Factions in Action

Your Great House doesn't just sit there; it's an active participant in the Succession War.
The Faction Phases take place season by season, and each gets three actions per season, plus one free recovery action at the end of the season.
House Actions Houses can take the following actions each Phase:

• Create an Asset - The GM sets the difficulty if no one is opposing you, typically 2d8. The value of the asset cannot exceed the difficulty and is fleeting unless a Plot Point is spent to solidify it in the story for the remainder of the season. Advances can be spent to make it a permanent part of your story.
• Create A Complication - This is typically opposed by a roll from another Faction. Success creates a complication that lasts until the end of a Phase, but a Plot Point can be spent to make them long-lasting until they are recovered.
• Repair a Damaged Trait - If a Faction Trait has taken damage, you may make a Recovery Roll to get back to full Strength. This is typically an uncontested roll, with the GM setting the difficulty at 2d8 plus any relevant Complications, Stress or Trauma that might hinder recovery. You pick the Distinction, Attribute and Skill to roll. Success recovers one step of damage to the chosen Skill, and for every five points you beat the difficulty, you recover an additional step. The damage remains the same if you fail, and becomes a permanent loss if you fail by 5 or more.
• Recover Stress or Trauma - This is handled just like character recovery; assemble your dice pool, roll against a difficulty of 2d8 + the Stress or Trauma you're attempting to recover from. Bear in mind that Trauma can escalate if Hitches are rolled, potentially bringing about your House's slow and painful end.
• Recover from a Complication - This is handled just like a character might recover from a Complication; assemble your dice pool, roll against the Complication at standard difficulty. If your successful effect die is bigger than the complication, it vanishes. If your successful effect die is equal or smaller, it steps the complication down a level.
• Attack a Faction - Launch a broad assault against another Faction, whether overt or covert. Assemble your dice pool and test against theirs. The winner inflicts Stress and/or Trauma upon the loser, which can be diminished by sacrificing Skills or Assets.
• Attack an Asset or a Skill - Sometimes you just want to target a specific part of a faction; raiding their supply wagons, sabotaging their reputation or targeting their informants. Assemble your dice pool and roll against theirs. If you succeed, the Asset or Skill is stepped down by one level. It gets stepped down an additional level for every five points you beat their roll. If you fail, your foe can use their result to inflict Stress or Trauma upon you, which can be absorbed by the Assets or Skills you've committed to the test.
• Seize a Holding - Attempt to seize a Holding Asset belonging to another faction; a castle, a city, a major landmark. Once a Holding has been reduced to a d6 rating, you may attempt to Seize it. Make an opposed roll against the owner of the Holding. If you succeed and your Effect die is greater than the Holding, you have taken control of the Holding. Add it to your Assets; it can be repaired using recovery actions up to its original rating.

Sacrificing Skills and Assets

Houses can only take so much punishment before they collapse, which is why having assets handy to absorb damage meant for you is crucial to your House's survival.
When your House would take Stress or Trauma, you may offer up an Asset or Skill to absorb part or all of the damage intended for your House. If the Asset or Skill die is greater than the Effect die, the Effect die is cancelled and the Asset or Skill is stepped down one level. If the Asset or Skill die is equal to or less than the Effect die, both the Effect die and the Asset or Skill sacrificed step down one level. You can throw as many Assets or Skills at an incoming Effect to blunt the impact, but be warned that they will still take time to recover. An Asset reduced below d6 is permanently lost. A Skill cannot be reduced below d4, and d4 Skills cannot be used to block incoming Effects.

House Advancement

Houses Advance like characters do, session by session. A House can spend Advances from its Character File to do the following:

• 1 Session - Turn an Asset or Relationship created during that session into a Signature Asset or Relationship at a d6 level.
• 1 Session - Rewrite a Distinction and any accompanying SFX.
• 2 Sessions - Step up a Signature Asset or Relationship
• 2 Sessions - Unlock a new SFX
• 3 Sessions - Step up a Skill, Holding or Resource
• 4 Sessions - Step up one Attribute and Step Down another.