Undeath of History: Organizations

One weakness of the Undeath of History as I originally pitched it was that it failed to answer one basic question: who are the PCs? Obviously they are time travelers but why do they work together? What organization binds them together? What common goals propel them forward?

In this installment we’ll examine some possible answers.

PC Factions and Organizations

The Watchers

(a.k.a. Time Lords, Time Masters, TimeWatch, the Watch)

Probably not as evil as these guys...

The chaos of the Patchworks means that eventually something or someone will try to impose order on time travel. That force for now is the Watch. An order of skilled time travellers, they survey the Patchworks, fight back the encroaching forces of the Undead, curb the damage done by other time travellers, punish those who willfully alter history, and catalogue alternate timelines.

An intensely conservative group, they work to maintain the timeline as it currently stands, despite its eventual doom. Rival time travelers are seen at best reckless and at worst threats to be extinguished. Travel long enough they say and the winds of time will warp you into the soulless undead. Better a doomed future than no future at all.

Operating from the Last Citadel, a post-human moon base perched at the far end of the Patchworks, the Watch claim to be the first time travelers, or at oldest to retain their humanity. Their earliest records hint that once they too tried to change humanity’s destiny. The ultimate failure of this mission has been erased from the archives. Now they simply try to allow humanity to make the most of its time before the inevitable end.

This faction is the Undeath of History’s equivalent of TimeWatch (with obviously a more grim cast to its operations). PCs receive missions, uncover and restore altered timelines, defeat time thieves, and fight Undead remains of fellow travelers.

The Resurrectionists

(a.k.a. the Rebels, the Rabble, the Meddlers)

Like these guys but with a plan

Then there are the hopeful and hopeless who dare to change the future. For the Resurrectionists history isn’t set, merely heavy with inertia. Working in cells they pool resources, research the flow of history, and coordinate changes to timelines, all in the hopes of averting one or more apocalypses. They also share information of secret pathways through the Patchworks, warn each other about the Watch and other threats, and occasionally help out when a larger shift is needed.

Their goals set them directly against the Watch, the forces of the Eternal Egypt, and undead in general. Their strength comes from flexibility. Where their enemies share common education and methods (at least within each faction), the Resurrectionists have a diverse makeup: romantic Victorians rub shoulders with Bronze Age conquerors, 21st century hacktivists mix with Taoist Alchemists. The organization is replete with people with unconventional ideas or impossible dreams.

This diversity is also their greatest weakness. A considerable amount of time is spent bickering with other members to determine how best to alter time. When minds align however, rapid change is possible and the Watch and other groups must scramble to have a hope of stopping the Resurrectionists.

Stories for PC Resurrecitonists would focus on these rare moments when the fate of time itself hangs in the balance and the organization struggles against the forces of entropy and stasis arrayed against it. Tales of being the hunted or rebel faction would also feature prominently.

The Graverobbers

(a.k.a. The Thieves, Time Thieves, Time Bandits)

But much less goofy

And then there are the thieves. Not so much an organization than a purpose, these independent gangs grudgingly share secret routes through the Patchworks and teach the tricks of the trade. But when it comes to the big score, everyone is on their own.

The Graverobbers specialize in pilfering dead worlds for artifacts that they can sell on those that remain. Mona Lisa’s from not-so-Little Ice Age Renaissance, scavenged future tech from burnt out shells of worlds, live megafauna from a world where humanity was aborted before escaping Africa. All are lucrative conquests for a cunning time thief.

Besides who or whatever holds their prize, their major threats is the Watch and the unnatural hazards of the Patchworks. The Watch is only human however and can be bargained with, tricked or outrun. The ancient undead pose a more serious and terminal threat. Without the resources of the Watchers or the Resurrectionists the winds of time are also a greater hazard. Haunt the Patchworks too long and a thief risks becoming the next guardian to a tomb they sought to rob.

A PC group of Graverobbers would focus on heists and the occasional run from the “law” of the Watch.