Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 130
Expand here on the type of government, and power structure. Is there a military? What are the military/security forces of your organization, if any? Who writes the laws and rules that make this organization function? Who is responsible for carrying out the interpretation of the laws of your organization? Who is responsible for enforcing the laws?
POWER
Capital ,
Head of State ,
Head of Government ,
Territory ,
GOVERNMENT
Government ,
Power Structure ,
Economic System ,
ECONOMY
Economic System ,
Currency ,
CULTURE
Religion ,
Species ,
Languages
Define the one‑sentence pitch and what this polity does in your campaign.
Concept: “What is this nation at a glance?”
Examples: “Guild‑run scrap monarchy on a Rift‑scarred moon,” “Chronologist protectorate guarding a Metronome array,” “Nomad flotilla turned pilgrimage state.”
Role in play: Is it home base, antagonist state, neutral marketplace, or warzone?
Mechanical hook: Assign a basic “Nation Level” to match the party’s tier and how dangerous or resource‑rich interaction with it should feel .
Rules and Tenents
The guiding principles of the faction, the tenents, what do the members live by?
The faction rules, which rules must members obey?
Enforcement, how are these rules enforced?
Current Projects
Description of ongoing projects and activities the organization is involved in.
Membership
What does faction membership look like?
Aptitudes
What skills or abilities are common (or required) for members of the faction?
Allegiance
Are members expected to demonstrate loyalty and commitment to the faction's cause and values? If yes, How?
Compensation
What benefits or rewards are members entitled to for their membership and participation?
Economics
Expand here on the trade, transport, industry, infrastructure, currency, and overall richness of the organization. What are typical imports and exports? Is your organization an agricultural or industrial power? What are the activities which support these facets of your organization? Think Steel Production, Oil Refineries, Great grain plains, extensive husbandry, honey production, whaling, stellar mining, or pedigree breeding of horses or dogs. How and which products are being moved and traded over and within the borders or zone of control of your organization? Consider highway networks like the roman highways or the USA highway network, super fast train networks, trade agreements and trade ports of the Hanseatic League, Starbases and Wormholes etc. Which goods does your organization need to acquire from the outside, to assure its continued survival and growth? Which luxuries from faraway lands are in demand by the population? Which products, although possibly produced internally as well, are cheaper to bring in via trade? Which trade items which are in demand by others and produced by your organization? What does your organization produce a surplus of? What are the physical assets of your organization which assure its health and well-being? Aquaducts, Sewage, Road networks, airports, castles, border towers, bridges, locks, town courts/halls, walls, stargates, starbases, space elevators etc. How do the members/citizens of this organization conduct day-to-day or large transactions? What is the coinage or other type of currency used and what are its denominations? Consider notes, credits, shells, bottle caps, credit cards, subdermal chips, gold bullion or souls.
Mechanically, note:
Primary commodities (what this polity exports/imports).
Power center tags: Guild‑Council, Corp‑State, Rift‑Theocracy, AI‑Curia, Warlord Bloc.
A simple “Stability” rating: Fragile / Stable / Authoritarian, affecting the DC of checks to incite, reform, or leverage the system.
A general description of the faction, as seen by the locals. This also includes any god(s) they may worship.
Organizational Structure
For typical day-to-day activity, what does a functional “cell’ or unit of the faction look like?
How does the cell accomplish the faction’s goals and spread its ideals?
How does the faction’s leadership communicate with a cell, and vice versa?
How do cells generally communicate with each other?
Hierarchy
How is the faction hierarchy structured? What are its ranks, and each of their functions?
Power Centers
Where and how do the faction’s leaders meet, or where is the most of the faction’s work done from? Is this location the same place where the faction was founded?
List notable subgroups of this faction here, especially if these subgroups' activities contribute to rifts in the organizational structure.
Governing Laws
If your faction is a government or other group with huge sway over whole populations of people, you may find it useful to list the most common laws here as it relates to your world (if applicable), along with the punishments for breaking those laws.
Implications
Diplomatic Campaign Frames: Use these polities as clients, patrons, and obstacles in political thrillers—negotiations over docking rights, guild charters, or Metronome leases.
Downtime & Infrastructure: Let players invest downtime to nudge Nation Dials (Stability, Reach, Rift Exposure), tying crafting, research, and influence to visible changes in the setting.
Logistics & Access: Gate access to gear, services, and information by nation traits: a High‑Tech, Data‑Obsessed state might make rare augmentations common, while a Rift‑Theocracy hoards miracles and bans cybernetics.
Social Impact
Treating nations as structured polities rather than vague backdrops makes the galaxy feel interconnected and reactive, just like the original GM guidance intends for fantasy settings.
Trade routes exist because someone’s navy (or guild militia) keeps them open.
Refugees, mercenaries, and smugglers have clear home flags—and grudges.
Chronologist interventions, Rift storms, and guild wars visibly redraw jump maps and political maps at the same time.
When you update a nation’s stat block—after a civil war, a Rift catastrophe, or a successful PC revolution—you’re also updating the tone of entire sectors: where famine breaks out, which ports glow neon all night, and where a party’s colors earn them a free drink or a knife in the back.
