Factions & Organizations

The wasteland of Darkbound is home to a diverse array of factions and organizations, each vying for survival, power, or influence in a world shaped by the Dark. These groups provide structure, conflict, and purpose to the shattered remains of civilization. Whether they are bands of survivors united by necessity or fanatical cults devoted to the Dark, these factions shape the world and its stories. Below, you will find a detailed overview of the major factions and organizations that populate the Darkbound universe.

Faction/Organization Name	Description
The Covent of the Sacred Flame	A religious sect dedicated to the belief that light and fire are humanity’s salvation. They hoard flammable resources and enforce strict pyromaniac rituals.
Steel Sons	A paramilitary faction of scavengers who collect and weaponize old-world machinery. Known for their power-armored enforcers and brutal efficiency.
Verdant Nexus	A druidic cult that reveres the corrupted flora of the Dark as sacred. They aim to harness its mutations for both protection, ritualistic paganism, and weaponry.
The Pale Caravan	A nomadic trade network moving between settlements, offering rare goods but rumored to deal in human trafficking for the right price.
The Voidborne	A fanatical group worshiping the Dark itself, believing its corruption is the next stage of evolution. Known for ritual sacrifices and dark experiments.
Redclaw Rangers	Wasteland hunters and survivalists who act as bounty hunters and trackers for hire. Fiercely independent, they are both feared and respected.
The Broken Crown	A network of descendants from former political leaders who seek to reclaim their lost power. They manipulate settlements and trade routes from the shadows.
The Montclair Republic	A militarized society formed by ex-soldiers and scientists. They enforce brutal order in their territories and view themselves as humanity’s last hope.
Torchlight	One of the last bastions of civilization in the wasteland. A coalition of skilled farmers, engineers, and scientists. Citizens specialize in crafting tools, as well as repairing old-world technology. Wardens protect the town.
The Scorchers	A gang of raiders infamous for burning down settlements they conquer. Their leader is said to be an Aberrant-human hybrid immune to fire.
Gutter Crows	A loose collective of thieves and smugglers who control the black market in several wasteland hubs. They thrive on deception and quick escapes.
Crimson Tide	A pirate faction ruling the coasts and waterways. They use salvaged boats and make deadly raids on settlements near the shore. They are usually lawless.
Keepers of the Shroud	An elite group of hunters who specialize in tracking and eliminating Aberrants. They are highly trained and highly paid, with a strict code.
Rotguard	A mercenary band immune to Dark corruption due to mutations. They sell their protection services to settlements but are ruthless in their contracts.
The Cloaked Daggers	A secretive network of spies and informants who gather intelligence for the highest bidder. Their agents are everywhere, and trust is their currency.
The Ascendancy	A splinter group of old-world scientists and Aberrant sympathizers who believe in coexisting with the Dark. They study Aberrants to uncover ways to communicate or collaborate. Some have even tried to befriend them.
Stormwalkers	A nomadic family of traders and scavengers who travel only during violent storms, using the chaos to avoid detection by Aberrants or raiders.
Hollow Circle	A nihilistic cult that views the Dark as inevitable and works to hasten humanity’s extinction, sabotaging settlements from within. They want the world to die out.
Boneknitters	A group of rogue medics and scientists who specialize in extreme body modifications, often bordering on the unethical.
The Harvesters	A brutal faction that kidnaps children from settlements and turns them into slaves. Psychic children are exploited and trained to wield their abilities.
The Vanguard	A secretive group dedicated to uncovering the origins of the Dark. They operate from hidden libraries and underground bunkers, seeking knowledge to counter or attack the Dark Zones with new technology.
The Ironclad	A paramilitaristic faction reclaiming land from Aberrants, turning it into fortified outposts. They demand discipline and loyalty from their members.
The Black Sun Covenant	A fanatical cult that worships the Dark as a divine force, believing its corruption is humanity’s salvation. Their rituals aim to spread the Dark as much as possible.
The Red Shroud	A network of scavengers and smugglers who trade rare items but thrive in morally gray areas. Their encrypted messages are painted with red pigment.
The Forgehands	Engineers and mechanics who preserve old-world technology. Known for their prosthetic augmentations and their fortified safezones called Forgeholds.
The Saltborn	A seafaring community navigating the Black Tides. They trade with coastal safezones and believe in the mythical Tidemother.
The Thornkin	A reclusive group living in corrupted forests. They wear plant-based armor and fight to protect their wilderness homes from outsiders.
The Chain of Ash	An underground group fighting against authoritarian factions. They sabotage oppressors and inspire rebellion with their symbol of a flaming chain.
The Taletellers	Wandering storytellers preserving humanity’s history through oral tradition. Their tales bring hope but sometimes unearth painful truths.
The Riftborn	A mysterious faction harnessing the Dark for technological and biological advancements. Their glowing armor makes them appear otherworldly.
The Sable Syndicate	A ruthless criminal organization profiting from chaos. They deal in weapons, drugs, and human trafficking through hidden Shroud Markets.
The Sunken Choir	A group living in flooded ruins, claiming to hear prophetic “songs” from the Dark. They are adorned with marine elements and feared for their eerie influence.

