Trying to convince my friend to play

[OneKelvin]

5 hours ago, tmod said:

As has been mentioned... ...different organizations than modern companies.

The Guild's goal is power, not just... ...being a guild for mages and a commercial enterprise, but I guess the fluff in The Other Side will tell us a lot more...

When it comes to descriptions of Malifaux/Neverborn in the official fluff it's... ...the voice of humans describing the unknown.

Furthermore... ...things they don't understand, and have almost destroyed the world several times over in the last decade or so.

A point on propaganda... ...on the horrid exploits they have done at the cemetaries...

Finally a point on the "official descriptions"... ...Guild and Arcanists, and Ressurs become more alien/evil than mysterious.

If you read all the books, all the Chronicles stories, all the campaign stuff and TTB material the total picture becomes extremely complex, and it's clear no faction is all "good" or all "bad", and neither are individuals. They are all capable of great evil, and more likely to commit evil then not, and thus no one can be said to be good because they oppose those who are evil. It's all shades of grey...

I believe these may apply.



And...

"Characters have all sorts of reasons for bringing up the subjectivity of morality - perhaps they are the Constantly Curious Philosopher who wants to get to the bottom of things; perhaps they are The Fettered, acutely aware of the difficulty and complexity of their quest, moral hazards included; and then perhaps they are trying to fundamentally shake some kind of hero who believes themselves to be acting in the name of absolute good. This last flavor is by far the most common, and is a favorite tactic of the Straw Nihilist, the Card-Carrying Villain, and The Übermensch who adheres to Blue and Orange Morality and believes himself Above Good and Evil."

"On the surface at least, "What is Evil" is a stressingly valid point. Philosophers of morality have, for centuries, struggled with the apparently impossible challenge of objectively proving a "should", even as most of us deeply believe that, say, murdering innocent children is objectively wrong. Typically, heroes tend to cling to that exact deep conviction; they don't care for arguing about moral relativism, much like real-life people who see themselves as morally in the right don't care for it. You could say that this has resulted from aeons of evolutionary pressure on heroes: the ones who stopped to think out the moral conundrums got killed by the Card-Carrying Villain who realized they could use this to Logic Bomb heroes. Meanwhile, the heroes who refused to give in to the villain's nihilism - either out of boneheadedness, or out of a belief that fighting for what you believe in is a worthy enough goal- persevered. Out-of-universe, the typical lack of moral ambiguity in hero/villain conflict may be attributable to writers just not wanting to waste any effort on that issue, for either ideological or pragmatic reasons."

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatIsEvil

You will not sway me Demon! The Guild will put you down, and restore the peace!

!!!!!!

[Ludvig]

I am familiar enough with the fluff and was just messing around (although I wouldn't mind a guild dedicated summoning master to give us a fighting chance in strats where that is an advantage)

Thanks for the excellent breakdown!

[Jernmajoren]

While one can argue whether or not individuals in the Guild are good or evil, the motivation of the organization as a whole are not. 

The goal to ensure the well being of humans on Earth, by providing the Soul stones used for creating the magic people on earth relies upon, is altruistic.

 

Now I haven't been into Malifaux for long, but I have tried to pen down how I perceive the various factions in comparison to the Guild.

 

Arcanist
Power hungry individuals who have come to Malifaux to get their greedy hands on Soul stones.
Main Arcanist figure, the power hungry Ramos runs the M&S Union with an iron grip, while using his 
dark powers for insidious reasons to enforce his will on other Arcanists.
Using his loyal core of personal henchmen, he forces other Arcanist's into doing his bidding, 
making sure no one threatens his tyranical rule.
This has often put the M&SU at odds with the Guild, to the detriment of the hardworking people of Malifaux.

Ressurectionist
The Ressurectionist's are a wide variety of nefarious occultists, bend on enslaving the dead to their own will.
Terrorizing the innocent people of Malifaux, the vile Ressurectionist's uses their dark powers to kill and maim
whoever stand in their way.
Using the bodies of the dead to further extend their grip on the living, they will never stop until stopped by the Guild,
or all of Malifaux is in their grip.
Like a swarm of locust the Ressurectionist Necromancers threaten to erradicate the peaceloving men, women and children 
working for bettering the future of Malifaux.
 

Neverborn
Creatures of Nightmares made living, they exist only to slaughter and inflict mental anguish on other inhabitants of Malifaux.
With a long tradition of eradicating other inhabitants of Malifaux, they were responsible for eradicating the original settlers 
of Malifaux, causing the many years of anguish on Earth until the Guild was able to penetrate their demonic powers and
open The Breach, thus allowing Earth to prosper again.
Like a pack of rabies infected dogs their is only one correct response to their infestation, and that is to put them down.

Outcasts
Generic term for various groups that operates outside the just law of the Guild.
The Outcasts are motivated by greed, either lusting for power or Scrips.
Overall the members of this faction have put themselves and their goals ahead of the people.
Thus they can not be trusted, and they are a danger to the good people of Malifaux.

Gremlins
The inhabitants of The Bayou, a minor nuisance at times, but overall just an added spice to the experience of Malifaux.
Keeps to themselves, and seldom interferes with the lives of people in Malifaux except by chance.
Generally speaking the goals of the Guild and the Gremlins does not seem at odds with each other, and there could be
room for making arrangements between them against common enemies.

 

Ten Thunders
Group of criminals of earth side Asian origin.
Basing their power on the terrorizing of innocents and enslavement of their own people, the Ten Thunderers are attempting to
aquire access to the Guilds rightful Soulstone prodution in Malifaux.
Using any means, The Ten Thunderers have used extortion, kidnappings and assassinations of innocents to further their goals in the past.
And with the possibility of getting their greedy hands on Soul stones, who knows what diabolic depths of depravity they are capable of reaching.

The Guild 
Group of Mages having banded together in an effort to ensure the preservation of magic to better the lives of people on Earth.
Have send a contingent of soldiers and workers through The Breach to gather the much needed Soulstones, that will ensure
the use of magic on earth.
With their enemies many and varied, the Guild have had to counter a number of opponents that needs a different counter.
As such several specialist teams have been assembled to deal with these threats.
While former Governor General of Malifaux started laxing in his duties prior to his disappearance, the new Govornor General Franco Marlow
have already taken steps to rectify his predecessors failings, making new improvements to the citizens of Malifaux's life every day.
Thanks to The Guild, life both on Earth and in Malifaux have never been better.

 

Now I hope this will help other new players, to understand the complexity of the factions in Malifaux in an absolutely objective and totally unbiased way. 

[tmod]

2 hours ago, Jernmajoren said:

While one can argue whether or not individuals in the Guild are good or evil, the motivation of the organization as a whole are not. 

The goal to ensure the well being of humans on Earth, by providing the Soul stones used for creating the magic people on earth relies upon, is altruistic.

[/quote]

Yeah, no. The goal of the organization was always to ensure world domination, but that doesn't mean individuals cannot behave morally

[Snip]

Now I hope this will help other new players, to understand the complexity of the factions in Malifaux in an absolutely objective and totally unbiased way.

Oh, I see. You almost got me started on a looong argument there... Good one ! ;-)