Factions¶

Supplementary to WorldbuildingSynthesis. Detailed profiles of the major factions in the world of Prima Materia.

The Collective¶

A conglomerate of political leaders and prominent social figures seeking to complete the Ascension Ceremony and claim an Eidolon's throne. Analogous to a real-world Illuminati.

The Sophronoi¶

The Collective is, at its core, an ethnic organization. Its Seven Elders are all Sophronoi — a distinct race bound to the Eidolon of Humility (shadow: Pride). Most of the Collective's membership is Sophronoi as well.

The Sophronoi originally hail from Sophron, a bountiful land to the south with a temperate climate. How and when they came to Kyanos, and what drove them to pursue Ascension, remains to be fully detailed.

Ideology¶

Public face: The Collective preaches henosis — the unification of all humanity into a singular transcendent being. This inspires loyalty and justifies sacrifice among the rank and file.

The truth: Only the Seven Elders know the Ascension can elevate only one soul. Each plans to advance the ceremony as far as they dare, then betray the others. Their alliance is a knife's-edge calculation.

The Collective possesses the knowledge and power to escape the Disruption's confines, but deliberately keeps the populace trapped. Despair and concession are necessary conditions for fulfilling the second requirement of Ascension — consensus of the bloodline.

The target. The throne the Collective is reaching for is that of Innovation — the god of the Glyphein, patron of the Investment art that built Kyanos. The Kuklos populace are Innovation's descendant Glyphein, which is precisely why their consensus must be broken: the despair of the sheltered and the Consumption of those who wander out are the two halves of condition #2. The Elders intend Innovation to be only the first of many thrones — an ambition that has not gone unnoticed by the gods who would be next (see Cosmology — Wisdom's hand).

The hand behind them. The Collective is, ultimately, the arm of Humility herself — their own Archē, the primary actor behind the Disruption. Her aim is narrower than theirs: she wants the Sophronoi to subsume other peoples and enlarge her domain, not to unseat a god. The knowledge of how to supplant an Archē came from a second hand — a wanderer from the higher reality, an unnamed brother of Euphen, almost certainly the figure remembered as the Master of Those Who Know (see below). His gift turned Humility's program of subsumption into a bid for divine thrones that may, in time, escape her.

What they don't control. Because that knowledge was only ever partial, the Elders only partly understand what they have set in motion: the compounding of the layered zones, the depth of the Consumption, and a faint tearing at the targeted Archē all run ahead of their grasp. They are steering a process they do not fully command — and so, ultimately, is Humility.

Seat of Operations: The Collective's core functions are housed inside the Decagram, the ten-starred fortress at the center of Kuklos's inner city — using the public administrative/military complex as cover for their true work.

Clothing: Victorian, black, severe.

Sub-groups¶

The Augmented: Humans who have taken Devices into their bodies to become biomechanical hybrids. Only the Collective possesses the technology to make this work, as most Devices were developed for Pre-Zonian Exousia. These enhanced operatives serve as elite enforcers.

The Legacy: A splinter group of reformed Collective agents who have broken away from the organization.

Collective Strike Force¶

The Collective maintains a military strike force modeled on elite rapid-deployment units. Organization per platoon:

1 High-Officer commanding 3 Squads, each containing:
Squad Leader / Deputy Leader
Messenger (radio-adjacent comms, if functional in the Disruption)
12 Regulars — adaptive armor, mid-caliber ballistic weapons (gunpowder SMGs or assault rifles)
4 Ultra-Heavy Infantry — mechs, likely flamers (can carry fuel)
2 Field Engineers — service mechs in the field
4 Heavy Weapons Crews (2 per crew) — MG / Ampoule anti-material / explosives
2 Scouts — cloaking tech, quiet weapons

Transport: Dropships (Osprey-type). Either one large transport (C-130 scale) for a full platoon, or three squad-sized (large helicopter scale). A display of overwhelming force is preferred for story purposes.

Key Figures¶

Dominus: Leader of the Collective, sealed near Cyrus closest to the center of the Disruption.
Leontios: A crime boss in Kuklos. Handles executions and smuggling.
The Master of Those Who Know: A mysterious figure who visited Kyanos and imparted sacred — but only partial — knowledge of the Ascension ceremony to the city's Elders (the visitation they call the Enlightenment). Now understood to be a wanderer from the higher reality: an unnamed brother of Euphen, and the secondary actor behind the Disruption. His incomplete gift is why the Collective works a ceremony it does not fully understand. His name, his motive, his current whereabouts, and his relationship to Euphen are all open (see Open Questions).

