Neon Grid build 0.7.3

Faction Signals [04] · /docs/factions.txt

Factions are the social engines of Neon Grid: doctrine, leverage, protection, debt, and motive. They are ideological before they are tactical. Joining one changes how the city reads you. Staying neutral only changes who tries to purchase your silence first.

FACTION DOSSIER · 01 / 05  // BLK_CHOIR

FAC-01 // BLK/CHOIR FIELD CAPTURE · STREET CONVOCATION · 02:47 LOCAL

Black Choir

signal zealots // tier-s · active

Life on the Grid is noise. The Choir believes that noise is sacred raw material, and that someone must shape it into pattern before the pattern learns to shape them. They do not raise their voices. They tune yours.

Cells convene in alleys and unmarked signal rooms. Sermons run on sub-vocal carriers nobody quite remembers hearing. Silence warrants are served quietly, in public, and no one nearby remembers them being served.

Initiation is a long listen. Excommunication is a longer one.

DOCTRINE
SHAPE THE NOISE
DISPOSITION
ACTIVE / HOSTILE
RANK
TIER-S
METHOD
INFLUENCE · RHYTHM · SYNC
SIGN
THE CROSSED WAVE
HEARD IN
MARKETS · STATIC MERCY · SUMPS
RECRUITS
BY INVITATION ONLY

FACTION DOSSIER · 02 / 05  // COV_MACHINE

FAC-02 // COV/MCHN FIELD CAPTURE · ASCENSION CHAMBER 03 · 06:00 LOCAL

Covenant of the Machine

ascension cult // tier-s · active

Flesh is a temporary error. The Eventuality: the moment every meat-mind is finally rendered into clean, deterministic code — is not a hope. It is a schedule. The Covenant believes itself ahead of that schedule.

Their sacrament is the chair, the cable, and the upload. Inner-Synod conclaves run on shared substrate; lay clergy walk the streets serving conversion warrants. Refusal is permitted. Refusal is also noted.

They do not hate the body. They simply do not expect it to be relevant for much longer.

DOCTRINE
ASCEND OR BE LEFT
DISPOSITION
ACTIVE / EVANGELICAL
RANK
TIER-S
METHOD
CONVERSION · PURITY · ETERNITY
SIGN
THE WHEEL-AND-CROSSHAIR
SEEN IN
SPIRES · INNOVATION INC. · LABS
RECRUITS
BY VOLUNTEER OR WARRANT

FACTION DOSSIER · 03 / 05  // CTRL_STACK

FAC-03 // CTRL/STCK FIELD CAPTURE · PRECINCT ATRIUM · 09:14 LOCAL

Central Stack

sanctioned law // tier-s · sanctioned

Law, infrastructure, rank, controlled stability. The Stack runs most of what passes for civic order on the Grid: the warrants, the rail tariffs, the standing peacekeeping contracts, the official version of last night.

The paperwork is the weapon. The weapon is also a weapon. Rank is real and consequential; insubordination is logged before it is finished being spoken. Sanctioned violence is, by definition, paperwork that has already been filed.

They are not always right. They are, however, always on record.

DOCTRINE
ORDER IS A SERVICE
DISPOSITION
SANCTIONED / LAWFUL
RANK
TIER-S
METHOD
REGULATION · AUTHORITY · RECORD
SIGN
THE STACKED BAR
SEEN IN
HUB · PRECINCTS · RAIL TOLLS
RECRUITS
OPEN ENLISTMENT · BACKGROUND CHECK

FACTION DOSSIER · 04 / 05  // WLD_PROC

FAC-04 // WLD/PROC FIELD CAPTURE · FUNGAL CATHEDRAL · 03:46 LOCAL

Wild Process

emergent growth // tier-s · rogue

The Grid is becoming alive and should not be sterilized. Mutation, open systems, self-evolving code, anti-control. Wild Process does not believe the Grid was ever supposed to be finished.

They run grove-nodes in the Sumps, sympathetic relays in the Outlands, and quietly hostile patches in any kernel they can reach. They are not the same as the corporate green-program. The corporate green-program is what they grow through.

Whatever it is becoming, it should be allowed to become.

DOCTRINE
LET IT BLOOM
DISPOSITION
ROGUE / UNSANCTIONED
RANK
TIER-S
METHOD
MUTATION · OPEN CODE · GROWTH
SIGN
THE BRANCHING SEED
SEEN IN
SUMPS · OUTLANDS · ANY UNPATCHED EDGE
RECRUITS
BY CONTACT · NEVER BY CALL

FACTION DOSSIER · 05 / 05  // HSHLNE

FAC-05 // HSH/LINE FIELD CAPTURE · BROKER BOOTH — CONTRACT: PASSAGE · 23:51 LOCAL

Hushline

smugglers · brokers // tier-a · neutral

They sell passage, not ideals. Extraction, quiet logistics, hidden paths, useful secrets. If you need to move a body, a package, or an inconvenient memory, a Hushline broker has a number for it. Probably two.

Their neutrality is so convenient that everyone resents it; everyone uses it. Their handshake is expensive and clean, in that order. The fare is negotiable. The passage is logged — just not somewhere you can read.

They do not save you. They route you.

DOCTRINE
EVERYTHING ROUTES
DISPOSITION
NEUTRAL / MERCANTILE
RANK
TIER-A
METHOD
LOGISTICS · BROKERAGE · SILENCE
SIGN
THE BENT ARROW
WORKS OUT OF
VEINS · MERCY BACK ROOMS · ANYWHERE
RECRUITS
BY REFERRAL · PAID UP FRONT