> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://deadtiles.gitbook.io/deadtiles-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://deadtiles.gitbook.io/deadtiles-docs/the-county/factions.md).

# Factions

Three outfits hold pieces of Ashen County. Your standing with each one is separate. Everyone starts Wary.

For now you can earn standing with the Ashen and the Red Order both. Later work will force you to pick a side.

## National Guard

They still have posts, and Birchport is the hub: barracks, hospital, and street patrols, with a few smaller outposts out in the county. They keep the roads and the town. The traders handle the goods.

Captain Davis and Doctor Clark post jobs. The Guard does not run checkpoints on Red Order streets.

## Ashen Traders

A separate outfit from the Guard. They scavenge and buy from survivors, then move ammo, medicine, and food through the county. When a caravan is not passing, they keep stalls at National Guard posts, including the market in Birchport.

Kevin buys and sells there. The market board is where players trade with each other. Better standing gets better prices, a larger share of the daily Deadmark wire, and a smaller cut on player sales. See [Trade](/deadtiles-docs/money/trade.md) and [Deadmarks](/deadtiles-docs/money/deadmarks.md).

## Red Order

City crews in red armbands. They take blocks, clear the buildings, and put survivors to work holding them. They live off what they seize, including Ashen caravans.

In Birchport they run the supermarket, the building with the boarded windows. Weapons stay holstered inside, the same as any faction building. If they see you finish searching their furniture or their dead, that squad turns hostile. Stop the search and they stand down.

## Standing

| Standing | Reputation     | What it means                                                              |
| -------- | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Exiled   | Below -100     | Permanent. They will not deal with you.                                    |
| Hostile  | -100 up to 0   | They will not talk, and they may shoot. This band climbs back toward Wary. |
| Wary     | 0 to 499       | Where everyone starts.                                                     |
| Neutral  | 500 to 999     | Ordinary business.                                                         |
| Warm     | 1,000 to 2,499 | Better prices and a larger wire.                                           |
| Friendly | 2,500 to 4,999 | Better still.                                                              |
| Allied   | 5,000 and up   | Best prices, no market cut, and the largest wire.                          |

Jobs and trade raise standing. Attacking a faction, or stealing from it, drops you a full level: Allied becomes Friendly, Friendly becomes Warm, and so on, down to Exiled.

Hostile standing recovers slowly toward Wary on its own, online or offline. Exiled never does.

While you are Hostile, that faction's people will not talk to you and may open fire. Hostile and Exiled Ashen standing also closes Kevin's counter, the player market, and the wire east.


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