FS General Faction Info
NOBLES
You could do this as either a single house (Royal, Lesser, mix of Royal & allied Lesser) or a mix of houses (multiple Royal or Lesser). One or two players would be nobles and the rest would be retainers or confessors of some kind.
Upsides) Nigh unlimited freedom of movement within your House's domain, greatest legal & social allowances, great freedom to choose your own path.
Officially, no one can force a Noble to do something unless they're that someone's liege-lord or the head of their house. Pressure can be brought to bear, but Noble predominance allows most to choose their own paths. Thanks to the social rules of Noble conduct and hospitality, you can travel freely throughout your House's domains. And with the Doctrine of the Privileged Martyrs, you can carry tech higher than commonly available.
Downsides) Tricky codes of conduct, obligations & politics, difficulty in traveling through foreign domains, limited skill specialization.
Unfortunately, traveling across other House's fiefs requires an invite or a limited stay with very good etiquette. Face and reputation (including piety) are so important that they practically establish the limits of what you can get away with.
IMPERIAL You could either be freemen or other players operating with the Imperial hierarchy or a sworn Questing Knight plus cohort.
Upsides) Unlimited freedom of movement anywhere in the Known Worlds. Potential access to significant resources. A job with pay. Protected by a powerful government.
Emperor Alexius is without a doubt the single most powerful individual in the Known Worlds and the Barbarian Kingdoms. He's got the biggest fleet, most of the best tech and a killer spy organization. He has his own worlds and he's offering fame and fortune along with pretty wide discretionary powers to those who swear to serve him and then go out to find cool and useful things.
Downsides) You are officially part of a hierarchy, either with a specified place (rank) or as an at-large-agent, but you're still at someone's (and that someone's duly appointed representatives) beck and call.
The Emperor or his minions say "Jump", you'd better be asking "How high?" or else you're looking at a long walk off a short pier. You're also much more in the public eye. This whole 'Emperor' thing is new (Vladimir was the only other one (he lasted about 5 seconds after his coronation) and it took 50+ years of interstellar war before Alexius was declared the victor), so everyone's scrutinizing moves, watching for screw-ups, etc. Plus there's still a lot of bad blood left over, so enemies abound.
GUILDS
Many options here. All of one guild or a troubleshooting team of every stripe and color.
Upsides) Unlimited freedom of movement. Access to high tech, unique training and union-like support.
The guilds literally control space travel. And heavily armed mercenary armies. And crazy tech not seen since the fall of the Second Republic. And... you get the picture. You get access to the best stuff at good prices and often before others get a chance at it. You work for the $$$, so people know they'll have to pay you even before they approach you for anything. Plus you have the unique skills that everyone needs.
Downsides) Cutthroat competition, suspicion and envy from the common folk, constant prying and antagonism from the Church and no friends if you cross the wrong person.
It's not one big happy family. This is capitalism, not a free market. Families have trade routes and resources sewn up tight and will kill you if you cross them. You don't have enough friends or power, the Guilds aren't going to protect you when the Inquisition comes a-calling.
CHURCH
You can be all of one sect, a mish-mash of many sects, or simply lead by a priest and in service to the Church but with varied backgrounds.
Upsides) Everyone thinks the best of you, you are the moral guides of the Known Worlds, you can call on massive resources, have safe houses and friends everywhere, can easily get charity from anyone. You are the spiritual providers of Humanity. People are nice to you (or at least to your face) and want to prove their devotion to you. With churches, cathedrals and monasteries all over, you can call on the faithful, pious and charitable for nearly anything you want. You have the most beloved healers, the most dedicated warriors and the scariest enforcers there are. It's good to be the Patriarch.
Downsides) Everyone wants something from you, since you're the provider and enforcer of public morality you have to stick to it more than anyone (at least in public). You're part of a hierarchy that can make you do things. All the time. You can't have access to high technology (and you don't like it anyway). There are a lot of people out there who don't like you or your organization.
Because you can call on massive resources and can get charity, you're expected to provide it yourselves. People want you to work miracles on their behalf. Thanks to all the politicking the bishops, archbishops and Patriarch engaged in during the Emperor Wars, the Church's credibility has taken some serious hits recently. Not all the factions get along so well, and your boss is getting pretty old. There's going to be some shaking up in the near future.
