In the Star Army RP, a faction is an in-character group or organization such as a nation.

Played factions are factions that contain player characters and role-playing plots. They are the heart of the site's roleplay and are living, ever-changing entities made possible by combined effort of multiple people. Played factions should have a comprehensive collection of information about them on the wiki.

#	Flag	Page	Description	Playable?
1		Yamatai Star Empire	The Yamatai Star Empire is a technologically-advanced transhuman empire with most of the population using biological android bodies. It's got an 80s anime-inspired flavor and is protected by a massive, politically powerful military called the Star Army, which the site is named after. It is the Star Army setting's cornerstone faction.	Yes
2		United Norian Imperium	The Norian people—a society of advanced, elf-like beings—are marked by a history of conflict and resilience. Now entering the SARPiverse, they face their first-ever change in the Imperial Family, sparking divisions within the Imperium. Some factions seek to restore unity, while others fall under the sway of an ancient enemy bent on their destruction. The Norians now stand at a crossroads between renewal and ruin.	Yes
3		Tsenlan	Sagely space elves from another universe. They overcame great obstacles and have come to join their allies as the newest state of the Yamatai Star Empire..	Yes
4		Independent	Those not a part of a major faction of the SARPiverse.	Yes
5		Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia	The Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia is a gritty cyberpunk nation of humans, cyborgs, and mutants that deals with high crime in its megacities. Mixing of genetic material from super-solider programs has resulted in muscular half-breeds and a population that is considerably more male than female. Nepleslia has a space navy and space marines. It was previously part of Yamatai, but it rebelled and gained its independence a little more than a decade ago.	Yes

Note: Origin Industries, though a corporation, is basically treated like a faction. It's managed by Kai.

• An active Faction Manager and an assistant FM or Co-FM
• At least one active Game Master running an active plot.
  • A faction with two or more plots is considered a “major faction.”
• Character Creation Guides
• Creating A Faction

• FM gets a green name on the forums & discord.
• FM gets control of the faction.
• The faction gets a roleplay forum

Non-Player Factions (also called background factions) are setting resources usable by all GMs. These could be:

• Enemy factions to serve as opponents in plots.
• Alien factions to add flavor and variety to the universe.
• A starter for a player faction that hasn't opened plots yet.

It is important that each faction have a purpose and a use: if you're building a faction as a static personal display piece or one that no one is using, you're doing it wrong. Connect to other factions in the setting.

Background factions usually have a person in creative control of them. Please be respectful to their creation and consult them before using the faction if possible. Background factions are not used as the equivalent of player characters; Star Army is a character-based roleplay, not one where each player has/plays a personal faction or Empire. Once you make the species, it's for everyone.

It's okay for player characters to be from a background faction. In fact, this can be a great way to flesh the faction out.

These factions currently do not have an RP running for them, although some may have in the past.

• They should generally not unbalance the setting or overshadow the played factions.
• They should appear or have a solid plan to appear in a roleplay plot at some point.
• Information on:
  • Culture
  • Technology level and any interesting technologies of note.
  • Species physiology

These factions no longer exist in the main timeline.

On Star Army a Faction Manager (FM) is a person responsible for the out-of-character management of a playable faction.

Faction managers are listed on the OOC Management page.

Managed Factions on Star Army have certain rights, which can be exercised by their Faction Manager and his/her designated assistants:

1. Factions have a right to their own destiny.
   1. An active faction cannot be destroyed or conquered without its manager's consent.
   2. Diplomatic, military, and other important events should be discussed in advance.
      1. This permission should be obtained in plot planning threads and/or the GM Workshop forum.
      2. Failure to do so may result in the setting manager marking the RP thread as non-canon.
2. Factions have a right to control their assets.
   1. Additions and changes to a faction must be approved by its faction manager.
      1. This is done in the Setting Submissions (NTSE) forum.
   2. Factions have the ability to control their technology base.
      1. Characters can only acquire other factions' items in actual RP, such as looting it off an enemy soldier.
      2. For non-RP acquisition, such as salvaging, FM permission is required. When in doubt, get FM permission.
      3. Other factions may not reverse engineer or reproduce a faction's unique technology without permission.
         1. Failure to obtain permission will bar the item from being approved.
   3. Other factions may not, without permission, involve or destroy a faction's
      1. Notable Factional NPCs, such as leadership, media, and government officials.
      2. businesses
      3. cities
      4. military units
   4. Unauthorized use of factional assets may result in an RP thread being marked as non-canon by the Setting Manager.
3. Factions have a right to active staffers.
   1. Factions are typically managed by their creator, but creators do not necessarily have to manage a faction.
   2. If a faction's manager leaves, is banned, or becomes inactive, the longest-serving assistant FM becomes the faction manager.
   3. Faction Managers may designate one or two assistant faction managers and delegate powers to them.
   4. Faction Managers manage recruiting, cooperation, and (if necessary) dismissal of game masters for faction-based roleplaying campaigns (plots).
   5. Factions without a clear faction manager have the right to internally elect their Faction Manager by popular vote. The Setting Manager has veto power but should use it sparingly.
4. Factions have some rights to control their image.
   1. In the case where a faction manager feels a player, GM, or another FM has grossly misrepresented their faction in the roleplay, he/she can appeal to the setting manager to have the offending thread marked as non-canon.
   2. Faction managers have a say in artwork that depicts their faction. Artwork that improperly represents their faction (such as incorrect uniforms, etc) can be removed from the wiki.

Making things canon or not canon is the right of the setting manager. When it says “may be marked as non-canon” that means the setting manager has to make a judgement call on whether or not to allow the RP to be canon. The system is designed to be flexible and allow for some GM mistakes. Occasionally some violations by GMs could be tolerated for being really great RP or for being too minor to really matter.

Faction rights do not supercede Player's Rights.

The reason we have plot planning threads is so that FMs get their chance to raise concerns to GM plans and to keep communication lines open between all the GMs and the FMs. While this is not explicitly asking FMs for permission, the assumption is that if there's no FM objection in a reasonable timeframe, the GM is free to go about their plans.

Try to give your GMs the autonomy they need to do their thing. It's important to know when to bend and when to step back and get out of the way so they can deliver an awesome plot.

Responsibilities of the Faction Manager include:

• Overseeing consistency and continuity within his designated faction
• Approving factional characters
• Final authority controlling NPCs of the faction
• Recruiting and approving factional plot Game Masters.
• Ensuring factional compliance with the Military Buildup Limitations
• Roleplaying the leadership and other NPCs of his faction as necessary
• Designating an assistant and/or backup FM who can run his faction should the FM become indisposed

Faction Managers do not necessarily have the ability to approve articles (that falls to site staff/Setting Submissions Moderators). However, all articles must be approved by the appropriate faction manager before the NTSE staff can approve them.