Factions and Organizations

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Version: 1.0
Canon through: August 27, 2026

Outline

• Religious and Political Powers
• Covert and Criminal Organizations
• Adventuring and Local Groups
• Character-Linked Organizations
• Unresolved or Proposed Factions
• Relationship Summary

Religious and Political Powers

Priesthood of Ra

The dominant public religious institution. It administers Ra’s worship, supports the great temple in Amarna, and historically answered to the Pharaoh.

Ra’s recent public proclamation severed that relationship: the priesthood no longer answers to the Pharaoh. This gives the institution direct divine authority while also placing it in open political conflict with royal power.

The Pharaoh’s Court and Amun Loyalists

The Pharaoh’s authority includes the royal court, officials, and supporters who accept or exploit his claim to be Amun’s reincarnation. Some may be sincere believers; others may see the crisis as a route to independence from the priesthood.

A broader body of Amun sympathizers exists beyond the court, ranging from secret worshipers to people who merely believe Ra’s official history is false.

Priesthood of Anubis

A religious body devoted to proper burial, passage of the dead, judgment, and the boundary between life and death. The party expects to seek its help in creating the Oil of Anubis.

The priesthood is likely to require the party to investigate a lost temple where previous investigators vanished and where undead violate Anubis’s proper order.

Stillwater Covenant

A hidden Amun-aligned group connected to the Bowels of Anubis, forbidden truth, and the whispers beneath the water. It operates covertly because open Amun worship or public claims about Amun’s imprisonment can be treated as heresy.

• Neshet is a local leader.
• Khepri is an assistant or field agent.
• The group has used staged opposition, secret tests, and deception.
• The party entrusted the Cinderheart Seal to Neshet.

Sun Dogs

Ra’s secret warriors and agents. The Sun Dogs function as a blend of intelligence service, secret police, investigators, spies, covert soldiers, and religious enforcers.

Ra recognizes the party as a potential threat but is not omniscient and cannot simply observe them anywhere. The Sun Dogs give him mortal eyes, informants, trackers, and operatives.

Their symbol is based upon Ra’s solar disk and an atmospheric sun dog or parhelion: a false or secondary sun appearing beside the true one.

Covert and Criminal Organizations

Cult of the Withered Hand

The organization that abducted the people now living within Intrepid. Its intended atrocity is not yet known. It hired a mage who betrayed its purpose by miniaturizing and rescuing the captives.

Open questions include:

• Why those particular people were selected.
• Whether their shared past-life dreams were the reason.
• What the cult intended to create or sacrifice.
• Whether it serves Ra, Vecna, another god, or its own doctrine.
• Who leads it and how broadly it operates.

Cartels

Serious crime in Amarna and other settlements is controlled by organized cartels. Their dominance suppresses casual surface crime while concentrating violence, smuggling, extortion, and corruption in disciplined networks.

Underground Disruptors

People or creatures from underground regions sometimes emerge to create chaos. This may overlap with cartels, the Artery, cult activity, or entirely separate subterranean societies.

Desert Bandits and Raiders

Recurring threats along desert routes. Their established visual identity uses white clothing stained by dust and travel. Some raider encounters may be genuine robbery; others may be staged by covert groups such as the Stillwater Covenant.

Adventuring and Local Groups

Ashen Vow

An experienced adventuring party that led the expedition to the ruined city. Its death is one of the campaign’s first major mysteries. Known members include Kaelen the Unyielding and Garrick.

Mine Authority

The administrative and coercive apparatus that operates the mountain mines. Undead overseers enforce sentences and property claims without fatigue, negotiation, or forgetfulness. The mines blur penal labor, enslavement, and economic extraction.

Nomadic Elephant Keepers

A nomadic culture with unique knowledge of domesticating elephants for long travel. They are the only known people able to maintain such caravans reliably. No formal faction name has been established.

Character-Linked Organizations

Altennis’s Spy Guild

An unnamed espionage organization Altennis left. It likely retains claims, secrets, or expectations that make departure dangerous. Its connection to the restricted-scroll operation remains unknown.

Sylvester’s Detective Agency

An unnamed investigative agency that employed Sylvester, assigned increasingly dangerous cases, framed him, and caused his mine sentence. It is intended to return as a recurring opposing force and may connect to the main campaign.

Mulch’s Would-Be Liberators

A group hunting Mulch because it believes his ancient fungal symbiosis is a curse. Its members describe their goal as liberation, but they do not appear to respect Mulch’s own understanding or consent.

Unresolved or Proposed Factions

Anti-God Skeptics

A group or intellectual movement that denies the active beings called gods are truly divine. Competing theories describe them as elder beings, aliens, ancient magical entities, or rulers who have successfully monopolized worship.

Poison-the-Well Cult

An early hook proposes a crime syndicate or cult attempting to introduce disease into a well, possibly to summon or raise a demon. The group’s identity, goal, and relationship to established factions remain open.

Vampire-Exposure Cult

The delivery-crate hook includes a cult trying to expose the existence or origin of vampires. It may be separate from the poison plot, part of the same conspiracy, or an unused concept.

Relationship Summary