[WIP] Maya: Total War (New Unit Teaser Nov. 24th, see 1st post)

[Emperor Hantscher]

Keep an eye on the this post for updates as well as an archive of previous updates!
Last Update: Nov. 24th, 2012


Help Wanted: Looking for anyone with modding experience willing to help.

NEW: Unit Teasers Nov. 24

It's been a while since we had an update on the OP so here goes. I'm proud to present a few unit previews made by Jaguar Paw. Be sure to rep him as he has done some fantastic work. First up are the most basic of units, Peasant Infantry. No armor and armed with only basic farming equipment. These units will be abundant but will not be very affective on the battlefield. They will best be used to swarm the enemy lines and then you would use your more proffesional infantry to move around and flank them or attack the rear. Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Next is some basic Hunter units. These units will be slightly more effevtive than the peasant units. Hunters are fast moving and have great knowledge of the land they have hunted in for generation. They will be experts at hiding in the jungle and ambushing the enemy. They are also skilled with the Atl-Atl. The units will surely be very useful to win battles early in the campaign. Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Third, basic spearmen. These men serve as a basic town militia. They receive a little training in the arts of war from the local Lord or Ajaw in Mayan. They are just a step up from the peasants though, and serve a completely different role than the hunters. The only real difference between the militia and the peasants are the militia's superior combat discipline. When the peasants break, the militia will stand strong. Best to use these two forces in separate formations and not mix them together, because when the peasants break as they are sure to do, the militia will become vulnerable and your line will shatter. Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Finally we have some of the more "professional" spearmen. These men are supllied and trained by the local Ajaw and are loyal to him beyond any doubt. These men will be glad to die for the Ajaw and for the Gods. Their combat discipline is unmatch by any of the lesser units and in many cases they will fight until the last man. These units are extremely versatile. While they are best used as the bulk of you main line, they are quick enough to move around the enemy line and attack the flank and the rear, or to intercept your opponents flanking force. These men are not well armored with the exception of a small wooden shield. As mentioned, they are best used on the line becasue they are trained to hold formation and engage the enemy in long melee battles. So, unlike the heavier, well armored Mayan soldiers, the spearmen are not expected to be able to charge and burst through and enemy formation, but more to hold them long enough for your flanking force to arrive. Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  And there you have it folks, hope you enjoyed the preview, and remember to rep Jaguar Paw on these incredible units!

Map Teaser Oct. 1st

Well I thought I would do a little teaser today! I have been playing around and making a few new textures to use for the Yucatan and he's what I came up with. Remember folks, everything is most definetley still a WIP and the map is by no means finished. Just thought I made a couple of beauties today worth sharing. Here we go: Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Hope you like em' and as always, I do appreciate any feedback.

Faction Intro

Coba and Uxmal will fight for dominance in the lush fertile land of the northern Yucatan. Moving south we will enter a maze of dense tropical rainforest, where Tikal(Mutul) and Calakmul(Kaan) will be fighting an all out war for supremacy in the central lowlands. However, they must beware the independant state of Yaxchilan, who could easily spoil the party. Any armies venturing through the dense jungle will not find it easy, as several armies of Minor City States will be defending their land aswell. Once an army has succesfully navigated through the jungle they will find themselves at the base large mountains and will have to trek around these mountains and through a system of river valleys to get where they need to go. Hidden deep in those river valleys is the Kingdom of Mam, who, though less powerful then the rest, will not be easily subdued. In the southeast you may encounter Copan(Xuxpi), a conservative Kingdom tucked away in the hills, but don't take them lightly, as they will stop at nothing to defend their jade rich regions that make them the richest kingdom in the area.

Which of these kingdoms will you choose?

Will your heart fill with greed as you take the warriors of Xuxpi to seize all the riches of the land?

Will the Kingdom of Mam take the control of jade away from the Xuxpi Kingdom? Or will they go west and reunite with the great metropolis of Teotihuacán?

Will you conquer your lifelong foe by destroying Kaan as Mutul? Or will you be the destined warrior of the Snake Kingdom of Kaan and finally bring the great Kingdom of Mutul to its knees?

Maybe you will rule Yaxchilan and spoil the fun in the center of the Yucatan. Or perhaps your heart desires the riches of the south?

