Question Has anyone ever successfully RP-ed factionless for extensive periods of time?

[Zonia Kalranoos]

I've been around since 2015 or 2016, had a really long (work related) absence since, but I can't remember I've encountered many writers who had characters who were factionless for extensive periods of time. Even with corporate characters, they were tied to a company, which was in turn supplying one or more factions. But what if you want to keep your character factionless? What are the pros and the cons?

While joining a faction may work for most people, I always found this restrictive for the type of characters I wanted to RP. I had even greater problems explaining both to myself and IC why some of my characters stayed in their respective factions, since some of the things they've done most definitely caused a noticable change in alignment. As someone who is an avid D&D player, I am painfully aware of the repercussions of changes in alignment. So how do I avoid losing interest in writing organic characters who do not automatically fall into an obvious trope category?

Would it be possible to join faction events as an unaligned character and do so across the board, where it made sense and was in line with the story I am trying to tell? Sometimes align with different factions in various forms of events/threads(that have direct impact on the Map), be they light, dark or neutral. Would this be frowned upon IC or OOC?
Any thoughts or experiences you are willing to share will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Honestly, I do it quiet often, and I own a faction myself.

I don't think twice when a non-faction member joins in in a way that makes sense, in fact I often appreciate the contribution as fresh faces are always enjoyable for established groups (however fleeting!)

I find other factions have always received my unaligned characters the same way. I even have multiple master/paddie pairings that are factionless. We make it work and have fun!

Largely people just love a good story. Factions don't really care about allegiance these days.

Have fun out there!

 

[Ellie Mors]

Zonia Kalranoos I wrote Braith Achlys without a faction from 2016 thru 2018, I have been on/off writing Nadja Keto and she has never belonged to a faction since I've written her.

The challenge I've found is that if you can't anchor yourself to a group or connecting force (companies, etc), then you have to work a little harder to find individuals to write with and essentially do all the things people take for granted from factions themselves (creating situations that allow your character to grow and give you something to do that is interesting in some manner while you do). That or you could flit from faction to faction as it suits you in between non-faction RP stuff, like if your character is from X planet and Z faction is invading Y faction on that planet then you could reasonably throw your character in as a defensive ally, but then be on Z faction's side in a fight against B faction that has done something bad (or something) to your character in the past.

The days of being pigeonholed into a faction are pretty much gone, except in very small circles, but nobody cares about those people anyways so just do what you want if it's fun.

 

[Rocho]

Yes it's definitely possible. Rocho left the faction I originally made him in awhile back, and he's still running fairly often. Even though he is a part of factions, he isn't actively involved with them. The vast majority of my threads with Rocho are done with small groups, or done with him being hired as a mercenary.

For a little while I did the same thing with another character. In fact, out of the characters I've had with threads recently about half of them either aren't currently in, or never actively have been in, a faction. And I've written a lot of characters that don't rely on factions, mostly because I have difficulty actually keeping involved in them. But I do well in small group rp's.

As long as your character makes sense as not being in a faction, it can work out fine. You probably will need to do a little more work to get you into threads, but it's fine.

 

[Jsc]

Zonia Kalranoos - Jumping into "Faction" threads as a random? Sure. Totally. Some people dig that.

Though, personally I'd throw a PM out to the Faction Admins and let them know what your doing and what your goals are. Otherwise they'll likely notice a +1 in their "Faction" thread and PM you asking whats up or, how they can help or, at worst; just sort of ignore you and wait to see what you're doing. Lol.

RP is still a game of people. So you have to treat people like people. I mean. You wouldn't walk into a bar and seat yourself at another group's table and just expect them to roll with it without them asking "uh, wtf lady?" Lol. But if when you sit down at the table the Faction Admin can turn to the group and go "Sup Zonia. People, this is Zonia. She don't rock the flag but, she coo'. Welcome to the table Zonia." and everybody else goes "Coo'." Well, then it's all coo'.

Just make it a people thing and everything you do will always be golden AF.

 

[Drifter]

Zonia Kalranoos Yup, did it all the time, though it takes a bit more work to find folk to wrangle. The public and first reply threads are excellent for random interactions.

I myself am always open for a random rp if you’d like one!

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

It's what I do all the time. I don't get invested in big factions and find stuff like Dominions dull. Besides, ICly my characters are more aligned with their own interests and beliefs. Furthermore, Force-User Ranks have been deregulated, so you decide yourself whether you want an FU char to be an apprentice, knight or master, so you don't need to grind through the threads of a specific faction and then get a vote.

If I wanna join an invasion, I go to the forum of the faction I want to back, click 'join faction'. Then leave after the invasion has been judged and the verdict has been announced.

If one of my chars is ever in a major faction, it's only really for ooc purposes. Their identity is wholly independent.