Deus in Machina (a Warhammer 40K-setting inspired LitRPG)

FACTIONS OF GALAXY

Note: Some faction details and Knightly Chapter feuds will be updated after the content appears in the series. Other information will be added after being fleshed out.

General Command Structure of Terran Knightly Chapters:

Knightly Chapters - Each chapter has unique rituals, specialties, and combat doctrines (usually within the confines of meta-builds).

Grand Marshal - The supreme leader of the chapter, famous Seraph, commanding the entire chapter with Divine authority, their decisions shaping the spiritual and martial destiny of their Knights. Their duty is to ensure the chapter's adherence to the Divine will of the Holy Trinity, overseeing grand campaigns, and the chapter's overall strategy.

High Templars – Seraphs acting as the Grand Marshal's right hand, they manage the chapter's day-to-day operations, maintain the chapter's purity, and ensure the execution of the Grand Marshal's vision.

Chaplain General - The non-Ecclesiastic spiritual leader (usually an injured Knight), responsible for the chapter's faith, morale, and adherence/connection to the Holy Trinity. They lead religious ceremonies, guide the Knights in their spiritual journey, and ensure the chapter's rituals align with their Divine purpose.

Master of Novitiates - Overseeing the recruitment, training, and indoctrination of new Crusaders, ensuring they are molded into the image of the chapter's ideals.

Marshals – Includes the ranks sub-marshal, marshal, and field marshal, leaders of various sections, sectors, or posts. Most captains report to a marshal.

First Realm Company Command Structure:

Companies within Chapters are segregated by sex to prevent temptation and maintain order and staunch discipline, an application of the Sixth Edict. There are about 1 female for every 5 or so male Crusaders.

Most chapters designate companies with thematic names in alphabetical order, such as Anvil, Berserker, or Champion, etc. Usually with 34 members per company, larger chapters have multiple A companies and so forth (i.e. for D – Dragon, Dreadnaught, Dauntless, Doom. For F – Flame, Fury, Fidelis, Feral). Female companies are designated with an F after the name, and male with M.

Captain - Commanding a company of 34 Crusaders, the Captain is the highest rank within a company. They lead their Knights in battle, embodying the chapter's combat doctrines and ensuring their company's effectiveness in the Holy Crusade.

Lieutenant (3) - Leading a squad of 11 Crusaders, the Lieutenant serves directly under the Captain. They execute the Captain's orders on the battlefield, at the forefront of engagements. Their role is crucial in maintaining the tactical cohesion of their squad. First Lieutenant is second in command, Second Lieutenant is third, and Third Lieutenant is fourth.

Sergeant (6) - Two Sergeants serve under each Lieutenant, each leading a team within the squad (alpha and bravo team). They are responsible for the discipline, training, and combat readiness of their team, ensuring they are prepared for the brutal realities of Holy War. Alpha Team Sergeant of first squad is fifth in command, Alpha Team Sergeant of second squad is sixth, and on down the line ending with Bravo Team Sergeant of third squad being tenth.

Templar Companies: These companies, made up of Saints with some Seraphs, have the same general structure as first Realm companies, but face much deadlier threats. Captains can be marshals or sub-marshals.

Specialized Knightly Roles:

Knight Errant - A rank for those Crusaders who undertake special missions or serve as emissaries between companies or even chapters. They might be involved in diplomatic missions, espionage, or leading covert or solo operations. Also, Errant Squads, or Errant Companies.

Keeper of Relics - This role involves the guardianship of the chapter's sacred relics, ensuring they are protected and their power harnessed in important battles.

Herald of the Holy Trinity - A Knightly position found in most chapters, responsible for enforcing the faith with a brutal hand.

Terran and Mixed Species Chapters:

Hellfire Sentinels (Songen Home) – A blazing storm of righteous fury, these Crusaders live to torch infernal invasions and Heretical Enclaves with unrelenting zeal. Their zealous fervor breeds tensions with other chapters. Has a long-standing feud with the Grim Martyrs.

Banner: Orange/Black – A snarling demon's skull wreathed in jagged flames, its eye sockets glowing with embers.

