Politics are fairly persistant in the afterlife. Most people belong to well-known groups, but there are a few factions of various sizes that are not well known. Perhaps they should be.

Choose your friends and enemies well.

A Renegade group without equals. The Daughters of the Valkyrie, or Valkyries as they are simply known, are a trained army worthy of the Legion. They are fierce fighters almost without equal. They are also entirely female.

The Valkyries formed at the turn of the century. At the time, many Legion divisions did not accept women. Rather than be enslaved or forged, several women escaped to the back alleys and started small gangs to survive. Eventually, the gangs merged, refined their fighting skills, and became the Valkyries we know of today.

The Valkyries have a single true commander, always referred to as Mother Freda to keep her true identity a secret. However, there are several branches within the Valkyries. The three biggest are the Nightingales, the Minervians, and the Sorceresses.

The Nightingales focus on keeping downtrodden Necropoli peaceful, sometimes working with and sometimes against the local Hierarchy. They are fairly decent fighters, but are also skilled healers and good at speaking, manipulating others, and generally being persuasive to their cause. Many wraiths appreciate the work of the Nightingales. Many in the Hierarchy, however, would love to see them done away with; they have cost the Legion many districts and neighborhoods.

The Minervians are the skilled warriors. They mostly protect other Valkyries in their duties. But, they can be hired as mercenaries of sorts; their prices are expensive, but results are guaranteed. Some Heretics have hired Minervians to act as bodyguards or fighting forces, with the understanding that the duty as a Valkyrie comes before the duty of obli.

The Sorceresses act as the Arcanoi Guilds within the Valkyries. They are the most skilled at any given Arcanoi and dedicate themselves to improving, refining, and teaching others these skills. Unlike the Guilds themselves, these sisters, regardless of Arcanoi, will work together to better the Valkyries. Nowhere else will you see a Harbinger, Masquer, Solicitor, Artificer, and Mnemoi working together towards a common goal, for example.

Many Heretics preach the importance of transcendence to wraiths. One faction, however, takes their plight to save souls one step further. They were originally called the Order of Purity when they formed in the 1950’s, shortly after Charon’s loss. The faction soon began journeying into the Tempest to find redemption not only for wraiths, but the lost souls known as Spectres. Due to their dangerous and destructive work, they became known among non-believers as the Devil’s Runners, a name that they finally made official sometime in the mid 1960’s. Most of the Devil’s Runners are well-intentioned wraiths who simply want to save as many souls as possible before they either transcend themselves or answer Obilvion’s call.

The Runners are supported by former Doomslayers and a few wraiths exceptionally gifted in certain Arcanoi. The head of the Runners, Dr. George Nestor, was a former minister in life, and an exceptionally-gifted Pardoner in death; his touch is said to turn Spectres back to wraiths in an instant. Madame Wentwood, a former Doomslayer official, is in charge of training Navigators; she has high marks in Argos, and it is rumored a little Tempest-Weaving as well. Another wraith known only as the Spider can use his or her Lifeweb abilities to restore or create new, powerful Fetters for the wayward spirits that come into the care of the Runners.

As to be expected, however, most of the followers in the Devil’s Runners are not so gifted as some of their brethren. The Runners lose followers to Oblivion almost as often as they recruit them. Some are torn apart by the Spectres they try to save; others become so burdened with their Shadows from years of work that they eventually become Spectres themselves.

Most other Heretics regard the Runners as insane and useless, and although some sects respect the work of the Runners, none will associate with them. Some Renegades cheer the work of the Runners for returning long-lost comrades, but just as many steer clear of them, whispering of secret conspiracies between the Runners and the Malfeans. The Legion regards them as highly dangerous; they’re afraid that the “converted” could go back to their old, Spectreal ways in an instant…after all, the same thing happened with a division of the Runners a decade ago and ended up destroying a good part of Necropolis Detroit soon after. The Ferrymen seem indifferent what they perceive as a well-intentioned, but futile effort by the Runners. They will not help the Runners in their tasks, but they will not interfere in a mission either.

The most secret of secret of the branches of the Hierarchy, consisting of “sanctioned” assassins, bounty hunters, and spies of the highest caliber. Elusives are chosen through a highly selective process from all branches of the Legion. They are picked on the basis of highly specialized talents, such as mastery of an Arcanoi, the ability to hack or code break, or the ability to deceive others. If a Wraith is a master of any field except fighting, they may be selected for the Elusives, whether they like it or not. The wraith in question has no choice in the matter; they are informed (usually though abduction) that they have been chosen and will serve. If they turn down the Elusives, they are killed on the spot. No one has ever left the Elusives alive; you are in for life, no matter how short it may be.

