The Rise of the Five Factions

Though the Age of Pirates brought prosperity back to the world, it also brought conflict. As generations passed, the seas grew crowded with ambitious captains, rival fleets, and powerful alliances. Trade flourished, treasures of the Old World were recovered, and great ports became centers of wealth and influence. Yet beneath the prosperity lay a truth as old as mankind itself. Where power exists, others will seek to claim it.

The pirate fleets that had once roamed freely began to grow into something larger. Crews that had once answered only to their captains united beneath common banners. Alliances formed. Harbors expanded into strongholds. Entire regions of the Abyssal Seas came under the protection—or domination—of powerful fleets whose influence stretched farther with each passing year. What had once been scattered bands of sailors slowly transformed into nations upon the sea.

And so, from countless captains and rival crews, five great powers emerged.

Each possessed its own beliefs, traditions, and ambitions. Though all were born from the Age of Pirates, each chose a different path. Their banners became symbols recognized throughout the Abyssal Seas, and their names inspired loyalty, fear, and respect in equal measure.

In the volcanic waters of the Ashen Expanse rose the Obsidian Pyre. Forged amid fire and smoke, its captains embraced conquest, strength, and destruction. Their black-sailed warships became feared across the seas, and tales of their infernal fleets spread wherever sailors gathered. They believed power was earned through victory, and their enemies learned to dread the glow of crimson fire upon the horizon.

Far to the west, where commerce and fortune flourished, the Gilded Eclipse established itself among the wealthy trade routes. Masters of diplomacy and prosperity, they built great ports and accumulated riches beyond imagination. Though many underestimated them as mere merchants, wise captains knew that gold possessed a power every bit as dangerous as cannon fire.

In the darkest reaches of the abyss, where strange things stirred beneath the waves, the Abyssal Creed rose from mystery and faith. Their fleets sailed beside creatures that many believed belonged only to legends, and their devotion to the depths inspired both fear and fascination. Some considered them prophets. Others called them madmen. Yet none denied their power.

From the shadows and forgotten waters came the Umbral Vanguard. Masters of secrecy and deception, they became legends whispered about in taverns and among frightened crews. Their ships appeared without warning and vanished like ghosts upon the mist. Few knew the full extent of their strength, and fewer still survived long enough to speak of it.

And within the iron strongholds and great foundries of the northern seas, the Iron Sovereign forged its destiny. Their engineers and shipwrights built mighty fleets of steel and brass, transforming industry into power. Their cannons thundered with unmatched fury, and their fortresses stood as monuments to discipline and determination.

Thus the world entered a new age.

No longer were the seas ruled by scattered captains and wandering fleets. The Five Factions had risen, and with them came new alliances, new rivalries, and new wars. Trade expanded, discoveries multiplied, and civilization grew stronger than it had been since before the Great Drowning. Yet peace remained as fleeting as the wind, for each faction dreamed of shaping the future according to its own vision.

Some sought wealth.

Some sought knowledge.

Some sought conquest.

And others pursued mysteries that few dared even speak aloud.

Though conflict often divided them, all shared a common inheritance. They were children of the sea, descendants of those who had survived the destruction of the Old World. Kings and empires had vanished long ago, but something new had risen in their place.

And as the banners of the Five Factions spread across the Abyssal Seas, so too did stories of great captains, impossible treasures, monstrous creatures, and forgotten ruins hidden beneath the waves.

A new age was dawning.

And soon, legends themselves would walk the seas.

“Many banners fly above the Abyssal Seas, but all are born from the same storm. We are children of the waves, whether we admit it or not.”

— Navigator Seraphine Goldwake, Year 411 After Drowning