Knights of the Black (Triad Bastion) – Largest and oldest chapter of all, these warriors guard the ancient core sectors, their fortress-like armor a rebukation of dark corruption. The oldest and most gloried chapter, their storied legacy fosters rivalries and hatred, and their own hatred is particularly aimed at the Black Vanguard as well as the Black Aegis before it became the Shattered Aegis.

Banner: Silver/Black – A towering black fortress spire, its peak crowned by a single unblinking eye.

The Arm of the Divine (Cinderwatch Spire) – Smallest chapter, they enforce Theosis' will with absolute loyalty, ensuring the System's stewardship isn't challenged. Generally disliked and thought to be cowardly by other Knights.

Banner: Gold/White – An armored arm bursting from a triangle, gripping a blazing torch.

The Black Vanguard (Sanctum) – Ascetic and swift, they roar into battle on battlecycles, shunning meta-builds for raw speed and soul-purging rebukement of darkness. The main Terran faction that doesn't focus on the Holy Fortification and Lock and Load for the Lord Abilities. Offshoot of Knights of the Black chapter. Third smallest chapter.

Banner: Gray/Red – A lance impaling a demon's heart.

The Eyes of Providence (Duskforge Keep) – Named Inquisitors and disliked by all, clad in scripture-etched armor, tasked with rooting out Heresy and Hell's influence, wielding banishing rites, their ranks swelled by Ecclesiastic and Laity. Major presence on all high-population imperial worlds and some important stations. By far the largest chapter when counting all members beyond Knights.

Banner: Gold/Indigo – Three Treys arranged in an upper facing triangle, their eyes unblinking.

The Grim Martyrs (Aterheart Hall) – Protectors of the Laity and common folk, these Crusaders' scorched armor reflects their zeal, standing as a battered bulwark against infernal tides and an inspiration to the righteous. Once the shield the Laity, though no longer. Seething hatred drives their blood feud with the Hellfire Sentinels.

Banner: Black/Crimson – A hunched man grimacing, his body covered in wounds, bleeding all over, his blaster spitting fire.

The Penitent Flame (Grimhold) – Seeking redemption through deadly strikes against the infernal, these Crusaders try to atone for past sins in battle, striking the infernal with lethal precision, their sins fuel for valor's fire.

Banner: Red/Gray – A cracked skull split by a flaming sword, its blade dripping molten steel.

The Pilgrims of Shaloth'Eshk (Kokoro Sanctum) – Wielders of psychic might, they praise Shaloth'Eshk for their gift, an ancient Gray god abandoned eight millennia before the species joined the Empire, rolling their ancient and forgotten beliefs into Trinitarianism. Their minds bend reality outside of the power granted by the Divine System. Use melee and shorter-range ranged weapons so enemies get within the area of effect of psychic powers.

Banner: Purple/Silver – A Gray's eyeless face, its head and forehead pulsing with jagged psychic tendrils.

The Zealous Few (Shadeveil Cloister) – Fervent devotees of Mother Mi Alcyone, they adorn their armor with her icons, charging into peril with Holy fervor. Once the Furious Alcyonites, their new name grew to be false as they rebuilt from near annihilation by a Demon Lord millennia ago, now one of the larger chapters. Biggest presence in the Perseus Arm.

Banner: Blue/Gold – A radiant silhouette of Mother Mi Alcyone, her hands clutching a burning heart.

Wistful Litany (The Stronghold) – Masters of stealth, they disrupt infernal ranks with shadowy precision, attacking invasions like specters of retribution.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Banner: Black/Blue – A cloaked figure dissolving into smoke, a curved dagger gleaming in its grasp.

The Shattered Aegis (Dunkelheit Spire) – Resilient beyond breaking, their cracked armor mirrors a past shattered by the Demon Lord Mara centuries ago, they hold ground against impossible odds, a grim rebukement of Hell's advance, the smallest normal chapter fighting gateways, trying to rebuild from the ashes (where once the Black Aegis, another offshoot of the Knights of the Black, until crushed by Mara's hand).

Banner: Gray/Red – A fractured shield split by an ember-lit sword.

