FACTION

A "faction" is any political grouping on the mud that may be formed along political, government, racial, gender, class, or skill lines.

Different creatures and denizens in the game are aligned and opposed to various factions. They are said to have a "standing" with a faction. For example, a Mozartian merchant might have a very good standing with the Mozartia faction. In this example, the "Mozartia" faction is a faction that represents the inhabitants of the city of Mozartia.

Players can also have faction which is based off their race, class, how they treat the denizens of the mud, and which quests and items they acquire. For example, if a player were to slay a merchant of Mozartia, they would likely lose some of their faction standing with the Mozartia faction. It is also possible that your faction with the enemies of Mozartia might increase slightly under the reasoning that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

Faction is important to players because it can determine how the various denizens of the world react to a player. For example, if you have poor faction with a faction to which a merchant is strongly aligned, it is likely that they will refuse to conduct business with you. Worse, if your faction becomes too low it is likely that you will be attacked on sight by these denizens. Also, some quest givers might require that you have a really good or really bad standings with some factions as a condition of receiving or completing a quest. For example, a drow high priestess might not let you undertake a high level drow quest unless you have worked to gain very poor faction with the surface elves.