Organizing factions and affiliations
Factions usually nest: an alliance contains sects, a mages’ association contains towers, a tower contains teams. A character relationship map alone doesn’t show that structure. Here is how to lay factions out as a tree, and keep relationships between factions and characters’ affiliation changes separately.
Write factions as a tree
- 1Start with the top layer (alliance, cult, empire), then attach the layers beneath it.
- 2For each node, note only a leader, a base and one line of description. Don’t fill a full org chart up front.
- 3Add only the factions that have appeared. Later ones can be added when they show up.
Relationships between factions
If two top-level factions are at war, their member sects usually are too. Treat lower layers as inheriting the relationship of the layers above, and record only the exceptions — a clan in one alliance secretly allied with the enemy. It cuts the work dramatically.
Faction relationships change over time too. Chain them as periods: “allied ch. 1 → truce ch. 30 → war ch. 45”.
Characters’ affiliation changes
- Promotions, defections, expulsions: split into periods — “this faction, this rank, from chapter N”.
- Multiple affiliations: someone can belong to a sect and a secret society at once. Pick one main affiliation.
- Hidden affiliations (spies, masterminds): mark them hidden and note the reveal chapter, so they don’t leak in earlier scenes.
- Changes to factions themselves: renamed, merged or destroyed factions shouldn’t be deleted — record what happened in which chapter.
Common mistakes
- A defector still being introduced with their old faction’s name.
- A destroyed faction reappearing later with no explanation.
- A renamed faction called by different names in different chapters.
Doing this in Lenu
Lenu’s Groups page lets you write factions as a multi-level tree and record each character’s affiliations with chapter periods, ranks and a hidden flag. The group relationship map shows relationships inherited from parent groups in a lighter line, and uses any relationship you record directly instead. Groups being founded, renamed, merged, split or dissolved are kept by chapter too.
You can explore a wuxia demo’s group map without signing in.