Factions are the generic term used to describe the various allegiances that NPCs you meet will hold, and your ties to them, positive or negative. A good relationship with the right people can sometimes prove more useful than a gun in a tight corner- you never know when you'll need to call in a favor. It's also worth noting that you can often wheedle a few spare pieces of equipment out of your buddies - pieces of equipment that may very well save your life.

+ Foundation Factions

++ Medical

The Medical Ward on site is responsible for providing both routine and emergency medical care to all Site personnel. Cultivating a good relationship with them is a good idea for any field agent who may find themselves at their tender mercies - spending your time recuperating in an environment where everyone can hardly stand you can be //rather// unpleasant.

Three points of Medical faction will allow you to convince the Medical staff that you need additional supplies. When leaving the site, you may take a single pre-prepared syringe filled with a cocktail of painkillers, amphetamines, and adrenaline to a target. Upon administering the cocktail to a target with a successful Medical check of 6+, the subject gains 3 temporary Health.

++ Security

Security is responsible for maintaining containment on the artifacts contained on Site, as well as on-site policing. Researchers in need of a few extra test subjects may want to cultivate friendships here, if they need a few more Class Ds diverted for experimentation. More combat-oriented characters often build connections here as a simple result of doing their jobs.

Three points of Security faction will allow you to convince the Security staff that you need additional supplies. When leaving the site, you may take a flashbang grenade with you. A flashbang grenade may be used as part of a Simple Weapons attack. When using the flashbang, all individuals exposed to the weapon (GM's discretion) must make a successful defense check or lose their next turn. The flashbang inflicts no damage.

++ Research

Research handles all experimentation on site. Doctors who think their project is deserving of a little more in the way of funding and resource allocations would do well to butter this group up, as would Agents who want some information on what exactly the black bars on their mission briefings mean.

Three points of Research faction will allow you to convince the Research staff that you need assistance. For off-site excursions, you receive the most up-to-date research results pertinent to your trip. These research results allow you to add +1 to the checks for any one skill for the duration of the run.

++ Engineering

Keeping a site like 23 in working order is more work than most would believe. Crews of technicians work around the clock, retrofitting containment units with upgrades and performing routine maintenance of the many systems keeping it running. A solid relationship with the people keeping this place running means that your work on-site will tend to flow with much fewer interruptions.

Three points of Engineering faction will allow you to convince the Engineering staff that you need additional supplies. During off-site trips, you may carry two half-kilogram charges of C4 plastic explosive. A difficulty 6 Technologist check will allow you to plant and activate the charge. Failure damages the detonator and renders the charge inert.

++ Quartermaster

++ Armory

The armory handles most of the site's longarms and explosive weapons. Combat agents often see much more of a reason to find allies here than researchers, but any heavy combat equipment used in experimentation is routed through them.

Three points of Munitions faction will allow you to convince the Armory staff that you need supplies diverted. Whenever you leave the site, you may bring a single fragmentation grenade. A fragmentation grenade may be used as part of a Simple Weapons attack. When using the grenade, all individuals exposed to the weapon (GM's discretion) must make a successful defense check or lose 3 Health.

++ Bureaucracy

The clerks of Site 23 are viewed with a bit of disdain by the less-informed, but a knowledgeable individual will know that things become much easier when the bureaucracy actually //wants// to help you. Accounting, Payroll, Human Resources... navigating these murky waters becomes much easier when they're actually on your side.

Three points of the Bureaucracy faction allows you to make a few good contacts in Accounting. You may, at the GM's discretion, use these contacts to make a significant purchase: for example, if a house is suspected of having an anomaly in the basement and you need to get inside to investigate. Forget subterfuge, just //buy// it.

++ Espionage

The Foundation maintains an intelligence network that spans the world. Site 23 is no exception to this, and the espionage arm located here is a powerful one indeed. Anyone wanting to take action in the outside world would be well-served by having Site 23's considerable intelligence services on their side.

Three points of the Espionage faction permits you to access and make use of advanced sound-dampening technology in your field gear. With this equipped, you gain a +2 to any Agility or Deception check to move silently.

+ Non-Foundation Factions

++ Academia

++ Military

The world brotherhood of soldiers is a mixed batch of competing loyalties. Army, Unit, Country, God, Ideal, Comrades. Being involved with the Military is going to make friends and enemies, both within and outside the faction. Of course, there are few things that enough firepower can't solve, and being able to get control of a regular army unit is a great source of firepower.

++ Global Occult Coalition

++ Chaos Insurgency

++ Serpent's Hand

++ Marshall, Carter, and Dark

++ The Factory

++ Church of the Broken God