Factions

From Oceania Classic: An Australian Ultima Online Free Shard
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Four warring Factions struggle for control of Britannia! Who's side will you join?

Lady Minax

Three of these Factions also battle over the Lost Lands!

The Faction System in Oceania Classic has been redesigned and expanded compared to what used to exist on OSI.

Factions

The New Council of Mages Stronghold In Wind

To join a Faction, visit the stronghold of the one you wish to join and use the signup stone located near the entrance. You will be given a uniform to show your allegiance and will be able to join in the fight immediately.

Faction signup stones can also be found in the Moongate Hall.

True Britannians

The True Britannians are the loyal followers of Lord British. Their stronghold is Castle British in Britain.

Council of Mages

The Council of Mages are political opponents of Lord British's rule who were originally based on Verity Isle (Moonglow) and the now abandoned Isle of Magincia. They have since relocated their stronghold underground to the City of Mages, Wind.

The entrance to the Council of Mages base in the Lost Lands is located high in the Harpy Hills west of Terathan Keep.

Shadowlords

This Faction follows 3 evil demonic entities known as the Shadowlords. Their base is located in the Yew Crypts.

The entrance to the Shadowlords base in the Lost Lands can be found on the east side of Hoppers Bog.

Followers of Minax

The Followers of Minax, or just Minax for short, support the vile Lady Minax in her attempts to overthrow her bitter enemy, Lord British. Their stronghold is located in Dragonhame Mountain, with the entrance located almost opposite to that of Dungeon Destard. The mountain can be found roughly halfway between the cities of Trinsic and Skara Brae.

The entrance the Minax base in the Lost Lands can be found in the mountainside halfway between the City of the Dead and the Council of Mages base.

Chaos Anti-Faction

Dismayed by the relentless war between the four Factions, Lord Blackthorn has ordered his Chaos troops to liberate captured cities and guard those which have declared neutrality. Chaos guards are hostile towards members of all four Factions. Chaos are based in Castle Blackthorn above Britain.

Note: Chaos in this context is the Anti-Faction and cannot be joined by players. It should not be confused with the separate version of Chaos which players can join as part of the Order vs Chaos guild warfare system.

Town Capture & Management

The cities of Britain, Moonglow, Yew, Trinsic, Vesper, Ocllo, Delucia, and Papua can be captured and controlled by the Factions.

The eight Faction Cities each have their own citizens, troops, and functioning economies.

Cities are captured by stealing the town Sigil, taking it back to your base, holding it for 2 hours to corrupt, and then placing it back in the respective town. The town is secured for either 72 (Trinsic), 24 (Vesper, Ocllo, Delucia), or 6 hours (Britain, Moonglow, Yew, Papua), at which point the Sigil can be stolen once again by a rival Faction member.

Stealing a Sigil requires either 80.0 in the Stealing skill or a pair of Gloves of Sigil Stealing (see below).

Citizens
Shadowlords chase a Minax player carrying a Sigil

A city's Treasury Balance determines how many Citizens the city can support at any given time. Citizen populations of the cities will rise and fall on an (in-game, equal to 48 minutes) daily basis according to that city's Treasury Balance. A city can support one Citizen for every 500 silver in it's treasury. A city's Treasury Balance and Citizen population can be increased by adopting the Growth strategy.

Citizens earn a daily income for their city and also incur daily maintenance costs. Their income will be directed towards the city's set strategy, while their maintenance costs are withdrawn from the Civic Budget, or the Treasury Balance if the budget cannot afford the costs.

The minimum and maximum amount an individual Citizen can earn is determined by a number of factors, such as the Health and Morale of their city, the size of the army guarding the city, and the city's population.

Citizens in the two major cities of Britain and Trinsic can earn more per day compared with citizens in other towns, depending on the Health and Morale in those cities.

Citizens can be identified by the title "of [City]" after their names.

Faction Commanders can send silver to a city under their control to boost it's Treasury Balance and thus increase the number of Citizens in the town.

City Troops

Once a player captures a town by placing it's corrupted Sigil back on the town's monolith, troops will begin to arrive from the player's Faction to guard the town.

The size of the army guarding a city is determined by it's Military Budget. Cities which have no funds in their Military Budget will be undefended.

Troops incur upkeep costs which are withdrawn from the city's Military Budget, or the Treasury Balance if the budget cannot afford it.

Killing enemy Faction Guards will reward the player with silver, Valor, as well as whatever else the guard may be carrying.

Garrisons of Faction and Chaos Guards can also be found at the Faction Strongholds and Castle Blackthorn.

  • Faction Guards from the True Britannians and Council of Mages will attack Murderers who aren't in the same Faction as them on sight, even if the Murderer isn't in a Faction at all.
  • Shadowlords Faction Guards will attack anyone in their town who isn't in the Shadowlords Faction, including innocent Blues who are not even in a Faction at all.
  • Council of Mages guards will attack anyone with negative Karma who is not from their Faction, including innocent Blues who are not even in a Faction at all.
  • Minax guards will attack anyone with positive Karma who is not from their Faction, including innocent Blues who are not even in a Faction at all.
  • Unlike in the other six cities, guards in Britain and Delucia will not attack those who aren't in a Faction as described above and will only attack members of enemy Factions.
City Management

Faction Commanders can use the City Management menu to govern cities under their control.

Speak either of the phrases "I am sheriff" or "I wish to access the city treasury" whilst a Faction Commander and in a city under your control to access the City Management menu. The menu is the same regardless of which phrase is uttered.

City Strategies

Faction Commanders can use the City Management menu to set a city's strategy, which determines what the income generated by it's citizens will be spent on.