In the end maybe Uxmal or Coba will rise from the north, and venture into the jungle to seize all the glory.

This is the land of the Maya, this is TOTAL WAR!!!




First Post Sept. 9th, 2012

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Is anyone interested to help in making a mod based on the rise of the Mayan Empire? I am currently starting to research Mayan History and I think it would be a great idea to make a mod about this time period, as there are none focusing on only Mesoamerica. Here is my initial plan for the mod.

The starting time period will be 200 C.E a time when the Mayan region was divided into several city states such as Tikal, Calakmul, Copán, Palenque, Uxmal, Cobá, and Caracol. These states were independant from each other and often formed alliances, became vassals of each other and waged wars, mostly between Tikal and Calakmul. Sounds like Total War to me!

Depending on how ambitious the team becomes we can expand to include more city states outside the Mayan Region. Speaking of which, here is the proposed Campaign Map,

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I would be willing to do the campaign map and provide as much historical knowledge as I can, I can model units but I would require a team as I have no experience and would need alot of help. Coding is completely out of my ability so I would require a coder. The unit rosters would not be to huge either.
Each faction will have generic units:

(All are working titles)

Peasant Militia: Unarmored, wearing a breechcloth, most are shirtless, few wear a sleeveless white shirt, Armed with a bone or wood club, or small obsidian knife.

Peasant Hunters: same attire as the Militia only are armed with spears

Light infantry: Lightly armored, a wood helmet and a small rounded shield, aredm with 1 javelin and one spear. these warriors were often the ones charging the enemies flank. Infantry units will be decorated in war paint.

Heavy Infantry: Equpied with full armor,(what they used for armor is still unsure, possibly just tightly woven cotton) Helmet, pectoral, and covers for arms an limbs. full war paint.


Faction specific units:

Still needs to be researched however they will include speciual units like Eagle Warriors, Jaguar Warriors, Dart Blowers, Archers, Atatls, etc.


There are however some possible issues with this type of mod in terms of the warfare. For one there is no cavalry at all. There will be no siege equipment, the only seige weapon that will be available are ladders, if we decide to have Town walls. And maybe the most important, I have found no record of Mayans ever using archers in warfare. I could be wrong however but archers may not be included as a full on units, if they are included they may be in a small unit size and not be super effective.


Let me know if anyone is interested in helping.

[Murfmurf]

Sounds cool. There were a few mods like this floating around that never quite made it off the ground, but you should maybe have a search and contact their old leaders as they may have some stuff they'd let you use and save you some work!

A little bit of advice: start small and grow later. First release aim for 5-6 factions, not too many units, basic scripts and a small map. Once you've got a working model people will be much more likely to get involved. I'd recommend learning a bit of mapping and getting a rough map of the Yucatan together, finalising your rosters/factions and making a splash screen or something first.

Good luck!

[saxdude]

I doubt there is any real way I can help you, but I agree with Murf, start small, strictly in the Yucatan Peninsula and work your way up. There are a few people around here that can help you with the research (I know abit more about Central Mesoamerica, rather than the mayans).
Anyway I wish you a lot of luck with this, mods based on Mesoamerica are heavily needed.

[Emperor Hantscher]

Thanks for your input guys. I have contacted several people that where involved in those mods an am hoping for a reply. It appears however, that the unit modeler is using his models for another mod, so I doubt I'll get permission to use any of them. I am hoping to get my hands on a map_heights file because the one they had is far superior to my greyscale.



As for starting small, I completely agree, from what I see of these mods that start and fail is they were scoped to large from the beginning. I am aiming to have a small map, and no less than 5 factions for the first release. Most of the campaign map will be the "Rebel" faction, or as I will call them "Minor City States". And for the first release most faction rosters will be the same with just diffrent textures to make them distinguishable on the battlefield (depending on if I can get a modeler or two this might not be true). And the unit stats will be different to avoid every battle being even, and unit cost will differ for different factions depending on their power relative to history.


As for a second release i will simply add a few more factions, and region specific units to give a little more diversity to the factions, and add a few unique units to factions.

I have some experience in modding, not any TW games though but I can model, and I am getting the hang of mapping(except a good grayscale). I am not just someone with an idea demanding that people do this mod for me, but I do hope to get alot of help from more experience modders.

