BORDER FACTIONS are the most critical and advanced factions in Ingenseria. These 5 factions control some section of the Crescent Bulwark, the line being held against the Dream Plague's spread. They, along with the other remaining factions, make up about 25% of the galaxy, as 75% of the galaxy has either been claimed or rendered inaccessible by the Dream Plague.

They are:

The WAKING DAWN, controlling approximately 15% of the border; they occupy the Upper Arm, the topmost section of the border and the most secured. They are an exceptionally organized surveillance society; almost all of the territory they control is part of the Border, and thus the majority of their society is massively restricted and most people live in service to the machine that, in their section, holds the Plague at bay. Life is monotonous and restrictive, but not particularly suffering; their rigorous protocol and constant surveillance has led to by far the most secure border section outside of the Defiance, having some of the most advanced methods for containing the Plague. When one grows old enough as part of the Waking Dawn, they are sent offworld to their few colonies off of their border, where they retire well for their service. Whether that trade is worth it...

The LAST VIGIL COLLECTIVE, controlling approximately 30% of the border; they occupy the Heart Territory, the central, deepest and most peaceful portion of the border. They maintain a tenuous peace between all of the other factions from their central position in the border, and compete with the Waking Dawn for the level of advancement in relation to holding the Plague at bay. They maintain something approximating a utopia despite all of the destruction around them, but are often seen by other factions as disconnected from the tragedy and terror the Dream Plague has inflicted. This is because its government, the main apparatus for handling the plague, is predominantly A.I. controlled, and the vast majority of the system which maintains its boundary is automated.

The DYING STAR ARMISTICE is actually a coalesced group of multiple smaller, militarized factions that once waged significant war with each other, hence their name. Once the Dream Plague grew serious enough, most were able to set aside their differences and mobilize to secure their borders, and over time as their actions grew more synchronized and their operations more entangled, the distinction between them became less and less clear. Now a federation of five sections of territory, the unifying factor of the Armistice's factions is extremely strong militarization, heavy conscription and closely monitored lives. Not quite as restrictive as the Waking Dawn, and more possessed of a sort of camaraderie, duty and patriotism than the Waking Dawn's sterile and deadpan machine. Not all civilians are required to participate, but the most able-bodied must provide sometimes over a decade of service to securing the border and protecting the Armistice's interests. They control approximately 10% of the border.

The RED BASTION is a democratic state controlling about 10% of the border. Their methods for controlling the border have been predominantly 'standard'; they have up-to-date, strong security systems kept in operation by a somewhat militarized government department referred to often as the Red Line. They have not resorted to conscription or heavy security measures to maintain their border, and do not have the resources to utilize more widespread artificial intelligences, which often results in them being considered the 'weakest' organization maintaining the boundary. They still maintain relatively strong security, and serve a thriving, if small society with an important position in trade.

The DEFIANCE is a hivemind occupying about 35% of the border. The Defiance has had by far the most success at keeping the Plague at bay; their method, however, has been 'fighting fire with fire'. They produced a nanobot plague which subsumed entire world ecosystems into a homogeneous hivemind with psionically interwoven minds. These hiveminds proved immune to the Dream Plague, as the way they were structured meant that the only possible point of infection was tethered to their hivemind, which had strong defenses that were immediately alerted upon any infection and could react with immense force before it could spread. The Defiance's arrival completely eliminated entire societies and initially appeared to have killed billions of people, but in truth 'conscripted' them into a struggle for survival, subsuming their bodies into the hivemind, using their brains as processors, and putting their normal mental functions on indefinite hold.

The Defiance is a nightmarish slurry of flesh and technology, and those who were swept into its control were often entirely unrecognizable by the time it had finished mutating their forms for its needs. However, it controls the only portion of the barrier where not a single breach event has occurred in over a hundred years, and the shadowy, scarcely-seen beings behind its creation allege that all of those who have survived in the hivemind will be released once the plague is "solved", and until then their forms have been 'forcibly commandeered' to direct all available manpower towards the plague's solution. The Defiance has a strained peace with other factions; no military action can be taken against it, because cases of defectors indicate that, indeed, the minds of those consumed are preserved perfectly and thus all those inside of its hive are still fully alive and recoverable. As well, any damage to its territory threatens to cede that territory to the plague permanently, holding hostage not only usable resources and territory, but also billions of people.