Henosis (The State Religion)¶

The dominant faith of Kuklos: a centralized, organized religion built around the doctrine of Henosis — the promised, literal future unification of humanity into a singular, perfected being. It is cultivated by the Collective as a tool of control, indoctrinating everyone short of the highest Collective agents into a false Theurgy — but it is allowed to develop mostly on its own, and is honestly and often decently held by many of its clergy and faithful. Structurally it resembles a blend of Catholicism and Twelver Shi'ism.

Provisional names

Several names in this section are still being settled (the faith itself, some clerical tiers, the sub-orders). See Open Questions — Religion, Government & Society.

Doctrine¶

Henosis is paternalistic and conservative, promoting safety, security, purity, and a messianic focus on coming unity. It carries a semi-explicit apocalyptic streak: an "end times" when collective perfection reaches critical mass and the insufficiently pure or pious are cast down. Tolerance for deviation is low, especially around purity rituals concerning the world outside the walls. It treats Kuklos itself as a temple — its holiest sites are the boundary wall, the gates, the Decagram and the great Bethel housed within it, and the Light Tower; the river beyond the gates is regarded as a corrupted site of worship.

Common rituals and beliefs: regular washing (river water filtered through anointed sand); adornment with circular objects and ten-pointed stars; ritual cursing of the Forest and its mutations; cleansing of the self; major festivals on the (supposed) anniversary of the Disruption; and a devotion to the perfection of body, mind, and art under religious jurisprudence. Its gender doctrine holds women to be inherently more pure (and discouraged from leaving the city) and men more robust but less pure — see Society — Gender & Daily Religious Life.

Structure & offices¶

Worship centers on the Henoa Secundi, a living symbol of holy perfection — equivalent to a Pope or supreme spiritual leader — seated at the central Bethel complex in the noble quarter. Local Bethels (parish temples) are run by priests called Jurists, all organized under that unifying body. Sufficiently senior Jurists can issue binding religious edicts (fatwa-like); some are broad policy that interfaces with government, others narrowly target a person or practice. Such edicts are not strictly law, but carry real weight and can spark significant change or turmoil.

Canonization runs in tiers:

The Imams — classic early-Disruption figures associated with aspects of perfection and purity (Saints/Heralds). They are mythic versions of the Seven Elders, a vehicle the Elders can use to justify their appearances.
The Henoa Secundi — a living symbol of perfection, also counted among the Imams; returned relatively recently (~60 years ago, coinciding with a particular Elder's emergence).
Senior Jurists — a small number of the most senior clergy.
Jurists — elected priests who have studied enough religious law and completed an apprenticeship.

Henosis is a state religion but does not directly control finance, the military, or expeditions. It maintains a religious guard and runs on individual and state donations, funding Bethels, Jurist stipends, some R&D, and modest commerce. Because female clergy are seen as especially suited to financial matters, many are well-established in banking and currency.

Sub-sects¶

The Mendicants (Dervishes). Ascetic, almost exclusively male preachers who hold Henosis's core ideals but believe purity and perfection are best pursued by seeking out and overcoming adversity — a stance loosely echoing Vanarism without the flesh-shaping. They regularly venture beyond the walls as priests and medics to expeditions, proselytize to outside subgroups, and go out of their way to help the poor and the mutated. Tough, stubborn, and renowned as storytellers, they are held at arm's length by the main church (their medicine and willingness to "immerse themselves in putrescence" make them suspect).
The heretical order (a Bah'á'í-analogue, name pending). A tiny order (~1–2%) descended from a pre-Disruption missionary group, with overlaps among esoteric nobles, certain expeditioners, and political radicals. It teaches one true God of which all faiths are partial expressions, the continued existence of a world outside the Disruption, radical equality and self-determination, a rejection of purity-jurisprudence, and contested beliefs about death, blood, and bodily variation as "manifestations of God" (this last is violently hated by even casual Henosis adherents). It maintained close ties to the Elpidi. Once a rising power that drew in intellectuals, financiers, farmers, and even doubting Collective agents, it was crushed ~50 years ago in bloody purges following the Henoa Secundi's emergence, and now survives underground, near extinction.

The Union¶

The openly-operating, standing government of Kuklos Anankes — a constitutional monarchy. Real authority sits with a ruling council drawn from the nobility, operating within a legal framework negotiated between Henosis Jurists (many of whom serve as state lawyers) and elected noble officials, especially from the military. Church and state are not strictly separated; the two power structures don't overlap so much as bleed into and influence one another. Its power is further constrained by the Collective's shadow influence and the practical difficulty of governing an isolated, unstable city.

The constitution is a simple, much-amended set of rights and laws establishing the basic shape of government and the safety of Kuklos. It is treated as a largely religious document, carrying Henosis influence — particularly in distinguishing the purity of nobles from non-nobles, and in the rules of succession and the royal harem.

