An incomplete list of Blood in the Dark factions
I haven’t finished writing all the factions that exist in the City in Darkness for Blades in the Dark yet. Frankly, I need to find an interesting angle for some more underworld factions. Most importantly, I need to work out how the blood magic/engineering works. The faction responsible will need a name, bloodgeneers doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Still, I have written up a bunch of them and here’s the first chunk.
The Vampires
| Faction Type | Institutions |
| Hold | Strong |
| Status | Needs Work |
| Tier | 5 |
Despotic rulers of the city, the three are rarely seen outside the Night Palace, preferring instead to exert power through the Phlebotomist’s Guild, the Shell Guard, and their own servants.
The three are:
She who rules the night
Ancient beyond reckoning, she discovered the rock centuries ago and used it as a refuge before falling into a deep torpor. She woke — centuries later — in a cage. She is capable of mesmerising vast crowds, and ruled kingdoms in the distant past.
The man from beyond time
A proto-vampire, older than She who rules the night, old enough to predate the naming of species. He still nurses a grudge against the time god for introducing entropy to existence — a wound that has had aeons to fester. Power does not interest him; he finds his current situation quite comfortable.
Ubermensch
Unbeknownst to all goblins, their overgod was shattered in the great rebellion and a shard lodged itself in an otherwise intelligent but unambitious marmoset. Schooled in ambition by the fragment of a god, he masterminded the trio’s escape from the zoo and rise to power using new forms of manipulation via blood magic.
Shell Guard
| Faction Type | Fringe |
| Hold | Strong |
| Status | Not started |
| Tier | 3 |
The Shell Guard are the servants and soldiers of the Day Palace. Accessible through a portal in the Night Palace, the Day Palace is a paradise island covered in a sprawling and now mostly uninhabited city. Encrusted with dried sealife and with large shells for heads, they never speak. Now subservient to the Vampires, the Guard are occasionally spotted in the city doing their bidding.
Phlebotomists Guild
| Faction Type | Trade |
| Hold | Strong |
| Status | In progress |
| Tier | 4 |
Collectors of the blood that powers the city. Feared throughout the city for their press-ganging of citizens for the vampires and their servants, they spend most of their time collecting the lower quality animal blood from the abattoirs that powers the city’s arcane industries.
The Duke’s Guard
| Faction Type | Institutions |
| Hold | Strong |
| Status | In progress |
| Tier | 3 |
Even before the Vampires ascended, the city’s security was never a public good — it belonged to guilds and nobles, maintained by private militias with private interests. These groups tend to clash over territory and responsibility. One of these militias now without sponsor, are the Duke’s Guard. Greatly reduced from their heyday guarding the Night Palace and surrounds, they still protect the Courts of Law and the rich streets surrounding them.