Elusives continue working for the branch they serve without their commanders or cohorts knowing about their new duties; most Legion people don’t even know of the Elusives’ existence. Through their jobs, they are given assignments to carry out for the agency that can be incorporated well into their normal jobs. Elusives must be extremely cautious, because if they reveal themselves as such, they, and possibly others they know, will be liquidated immediately.

The biggest mystery most Elusives set out to find is who is in charge of them. The person or thing behind this branch is well-hidden and seems to be totally disconnected from the organization. Some rumor it is an upstart Regent in a small Necropoli. Others believe it is someone more powerful, such as one of the Deathlords. Still others believe it is headed by an outside power, such as a Guild, a Ferryman, or a hidden Nhudri. Some say Charon himself controls the Necropolis through the Elusives. Whoever does control them is one powerful person, since their fingers reach far in deep into the workings of Stygia.

One of the few collaborations between Renegades and Heretics, the Kinderlings are wraiths who have dedicated their lives to child wraiths. Started one hundred years ago by one of the Children of the Green and a kindly nun named Sister Mary James, the Kinderlings collect child wraiths, shelter and educate them, and then turn them loose on the Shadowlands to help them in their plight.

There are Kinderling reapers who collect children only from the cauling fields, as well as a few Renegades who raid the soulforges now and then looking for children. Once the children are collected, they are sent to an "orphanage," usually well-hidden and in a major Necropoli or Stygia. There, they are taught how to use and refine their Arcanoi, the rules of survival in the wraith world, friends and enemies, and more standard educational things, such as reading and math.

When a child is deemed ready, they are allowed into the Shadowlands on their own, where they serve the Kinderlings by collecting funds, spying on enemies, and thwarting plans that would endanger the organization. Most still live in the orphanges that took them in, but a few have struck out on their own and been quite successful in surviving.

Midst all the bureaucracy of the seven major Legion branches, a number of subbranches handle Legion work away from the squabbling of the main Deathlords. One of these is Orion’s Legion, headed by a minor Deathlord called the Huntress. Those who come to Orion’s Legion are those who died at the hands of nature. Dying of starvation while lost in the woods, mauled by a shark, or falling from a tree and smashing your skull in are some of the fairly flexible ways wraiths have come to be in Orion’s Legion.

Orion’s Legion members, called Orionites, are trained to be expert trackers and skilled at catching wraiths, particularly those that hide themselves in the decaying forests of the Shadowlands or the green ones of the Skinlands. Make no mistake, however; they can track a wraith most anywhere in the Skin or Shadowlands except for the Tempest.

This branch is small and likes it that way. Their members are usually crude, unmannered, and like to keep to themselves to begin with. Occasionally, Orion’s Legion will squabble with other Legion branches over a particularly choice soul, most notably the Emerald Legion, but since they rarely challenge the other branches, they will usually win the fight. Some Hierarchy personnel consider the Orionites the lowest of the low in the Hierarchy, but many will not say it for fear they will have to eat their words down the line. At some point, every branch in the Legion will have to call on the Orionites.

A branch associated with the Heretics in the idea of worship only, the Zealots of Lethe are a highly secretive sect that few know about. Most that know about the Zealots have heard the name, and that’s about it. The few members of this church will not admit to being a member unless they are in a Zealot church or hideaway. They do not discuss their beliefs outside of the church, but those in the church appear to have formed a strong fellowship.

To those few who do know, the Zealots of Lethe worship the Tempest and Oblivion as the true forms of God. They believe that the Far Shores are a myth created by Charon, who worked against God; the fact he was eventually swallowed by Oblivion stands as proof enough for them. Their doctrine states that He wants all wraiths to embrace Oblivion, since it is the ultimate sacrifice and the only way to heaven. The end of the Labyrinth at the bottom is considered the closest thing to actual "pearly gates."

Little do most Zealots realize that there is an even deeper secret. The sect is actually run by an unknown Malfean elder, who uses the Zealots as a source for the Spectre army. They created the doctrine to convince wraiths to embrace Oblivion, and then put them to work in it as soldiers as soon as they do. In order to help wraiths along, the Zealots will kill and Harrow. They frequently use poisons that remove Corpus or potions that mess with a wraith’s Willpower. A few of the richer, more devious factions have built colossal Spectral Cathedrals that drain a wraith’s Willpower over time, gradually turning them to Oblivion without the wraith or their cohorts realizing what is going on.