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Factions & reputation

Ghelmyon's powers don't agree on much. Picking a side - or staying neutral - shapes which shops sell to you, which quests open up, and which NPCs draw a blade when you walk in.

The six tiers

Reputation is a single integer per faction. Where you sit on it determines your status tier:

Tier Range Generic flavor
Hostile < -100 Attacked on sight. Vendors refuse you.
Unfriendly -100 to -20 Suspicious. Prices marked up 20%.
Neutral -20 to 50 Default. You exist, that's all.
Friendly 50 to 200 Welcomed. Standard quest access.
Honored 200 to 500 Trusted insider. Premium services.
Exalted 500 to 1000+ Member of the family. All unlocks.

Each faction also has a rank title per tier - at honored Town Guard you're a "Deputy"; at exalted you're a "Champion of the Watch."

Daily cap

You can gain at most 50 rep with any one faction per in-game day. Spamming the same quest hits diminishing returns fast: 100% → 50% → 25% → 10% by the 4th repeat.

Pick a side: the rivalry matrix

Factions react to each other. Some boost together; most fight. Earning rep with one will passively hurt your standing with their rivals.

graph LR
  TG[Town Guard] -. -50% .-> TH[Thieves Guild]
  TH -. -50% .-> TG
  MG[Merchants] -. -25% .-> TH
  TG -. allies .-> TPL[Temple]
  TPL -. +25% .-> RG[Rangers]
  AC[Arcane Collegium] -. -30% .-> WC[Wild Coven]
  AC -. -50% .-> PO[Pale Order]
  TPL -. -75% .-> PO
  RS[River Seers] -. +15% .-> DC[Deep Circle]

The lawful axis: Town Guard ↔ Merchants ↔ Temple. Generally allies. Easy to stack together.

The shadow axis: Thieves Guild ↔ Velvet Curtain. Less tightly coupled but generally tolerant of each other.

The mage axis: Arcane Collegium (orthodox) vs Wild Coven (druidic) vs River Seers vs Deep Circle. Only weakly competitive, except…

The Pale Order - necromancers. Hated by everyone. Major investment to commit; serious payoff if you do.

The 11 factions

Lawful & social

  • Town Guard

    The Watch in Ghelmyon. Lawful, paid combat work, bounty reduction. Rival: Thieves Guild.

  • Merchants Guild

    Controls trade. Discounts at friendly+, exclusive contracts later. Soft rival: Thieves Guild.

  • Temple of the Dawn

    Faith healing + undead-hunting. Cleric / Paladin home. Rivals: Pale Order, Wild Coven.

Wild & wilderness

  • Rangers Lodge

    Wardens of the Thornwood. Ranger / Hunter home. Allies with Temple.

Magical

  • Arcane Collegium

    Premier arcane academy. Mage home. Rivals: Wild Coven, Pale Order.

  • River Seers

    Diviners + nature mystics in Millhaven. Soft ally: Deep Circle.

  • Deep Circle

    Earth magic + transmutation in Darkhollow. Soft ally: River Seers.

  • Wild Coven

    Druids of the Thornwood. Rivals: Arcane Collegium, Pale Order.

  • Pale Order

    Hidden necromancer cabal. Hated by all. Necromancer home. Sworn enemy of Temple (−75%).

Shadow & entertainment

  • :material-mask: Thieves Guild

    Fences, smugglers, contract jobs. Rogue home. Rivals: Town Guard, Merchants.

  • Velvet Curtain

    Premier entertainment venue. Bard / social access. Studiously neutral.

How to gain rep - the generic shape

We don't list specific quests here (that's a spoiler), but every faction's rep moves on these levers:

Lever Effect
Complete a faction-aligned quest +20 to +100 per (first time)
Repeat the same quest Diminishing: 100% → 50% → 25% → 10%
Donate / pay dues +5 to +15 per donation
Visible aligned behavior Small passive gains (helping a guard mid-fight, etc.)
Use their services Tiny positive bump (healing at Temple, fencing at Guild)
Anger a rival faction Indirect gain via the tension matrix
Stay alive in their territory Trivial passive: just being seen helps

To lose rep:

  • Commit aligned-faction crime (steal at Merchants → guild rep tanks)
  • Get caught violating a creed (cast necromancy near Temple)
  • Help their rival (Town Guard +X → Thieves Guild -X/2)
  • Be marked as a known criminal (bounty over threshold)

What about negative-side rewards?

You asked, so: there aren't explicit rewards for going hostile. The data only lists unlocks on the positive side (neutral / friendly / honored / exalted). Going negative just locks you out + raises prices.

However, the rivalry mechanic is the alignment-payoff: committing to one faction yields the opposite faction's enemies. "Going negative with Town Guard" isn't a separate path - it's the passive result of going hard into Thieves Guild.

If you want to be a notorious outlaw, the route is:

  1. Commit Thieves Guild + Velvet Curtain hard
  2. The tension matrix tanks Town Guard + Merchants rep automatically
  3. Underworld unlocks open while lawful options close

A class's primary faction is the one whose venue you'll shift at, whose perks you'll unlock, whose NPCs you'll see most. The secondary faction tends to compose well - different verbs, no rivalry friction. The rival is the cost: climbing the primary will usually drop you with the rival.

Class Primary Secondary Notable rival
Warrior Town Guard Merchants Thieves' Guild
Rogue Thieves' Guild Velvet Curtain Town Guard, Merchants
Ranger Rangers Lodge Temple (none strong)
Hunter Rangers Lodge Merchants (none strong)
Scholar Arcane Collegium Temple Wild Coven, Pale Order
Bard Velvet Curtain Merchants (none strong; broadly neutral)
Herbalist Wild Coven Rangers Lodge Arcane Collegium
Alchemist Arcane Collegium Merchants Wild Coven
Mage Arcane Collegium Temple (loosely) Wild Coven, Pale Order
Monk Temple of the Dawn (none strong) Pale Order
Cleric Temple of the Dawn Rangers Lodge Pale Order, Bone Chapel
Paladin Temple of the Dawn Town Guard Pale Order, Bone Chapel
Necromancer Pale Order Bone Chapel (loosely) Temple, Arcane Collegium
Tinkerer Deep Circle Merchants (none strong)
Blacksmith Deep Circle Merchants (none strong)
Wanderer (broadly neutral) any (none - flexibility is the perk)

The Wanderer's "no primary faction" is by design - Wanderers spread their rep across 2-3 factions at low investment instead of stacking one to Honored.

The Necromancer's path is the hardest of the thirteen: Pale Order is hated by every other lawful faction, so a committed Necromancer spends most of their game running negative-rep with the Temple + Collegium + Town Guard. The payoff is real (deepest unlocks) but the friction is real too.

See also