9.7 Engagements

Factions would be no fun if they got along. When they don’t, one faction will engage another. That means it uses its pillars, gained advantages (engagement dice), and raw resources (faction dice) to try and inflict damage on the other faction.

An engagement looks much like a strike on the character level. It works specifically like this:

1. The engaging faction (aggressor) declares its target faction (defender).
2. The aggressor chooses one attacking pillar for free and pays 1 faction die for each additional pillar that will participate in the engagement.v
3. The aggressor gains 1 die for each level of competence of its participating pillars.
4. The aggressor takes up to 3 engagement dice out of the Engagement Pool against the defender and adds them to the competence dice.
5. The aggressor divides its dice among the defender’s pillars.
6. The aggressor rolls its dice against each defending pillar. Every 3 or higher counts as a success. For every time that the roll nets more successes than the pillar’s defense, it inflicts a wound on that pillar (rolling 1 to 2 successes against defense 2 inflicts no wounds, 3 to 4 successes inflicts 1 wound, 5 to 6 successes inflicts 2 wounds, and so on).
7. The defender counters. All of its pillars that were attacked (and not defeated) get to participate free of charge; others cannot participate.
8. The defender’s counter works like the aggressor’s engagement (with dice from the engagement pool and pillar competence divided among the attacking pillars). You can only counter against those pillars that attacked you.

A faction has the option of engaging another whenever it gains engagement dice against that faction, or at other points where the GM decrees that it makes sense in the story. This action is subject to GM deferral just like the action triggered by earning faction dice.

Combined Engagements

Factions can ally themselves with each other and join together in an engagement. In that case, each faction spends and allocates their own dice, but their successes against particular pillars are counted together. Factions cannot assist in each other’s counters.
Some factions (mercenaries) will participate or engage for payment (in faction dice). Others can be involved through character actions, including subterfuge.