Factions and Hierarchy

A faction is a named group with members, ranks, relations, and reputation. Factions nest into a tree. A faction can link to an actor that keeps its roster in sync. A faction’s headline reputation is the average of each party PC’s relation toward it, or one character’s own standing when per-actor faction reputation is on.

Creating a faction

Open the entity creator from the create control on the Factions heading in the navigator. Give the faction a name and a type, and pick an optional parent. A blank name becomes a numbered default. A faction with a parent nests under it in the navigator. Set the faction’s image from the configuration drawer after creation.

The Parent select in the configuration drawer lists the top level and every faction except this one and its own descendants. In the navigator, dropping a faction onto the middle of another nests it as a child. Dropping onto the upper or lower edge reorders it as a sibling. Bondsmith refuses a move under one of the faction’s own descendants.

Factions also group under collapsible section headers in the navigator. Type a name into the Section field of the configuration drawer, or use Set Section on the faction’s context menu. Every top-level faction sharing that name sits under one header. A nested faction stays under its parent whatever section name it carries. Dragging a faction onto a section header sets its section and moves it to the top level. Clearing the name returns the faction to the ungrouped list.

The creator’s Copy from Existing mode duplicates a source faction. You choose what carries over: members, nested children, relations, changelog history, and Journal Entry plus Rollable Table links. Nested children copy under the same choices. Party standing counts as a relation, so a copy made without relations starts with no standing. Move Members strips the members from the original instead of copying them, and appears only while members are included. The active party faction is not offered as a source. Bondsmith preselects your last choices the next time you duplicate a faction. A faction’s context menu also opens this mode with that faction preselected as the source.

Dropping a Journal Entry folder onto the viewer creates one faction per entry, each linked to its entry.

Delete a faction from the trash control on its detail header or from its context menu, after a confirmation. Its child factions move to the top level.

A new faction’s headline reputation starts at zero until standing is set toward it. See Reputation and tiers for how tiers and presets resolve.

Faction types

A faction is either an Organization or a Group. Bondsmith creates party factions as groups. Set the type from the configuration drawer on the faction detail. The type is a label only.

Members and ranks

The members panel lists the actors that belong to the faction. Every row links to that actor’s detail. Drop an actor onto the panel to add it as a member. Dropping an Actor folder onto a faction’s row in the navigator adds every actor in it as a member. A large folder asks you to confirm the bulk add first. A member with no linked actor shows a marker. A member whose actor is not a character carries a pill naming the actor type. Right-click a member row to jump to the actor, remove it from the faction, hide it from players, or open the visibility dialog.

Ranks are a per-faction list, added from the Ranks section in edit mode. Each rank has a name, a color, and a multiplier. A new rank goes to the end of the list. A toggle in the section header cycles how members get their rank between manual, by reputation, and by Worth.

In manual mode you assign a rank to each member from the dropdown on the member row. Reputation mode and Worth mode hide the dropdown and give each rank a threshold. In reputation mode a member’s rank is the highest rank whose threshold is at or below that member’s own reputation toward the faction. In Worth mode the same rule reads the member’s Worth instead. The row shows the rank as a read-only badge. A rank with no threshold is skipped in both modes. A member whose score clears no threshold shows no badge.

The multiplier weights that rank’s members in the faction’s member reputation average, which the API exposes. The weighting reads the rank assigned by hand, so ranks derived from reputation or Worth do not affect it. A member with no assigned rank counts at the base weight.

Deleting a rank that members are assigned to asks you to confirm, and the prompt names how many members lose the assignment. A rank with no assignments is removed without a prompt.

Outside edit mode the Ranks section is a read-only list of each rank’s badge and multiplier. Players see that list and the rank badge on each member row.

Linked actors and roster sync

To link an actor, drop a group actor onto the faction’s members panel, or onto the middle of the faction’s row in the navigator. Either drop syncs the roster. Dropping a group actor elsewhere in the viewer opens a prompt listing every faction with no linked actor, plus a Create New Faction option that names the new faction after the actor. You can turn that prompt off in Settings.

When the linked actor is a group actor, its members become the faction’s members and stay in sync. An actor added to the group joins the faction and is marked tracked. An actor removed from the group leaves the faction.

The linked actor’s name appears on the faction detail and opens that actor’s sheet. A faction with no image of its own, or one still on the default portrait, shows its linked actor’s image. Clear the link from the faction’s context menu. Members stay in place unless you choose to prune the ones that came from the actor.

Party integration

One faction is the active party, set from the flag control on a faction’s detail. The active party carries an Active Party badge.

While no faction is the active party, the Factions group in the navigator shows two buttons. Create Party Faction makes a party faction with no linked actor and sets it active. Link Existing Actor opens a picker of the world’s group actors, then links the one you choose as a new active party faction. You get a warning instead when the world holds no group actors, or when every group actor is already linked to a faction.

With no active party, no system primary party actor, and player characters in the world, Bondsmith offers to build the party. On the system, accepting creates a group actor from the player characters, sets it as the system primary party, and links a new party faction to it. Without a group actor, the player characters are added as members directly.

If the system already has a primary party actor and the active party faction has no linked actor, Bondsmith offers a merge that links the actor and syncs its roster. Each prompt appears once, whether you accept it or dismiss it. After that, build the party from the navigator buttons.

The Follow System Primary Party setting keeps the active party pointed at the system’s primary party actor. If no faction links to that actor, Bondsmith creates one. See Settings.

When the Spell Book module is active, the viewer header shows a Party Spells control that opens Spell Book’s party coordinator for the active party. It passes the party faction’s linked group actor when one is set, and the faction’s member actors otherwise. A warning appears when the active party holds no spellcasters.

On the system, an NPC that belongs to the party is still classified as an NPC. It stays in the NPCs list and does not count toward headline reputation averages.