If any one who stumples upon this thread has any experience modding and is willign to help let me know.

If you know anyone looking to join a team please direct them to this thread.

[Jaguar Paw]

I would be glad to join your team, I have done quite a bit of work on Mesoamerican units, can do the modeling, and skinning. We definitely need to get a building modder, and coder, and strat map modeler. That is the most important phase of making a mod, is putting a team together.

As for your question about archers, the post-classic Maya acquired use of the bow and arrow (see Bernal Diaz "The discovery and conquest of Mexico", also the Lienzo de Quauhquechollan, and "Yucatan before and after the Conquest", Diego de Landa). As for siege engines, The murals from the Temple of the Jaguar at Uxmal (I think that is it), shows ladders, and a wooden pole constructed tower, I think just used as a firing platform. Finally as for city walls, there are several examples in Mayan archaeology, I think one of the most complete still in existence are the ruins of Tulum. The Tulum walls also have two or so small stone towers.

[Jaguar Paw]

I would be glad to join your team, I have done quite a bit of work on Mesoamerican units, can do the modeling, and skinning. We definitely need to get a building modder, and coder, and strat map modeler. That is the most important phase of making a mod, is putting a team together.

As for your question about archers, the post-classic Maya acquired use of the bow and arrow (see Bernal Diaz "The discovery and conquest of Mexico", also the Lienzo de Quauhquechollan, and "Yucatan before and after the Conquest", Diego de Landa). As for siege engines, The murals from the Temple of the Jaguar at Uxmal (I think that is it), shows ladders, and a wooden pole constructed tower, I think just used as a firing platform. Finally as for city walls, there are several examples in Mayan archaeology, I think one of the most complete still in existence are the ruins of Tulum. The Tulum walls also have two or so small stone towers.

[Jaguar Paw]

Wow, sorry for the double post, don't know what happened there.

[Hresvelgr]

Didn't the murals at the Temple of the Warriors from Chichen Itza show something that resembled a siege tower? Or at least a tall scaffolding that could either function as a tower (doubt it'd be rolled up to a wall though) or an observation post. Ladders were definitely common though. And the same murals showed fire arrows being used to burn buildings, which is pretty much the only reason to ever use fire arrows in real life. And the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel also contains specific references to archers. It's commonly believed though that the bow was not introduced to the area until the Terminal Classic however.

As for factions, the two you should definitely focus on first would be Tikal and Calakmul, or Mutul and Kaan as they were actually called back then. Then the more independent factions like Yaxchilan (Pa'Chan), Piedras Negras (Yokib), Uxmal, and Chichen Itza. Then the vassal kingdoms that were still influential like Palenque (Baakal), Copan (Xuxpi), Dos Pilas (the Petexbatun), Caracol (Kantu), and so on. I'd also argue for a much later start date, 200 AD is far too early, it's still pretty much the end of the Preclassic or the very very beginning of the Classic, which is not as well documented as later periods and also limits the possibilities of going further ahead in time. Something after the Teotihuacan invasion of Tikal led by Siyaj K'ahk would probably be a better idea.

[Hresvelgr]

Hey Jaguar Paw, do you think it'd be appropriate to combine what we know about the Classic Maya with Postclassic Yucatec and Quiche sources to come up with ideas, units, etc for this mod? As long as we're careful to make sure information doesn't conflict with what we know of the Classic and that there are no obvious linguistic differences (we should avoid using any Quiche words with the letter 'r' for example) I think it might be best given how sparse information on earlier times can be.

A challenge though would be coming up with names. A great portion of the names we do know from the Classic are names of royals, and kings took regnal names upon their accession. And they had varying habits regarding these names from person to person. Some called themselves by their royal name, some preferred their birth names. The greatest king of Yaxchilan for example was somebody known by historians as Itzamnaaj B'alam II (originally he was called Shield Jaguar II before his name was deciphered) but the man himself apparently preferred going by his original name Chelte' Chan K'inich. The tricky part of Classic Ch'oltian Mayan names though is that there is no clear pattern or naming convention. We know exactly how Postclassic Yucatecan people were named, but what we know of Classic Mayan names does not jive at all with that. They seem more random. Like a warrior whose name is recorded at Tonina I think, Chan Maas, which means "Four Crickets". In any case, I still remain fairly confident I can find more Classic Maya names, if you want my help of course.

