The Birth of Factions

The Rise of The Malicious

With every outstanding invention or new technology developed, you, more times than not, find it is born with the best of intentions. However, there is that side of humanity that lurks in the shadows and seeks to abuse such things, primarily for personal gain.

Shortly after the NISM discovery and creation of PIMs from Life Surge Studies 5 years ago, there was an 'incident'. The TNN never reported any story or news about it as it was dismissed to be a misunderstanding between a few employees.

Rumor has it, a few words that are often taken out of context like 'freedom' and 'control' were thrown around. Maybe they were enticement opportunities or maybe they were sincerities in their root meanings, nobody knows for sure except the ones that were there in that room.

What is certain, is that two unsanctioned copies of the schematics for the PIM were downloaded that day and left the building. Where they went? Your guesses are as good as mine.

It wasn't long after the first prototype testing phases were completed that Life Surge Studies became fully funded. People were throwing money at them left and right and hand over foot, trying desperately to speed up the process of what they finally understood they were doing. People loved it!

It was also about the same time, that you would hear a few odd stories involving animal thefts. I don't mean people going to your local pet shop and taking home a kitten they didn't pay for. I mean actual animals stealing things.

Under the Shroud

One story that came across the wire was about a rat infestation at a bank. The rats seemed to be hungry for the cash though and infiltrated the vault with ease through the floor and the contents of the vault disappeared with the swarm into the sewers.

Another a few months later, involved a buffalo and an elephant, that had a liking for 'destroying' ATM machines - and taking the contents inside with them.

The most prominent of these bizarre thefts was that of several trees falling on and destroying a string of armored trucks in various cities across the globe. Once a few trees crushed the vehicles, murders of crows came swooping in, snatched up and and flew away with the bags full of cash.

People will do what they have to to get the money they need I suppose. Or want.

What do they call that? Malicious? Where someone is spiteful though show no true hate? It's what the crimes were. Nobody got hurt physically, but it was discovered to be done with a purpose nonetheless.

You see, there were some that have abused the technology and turned it into a money making machine. By beating NISMs into submission or humanly tricking some of the critters into battling and doing their bidding, it gave rise to what we now call factions. The Malicious being the first in their pursuit of power, dominion and control.

The money they stole (and a few years later took credit for) was used to develop their own type of PIM, though almost identical to the ones on the market today. The only option they left out was 'befriending'.

Now, the Malicious faction is everywhere having slowly and quietly spread like the disease greed is, beneath the widely popular and loved, Life Surge Studies highway to understanding NISMs. The Malicious Faction controls and operates underground pit fights between NISMs and run a black market for buying and selling NISMs. They are everywhere.

They cannot be stopped.

Or can they?

Factions and Pit Fights (Excerpt from the Litepaper)

Pit Fights

These will be treated like a PVP encounter with a few modifications. Faction membership and wagering will be the things considered that make these interesting. A player does not need to be part of a faction to enter in a pit fight. The matches will be determined by whoever enters first. There is no level matchmaking and no reveal as to who is next in line or in front of you.

Pit fights are run by the controlling faction of certain buildings or areas. Players do not win anything from the bets unless they place one themselves and/or are a member of the faction controlling the building. A player wins the entry fee minus the 25% faction rake.

A pit fight initiates when two players visit the ‘building’ and put up their entry fees. Upon two players entering, a round of bets will be taken after the players are revealed. Only 1 NISM per pit fight. These are battles for real money and the winner of a pit fight will get whatever the entry fee was minus the faction rake.

• Entering – anyone may enter a pit fight and there is no level discrimination. That means, you could be traveling with a NISM around level 20 and face someone with a NISM at level 40 – and still win.
• Entry Fee – this will be determined by the faction leader and can only be changed once per week. Any in-game currency will be accepted. (NISMs will be added as entry fees in future updates)
• Bets – these will only consist of DigiBits or Bits. They payout 2:1 to the winners and there is no ‘house rake’.
• Battling – these will be the exact same as an NPC or PVP battle except with another cosmetic difference. That being the background. The background will be chosen by the faction leader using whatever they have at their disposal.
• XP – will be gained the same as defeating an NPC or another player.
• Factions can take control of a ‘building’ or area by having the faction they are a part of win 5 pit fights in a row for their faction.
• No bet can be greater than 25% of what is already in the controlling faction’s treasury to afford a payout for the bets placed. If a maximum of the treasury's holdings (25%) are taken up by bets, all bets are considered closed until the next round and bets can be covered again from entry fees. All bets will be considered in, if/once the threshold is reached or the 3-minute bet window has fully expired.
• If a person loses a bet, they forfeit their bet amount, and it gets added to the treasury to cover future betting.
• If a person wins a bet, they will automatically be paid to their in-game wallet found on their profile.
• They are won by rendering the opposing NISM unconscious (bringing its health to 1%). At which point, the NISM will be automatically withdrawn to the PIM, sent home, and be on a 24-hour cooldown to recuperate.

Factions

In this game, factions will be offered and able to be joined. Ultimately, player created factions will rise. A warning will be announced when you enter a faction’s area (even if you are a member) asking you if you wish to proceed and how. Visit the Warehouse or Enter a Pit Fight. While at a faction building or area, there will also be a list of all the faction members, starting with any friends, proceeding to enemies and then other players. This can be seen in the Faction Warehouse as a submenu alongside the other choices. It is not mandatory for a person to be a part of any faction. However, once a person joins, they may not join another faction for 6 months. They may leave at any time. There will be advantages to being a member of one though.

• Faction leaders will be NPCs until the option to create your own factions becomes available within the game.
• Faction members split 10% of all the entry fees for every pit fight, sent out once per day based upon their share/percentage of the faction treasury holdings.
• Members that are online when a pit fight has been initiated in their territory will be notified and have the option to bet on the outcome of the battle.
• There will be a Faction Warehouse where faction members (only) will be allowed to list things for sale or trade.

Quests

Some quests in the game will only be able to be completed by the cooperation of a faction. This is to encourage team building in the hopes that people make a few friends along the way.

Malicious

Outside of the player factions, a fully functional NPC faction will exist called ‘Malicious’. They are the bad guys in the game and can often be found farming NISMs to battle in their pit fights or defacing properties across the planet. If they see you, the lower ranked ones will most often attack without warning and force you to engage in a battle. The descending ranks (currently) go from General to Captain to Enforcer to Grunt. More may be added as the game evolves and the players help to shape it.

Treasury

• There will be a faction treasury, where people can deposit some currency into, in-game, and each time a pit fight is won, members of the faction will receive payments from the entry rakes (10%) accumulated daily, based on their percentage of the treasury’s holdings.
• The treasury will also (or can be) used as an in-game sponsor for some tournaments. A faction can recognize a great player and offer to pay for their tournament entry fee to represent the faction in hopes others will join and engage in their faction activities.
• For a 4% rake on any sales (2% paid to all faction members on a daily accumulation and 2% goes to the treasury to cover bets), faction members may list items for sale in the Faction Warehouse.
• Faction members may also list items for trade free of charge in the Faction Warehouse.

Packages Remaining:

• OptiNISM - 10 9 - 5000 HBD each
• Elite - 25 - 2500 HBD each
• Player's Club - 49 - 1000 HBD each
• Gamer's Guild - 250 - 500 HBD each
• NISM Beta Testers - unimited - 100 HBD each
  You can see the full package details here in this post and decide which one is best for your wallet. If you would like to upgrade your package before the Web 2 launch, just chat with us in Discord and we'll work it out. See you on the inside.