So, general thoughts on lifepath options: Early Childhood -> Apprenticeship -> Young Adult -> Tour of Duty 1 -> Tour of Duty 2
Nobles (Courtly/Rural/Landless -> Military/Diplomatic -> Military/Dueling/Courtly)
...Royal- Hawkwood (your default 'noble' noble; English/French/German-style)
......... Al-Malik (mystical with a love for technology & the exotic; Middle Eastern-style)
......... the Hazat (fiery, passionate and very militaristic; Spanish/Mexican-style)
......... Decados (decadent, treacherous and subtle; Russian-style)
......... Li Halan (pious w/ demonic past, strict and hierarchical; Chinese/Japanese-style)
...Lesser- Trusnikron (beast trainers, rustic & ill-mannered; allied w/ Hawkwood)
.......... Justinian (honorable, former Royal house, diplomats; no specific allies)
.......... Juandaastas (alien-friends, diplomats, inclusive; primarily w/ Hawkwood)
.......... Torenson (strict, protocol, etiquette; no specific allies)
.......... Keddah (under the thumb of the Decados but have their own planet)
.......... Masseri (practically extinct and living hand-to-mouth on Decados planets)
.......... Van Geldar (assassins, weaponsmiths, spies; allied w/ Decados)
.......... Xanthippe (matriarchy, lunar-based, mercenaries; no specific allies)
.......... Chauki (overthrown by the Hazat, thought extinct until Lost World of Iver rediscovered; South American-style, now religiously Incarnate and alien friendly)
.......... Cameton (administrators, partial owner of interstellar capital; no allies)
.......... Hamid (other partial owner of interstellar capital; no allies)
make up your own...
Guilds (Street/Marketplace/Schooled -> Vocational/Academy -> Specialty)
...Big 5- Charioteers (pilots, merchants, legal control over jumpkey manufacture/ownership & advanced piloting training)
......... Engineers (techies & inventors, legal control over most high tech operations and manufacturing: Longevity serum, Elixir (healing serum), terraforming maintainance, stardrives, cybernetics & genetics, etc.)
......... Muster (labor sourcing, slavery, mercenary army, bounty hunters)
......... Scravers (tech reclamation (licensed scavenging, archeology, etc.), smuggling, information dealing)
......... Reeves (legal representation, banking, lending, consulting)
...Lesser- Bureaucrats, Purgers, Wordwrights, Town Criers, the Masque, Carnivalers, Courtesans, Oubliette, and more...
Church (Monastery/Rural/Urban -> Specialty -> Admin/Traveling)
...Big 5- Orthodoxy (leaders of the Church and most numerous; split into conservative and liberal sides)
......... Amaltheans (healers, pacifists, most popular)
......... Avestites (the Inquisition, most pro-active and least popular)
......... Eskatonics (esoteric scholars and searchers, more like magicians)
......... Brother Battle (like the Knights-Templar, warrior monks)
...Lesser- Hesychasts (wandering & hermit priests w/ views a little off of the accepted routes)
.......... Incarnates (the protestants to the catholic Orthodoxy; officially heretics)
.......... Children of Zuran (gypsy voodoists, believe they have religious right to steal)
.......... Preceptors (space Jesuits, believe in teaching knowledge; officially heretics)
...Forbidden- Alien religions (primarily Obun & Ukar)
............. Gjarti (paganism)
............. Manja (ancestor worship)
............. Antimony (demonic worship)
............. Sathraism (ecstatic experience during jump-travel, first encountered (and proscribed) after initial jump-travel)
............. Vau worship (regarded as humorous and pathetic by the Vau themselves)
............. Technosophy (love of science/technology)
Imperial
... Navy, Marines, Army, Imperial Eye (spy agency), Questing Knights & cohorts, etc.
Aliens
... Ur-Obun (not unlike Vulcans...)
... Ur-Ukar (cousins to the Obun, but more Cardassian in outlook with a Klingon's enjoyment of fighting)
... Vorox (6-limbed lion-wolves that are closer to their instincts than our civilization
... Oro'ym (amphibians, not common among the spaceways)
... Gannock (trickster monkeys with regeneration, a knack for tech and a pungent stench)
... Etyri (hawkwomen and men, several races with one flightless)
... Shantor (intelligent horses with grasping dewclaws)
... Hironem (tailless lizard-people with life-energy sensing abilities)
... Ascorbites (hive-mind bloodsucking insects)
... Vau (NPC race: have their own empire and way better tech than humanity, source of fear and envy)
... Symbiots (NPC race: race of biotech shapeshifters, think 'Species 8472' from Voyager; humanity's nightmare)
... Annunaki, aka Ur, aka Preadamites, aka the Ancients (dead(?) race that built the jumpgates and left behind mysterious ruins, gargoyles & artefacts)
Barbarians
... Vuldrok (Space Vikings!)
... Kurgan Caliphate (Space Muslims!)