Growth: Citizen's income will go to the city's Treasury Balance. Use the Growth strategy to increase the citizen population of a city.

Military: Income generated by the city's citizens will go to the Military Budget. Use the Military strategy to increase the size and strength of the army guarding the city.

Civic: Employing the Civic strategy will direct income from the city's citizens to the Civic Budget. Use the Civic strategy to strengthen the city's economy so that it can support more citizens and enact zero and negative Tax Rates.

Balanced: The Balanced strategy splits the earnings of citizens between the Military and Civic Budgets.

Tax Rate

Faction Commanders can use the City Management menu to set a city's Tax Rate. The Tax Rate determines the cost of items sold by most NPC vendors within the city.

Tax Rates of 0% and negative -10% can only be enacted when a city's Civic Budget is large enough to support these lower rates.

Citizens in cities with 0% and -10% Tax Rates will incur higher maintenance costs, thus putting more strain on the Civic Budget.

Once a city's Civic Budget can no longer support a rate of 0% or -10%, it's rate will automatically revert to +10%.

A city cannot employ the Civic or Balanced strategies while also having a 0% or -10% Tax Rate. Only the Growth and Military strategies may be used at the same time as a 0% or -10% Tax Rate.

Health & Morale

Each of the Faction cities has Health and Morale ratings which impact how much citizens in the city can earn each day.

Health Ratings: Terrible, Poor, Average, Good, Excellent

Morale Ratings: Dismal, Pessimistic, Ok, Optimistic, Triumphant

A city's health can be improved by employing the Growth strategy and also by having a large Civic Budget to support better healthcare for the city's citizens.

Morale can be improved by employing the Military strategy and increasing the size of the army guarding the city.

A city can suffer a loss of both Health and especially Morale when it's Sigil is stolen. Cities who's Sigils are frequently stolen and fought over are likely to have quite low Morale as a result of all the fighting.

Faction Capital: Trinsic

The Faction Capital of Trinsic can be guarded by a large and powerful army of Faction Guards.

Capturing the capital rewards the successful thief with a very large amount of Valor and Silver.

Controlling Trinsic is required in order to purchase Dark or Silver Steeds.

Neutral/Chaos Cities

Faction Cities have a small random chance to rebel against their new masters when they are captured and instead declare themselves to be Neutral.

Chaos can also liberate captured cities and turn them neutral.

Chaos troops are hostile towards all Factions and are there to defend the town's right to neutrality.

Town Stones

When a Faction controls one of the eight towns, members from that Faction may purchase select goods in which that town specialises in at a greatly discounted price from the Town Stone. Some goods can be paid for in Gold, while some require silver.

Players must be a Seeker of Valor before they are able to buy from the Town Stones.

Town Stones are located next to their town's bank for convenience.

Each town has two items available from it's Town Stone.

  • Trinsic: Enhanced Bandages*, First Aid Kits*
  • Vesper: Reagents*, Wood
  • Ocllo: Bottles*, Ingots
  • Britain: Cloth*, Leather
  • Moonglow: Blank Scrolls*, Cloth
  • Yew: Wood*, Arrows
  • Papua: Cloth, Reagents
  • Delucia: Leather, Bottles

Note: An asterisk indicates that this item is the cheapest available of it's kind on the shard.

Town Hitching Post

Town Hitching Posts can be found next to Town Stones and allow Faction members to purchase War Mounts.

War Mounts
True Brits War Horses

New War Mounts based on the original Faction War Horse have been added, some of which can only be purchased by either the two "good" OR the two "evil" Factions. Like the War Horse, the new War Mounts can be resurrected by their owner without the need for any Vet skill.

  • War Horse - All Factions - Britain & Papua
  • War Llama - All Factions - Moonglow
  • War Ostard - All Factions - Vesper
  • War Bear - All Factions - Ocllo & Delucia
  • War Warg - Minax & Shadowlords - Yew
  • War Drake - True Britannians & Council of Mages - Yew
  • Dark Steed - Minax & Shadowlords - Trinsic
  • Silver Steed - True Britannians & Council of Mages - Trinsic

Valor Virtue

The Valor Virtue allows characters to buy from Town Stones and Valor Stones.

Characters can raise their Valor Virtue by taking part in Faction combat and stealing Sigils.

Taking a Sigil to a Faction Stronghold to corrupt will earn the thief 100 Valor points.

Returning a corrupted Sigil to a town, thus capturing it, will reward the thief as follows:

  • Trinsic: 1000 Valor
  • Vesper, Ocllo, and Nujel'm: 500 Valor
  • Britain, Moonglow, Yew, and Skara Brae: 250 Valor

Faction Treasury & Garrisons

The size and makeup of the garrisons of guards at the Faction Strongholds is dependent on the Faction's Treasury's balance. Garrisons also require daily pay which is deducted from the Faction's Treasury.

Faction Silver Donation Box

The Silver Donation Box is located next to each Faction's Stronghold Stone in Britannia.

Rewards may be claimed from the box, such as Anti-Para Potions, Invisibility Potions, Faction Traps, First Aid Packs, Tasty Treats, War Mount Whistles and more.

Silver donated to the box goes directly into the Faction's Treasury.

Gloves of Sigil Stealing

Gloves of Sigil Stealing are available as a reward from the Faction Garrison Donation Box for 1000 Silver. These gloves allow a player to steal Sigils without the need for the Stealing skill whilst they are being worn. The wearer will also suffer a -10 penalty to Dexterity while the gloves are equipped, which also means they require at least 21 Dexterity to wear.

Temporary Skill Loss

Dying to an enemy Factioner will result in a 5 minute temporary skill loss of 33% for the victim.