Maelstrom Rules - Allegiance & Loyalty

Key Concepts
Every character is considered to be part of a group, even if they are the only character in the group. Any group can choose to begin as part of one of the powerful political entities present in the New World by selecting an allegiance.

If your group chooses a nation, faith, trading house or native tribe or hive for their allegiance then you must select the right race, culture, faith or skills to count as a full member of your group.

You may choose to give your loyalty to a single character in your group.

All groups must nominate an administrative contact.

Allegiance
The group that your character is a member of must select a single allegiance which applies to all members of the group. The allegiance can be to the colony of one of the twelve Known World nations, to one of the five trading houses or to one of the five churches. If your group is based around one of the native people found in the New World then you may choose ophidian tribe or myrmidon hive as your allegiance. If you do not wish to be one of the leading members of any political power, native or colonial, then you may choose to be independent.

Allegiance is one of the most important decisions to make as it determines whom your political allies and enemies are. Allegiance has three additional effects that are explained below: status and leadership, advantages, and full membership.

All the members of your group must have the same allegiance.

Loyalty
To give your loyalty to another character in your group, enter that character’s name in the section marked loyalty when you create your character. You can only give your loyalty to one character, who must be a member of your group.

If you give your loyalty to a character and you are both pre-booked as full members of your group then you will be part of their retinue. If your group’s allegiance is to a colony, church or trading house, and a member of the group has a large enough retinue, then they may choose to purchase the social status advantage. Retinues, social status and advantages are explained in detail in Chapter Four.

If you are playing an eidolon then you may wish to play a soul bound ally of a theurgist in your group. If you are playing an undead then you must be the undead minion of a necromancer in your group. In either case, you should write the name of the character that you are bound to in the section marked loyalty on the booking form. More information on soul bound allies and undead minions is in Chapter Seven.

Full Membership
If your group is part of a colony, church or trading house then you need to select the appropriate culture, deity or skills to be classed as a full member of your group. These requirements are described for each allegiance below. If you do not meet these requirements then your character is considered to be an ally of the group rather than a full member. Any character who is a member of an independent or native group is always considered a full member.

If you are a group ally then you cannot spend any points on advantages and you can never be part of another character’s retinue. Only full members of a group can be part of a retinue and count for social status.

Social Status And Leadership
If you are in a colony, church or trading house then you may be able to purchase the social status advantage. To purchase social status, you must have a retinue formed from other members of your group who have given you their loyalty.

The character with the highest social status is appointed as the head of the allegiance. This character receives additional advantages and powers while they maintain their position. If another character in the allegiance gains a higher social status than the appointed leader, then the position, with its benefits and responsibilities, will pass to them.

Allegiance Advantages
Every individual allegiance has a single area of expertise at which they excel. This is represented by their allegiance advantage. If you are a full member of your allegiance then you can spend up to five points on your allegiance advantage.

Administrative Contact
All groups must nominate one person as administrative contact for the group. This is the person that Profound Decisions will try to contact first if there is any communication for the group. The contact does not have to be the player whose character is in charge of the group in play. It should be the person best suited to filling in paperwork, answering communications from Profound Decisions and liaising with the rest of the group.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.