Members of the rebellion

So, if I am going to be writing a game which is *punk (I think thaumopunk, but am willing to be convinced I have the wrong name), the bad guys of the piece need to be in some way The Man. To be able to enjoy the cyberpunk's lineage, then my characters should be outcasts and fringers who are rebelling against authority and tradition.

As such the PCs in my game come from the Rebellion (title is to be changed when I come up with a better name). The Rebellion is a group of different rebels, outcasts and dissidents which has core together only because of the threat of the Peerage. As the Peerage plan their assault on heaven, and to become gods and exarchs themselves, the rebellion fights back.

So, who has formed the rebellion? I am currently thinking of having several groups who are an uneasy alliance, who the pcs can call upon and that the pcs come form:

The Enchanters:

The enchanters are the apprentices and heirs to the first of the aetheric engineers. After she discovered aetheric engineering and saw the uses that the Peerage was putting it to, she took the best of her notes and fled. In the shadows, she has taught many apprentices, and even without the laboratories and funding she could have had serving princes and kings, they have advanced the enchanter's arts. As such, the equipment of the rebellion's champions is often some of the best on the face of the earth.

Champions of the enchanters are often those who have been injured or lost limbs in the service of the Rebellion. The enchanters then can fashion new limbs, formed of steel and sorcery, bright with runes and magic to replace the lost flesh. The champions of the enchanters are given enhancements of magic which make them stronger and faster than an ordinary human, having traded parts of their human bodies for magic made strength.

The favours of the enchanters bring equipment for the champions. The enchanters can build equipment that mimics technolsogy which was not invented until hundreds of years later in our world. This group can be called upon to enchant for bespoke purposes many things which the players may need.

The needs of the enchanters is to ask for power to enchant more things. When opposing the Peerage and fighting the Dominion, the champions will often have cause to destroy the soulforges. In doing so, they are able to take much of the power that the Peerage were trying to capture. The enchanters want and need that power. The magic that the players steal can be given to the enchanters in exchange for their favour. The other most common favour of the enchanters is to rescue or kidnap another enchanter who has made a breakthrough they want.

The Levellers:

The levellers are a group of religious and moral extremists. The levellers faith is one of radical equality. The levellers do not believe in any righteous distinction between humans. This means when they heard about the goals of the Peerage they were immediately incensed. The idea of the hated nobility trying to make themselves gods and angels, of them extending their dominion through magic to keep the people down and raise themselves as false idols was something they had to fight.

Champions of the Levellers: The levellers had difficulty with the concept of the rite of the champions. The idea of giving power to one kind of person was difficult for their faith. As such, they were slow to accept and adopt the rite, but eventually some of them were considered for the duty. The leveller champions became powerful allies, who lent strength to their friends. The champions of the levellers have sought to avoid the call of power and corruption by binding themselves into a collective wisdom. The levellers are not a group mind, but the more potent of them are already starting to become more and more unified. Thinking in unison, borrowing each other's skills and wisdom and learning together.

The favours of the levellers can be called upon to provide the help of the faithful. The levellers value people who are well read and able to argue their cases well. As such they can be called on for support in matters of non magical learning. If you need to find wisdom or history, lore or theology then the levellers are likely to be able to help you. Similarly, if you want a non aggressive but determined protest, then the levellers are excellent allies.

The needs of the levellers are generally ideological. The levellers hate the proud and the concept of nobility. If you are able to humiliate one of the powerful, then the levellers will favour you for it in proportion to the haughtiness of the noble and the level of humiliation applied. Other than bringing down the mighty, the levellers are a persecuted minority. When one of the princes decides to remove an enclave of the levellers, they often call for champions to protect of save them. Saving the faithful from the Nobility will always gain the party favour.

Still to come (but each of these is quite long)

The Anarchists:

The druids:

The faithful:

The broken

The outlaws