Other Settlements

Most of these are simply rumors or legends as Torchlight has not made contact with any of them yet.

1. Redwood Bastion

Location & Terrain: Deep within a sprawling, mutated forest where massive redwood trees have grown even taller—some claim unnaturally so.
Defining Feature: The settlement’s palisades are built from enormous tree trunks. Rumors say its people have domesticated mutant insects for lumber harvesting.
Trade Specialty: Medicinal plants, potent herbal concoctions.
Potential Threat: The Dark seeps into the forest canopy, warping wildlife into territorial, night-stalking predators.

2. Ironpeak Hold

Location & Terrain: A fortified mining outpost high in the mountains.
Defining Feature: Perched near an old-world iron mine, its dwellers supposedly maintain a working forge, making prized metal goods.
Trade Specialty: Steel weaponry and spare machine parts.
Potential Threat: Travel is treacherous—avalanche-prone passes and winged predators mutated by the Dark.

3. Rimewater Crater

Location & Terrain: Formed around a frozen lake in a former meteor impact zone, now riddled with crystalline ice formations.
Defining Feature: The crater’s chill is said to slow the Dark’s spread, but travelers speak of half-buried labs under the ice.
Trade Specialty: Pure, uncontaminated water and exotic crystals.
Potential Threat: Strange, cold-adapted aberrants lurk beneath the surface, and an unpredictable “magnetic anomaly” reportedly disrupts compasses and electronics.

4. Claywell’s Crossing

Location & Terrain: A desert waystation built around a rare oasis.
Defining Feature: Once a trading post, it has become a melting pot for nomads, raiders, and wanderers—famous for neutral ground negotiations.
Trade Specialty: Potable water, plus a robust black market for old-world artifacts.
Potential Threat: Rumor has it a local warlord—or a Dark cult—secretly controls the water supply, deciding who drinks and who withers.

5. The Spire-City

Location & Terrain: A shattered metropolis dominated by a single, towering skyscraper partially consumed by the Dark.
Defining Feature: Survivors cling to the mid and upper floors, fortifying them with rigged barricades. The lower levels are a no-go zone for most.
Trade Specialty: Rich veins of scavenged electronics and technology from the corporate offices above.
Potential Threat: Aberrants and Dark “tendrils” infest the sublevels, making any elevator or stairwell descent a life-or-death gamble.

6. Saltsea Haven

Location & Terrain: Perched near a vast salt flat at the edge of a dried-up ocean.
Defining Feature: Boasts towering windmills (long stripped of generators) and a precarious salt-harvesting operation.
Trade Specialty: Salt for preserving food, rumored leftover naval tech from beached ships.
Potential Threat: The salt flats are said to be haunted by “lightning ghosts,” mutated electric eels that survived in saltwater pockets under the crust.

7. Seraph’s Den

Location & Terrain: Tucked away in a massive underground cavern system, accessible only through a narrow ravine.
Defining Feature: Massive bio-luminescent mushrooms illuminate the paths, supposedly lending the settlement a surreal “twilight glow.”
Trade Specialty: Fungal-based foods, potent mycelial potions.
Potential Threat: Rumors of a sentient fungal hive mind that might be cooperating—or competing—with the Dark.

8. Junktown Outskirts

Location & Terrain: A sprawling junkyard settlement built atop layers of industrial scrap and abandoned vehicles.
Defining Feature: Tinkerers run the show here, assembling jury-rigged contraptions from the mechanical graveyard.
Trade Specialty: Unique mechanical parts, refurbished engines, homemade explosives.
Potential Threat: Occasional bursts of electricity from salvaged generators may draw hordes of Aberrants—or the Dark itself.

9. Kestrel Sands Refuge

Location & Terrain: A mobile “caravan city” that never stays put for long.
Defining Feature: Powered by old diesel engines and possibly a precarious stash of solar panels, it roams to avoid the Dark’s notice.
Trade Specialty: Transport services, rare goods collected along their travels.
Potential Threat: The need to keep moving means they’re always running from something—be it raiders, the Dark, or resource scarcity.