable landmarks within the plundered Settlement(s). No Save is required.
You can repeatedly loot Settlements. If you want to obliterate them & all surrounding farmland, it takes 4 times as long as usual & turns all Settlements into voided ruins with 25% of their original SHP value (if any).
Grow Followers
Duration:Variable
Trigger:When you attempt to convert more of a Settlement's population to follow your Faction.
If your Faction has its Capital located inside a Settlement & only has Families equal to a portion of that Settlement's total Families, you may attempt to raise your number of Families by converting more people within the Settlement to follow you, an ally, one of your Retainers/Subfactions or your Liege.
Describe to the GM how you are plausibly attempting to convert people & to whose side. It doesn't have to be your Faction; you can work on someone else's behalf.
The Duration is 2 months for low switching costs (commodities & entertainment), 4 months for medium (guilds & banking, mercenary services), & 8 months for high switching costs (ethnic associations, religious faiths, nobility).
When the Duration elapses, make a Success Save to determine the base number of how many Families could be gained.
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| Crit (≥12) | 100% of the target's current Families. |
| Pass (8–11) | 50% of the target's current Families. |
| Seven (7) | 10% of the target's current Families. |
| Failure (3–6) | Nothing. |
| Fumble (≤2) | 10% of your current Families (not the target's) leave you. |
Reduce the amount gained to at most:
> ([Settlement's Families] - [Competitors' Families]) / 2
A Competitor is a Faction in the same Settlement that shares the same financial niche as you — whether that be a mercantile, banking, legal, government, military, magical, educational, industrial, or entertainment niche matters not.
Examples abound: Two bakeries serving the same artisan niche; a messenger guild & a cult serving a divine messenger; two gate/guard societies; two banking houses; two divisions within the same company (they can't share employees). When in doubt, ask: "Would a customer choosing Faction A have any reason to also patronize Faction B?" If not, they're Competitors.
If you want to try to claim Families from a Competitor, you should try Sabotage, warfare, or other forms of attack. You can also differentiate your offerings so that you're not directly competing with entrenched forces — for example, a revolutionary movement would struggle to make open headway against an established town police force, so they can differentiate by instead going underground & only move to the open after growing in numbers.
Capital Relocation
Duration:Variable
Trigger:When you try to relocate your base of operations or seat of government to a new Settlement or Location.
You can relocate your Capital to a new Settlement or Location. The old Capital becomes a provincial seat or secondary holding; the new one becomes the administrative heart of your Faction.
If the destination is already a Location you control (a Settlement in your realm), this is a transfer of administration. If it's a new Location (a conquered or claimed site), this is a planting of the flag.
Duration
The Duration is determined by the distance between the old and new Capital, in days. Measure the time taken to travel via the Travel action, and double it. That's how long the relocation takes.
When the Duration elapses, your Capital is established in the new location.
Cost
Relocating a Capital costs $10 per day of the Duration to cover transport, supplies, and the initial establishment of offices and residences.
If the destination is a Location you already control (a Settlement in your realm), halve the costs. The infrastructure exists, you just have to shift personnel and priority.
Save
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| Crit (≥12) | The transition is seamless. Your administrative apparatus settles in ahead of schedule. The new arrangement may qualify you for Advancement. |
| Pass (8–11) | Success. Your Capital is established in the new location without incident. |
| Seven (7) | Difficult. Your Capital is established, but your Faction suffers -1 to all actions for 1 month while the administration reorganizes. |
| Failure (3–6) | Beset by complications — lost records, defecting officials, local resistance. Your Faction suffers -2 to all actions for 1 month. |
| Fumble (≤2) | Catastrophic breakdown. Your Capital is established, but you lose a number of Families in the new location equal to 10% of your current Families (officials who refused the move, local power structures that undermine you). Roll a Random Faction Event. |
No Save is required for a Faction with 0 Families (a solo Leader or small party just moving their base of operations).
If your Faction has at least 1 Family, Save at the end of the Duration. The Save represents the legal, administrative, and diplomatic headaches of untethering your seat of power from one place and re-establishing it in another.
Apply modifiers from the standard Faction Resolution process (Institutional Knowledge, Power, Precedent, Foreign, Opposition), plus:
- +1 if the destination is already a Location in your realm (you're consolidating, not claiming)
- -1 for each hostile Faction whose territory your route passes through or whose region contains your destination
- -1 if your old Capital is more than 100 miles from the new one (distance strains administrative continuity)
Benefits
A well-chosen Capital relocation can open new opportunities — closer access to resources, better defensive position, political legitimacy in a newly-conquered region.
Capital Decay
Your old Capital becomes a Settlement (or Location) in your realm, but it loses the prestige and administrative focus that made it your Capital. It now functions as a regular Location of its type. If another Faction moves in, they may claim it as their Capital.