Iphexar · Factions
Factions
The organizations that shape the 4th Age — from the oldest guardianship in the New Age to the traveling networks that move between the cracks of institutional power. Some operate in the open. Some cannot afford to.
The dominant institutions of Midralis: the Concordiax, the Ninefold Conservatory, the Auridian Union, are covered where they are most relevant, in the sections on Forces and History. What this section documents are the factions that operate relative to those institutions: adjacent to them, below their notice, in active friction with them, or systematically suppressed by them.
Founded Year 0 N.A.
The Shardbinders
Clandestine · Suppressed
The oldest mortal guardianship in the New Age. Created at the close of the Elemental Cataclysm. Bonded to the crystallised essence of fallen Primeval Dragons. Publicly mythologized. Institutionally branded as enemies of Auridia since approximately Year 4000 N.A. Still operating, invisibly, in possession of knowledge the Concordiax cannot afford them to share.
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Active · Auridia
The Hearthbound
Coming Soon
A decentralized network of safe houses, waystation keepers, and community protectors who operate below the level of Concordiax institutional notice. The Hearthbound do not have a manifesto. They have a practice: take people in, move them safely, ask no questions that could be used against anyone later.
Active · Cross-Continental
The Resonant Quill
Coming Soon
A network of scholars, archivists, and knowledge couriers dedicated to preserving and transmitting information the Concordiax would prefer remain in its sealed archives. The Quill believes that the suppression of historical knowledge is the most effective long-term weapon any institution can wield. And that the antidote is distribution.
Active · Auridia
Vanguards of Valor
Coming Soon
A mercenary-adjacent organization that functions as the closest thing to a neutral intervention force available in the 4th Age. The Vanguards take contracts. They also, occasionally, take contracts that no one paid them to take — when the situation and the people involved are specific enough to justify the cost.
Active · Cross-Continental
The Wayfarer Compact
Coming Soon
A guild-adjacent network of long-distance travelers, scouts, and information brokers whose value proposition is simple: they go where institutions cannot follow and come back with what they found. The Compact maintains strict neutrality as a founding principle. It has never formally violated that neutrality. The informal record is more complicated.