Lets name new factions!

Lets name new factions!

Lets name new factions!

There are three new factions that I’m naming right now.

– Firefighters (as suggested by Colin Fahrion)

– Masons (Architects / Builders)

– Messengers

Give me your cool name ideas.

(In another thread, some Firefighter name suggestions were: The Moths, The Ashens, The Ember Brigade, The Ash Brigade, and The Ash Dogs)

72 thoughts on “Lets name new factions!”

  7. Red Caps : Messenger service that functions as an orphanage. Orphans are trained to run messages through the streets and across rooftops. Named for the red caps messengers wear. Though the orphanage is a charity it is also famous for selling secrets and making books on the side.

  9. A shame Firewatch is already taken. Anyway, what about “The Pigeons” for Messengers? Or maybe something like “City Blood” since they basically course through the streets like blood through the veins? That kind of symbolism in any case. shrug

  11. Salamanders : Firefighters union that, on a very real level, functions as a protection racket. Memberships dues are collected by a union representative backed by a gang of ax wielding members. Because fire is such a real threat to a densely packed city their actions are supported by The Bluecoats.

  12. Red devils, imps and salamanders sound really cool.

    Runners for messengers sounds short and to the point.

    The Imperial Order of Architecture? The Independent Order of Architecture and Masonry? The Aurean Disciples? The Brotherhood of Harmonic Shapes?

  14. I like Blacklungs, Alfred Rudzki.

    What about Cobblers for messengers? Connotes both the shoe aspects as well as cobbled streets? Or Johnnies, for Johnny Mnemonic.

    I can’t help but suggest Arson Force!!! for the firefighters, given what I expect they’d really be into.

  15. Here in Argentina we call firefighters something akin to “pumpers” for their use of water pumps.

    Sounds a little naughty, doesn’t it?

    Edit: another way we call them could be translated as “Pump Sappers”

  16. Messengers: The Crows-I imagine that when news gets delivered in person rather than by mail of some kind, it tends to be bad. They’re likely afraid of going the way of the Lampblacks eventually, that some new invention will replace them soon. I know there’s currently a Crows faction but… the imagery. Alternatively, there’s Buzzards but there’s no point of reference in the world for that.

    Masons: I don’t know for this one. It likely depends on where they fit in within the structure of the city. How much power do they have and how is it shown? (I mean, that’s how I name things, at least.) The name would definitely reflect the their position pretty directly though.

    Firefighters: Balmy Cinders-I can’t even take credit, I was watching EU LCS earlier and it was the first thing that came to mind.

  19. Whatever the masons end up being called they are probably geomancers/power systems engineers deeply concerned with ensuring the city’s layout is in accordance with the flows electroplasmic energy. 

  21. Firefighters

    Do Duskwall firefighters use the ink-black water to douse flames? Do they use clanking pumpworks and hoses from the canals? Do they have distinctive vehicles like huge tanker carriages (or erratic driving methods) with distinctive klaxon sirens or bells? That could inform what they’re known as. I like most _ Brigade names for them.

    So maybe the The Bilgepumps, The Pump Brigade, Tanker Toughs, the Flame Bells, The Burning Bells, Hell’s Bells, Devil Bells, Bell Brigade, The Dousers, Dampers, Damperstouts, Blaze Brigade, Soot-foots, Soot Brigade, Ladder Rats, Antichandlers, Body Bearers, Emberbucks, Burning Bulls, Clatterbells, or Waxcoats (making them similar to Bluecoats).

    Masons

    Are the builders respected or not in the city? Is there a big divide between artisan architecture and negligent shanty/tenement construction? Esteem of the whole will set the flavor. Also, these folks would be the source of the ever-popular heist tool: blueprints and old city sewer plans or secret entrances. Do they prefer to build grandiose lofty structures that ever-heighten the skyline? Do they mostly use cranes or muddy trowels?

    The Plumb Bobs!! Lintelwrights, Brickbacks, Shantymen, Architects, Corinthians, Crane-bucks, … I don’t know I got nothing after realizing I like Plum Bobs best. 🙂

    Couriers

    Is there a standard protocol messengers use to indicate someone has a message (like some gesture or obvious uniform that means the Duskwall equivalent of ye olde “You’f got mail”), or to relate who a message is from? Do they carry letters or speak from memory? Do people worry that memory of their messages might be extracted from messengers through unhealthy means?

