Factions in Cambria

So far, I’ve come up with a few factions in play in the world of Cambria, at least the ones that operate over a larger area than a couple of settlements.

The Reclaimers
The Reclaimers seek to uncover the artefacts of fallen civilisation all around them, in order to determine those that are safe or beneficial to keep around, and which should be destroyed or locked safely away from a potential misuse.
The Reclaimers are one of the main academic institutions left in Cambria, and they operate several libraries and academies. They are sometimes at odds with the Church for the investigation of ancient civilisation, but the promotion of safe disposal of dangerous items has so far made them only a minor nuisance to the Church’s work.

Skypirates
Where there are trade caravans and zeppelins and airships plying the skies for trade, there will inevitably be a criminal element willing to chance their luck.
The closest thing to an organised thieves’ guild, the Skypirates are actually a group of semi-aligned crews (and ground-based informants, pickpockets and ne’er-do-wells). The richest of the thieves operate small, fast airships that they can use to raid slow-moving traders.

Merchants’ Guild
The power behind a large number of elected government officials and bureaucracy in Cambria, the Merchant’s Guild has one of the best communication networks in Cambria (probably).
With its own trading interests, as well as taking a tithe from registered members, the Guild is incredibly rich and able to pay the most skilled mercenaries to protect its interests, and the most powerful individuals to turn a blind eye to anything questionable that they may be involved in.

The Church / The Inquisition
The Church is the oldest organisation in Cambria, though perhaps their martial arm the Inquisition is older still.
When the Fall happened, caused by the use of arcane magic, the Inquisition hunted down any Arcanists not killed by wild magic or angry mobs. The work of the Church has since been to keep the population of Cambria safe and ever vigilant for the corruption of arcane magic, and to rout out any dangerous magic.

Engineers’ Guild
Following from the work of the Reclaimers, the Engineers’ Guild is the power behind the airships, the tools that have allowed a real re-establishment of civilisation across Cambria via safer trade between population centres.
Powered by steam, by magic deemed safe by the Church, and more recently by psionic energies, the airship fleet needs the engineers, and without them, the greater powers of all the other factions cease. This is perhaps why the Church hasn’t moved against them as a danger to the world.

Arcane Underground
The Underground is all that stands between arcanists and certain death.
Most arcanists are ordinary people, passing through the world with little notice of anyone around them, but they have been born with (or somehow learned) arcane abilities.
The Underground is an information network that exists to keep arcanists safe from the Inquisition. Without them, many more people would be sentenced to death despite not being a danger to those around them.

Psionicists Temple
The newest faction in Cambria, formed from various collectives working to better understand the new psionic powers that have arrived in the world.
The choice of the collectives to name the group as a temple was taken perhaps to appease the Church, who continue not to trust the new power of psionics. They have so far been unable to prove any link to arcane abilities, however.