Wardens of the Ashen Veil (Bloodspike Redoubt) – Sentries in soot-streaked plate, they guard the Empire's fringes from pirates, Heretics, and Hellspawn with stoic defiance. Their ashen resolve kindles fierce loathing for the Hellfire Sentinels and Silent Rebuke. In all arms.

Banner: Gray/White – A lone sentry, his helm shrouded in swirling ash, clutching a spear upright.

The Silent Rebuke (Vigilant Oculus) – After taking vows of silence, they wield it as a blade, their prayer-etched blasters a muted roar against their main focus which is Heretical Enclaves. Seething in silence, they harbor deep hatred for the Wardens of the Ashen Veil.

Banner: Silver/Blue – A clenched fist with prayer-etched knuckles, a blaster barrel emerging from it.

Heralds of the Iron Trinity (Obsidian Bastion) – Crusaders too injured to continue the fight in other chapters, they now fortify worlds against corruption and enforcing the faith with a brutal hand. Often undervalued by peers, their fortification efforts remain vital. Present on many worlds throughout the galaxy.

Banner: Black/Gold – A hammer smashing an anvil, sparks forming a jagged crown.

The Thorned Chalice (Trinitas Roam) – Embracing suffering as a sacrament, their spiked armor symbolizes penance, seeking footholds on Hellworlds, offering blood as testament to Divine will.

Banner: Red/White – A chalice pierced by twisting thorns, blood pooling at its base.

Mostly or Exclusively Non-Terran Chapters:

Fell Knights (Xyrathik Spire) – Grays. Their standard chapter, relentless in their cold, calculated war against the infernal.

Banner: Gray/Black – A Gray's angular hand clutching a broken and strange sword, its blade dripping blood.

Knights of the Glorious Death (Zeth'kora Veil) – Pleiadeans. They seek glory, waging war with a fervor that turns death into triumph over Hell.

Banner: Gold/Purple – A Pleiadean skull with golden wings sprouting from its temples.

The Bloodied and the Unyielding (Vaelithar Crest) – Pleiadeans. Enduring and unbreakable, they conquer Hell's forces with relentless resolve.

Banner: Red/Silver – A Pleiadean fist smashing through a spiked chain, blood streaking its knuckles.

The Fellowship of the Blood Red Claw (Duskwrought Keep) – Reptiloids. Ferocious, they battle infernal foes with primal zeal.

Banner: Red/Black – A vivid blood-red claw, three talons dripping crimson in bold relief.

The Furious Divine (Luminarae Crypt) – Reptiloids. Melee-driven, they charge, their chests pulsing with wrath, the only chapter to shun ranged doctrine entirely.

Banner: Green/Red – A Reptiloid's clawed foot stomping a shattered skull, flames licking its talons.

The Watchers (Shy'vethra Hollow) – Pleiadeans. Ever ready to strike at infernal incursions.

Banner: Blue/Silver – An eye pierced by a glowing arrow, its shaft still quivering.

The White Company (Grayspire) – Pleiadeans. Devotion guides their precise strikes, cleansing Hell's taint with surgical precision.

Banner: White/Blue – A white dagger, a single drop of blood falling from its tip.

The Sable Coil (Ethereal Perch) – Reptiloids. Psychic warriors, their minds coil like serpents to crush infernal wills.

Banner: Green/Black – A serpent's head with glowing eyes, its tongue forking into psychic bolts.

Knights of the Invisible Shroud (Zar'lythra Chorusium) – Pleiadeans. Ethereal and draped in shadow, they sear the Underworld's forces, a quiet rebukement of its unholiness.

Banner: Purple/Gray – A veiled face with hollow eyes, faint flames curling from its edges.

The Embered Fang (Crimson Hall) – Reptiloids. Primal fury drives them to rend Hell's legions, their devotion a blazing testament to Theosis.

Banner: Orange/Red – A Reptiloid fang piercing a burning heart, embers trailing downward.

The Voidborn Chorus (Thal'oryn Sanctum) – Pleiadeans. Haunting hymns weave psychic dissonance, unraveling infernal minds to guard the Empire's soul.

Banner: Blue/Gold – A Pleiadean head with open jaws, sonic waves rippling outward.

