Factions

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There are four main factions present in Eventide Moor. Each character is placed in a faction, whether they know it or not.

THE DEAD

• A strange phenomenon occurred a century ago. The Moorwater, which was once only confined to Eventide Moor, began to seep into the other lands. Corpses began to rise again when the water touched them, and since then horses that have died have begun to walk the lands again.
  
  
• Most horses look exactly like the living, as most re-awaken as soon as they have died. They do not breathe or have a heartbeat but other than that they blend in with the population well. However, for some unknown reason not all re-awaken so fast. Some rot for a long time before being resurrected and so some have a decayed, 'zombified' appearance. It is up to you what you want your dead character to look like.
  
  
• The Dead always crave lifeblood. It is like a drug addiction to them. After having it during life, they always yearn it during death. Some are able to resist the temptation (though they are usually Common) while others become deranged, murderous, always looking for a living horse to kill and steal their lifeblood. For more information on lifeblood, see THIS THREAD.
  
  
• The Dead prefer to keep to their own because among the deceased, they can lead relatively normal lives away from the influence of the Living and lifeblood. The Living will often try to destroy a Dead horse that is alone, so it is also safer to live solely with the dead.
  
  
• A dead character can be destroyed in several ways. Firstly there is burning. A dead character can survive a minor burn but if they are burnt to a crisp they will cease to exist. Decapitation is also 'lethal' to a dead horse (no headless horses!).
  

THE COMMON

• The Common horses are a curious faction. They are the faction in which BOTH the living and the dead are welcome. For some reason they have been able to reach an alliance between the two factions and so have become one of their own.
  
  
• The dead Common horses are generally mild-mannered and even-tempered. Though they lust for lifeblood, they are able to keep it in-check and reside peacefully with their living counter-parts. However, this arrangement does not always work. Sometimes the dead cannot resist the lifeblood any longer and kill their kinsmen, and sometimes the living grow too fearful of their dead neighbours and plot to destroy or exile them. In the Common faction chaos is almost inevitable, even though peace is their ideal goal.
  
  
• There are often interesting social dynamics in the Common faction. Many times a romance has occurred between a living and a dead character, but they are unable to truly be together or actually conceive a foal. Other times, friendships have developed only to be destroyed by a growing distrust between the two very different natured horses.

THE LIVING

• The regular breathing, heart-beat-loving characters. They possess lifeblood, the 'spark of life', and will continue to have it until they die and join their ultimate enemy, the Dead faction.
  
  
• The members of the Living faction generally hate the Dead faction, even though their deceased parents/relatives may be there. They believe the Dead are a curse upon the lands that must be eradicated at all costs. They see the walking dead as murderers and devils, always hungering for lifeblood and seeking to steal it. Many battles have been fought between these two factions.
  
  
• The story changes, however, when a Living horse dies. Sometimes the transition is too much and they seek to end their dead existence (via burning or decapitation). Other times they go insane from the sudden draw of lifeblood and embark on a murderous rampage. While other times they may continue on in death much as they were in life.

THE PURE

• There are some horses that, for some reason or another, have no visible mutations. Recently they have begun to band together and have adopted the view that they are 'pure' and 'unspoiled' because they are not mutated. They believe themselves superior to all other factions.
  
  
• They generally despise all other factions because they are mutated and unnatural. They are not as prone to violence towards other factions as the rest are, but they have been known to single out heavily mutated individuals and kill them to 'cleanse the gene pool'.
  
  
• They are extremely strict within their own faction. Any foals born are closely inspected after birth and until puberty. If any mutations begin to manifest, the foal is killed or exiled from the faction's lands.
  
  
• Gifts are also forbidden. Many of the members of the Pure faction do have gifts, but they often never use them or only on rare occasions for fear of being discovered. Any member found to be practicing gifts will either be killed or driven out.