    Whisper Winds, The Errant Missives, The Long Hands, Pinch Fingers, The Sole Post, Epistolaries, Wig Kissers, Tongue Chops, Chaperones, Tight Lips, Seal Keepers, Surrogates, Asaps, The Cordial Regards, Fleet Speakers, Street Slips, The Slips, The Calling Cards, Memoranda Men, Private Bills, Mnemonic Mouths, Chanters, Quill Errants, Dictators, Forget-me-nots, Mummers, Condolences, Sincerelies, Runners, Lightfoots, Letterpads, Wordjams, Linguambulists, etc. I’m getting a little crazy here.

  29. Brian Gracey I think Foundation is a really cool name. Whispers however is going to be pretty confusing since that’s a name already used heavily in the setting and means something completely different.

  30. I like the idea of multiple messenger guilds, almost gangs on their own right, each with specialties and turf and grudges.

    The Ink Blots (aka “the Blottos”), unreliable, a bit dirty, but cheap

    The Pigeons (“Stoolies”), quick, roof-runners, get it their fast but with a non-trivial chance that the courier dies from a fall and your letter goes missing.

    The Cyphers (“Zeroes”), for subtle deliveries; no questions asked, but at a price

    Union of Parcel Shippers (“Oops!”), for secure transit and larger objects, tough armored wagons, but somewhat expensive

    etc

  34. My suggestions are:

    Firefighters: Sparklers Brigade/Spark Keepers/Watery Tong (Tong is gang in chinesse)

    Masons: The Hammersmiths/Quarry Barons/ The Carvers

    Messengers: The Doves/The Corner Twisters

  37. Sigh more monster manual references abound. Messengers – Wisps for short/Duskwall Fleetfoots Masons – Gorgons for short/Cult of the Calcified Image Firefighters- Pyre Slaves – If you went with roman start where a guy had a slave fire brigade/racket.

  39. VII. They are a cult with secret membership. Rumors say that they have fingers in the pockets of the rich, as the City Watch. Some refuse to acknowledge the existence of VII, but soon find themselves true believers. Their hit squads are preceded by visions of your worst fears, and an unearthly fog. People say they are demons (or angels, depending on who you ask).

  42. Dragon keepers – one word or two, or hyphenated I’m not sure. The fire fighters operate huge, clanking, shrieking, twitching hoses, styled like dragons

    Oubliettes – cause what do you want from a bricklayer or wallmaker or bridgebuilder in Duskwall? To put away something you want to forget

    And Dylan Green suggested Red Caps, that’s nice, that’s good

  43. Crow’s Foot Irregulars

    The Plumbing Guild

    Sad Marys

    Soul Eaters

    Masters of Haruspicy

    The Butchering Men

    The Seamstresses

    Cobblers and Roustabouts

    Rat-catcher’s Guild

    The Totem-Burners

  47. Wait, a Bladez game where we play firefighters, put out dangerous fires, investigate weird arson cults, and eventually have to extinguish a demon? I want to go to there.

  48. Greg Barnsdale Sure, that could be slang. Or Wallys or something.

    But I’d just see it as the Wall, like “He’s Wall, man. You don’t mess with them” or “I’m gonna go talk to the Wall and see what I can dig up” or even references to climbing over or breaking through the Wall if you’re working against them.

  50. Also, in my head, you can’t extinguish anything with Ink from the Void Sea, you end up with a toxic haze of Skullfire reactant, and the fire is smothered at best.