The Dark Lament (Shroudlight) – Grays. Psychic warriors, their minds echo with sorrowful power, striking Hell with devastating force.

Banner: Gray/Purple – Tears of purple ichor streaming into a clenched fist.

Other Orders and Groups of the Empire of the Holy Trinity

Imperial Military - Comprises the Imperial Army, Navy, and Marines, defending the Empire's worlds and fleets.

Banner: Gold/White – A Trey set on a shield, crossed with mace and sword. For the navy, behind the shield, an ornate anchor. For the army, behind the shield, a laurel wreath. For the marines, behind the shield, golden wings. For activated reserves and militia's, behind the shield, an eagle.

Ecclesiastic Groups

Various sects of the Ordo Sanctus Puritas – this Order makes up the bulk of combat sects of the Ecclesiastical such as-

Brothers of Righteous Slaughter, Brothers of the Unyielding Inevitable, Iron Litany, the Blood-Soaked Scourge – Warrior priests serving with fanatical zeal, purging Heresy and the infernal with sacred flame and blessed weaponry. Some failed or refused Crusader candidates join these ranks.

The Sanguineous Sisterhood, the Sisters of Fury – Warrior nuns mirroring the Brothers' zeal, wielding Holy flame and steel against Heresy.

The Imperial Front – A secretive sect.

The Enlightened Scribes – Non-militant scholars and librarians preserving sacred texts and histories. Their rocky relationship with Theosis stems from differing interpretations and their records showing a different history or wording of important scripture/dogma than currently preached.

Lay Groups

Free Agencies – Powerful Lay warriors, often failed or refused Crusader aspirants join these ranks, joined by Ecclesiastic and Laymen/women aspiring to Crusader status. They handle emergencies, help with invasions, and often receive tasks from Theosis.

The Ever-Progressives – Engineer-focused combatants and inventors teetering on Heresy with drones, Mechanoid constructs, and cybernetics. They maintain war machines and technological edges against Hell and the Old Guard.

Lay Theosians – Both Lay and Ecclesiastic engineers akin to Ever-Progressives but orthodox, avoiding Heretical lines, focusing on advancing tech too.

Lay Alcyonites – Both Lay and Ecclesiastic combat engineers and tech specialists working in small, practical groups, not focused on advancing tech.

The Lay Commandos – Elite Free Agent teams, some ex-Crusader candidates, collaborating with the Imperial Military on critical tasks. Some teams are members of the Imperial Military, such as Kill Squads.

Imperial Reserves – All Lay citizens must drill with a local militia and stay combat ready unless an exception is granted for disability or a mother with under-age children, called up to service during crisis.

Local Militias – Some citizens are members of and heavily involved with special militias, going above and beyond what's required. Many militias are allowed to stay together and fight together when activated. They may help out if a gateway opens locally, or a nest of Heretics is found, and local enforcement needs assistance.

World Police – From the Praefectus Vigilum, appointed by the ruling noble, commands all police actions of a world, to Vigiles, watchmen patrolling the streets, enforcing Imperial Law.

Noble Forces – The personal/world troops of nobles of all ranks.

Order of the Sacred Heart and Still Mind – One of millions of imperial cults, this one pacifist Trinitarians praying fervently against Hellspawn, refusing to fight.

Factions Opposed to the Empire

The Hellspawn, Teths, and Demon Lords – Primary adversaries led by Demon Lords, seeking to corrupt and destroy. They control more worlds than Theosis admits, gaining ground.

The Heretical Enclaves – Terran, Pleiadean, Reptiloid, or Gray factions rejecting the faith, wanting liberation, or allied with Hell. Nearly half the Reptiloids and Grays are Heretics. Factions include United Front, Abyssal Sons, the Jack, Chaos Monkeys, Sol Invictus, Libertas, among many others.

The Old Guard – (Longer description to explain empowerment outside of Theosis and Hell, and common galactic tech.) A coalition of Reptiloids, Grays, and Pleiadeans, the Old Guard despise Terrans as monkey-like inferiors, blaming them for Hellspawn invasions and resenting Terran dominance, seeing the uppity Holy Empire as a greater threat than Hell.

