Windstray

Everyone who is not bound to an established playable faction automatically gets put into the Windstray faction. This is the only faction which's name is not canon in the story! It is a catch-all term for anyone who wants their character to explore places outside of the established cities or even countries. It is also the perfect faction for characters with a nomadic lifestyle like merchants or criminals on the run—basically those who have no home to call theirs.

If enough Windstray characters settle down in the same place then it is possible that this place becomes a faction of its own and all Windstray characters living there will then convert to the new faction.

Ranks

Depending on what you want your character to be, there are four different ranks to choose from that would describe their lifestyle.

Wanderer

Those who travel constantly and rarely remain in one place for long. Wanderers usually survive through work that can be done while moving from place to place: trading, courier work, hunting, magical research, mapmaking, performing, or selling rare goods.

Most Wanderers know at least a few routes, villages, inns, or safe places to sleep. They often build loose networks of contacts across several regions. Some travel alone, while others move in pairs, caravans, travelling families, or temporary groups.

Common reasons for becoming a Wanderer:

A desire to see the world
A job that requires constant travel
Losing their old home
Refusing to stay under the laws or customs of a single country
Searching for something or someone

A Wanderer may still return regularly to a certain place, but they do not truly consider it their permanent home.

Possible examples:

Travelling merchants
Wandering mages
Relic hunters
Storytellers, musicians, or travelling performers

Criminal

Those who cannot safely remain in one place because they are being pursued, hiding their identity, or surviving outside the law.

Not every Criminal is violent. Some may be thieves, smugglers, swindlers, poachers, or escaped prisoners. Others may only be considered criminals because they broke the law in a certain country or were falsely accused.

Criminals often live under false names, avoid guards and patrols, and prefer remote roads, abandoned buildings, hidden camps, or sympathetic settlements. Many learn practical skills such as lockpicking, hiding tracks, forgery, smuggling, or surviving in dangerous terrain.

Some Criminals work alone. Others form small bands, travelling crews, or hideouts. It is also possible for a Criminal to eventually settle down and leave that life behind.

Possible examples:

Highway robbers
Fugitives
Smugglers crossing borders
Poachers in protected lands
Outcasts banished from their home
Former criminals trying to stay hidden

Settler

Those who have made a permanent home for themselves outside of the currently playable countries and cities. A Settler may live in a large city, a small village, an isolated farm, or a remote settlement, as long as that place does not yet have its own faction page (settlements in the North Lands and Eriwon would still count to those factions!).

This is the rank to choose for characters living in locations that already exist on the map, but are not available as their own faction. This is especially common in places such as Koruna, where currently only Monabur is playable, despite other established cities existing within the country.

Settlers may also live in entirely original places created by players, such as a roadside inn, a hidden valley village, a forest cabin, a mining camp, or a lonely hut in the wilderness.

Possible examples:

A merchant living in a large but currently unplayable city
A family in a remote village
The owner of a roadside inn
A hunter living in a cabin far from civilisation
The founder of a small settlement outside the established factions

Note: You are very much allowed to create settlements within Eriwon and the North Lands, but those would then count towards those factions specifically and not belong to the Windstray faction.

Wildlander

Those who live far from roads, trade routes, and settled lands. Wildlanders usually live in herds, packs, flocks, tribes, or family groups and spend their lives in the wilderness rather than in built settlements.

Most Wildlanders live much like their species would in a witless state: they migrate, hunt, graze, nest, burrow, climb, or follow the seasons as their kind naturally would. Their sentience adds laws, traditions, stories, beliefs, social rules, and more complex ways of living, but few stray majorly from how their instincts dictate they should live.

The majority of Wildlanders have never seen a city and may not even know that such places exist. Only Wildlanders living near trade routes, borders, or smaller settlements are likely to know of city life. Those groups often have their own names for city dwellers, such as “ashfolk” and other insulting terms.

Wildlanders may live:

In migrating herds, packs, etc.
In packs, herds, etc. within established territories
In nests, dens, burrows, caves, etc.
Along rivers, coastlines, mountains, deep woods, etc.

Example: Sunny and everyone in her herd in the main story Caspanas would be referred to as Wildlanders.

Become a Worldbuilder

If you want your character to come from a place, group, or community that does not yet exist in the lore, you may create it yourself.

This can include:

A village, town, city, camp, inn, or other settlement
A herd, pack, flock, tribe, or other Wildlander community
A travelling caravan, merchant group, bandit gang, or similar organisation

Before creating something new, ask Lilafly whether there is already something important at your chosen location or whether a similar group already exists. Once approved, what you create becomes part of the setting and may be used by other players.

Please include at least:

A name
A rough location, if applicable
What kind of group or place it is
How it lives or survives
Roughly how large it is

You may also add:

Customs, laws, beliefs, or traditions
Common occupations or roles
Relationships with nearby places or groups
Notable landmarks, buildings, or migration routes
Important characters belonging to it

Examples:

A hidden village in the mountains
A horse herd wandering the plains
A wolf pack living in a forest
A merchant caravan that travels between several countries
A bandit camp
A large city that exists in the lore but does not yet have its own faction page
- Clarifications from Lilafly and lore restrictions might apply!

Rules

Established lore and worldbuilding must not be contradicted!
The magic system and how it functions applies everywhere, regardless of culture and traditions.
Do not create settlements in Koruna, unless they are in the south!
- The south is largely uninhabited, so they will be cut off from civilisation there
Settlements within Eriwon and North Lands can be established, but they would count under the Eriwon and North Lands factions respectively and would not be able to become their own factions
Entire countries may not be founded!
Construction of buildings is only allowed within civilised areas, not in regions marked as wild lands
- Wild lands bordering on civilisation may be used as a location for a settlement, but keep in mind that there might be wildlander locals who will oppose the construction or may even become hostile towards the settlers.

If enough characters come from the same place or group and enough information exists about it, it may eventually become an established sub-faction on this faction page. Settlements may even become their own playable faction later on if there is enough interest.

Your Character

Any kindred is equally possible for this faction.
Keep in mind that in order for your character to have advanced magical skills, they need to have gone through formal magical education/training to obtain those!
- Let them either have a (former) mentor in ther backstory or a city background where they received the required education to gain the respective title your're aiming for.
- This is especially important for wandering mages!
If you create a settlement outside of a place outlined in the lore pages, then please ask Lilafly first if there are any things of note on the spot on the map you chose.
- Your settlement will officially become part of the map once you create it.
You can change your character's rank within this faction freely depending on what fits their lifestyle and what develops during roleplays.
The forest of Jengu (the ancient magical woods with the ruins of the world tree) is also a possible place to wander or live. However, keep in mind that survival there requires extensive survival skills for rootkin or chimera characters. Faekin are most at home there.

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