Editing v0.34:Faction

{{Quality|Superior|15:33, 8 September 2013 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
Factions govern how creatures will react upon each other's presence. The world is full of dangers for your unfortunate dwarves and it seems that nearly everything is trying to kill them; fortunately, said dangers are also hostile to each other most of the time. Confrontations between such opposed factions happen in both fortress and adventure mode; the wise player will see to it that they weaken each other instead of ganging up against one's fort or adventurer. 

==Faction relative hostility==

The table below shows the behaviour of different factions when confronted:

{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
|
| '''[[Dwarf|Dwarves]]'''
| '''[[Elf|Elves]]'''
| '''[[Human]]s'''
| '''[[Goblin]]s'''
| '''[[Kobold]]s'''
| '''[[Necromancer]]s'''
| '''[[Undead]]'''
| '''[[Surroundings|Wildlife]]'''
| '''[[Animal people|Cave civs]]'''<sup>2</sup>
| '''[[Semi-megabeast|(Semi-)]][[Megabeast]]s'''
| '''[[Demon]]s'''
| '''[[Werebeast]]s'''<sup>3</sup>

|-
| '''Dwarves'''
| Friendly
| Friendly<sup>1</sup>
| Friendly<sup>1</sup>
| Hostile<sup>1</sup>
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Variable
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile

|-
| '''Elves'''
| Friendly<sup>1</sup>
| Friendly
| Friendly<sup>1</sup>
| Hostile<sup>1</sup>
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Friendly
| Variable
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile

|-
| '''Humans'''
| Friendly<sup>1</sup>
| Friendly<sup>1</sup>
| Friendly
| Hostile<sup>1</sup>
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Variable
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile


|-
| '''Goblins'''
| Hostile<sup>1</sup>
| Hostile<sup>1</sup>
| Hostile<sup>1</sup>
| Friendly
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Variable
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile

|-
| '''Kobolds'''
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Friendly
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile

|-
| '''Necromancers'''
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Friendly
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile

|-
| '''Undead'''
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Friendly
| Friendly
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile

|-
| '''Wildife'''
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Friendly
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile

|- 
| '''Cave civs'''
| Variable
| Variable
| Variable
| Variable
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Friendly
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile

|-
| '''(Semi-)Megabeasts'''
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Friendly
| Hostile
| Hostile

|-
| '''Demons'''
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Friendly
| Hostile

|-
| '''Werebeasts'''
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Hostile
| Variable<sup>3</sup>
|}

<sup>1</sup><small>Advanced civilizations are subject to the mechanisms of diplomacy and may routinely go at [[war]] and conclude peace treaties depending on worldgen and according to each civ's [[ethics]]. On the one hand, war against elves or humans is not that uncommon; on the other hand, goblins will almost always be hostile toward everyone else.</small>
<sup>2</sup><small>Cave civilizations are always friendly toward adventurers and they can be either hostile or friendly toward your dwarves. They often become friendly when confronted with a [[megabeast]]. Note that this behaviour does not apply to most [[animal people]], who are simply treated as wildlife.</small>

<sup>3</sup><small>Werebeasts will switch factions from whatever civilization they belong to under their normal form to a special, species-dependent faction on full moon. Werebeasts from different species will attack each other.</small>

Due to their [[Entity token#B|[BABYSNATCHER]]] tag, [[goblin]]s will be almost always at war with other [[civilization]]s; [[megabeast]]s and [[semi-megabeast]]s are neutral toward each other, but will try to kill everything else they can find - whether it be in [[World generation|worldgen]], [[adventure mode]] or [[fortress mode]]. [[Undead]] creatures will attack every creature that isn't undead due to their [[Creature token#O|[OPPOSED_TO_LIFE]]] tag. Kobolds are unable to speak besides in [[Creature token#U|utterances]] and are thus at war with everyone else - note that if you start as a kobold in Adventure Mode when they are available, you will be unable to speak to anyone and other kobolds will attack you on sight because they won't be able to talk to you either.

It seems that undead just ignore each other or necromancers, but the necros themselves will lash out at each other if they belong on different civilizations/towers. This is important in adventure mode - should you learn the secrets of life and death, all undead will become neutral to you, letting you the opportunity to make short work of their squishy and unarmed masters.

There are exceptions to the above table: most notably, foreign creatures occupying a noble position in a civ for whatever reason (e.g. demons that have impersonated a god to take control of human civs, or necromancer kings) will behave the same way any other civ member would toward your dwarves or adventurer. Hence the ludicrous possibilities for a demon to visit your fortress as a diplomat (or join you in your adventures) or a friendly necromancer inadvertently wreaking havoc on your fortress by raising corpses whenever it can. [[Vampire]] dwarves (and humans) will also be neutral toward undead - but not necros though - even when not confronted.

==Loyalty cascade==

Loyalty cascades are the result of entity members attacking each other. The conflict will escalate into a full civil war and won't resolve until one side of the conflict is wiped out. Loyalty cascades can be triggered in both fortress and adventure mode.

If you order your military to kill merchants from your own civilization, a bizarre result of the the way loyalty is handled makes the members of your military who attacked the traders become enemies of your civilization, but members of your fort's government (dwarves of this faction will henceforth be referred to as ''separatists''). As enemies, they attack your other dwarves (''citizens''), but as members of the fort, they still follow orders. Allowing citizen militia dwarves to attack the separatists will give them opposite loyalties of the separatists, (i.e. loyal to civ, not to fort), or ''loyalists'', who do '''not''' follow orders. And then, if a separatist or loyalist kill a citizen, they become enemies of the civ '''and''' fort, making them ''Renegades'', who are essentially complete enemies of the citizens.

To prevent the cascade from spreading, order the original separatists away from the fortress and let them fight amongst themselves. If the results are renegades, it is okay to allow other dwarves to kill them (by stationing them nearby). If the results are separatists/loyalists, then you will need to separate them somehow.

Dwarves from these different "factions" will cancel jobs if they ever come across one another, each running away. This will likely lead to a massive number of job interruption announcements reading ''Urist McDwarf cancels Eat: Interrupted by Farmer''

'''NOTE:''' Tame Animals are loyal to civ and fort indefinitely due to a bug, so they can be used to kill off separatists/loyalists without repercussions.

'''NOTE:''' Be advised that if one of your dwarves turns into a [[werebeast]] and you send your military to kill him while shapeshifted, failing to kill (and allowing the dwarf to revert back to normal) may cause a loyalty cascade.