[Jaguar Paw]

@Hresvelgr: I think perhaps the game should start around 600 ad, that would encompass the classic Maya system of the royalty and elites having various exotic and excentric armors and weapons, and most of the rest of the army was a much more basic peasant levy. Then around 900 or 1000 ad, we would have a sort of military reform event where we move into the terminal or post classic more standardized militaries, and the rise of the semi-professional holcanes system of town and urban militias as described in friar Diego de Landa's book about the conquest of the Yucatan.

As for the Mayan names, I will defer to your far greater knowledge in that area

[Emperor Hantscher]

Wow, sorry for the double post, don't know what happened there.

Triple post, now Thanks for volunteering, Your skills an knowledge will be a valuable asset.

I am currently working on the Stratmap, hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on a portion of absinthias map at least just a base map and heights map.


As per the start date, it is entirely negotiable. I only really chose 200AD as it was the start of the era which the Mayans where at their peak. If we can find a date that had the most city states at their peak at the same time would be great.

As far as the historical accuracy of the mod is concerned, well here are my thoughts. As far as units, the location of cities, the power of those city states and the general economy of those cities I hope to achieve the most accurate details for the start date. So, the earlier the start date the harder it will be to make that possible. After all we are playing a video game, and once the player gets his hands into it, the historical accuracy of how the region progressed through history, it goes out the window. In my Empire campaign I conquered half the known world with Morocco by the 1760s, where's the historical accuracy there? To simulate the decline of the empire I wonder if we can add a script that would lower the "Kings Purse" income at a certain date? That should add an extra challenge to the player and make him start disbanding units, and lose territory. Don't think I don't care about accuracy though, as it is important, but shouldn't be our biggest concern at the moment.


Our biggest concern should be getting something, at least something released, as too many Maya mods have failed to do. Which is why for an initial release, I hope to focus only on the Yucatan. As I stated before there will be limited factions, with the focus being on Tikal and Calakmul. That's why I wanted to start earlier is because it was the start of the age where the Mayans reach the peak of their empire, and in this mod it is the player's goal to unite the Yucatan under his rule, that may never have accually happened, but it can in TW


Hresvelgr, your knowledge about the Maya is great, and I'd like to run something by you regarding "Jaguar Warriors". In the murals and art pieces I have studied, many warriors are shown to be wearing jaguar skins on their heads and as a cape basically. Did the Mayans not view the jaguar as a sacred animal? I find it hard to believe they would kill them just to wear their skins in battle. Do you think I am correct in pressuming that the great warriors may only have been personified as jaguars in murals? After all they did see the jaguar to represent strength, courage and the likes. I do not doubt they wore wooden carvings representing jaguars on their heads and used jaguar patterned warpaint, but to wear the animals skin as a suit like in Vanilla, I doubt it. Is there proof they actually wore the skins, or could it be a misinterpretation through time and art?




I will continue on the map, but before i get to the point of no return, here is what I am using as a map.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Any objections? Remember, expansion can take place at the very least after we get both feet on the ground.

Can any one be able to tell me where this image is from? Or if it is even authentic? Sometimes you just can't trust the internet

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

To me this is an amazing image as it somewhat symbolizes the military hierarchy of the Maya. AT the top you have your elaborate warriors, maybe the emperor with nobles, and at the bottom, you have just your standard Mayan warrior. Now here is an example were it clearly looks like they are wearing the jaguar skins, it bugs me as I find it hard to believe they would kill their sacred animal, maybe these men are the elite of the elite and are the only three men in town to have them? After all, if they are being put on walls of the palace they would have to be important, and not just some random warrior. I don't think in the scope of the mod we should include jaguar skinned warriors as full units. Then their won't be around 500 or more men in a battle wearing them(that's alot of dead kitties). Maybe reserve them for generals, and unit captains at the most?

I also wonder about the image.

1. How the heck would the carvings worn about their heads be secured? They look incredibly awkward.
2. Since they do look awkward, were they even worn in battle or are these ceremonial garments?
3. What's with the guy with only legs and no body center left?lol

[Hresvelgr]

Triple post, now Thanks for volunteering, Your skills an knowledge will be a valuable asset.