The Chief Council¶

Usually male nobles of the chief houses, nominally executing the Queen's will, drawn from those associated with the military/police, trade, civil services, religion, and "esoterics" (expeditions, Devices, esoteric jurisprudence). Squabbling and political games can ripple destructively across the population, but an implicit system of checks limits the worst outcomes: (1) religious meddling — Jurists can quickly mobilize popular opinion against a policy; (2) unified self-interest — nobles live close to their subjects, and Kuklos's confinement makes some policies (e.g. ruinous food taxes) existentially obvious; (3) the Royal Harem; and (4) Collective influence.

Nobility is hereditary, reinforced by convention, constitution, and doctrine. (For the lived class system, including slavery and indenture, see Society.)

The Queen (the Mother Pearl)¶

The monarch is a young woman who enters the role at age 10 and serves for 10 years as the pure female counterpart to the male Henoa Secundi. Drawn from a single female royal lineage held in the Royal Harem and tutored from birth, she remains chaste through her reign; at 20 she ritually abdicates and becomes an adviser to her successor, rejoining the harem.

The Royal Harem (the Nacreous Matrix)¶

A body of advisers to the acting monarch, also responsible for carrying on the royal lineage. Favored nobles (often counselors) vie for the affections of its members — especially the recently abdicated — who can wield exceptional soft power. Girls in the harem devote their early lives to a chance at the throne; the acting monarch is chosen in a test overseen by the Henoa Secundi (religious questions, statecraft, performing arts, beauty).

The Nacrine (Daughters of Pearl). A subset of harem girls trained as the monarchy's "red right hand," bearing artifact regalia (the Nacrine vestments) and significant augmentations. They are tied closely to the Collective and to ongoing human-augmentation/hollow research, and hold a special religious dispensation — a long-standing juristic forbearance upheld by the Henoa Secundi — that exempts them from the usual sanctions against female participation in "unclean" acts. Aloof, cliquish, and proud, they function much like knights: spies, guards, vanguard expeditioners, executioners, and investigators, devoted to the Queen and the proper order. They are unaware of the grim provenance of their vestments, and many are regarded with fear or disgust for their "masculine" activities and severe powers. One such agent was Sophia, grandfathered into the order after the Disruption — and, in time, a defector.

The Military¶

Primarily defensive, fairly well-equipped, experienced, and reasonably disciplined, with quality varying by unit. Rank-and-file are mostly commoners — recruited from the slums, farms, and poorer merchant families, for whom military life is a major step up. Service is effectively for life (retirees draw a small pension and remain reservists). Military families cluster in the military quarter, are strongly devout, and carry heavy shame for sons who don't enlist. Women fill almost no combat or guard roles, serving mainly as medics and logisticians (often female Jurists); military wives and daughters receive no state support if the husband dies. The head of the military is always a male noble of old blood with enormous weight on the Council.

Wall Guards — perimeter defense, customs, and occasional expeditionary duty; mostly commoners (commissioned officers train at the Decagram). They use standard wooden weapons and armor plus bows, crossbows, siege engines, and cultivated biological tools (baobab towers, living trebuchets, poisons, acids, special armor-weaves). Relatively un-corrupt, kept on a short leash, with Jurists stationed at the main gates to rule on what may enter; they collect significant customs.
The Expeditionary Force — noble-funded specialists who reach deep into the Forest. Strong Collective influence, extremely well-equipped, sometimes including Devices.
Interior Guards — the city guard for everything inside the walls: law enforcement and organized crime, often acting as agents of particular noble interests. Corruption is much more common; officers are exclusively noble (some units entirely so), with access to the inner city, noble quarters, the Decagram, and the financial quarter. Their presence is regular and onerous; commoners have little recourse against search and seizure except by appealing to Jurists.

The Adventurer's Guild¶

A rich, powerful, and awkwardly-placed institution — vital to the city's functioning yet standing somewhat counter to both religious and military doctrine. It draws slummers, restless nobles, and people who don't fit in, and is the city's least homogeneous, most meritocratic organization (for good and ill). It retains real ties to the church but has had to bend doctrine to accommodate the realities of the Forest and beyond, keeping strong connections to the Mendicants. Most who go outside are men, though it is markedly more open to women than the military. Not everyone who ventures out belongs to the guild; some answer to particular merchants instead.

It is headquartered in the Light Tower in the bazaar district — a site of religious significance ("gilding like in the time of our judgment") that the clergy repeatedly demand be vacated for use as a temple, a demand that never succeeds thanks to noble backing, financial interest, and Collective motives. The guild also runs a guildwives' co-op for the current and former spouses of adventurers and for the disabled and retired, funded by pooled profits and a major player in the bazaar. Its current leader is a survivor of the heretical order's purge, with quiet sympathies and connections among the Vanarites and Elpidi.