They take full advantage of being unrestrained from the Parousia Protocols and unbound by the Genesis Apostasy of 1367 AE.

In the Second Galactic War, they fought the Holy Empire to a standstill, forcing negations with Hell, creating the Ilarix Accords in 1453 AE.

The Reptiloids, shapeshifters, have become masters of biomechanical symbiosis, weaving living tissue with machinery, this tech utilized faction-wide (and bleeds into the Reptiloids within the Holy Empire).

Reptiloid Old Guard craft biomechanical armor and weapons that morph with them when they shapeshift.

All three species constantly work on improving, refining, and perfecting Gene-Forging, sculpting flesh into powerful warriors through unholy genetic tampering and apotheoserum, transforming and mutating once frail flesh into juggernauts of monstruous fury. These fiends were once uncontrollable outside of Neural Dominion, but by 4184 AE, their elites stand as paragons with stable empowerment, less prone to blood-rages, while mindless lesser Warforms warped by apotheoserum only obey through Neural Dominion.

Though Theosis assimilates all AI made in the galaxy into itself, the Old Guard specializes in creating smart, semi-AI Theosis leaves untouched called Synapse-Engines, assisting their societies and in combat.

Neuronauts, biomechanical controllers, harness Synapse-Engines to orchestrate combat through the hive mind of Neural Dominion. The more Synapse-Engines in proximity, the more powerful the Neuronaut becomes, the more troops they can control, and the better they fight as a hive, acting as force multipliers.

Towering Mega-Warforms and Mega-War-Machines fight alongside their battleships, ground troops, and war-machines (combat robots).

Since 1367 AE, as there are always defectors to and from the Holy Empire, Old Guard, and United Front, it is believed that those renouncing their sins and joining the Holy Empire have had some of their hereditary enhancements and traits woven into imperial stock, as Theosis controls the Genitoriums, and there is evidence of this, such as imperial Grays, once stumpy little things, now stand almost as tall and strong as Terrans.

Banner: Crimson/Silver – A Terran head impaled by a jagged spear, blood spraying from the wound.

The United Front – Born from Terrans with the same goal but barred from the Old Guard's ranks, forging a defiant alliance for all species that see Hell as less of a threat than the Holy Empire. This is the preferred faction of the Pleiadeans, Reptiloids, and Grays defecting from the Holy Empire, spurning the Old Guard's elitist, speciesist dogma.

Banner: Blue/Silver – A broken crown impaled by a radiant sword, its blade etched with stars.

Abyssal Sons – A profane and major coalition of Heretics of all species, the Abyssal Sons worship Hell's Demon Lords, weaving blood-soaked pacts to unleash infernal conquest across the galaxy's stars.

Banner: Crimson/Black – A demonic head laughing (many believe to be Mammon), its fangs dripping blood.

Libertas – A defiant faction devoted to freedom and liberty, resolved to shatter the Holy Empire's oppressive chains, their rebellion a blazing torch against the Holy Empire's tyranny.

Banner: Gray/Red – A clenched fist breaking chains, blood dripping from its knuckles.

The Disciples of the Unknowable – A cult rejecting worship of knowable powers, subverting the Empire. Rumored to serve a hidden species.

Banner: Purple/Void – A veiled eye weeping shadow, its pupil a swirling abyss.

The Echoes of Entropy – Mixed-species secretive group dismantling the Holy Empire, possibly led by an unknown powerful species.

Banner: Unknown.

The Dark Ones – Mythical species rumored to mastermind corrupting factions like the Echoes and Disciples, possibly related to the precursor species that had once controlled the galaxy known as the Primordials.

Neutral or Ambiguous Factions

The Void Reapers – Pirate bands prioritizing plunder, allying with whoever benefits them.

The Wanderers of the Void – Explorers and traders shifting allegiances for profit or survival.

The Silent – Mystics and hermits observing the universe's truths from the shadows, rarely intervening.

Brothers' Pact, Netherweb Syndicate, and Underreign – Major crime syndicates operating across the galaxy.

Various New Species – Low-tech sapient species of primitive worlds, usually ignored and left alone.

The Nommos – Singular Nommo, elusive aliens avoiding contact, visiting only primitive worlds.