I am currently working on the Stratmap, hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on a portion of absinthias map at least just a base map and heights map.


As per the start date, it is entirely negotiable. I only really chose 200AD as it was the start of the era which the Mayans where at their peak. If we can find a date that had the most city states at their peak at the same time would be great.

As far as the historical accuracy of the mod is concerned, well here are my thoughts. As far as units, the location of cities, the power of those city states and the general economy of those cities I hope to achieve the most accurate details for the start date. So, the earlier the start date the harder it will be to make that possible. After all we are playing a video game, and once the player gets his hands into it, the historical accuracy of how the region progressed through history, it goes out the window. In my Empire campaign I conquered half the known world with Morocco by the 1760s, where's the historical accuracy there? To simulate the decline of the empire I wonder if we can add a script that would lower the "Kings Purse" income at a certain date? That should add an extra challenge to the player and make him start disbanding units, and lose territory. Don't think I don't care about accuracy though, as it is important, but shouldn't be our biggest concern at the moment.


Our biggest concern should be getting something, at least something released, as too many Maya mods have failed to do. Which is why for an initial release, I hope to focus only on the Yucatan. As I stated before there will be limited factions, with the focus being on Tikal and Calakmul. That's why I wanted to start earlier is because it was the start of the age where the Mayans reach the peak of their empire, and in this mod it is the player's goal to unite the Yucatan under his rule, that may never have accually happened, but it can in TW

In that case late 600's is definitely the best bet. The latter half of that century is the start of the Late Classic, when the Maya really reached their height, kingdoms had defined and well-known borders, history is the clearest, and the Tikal-Calakmul rivalry is about to hit its highest point.

Hresvelgr, your knowledge about the Maya is great, and I'd like to run something by you regarding "Jaguar Warriors". In the murals and art pieces I have studied, many warriors are shown to be wearing jaguar skins on their heads and as a cape basically. Did the Mayans not view the jaguar as a sacred animal? I find it hard to believe they would kill them just to wear their skins in battle. Do you think I am correct in pressuming that the great warriors may only have been personified as jaguars in murals? After all they did see the jaguar to represent strength, courage and the likes. I do not doubt they wore wooden carvings representing jaguars on their heads and used jaguar patterned warpaint, but to wear the animals skin as a suit like in Vanilla, I doubt it. Is there proof they actually wore the skins, or could it be a misinterpretation through time and art?

They did in fact wear jaguar skins because they saw them as representing strength, courage, and the likes. They could be considered sacred in some aspects, but not in the sense that they were unkillable like Hindus and cows. It was a relationship more about respect than devotion. Some gods might be shown to have jaguar features to represent certain aspects of themselves, but they didn't actually worship jaguars themselves. So a noble might very well don a jaguar skin into battle, or put its fur on a spear's shaft, or something of that nature. Possibly even have jaguar-skin quivers like other Mesoamericans did.

Can any one be able to tell me where this image is from? Or if it is even authentic? Sometimes you just can't trust the internet



To me this is an amazing image as it somewhat symbolizes the military hierarchy of the Maya. AT the top you have your elaborate warriors, maybe the emperor with nobles, and at the bottom, you have just your standard Mayan warrior. Now here is an example were it clearly looks like they are wearing the jaguar skins, it bugs me as I find it hard to believe they would kill their sacred animal, maybe these men are the elite of the elite and are the only three men in town to have them? After all, if they are being put on walls of the palace they would have to be important, and not just some random warrior. I don't think in the scope of the mod we should include jaguar skinned warriors as full units. Then their won't be around 500 or more men in a battle wearing them(that's alot of dead kitties). Maybe reserve them for generals, and unit captains at the most?

That image is of a mural from Bonampak. Bonampak is a minor site, a vassal of Yaxchilan's IIRC whose sole claim to fame is that they had the best preserved set of murals yet found in a Maya ruin. I think it likely that any noble warrior of a prestigious family/lineage/house might wear jaguar skins. It's possible they may have limited them to certain houses of the highest rank, but it's still easily possible that more men besides the highest lords may have worn jaguar skins. As for the image itself, that's no emperor. It's simply the King of Bonampak, who himself was a vassal to the king of Yaxchilan, who was not quite of emperor status even if he was a great conqueror.

