Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Designing a Planet Part 12 - Concerns and Motives


Sorry about the delay, but graduation stuff happens and now I have to get back into the groove of writing a blog.  For a little I forgot about this since its still so new.  I hope you all are happy, I'm almost finished the fifth book of the Game of Thrones series (just kidding, I love writing this blog).

Everybody has something in particular that they care about, want to protect, or are striving for.  These are often called our goals and dreams and when you create your planet you need to apply these ideas to it as well.  First decide what scale you want to develop: will it be an entire nation, a large organization, a small group of heroes or citizens that will have a chance encounter with the focus of your tail.  Once the size of this has been decided look north, for winter is coming… woops.  Much is changed based on the size of the group, for with the amount of people involved or the power of it so too does the goals of the thing expand or shrink as a result.  But the goals of a group are just one factor in how an organization functions.  In order to achieve the final result that everyone involved is striving for there has to be a favored method or tool that will be employed, certain interests that must be protected.  But all of that is old news to you, for I mentioned it with the powerful factions post.  What is important about this is the particulars of everything, not just how things stand in the grand scheme of things and how much closer these steps take the faction towards accomplishing its purpose, but what this entity really stands for.  What are the morals that it believes in, what particular rights does it advocate for members of its group, and the like.  When looking at what it really stands for, remember what its final purpose is, where does the majority of the support come from, and factor all that into the sorts of issues that might come about in a group that might have differing interests or strategies for accomplishing the same end.

On the same token as what an organization stands for is how are things run within it.  This works hand in hand and could influence what it supports outside of the group, so what I mean by how things are run is how loose are the rules or edicts given by the higher authorities within the faction.  Is the rule of it given over to the mob, an unruly democracy that fights whimsically at whatever grabs the attention of the majority of them, or is there a lot of support from people who have no real hand in how things are decided, manipulated into helping without ever having a chance to direct things elsewhere.  Is the rule an iron fist, a dagger in the dark, a public official supporting appeasement to the masses (thereby manipulating others), or a dictator that rules through sheer charisma and force of will?

With all of this in mind think of what all these details entail: what might upset a faction of the caliber or size that you have given it?  What issues would it take a stand against that are likely to come up in your campaign/world/story/etc. and what would it stand meekly by and shrug off because it is not important enough to worry about?  What are the buttons that should not be pushed, what are the limits of its patience?  Are there differing levels for people within the organization in comparison with those strangers who have nothing to do with the group?  Tolerance is your friend here, determine what the policy is generally in dealing with outsiders, perhaps you might even want to differentiate different types of outsiders, from alien races to citizens of other planets to people of a different nation to those of another city to those of another district within your own city.  All of these could come into play, so it is best to come prepared for these different possibilities if you plan on giving the fate of this realm into the hands of some players in a role playing game or shaping the course of your world in a series of battles played out on the table top.

The Chaos Order that is present upon the Jungle planet needs to be one of complete secrecy, else the inquisition (that not controlled by the inquisitor that is within their ranks) would swoop down upon them and crush them mercilessly.  Thus within their own ranks power is held by the military and sheer force, outside any interfering powers are held in check by the blade in the dark, as subtle as possible in order to avoid notice.  Charismatic leaders are the ones that are in the most control of the faction and determine where it heads next.  While the ultimate goal is the same, the leader like as not tends to run how things are done and what the levels of tolerance are because of his own preferences or style.

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