    Instead they choke out fires with electroplasmically powered oil atomizers. (Which is also good, because it’s one cartridge away from something that can suppress a fire demon that might have caused this mess)

  54. tony dowler When I suggested Firefighters as a faction I was more thinking of crooked bastards extracting fire insurance protection from businesses — “oh your warehouse burned down you say? That’s just too bad we’d have helped but you didn’t pay your fire insurance this month huh?” That and of course and aligning with gangs and thieves to steal loot from the places they “help” put out fires for. Also of course brawls between rival fire stations. I got the idea from a history podcast that talked about the rather lawless nature of early American firefighters where all this shit actually happened. I recommend listening to it: http://thedollop.libsyn.com/138-history-of-american-figherfighters

  55. Kinda depends on where these factions pull members from, and how society views them.  I would assume that firefighters are gratefully appreciated community servants… unless the only way you GET to be a firefighter is by being too poor and out of options to do anything OTHER than risk incineration.  So their name could be a sign of respect, or love, or something exactly the opposite.

    Same deal with messengers: are these skilled professionals performing a vital service for appreciative clients?  Or are these homeless children whose main selling point is that they’ll work for next to no pay?

    Masons seem less polarized; I kinda assume they’re in a middle spot, valued but not venerated.  Breaking my expectations would be interesting, though, like having “architect” be the supreme educated profession in which the wealthy show off their skills.  That concept might require a two-part name, one for architects and another for builders.

    Names based on these ideas to follow…

  56. Firefighters: storm angels, fire captains, lodge watchers, smokesuckers, sootfaces

    Messengers: truth rail, purse ferrymen, scroll guards, rememberers, street rabbits, badgers, trained rats

    Masons: lodgecrafters, edifacers, building-smiths, fortwrights, Mechanics & Cogs

    I went for interesting over obvious.  I think the obvious names are messenger/courier and mason and something much like fire-fighter.

  60. Firefighters: using electroplasmic super fast coach, here comes the Afterburners.

    Architects: the Maze, the Undying (as the stone will never die), something related to entombing someone alive (I don’t know the English word for that).

    Messenger: the Voices, the Net/the Web, something funny with Tweet inside.

  61. Heng benjamin, I always remember the Wallmakers, from Garth Nix’s Abhorsten series… combined with a reputation for making their enemies “vanish” by sealing them into walls and floors.

    Immurement’s the word, I think.

    That reminds me of an article about nuns being immured into the foundations of religious buildings in order to imbue them with some sort of ultimate sanctity… perhaps the Masons, whatever their name, are as much a cult as anything else.

  64. The messengers are called the Twisters. Here’s why. In Duskwall, they are the jealous owners of cyphers and codes. You give your message to them, they encode it using whatever level of security you are willing to pay for. Then they transport your encrypted message and reveal it only to the designated recipient. If the message is stolen, it is of no value to anyone but another messenger. Why Twisters? One of the earliest forms of enciphering text was to write it on a strip wrapped around a rod – only a rod of the correct size would “decrypt” the text. Of course, the Twisters have many other codes and cyphers besides that now.

  66. Interesting thing about “Masons:” in the real world this name has come to stand for something totally unrelated to the stoneworkers, architects and engineers that once claimed it. It would be a nice ironic twist if the Masons of Duskwall were primarily engaged in actual masonry. So my vote is to just call that faction Masons.

  68. Fire ‘Fighters’ – The Department of Neighborhood Reclamation

    Eminent domain enforcers for the city. The wealthy aren’t just going to sit around and wait for a location to gentrify.

  69. Firefighters: Emberwatch (self explanatory), Sparknevers (reference to the black never sea waters they use to put out the flames).

    Masons: They strike me as wanting something simple (Stonecutters, The Builders). Or something ostentatious (The Brotherhood of Stoneward Architects).

    Messengers: Traditionally animal named. Often birds? (The Sparrows, The Rookery) or for speed (Rabbit Express). Although might go with a fish since the never sea is a bigger part of the culture than land-animals.

  70. Masons: Stonekings, Cornerstone Guild, Wall Keepers

    Firefighters: Ashbringers, Redchasers, Devil’s Tongues/ Soot Devils

    Messengers: Whisperwalkers/ Secretsprinters, Duskwall’s Lips 

  72. When I think of the “messengers” I definitely go towards a courier/Pony Express type vibe. Didn’t see anyone else mention that type of thing. (Somewhere between pony express and urban bike messengers) Maybe something like the `Page Express’ as it started from the gathering of pages under nobles but grew from there.

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