Factions
Factions of Norrath
The standing systems of Norrath — who likes you, who hates you, and how to change it.
Faction is EverQuest's reputation system. Every NPC belongs to one or more factions; every action (killing, quest turn-in, sometimes just being a particular race in the wrong city) shifts your standing with those factions. Your standing with a faction determines whether NPCs talk to you, trade with you, or try to kill you on sight.
On The Last Camp, faction matters more than on canonical EQ — because any race can roll any class, you will end up in cities and at trainers your race was never meant to walk into. A Halfling Necromancer needs to grind faction in Neriak to use the dark-arts trainers. A Troll Paladin has to make peace with Knights of Truth in Freeport. The faction system is the friction that makes those journeys interesting.
Standing levels
The nine canonical standing tiers, from best to worst:
| Level | Label | Typical behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Ally | The best possible standing | Maximum quest access, sometimes unique rewards |
| Warmly | High trust | Most quests available |
| Kindly | Friendly | Standard interactions |
| Amiably | Neutral-positive | Trade, most quests |
| Indifferent | Neutral | Will talk, won't help |
| Apprehensive | Slight hostility | Limited interactions |
| Dubious | Open hostility | Won't talk, will attack at low levels |
| Threatening | Hostile | Attack on sight |
| Scowling | Max hostility | Kill-on-sight from the entire faction |
The minimum standing for trainer access is typically Amiably. Most quest givers require Indifferent or better. Vendors typically require Apprehensive or better.
Major factions by alignment
Good-aligned
- Knights of Truth — good Marr-aligned paladins (Freeport, Qeynos).
- Knights of Thunder — Mithaniel Marr temple of Qeynos.
- Temple of Life — Rodcet Nife clerics of Qeynos.
- Coldain — the ice dwarves of Velious.
Neutral / merchant
- Coalition of Tradesfolk — merchants of Antonica.
- Steel Warriors — Freeport's mercenary guild.
Evil-aligned
- Bloodsabers — Innoruuk-aligned evil cultists.
- Dark Bargainers — thieves' guild of Antonica.
- Indigo Brotherhood — Dark Elf secret society.
- Freeport Militia — city watch of Freeport (technically neutral, often hostile to outsiders).
Race / monster factions
- Crushbone Orcs — the orc faction of Crushbone Keep.
- Faydark's Champions — wood-elf rangers and druids of Greater Faydark.
Dragon and giant
- Claws of Veeshan — dragon allegiance of Velious.
- Kromzek — frost giants of Kael Drakkel.
The Last Camp-specific
- Keepers of the Way — the server-original faction tied to the Keepers lore. Currently ambient (no faction grinds wired up); see lore for context.
How faction works
Every NPC carries a list of faction modifiers — kill it and your standing with each listed faction shifts. Most kills affect 2-4 factions: the NPC's primary, its city's secondary, and one or two enemy-of-enemy factions.
The basic mechanics:
- Kill the faction's enemies. Killing Crushbone orcs raises your Faydark's Champions standing.
- Complete faction-specific quests. Most faction quests give +faction as the reward, and faction quests stack — you can repeat them many times for cumulative gain.
- Avoid killing the faction's allies. Faction hits cascade — killing a Freeport guard hurts your Coalition of Tradesfolk standing too.
For a step-by-step workflow on grinding hostile cities up to vendor or trainer access, see Faction Grinding.
Common faction grinds
The faction repairs that come up the most on The Last Camp, especially for off-canonical race-class combinations:
- Freeport for evil-race characters — usually solved by killing Bloodsabers and orc raiding parties in the East Commonlands.
- Qeynos for evil-race characters — killing gnolls in Qeynos Hills and Blackburrow.
- Neriak for good-race characters (rare but happens for off-canonical Necromancers and Shadow Knights) — see Faction for Custom Combos.
- Cabilis for non-Iksar — killing sarnak in the Lake of Ill Omen.
- Coldain Ring War access — the Velious dwarf shawl quest is a long faction grind that pays off with a legendary cloak.
On The Last Camp
Factions work canonically. No faction system rewrites. The only The Last Camp-specific faction is the (banked) Keepers of the Way — see the lore page for context. The any-race-class custom rule means more players are running into faction walls than canonical EQ ever expected — the Faction for Custom Combos guide covers the most common edge cases.
Related sections
- Lore — Gods of Norrath — many factions are tied to deity worship.
- Races — your race determines your starting faction web.
- Guides — Faction Grinding — practical mechanics.
- Guides — Faction for Custom Combos — The Last Camp-specific edge cases.
- Bestiary — every NPC's faction membership.