Upon initial development of the game, I had intended to use a reputation system. Rather than just being a TTRPG addition as it often is, here it replaces alignment. My rule for developing this was simple. There are ten factions and one always opposes another. For more than a year, two factions were Navy and Army. The reason for this is that back when I first developed this game, when it was just a forum game I made for myself and my friends, before I even considered making it a full TTRPG, before it even occurred to me to make it available to the general public, there was a story about a plot within the Army to stage a coup d'etat and remove the proper government.

It was a hastily designed forum game version of Space Rogue, an old Apple II game that is available on Steam and GOG and I highly recommend it for Elite and Wing Commander fans. It didn't have anything this game has now. No factions, combat rules were so basic they were probably impossible to use (we only managed to get through two sessions), and character classes were much more reminiscent of a cyberpunk version of Dungeons & Dragons...which, I suppose, is just Shadowrun.

So, as I was going through, trying to make things more sensible, as I was always wondering if I should make "Pirate" the more generalized "Criminal" and as usual, deciding, "There's nothing wrong with Pirates being the blanket term." But I kept getting drawn towards Navy and Army. It wasn't just the redundancy that was getting to me. They weren't even opposed to each other. What's more, the distinction between them was very blurred. So, I decided to consolidate them into "Military", which, of course, left me with nine factions. Thus, I created a new faction: Augers.

So, here are all of the factions and basic descriptions of who they are:

1. Augers - Augers are addicted to augmentation, as their name suggests. An auger can find themself on either side of the law, but they have dedicated themselves to replacing as much of their natural body as they can. Provided an auger is mentally sound, most factions find them extremely useful, except for the Visionaries. The Visionaries hold their natural condition to be sacred and though some sects will allow augmentations if it is medically required, they unanimously view anyone that would deliberately augment themselves for superficial reasons as abominations.

2. Military - The military’s function is to defend the USC from outside forces. In Star Fall, this means the Wah’ri. While they have no authority over the criminals of Star Fall, they will usually act to defend civilian ships against obvious pirate attacks. Beyond defending ships under attack, they will provide no actual police support.

3. Pirate - Though there are many types of outlaws, be they murderers for hire or con men, bandits or racketeers, they all fall under the umbrella of pirates, though the pirate you are most likely to meet ship to ship is the bandit.

4. Machinist - Trained technical workers in advanced machine design, construction, and repair. Machinists have access to equipment and parts needed for the repair of spaceships.

5. Watchmen - Crime never sleeps, and police can’t be everywhere. Logistically, the more eyes are able to detect crime, the safer the community is. To this end there are civilian forces that assist the police with this task. They aren’t popular with the police, but they always have a few friends with them. Some watchmen are ex-police or ex-military. Others are civilians who couldn’t quite qualify for the police or military, but could reach the lower standards of the watchmen. Watchmen are paid for every criminal they take out of the public.

6. Explorer - Explorers live in the space lanes, choosing to risk life and limb going into the darkest regions of space, risking losing their way by leaving the paths of Quantum Gates to find undiscovered Quantum Gates. There are many unexplored planets in Star Fall, with no apparent way to get to them. The Explorers aim to find a way to get there. This finds them opposed to the Watchmen, whose duty is to see to their safety.

7. Freelancer - “Free” is the operative word here. A freelancer takes whatever jobs please them whenever and wherever they please. Most freelancers specialize in a particular field while some are jacks-of-all-trades.

8. Merchant - Star Fall requires anyone who trades and sells regularly to become paying members of the merchant’s guild, an organization that regulates trade, sales, taxation, and commercial transit across Star Fall. Anyone who conducts commerce regularly outside of the merchant’s guild may be subject to fines or arrest. The Merchant's Guild insures its members for 50% of losses due to piracy.

9. Visionary - A group of religious zealots that believe that the Quantum Gates were created by a race of godlike beings that observe all of the peoples of the universe and left the Gates as part of some vast experiment. They command tremendous resources. Worshiping the Gates, they often make pilgrimages to go to all known Gates and hope to discover new Gates.

10. Laborer - This is the catch-all faction to which all other people belong. These are the backbone of any civilization. Workers, be it on the docks, in the warehouse, or in the office; these people push, lift, pull, build, and demolish, be it crates, roads, or pencils.