The Vanarites¶

A distinct race (not Glyphein) who have settled in the Valley. Called "The Outsiders" by residents of Kuklos Anankes, whom they call "Dwellers."

Identity and Power¶

The Vanarites are characterized by their ability to alter their body's composition and arrangement at will — a practice called Vanarism (also called Shaping). This power existed before the Disruption as a painful, painstaking process ("Gandharvism"), but the Disruption dramatically amplified it. Vanarism is tied to the Eidolon of Temperance.

Because of their Eidolon-alignment, the Vanarites are effectively immune to the Consumption — the overaccumulation affliction that maddens and mutates everyone else in the Forest. Vanarism lets them continuously reshape away the cancerous overgrowth before it can take hold, so they alone traverse the Forest freely.

History¶

Originally hail from Gandharva, a far-northern country. Gandharvites natively developed white hair and black skin (like polar bears).
One millennium ago, they scouted surrounding lands and discovered the Giant's Teeth — a chilling mountain range to the north of Kyanos, and the source of the river that led to the city's founding.
Following a tribal schism, a large group calling themselves the Giri migrated south to occupy the mountains.
~200 Pre-Disruption: The Giri develop relations with the Kyanosites.
~100 Pre-Disruption: The Giri proliferate, establishing settlements in the Hills near the mountains.
0 Post-Disruption: The Disruption occurs. The amplification of their shaping ability leads them to rechristen themselves "Vanarites," their primary settlement "Vanar," and their power "Vanarism."
23 Post-Disruption: The Collective consolidates power and begins propaganda to ostracize the Vanar, accusing them of kidnapping (actually done by the Collective).
28 Post-Disruption: A band of adventurers raid the Hills, killing 30% of the population.

Society¶

Organized into a primitive parliament: Elders and advisors vote on matters of policy, alongside a Prime and Sub Minister.

Three internal factions: run, hide, and fight. The majority have become pacifistic — aggression is highly stigmatized. They do not distinguish between Kuklos residents and the Collective, regarding all other peoples as hostile except the monks.

When near death, Vanarites venture out into the Graveyard (Skeletal Tree Yard) to fight against the creatures there. Those who have gone are called Vetala.

The Seed: To hide from the Collective, they retrieved metal from the quarry, smelted it into picks, and mined a complex network of caves in the mountain nearest their village. This network contains their last hope — storehouses of knowledge written on vellum.

Clothing: Minimal, tribal — Indian-inspired.

Cultural Sources¶

Giri: Mountains/mountain gods in Hindu literature
Gandharva: Celestial musicians/singers in Hindu mythology (notable: Chitrasena in the Mahabharata)
Vanara: Shape-shifting monkey people in Hindu mythology
HxH's NGL / Chimera Ant base as tonal reference

The Elpidi / The Order of Pious Sun¶

The Elpidi are a distinct race whose practitioners wield Blooming magic—the proliferation of life itself. Their Eidolon is Hope; their hidden shadow is Despair. Known to the people of Kuklos Anankes as the Order of Pious Sun, they are one of many religious orders from old Kyanosian culture, scapegoated and driven from the city over two centuries ago.

History¶

The Order originally possessed knowledge of the Sacred Son who crafted reality. They worshipped his trait of piety, embodied in the Eidolon of Wisdom. Over time, this devotion became corrupted into worship of the Sun itself.

Their piety is practiced as a discipline of harmony. The Elpidi hold that the Sun sings, and that to be devout is to attune oneself to its song: breath, body, voice, meditation, and prayer — and, for some adepts, even drink and combat — are all trained as a single act of resonance, harmonizing the practitioner with whatever is in front of them. It is from this tradition that Paidi draws her harmonic practice.

Two centuries ago, under persecution by the Collective after the most recent expansion of the Forest, the Order — led by Batuo — made their way through the Forest and into the Swamp, where they settled a small village. Eventually they dug out the swamp and fortified walls with rock provided (in exchange for martial and spiritual teachings) by the Vanar, migrating most of their village beneath the swamp. Only accessible by a door embedded in a nearby giant tree that leads down through the tree roots, their village remained hidden until five years before the story begins.

What truly shields the Order from the Consumption — the madness-and-cancer that claims others in the Forest — is a treasured Device in their keeping, a ward against overaccumulation (its name and workings are not yet settled; see Open Questions). Most of the Order credit their survival instead to travelling in sufficiently large groups; that folk belief is, at most, a secondary effect — the Device is the real protection.

Cultural Sources¶

Tibetan Buddhism
Shaolin Monks