I also wonder about the image.

1. How the heck would the carvings worn about their heads be secured? They look incredibly awkward.
2. Since they do look awkward, were they even worn in battle or are these ceremonial garments?
3. What's with the guy with only legs and no body center left?lol

1. Straps on the bottom that would go under the chin.
2. Other Mesoamericans wore similar headdresses, so it's most likely these were worn into battle. In any case, it is known that the Maya made use of more practical helmets quite often that were of a more functional shape (typically described as having a pill-box shape that sometimes had cheek/chin guards) made from wood and covered in pyrite or shell mosaic to dazzle the enemy.
3. That fellow suffers from erosion and being in the place of a posthole put into the structure. Though if you look closely you can make out his head and his hand grasping a captive's bleeding arm.

And yeah, I agree with Jaguar Paw's ideas here. I've also been looking for possible parallels between the Classic Maya and the Postclassic Highlands Maya that might help. Warrior structure was likely similar. Noble warriors of the highlands, basically the Maya equivalent to knights and samurai and such, were called by the Kakchiquels (and Kiche' I believe) "Achij" or "Achi", which means "companions". Suitable, easily works for high-status warriors.

[Rakoua]

If I remember correctly, absinthia has a great map for this.

[absinthia]

If I remember correctly, absinthia has a great map for this.

i suppose that would be this here map, though it covers a much greater area than just the Jukatan.
it is just a simple modfolder with a basic map and some custom ground-type tiles. England has been converted to Tikal, but i think the original files might be backed up inside the modfolder(text and world folders).

[Jaguar Paw]

[QUOTE=absinthia;11997187]i suppose that would be this here map, though it covers a much greater area than just the Jukatan.
it is just a simple modfolder with a basic map and some custom ground-type tiles. England has been converted to Tikal, but i think the original files might be backed up inside the modfolder(text and world folders).[/QUOTE

@Absinthia: And thankyou for helping out this very embryonic mod.

[saxdude]

If you are planning on expanding beyond the Yucatan peninsula at any point than you might also consider starting at a later date, where more information is provided as to the civilizations and interactions with them, Im still not entirely convinced by the supposed direct Teotihuacanic invasion led by Siyaj K'ah, and the information needed for a fully fledged Teotihuacan faction is not available at the moment. Early and mid postclassic would be better IMO.

[Hresvelgr]

Except if you limit it to the Postclassic that means the heartland of the Maya will be empty and they'd mostly be limited to the periphery. In any case, I wasn't suggesting a Teotihuacan faction, I was just saying 200 AD was too early and it'd be best to have it take place well after Siyaj K'ahk, partially to avoid having to portray Teotihuacan.

On the other hand, we at least have a very clear idea of the Maya provinces in the northern Yucatan in the Postclassic, but the interior is less clear and many have tried to make a Classic-era mod, making it a dream of mine to eventually get one completed.

[saxdude]

I was saying it mostly in case he decided to expand beyond the peninsula and into the golf and basin, As much as I would love to see Teotihuacan as a major faction it would be hard to portray.
As for the Maya problem, that would be true, perhaps it could be set in the early post classic? 11th to 15th Century maybe? I realize its still post collapse but you could have the southern lowland Mayan cities be deteriorated and in heavy decline, if not occupied by rebels, with the opportunity to reconstruct and repopulate them again? I guess its a bit of a stretch, but its the best way to have better detailed Mayan factions and a chance to reconstruct the old centraql and southern lowland glories.

[saxdude]

To simulate the decline of the empire I wonder if we can add a script that would lower the "Kings Purse" income at a certain date? That should add an extra challenge to the player and make him start disbanding units, and lose territory. Don't think I don't care about accuracy though, as it is important, but shouldn't be our biggest concern at the moment.

No need for that I think, does Medieval have climate features like Rome? like a drought or something? If so maybe at a certain point you could script a number of droughts, plagues and I unno, some kind of event that represents ideological change or something? In general something that would make it harder to survive and give way to more unrest.

[Hresvelgr]

There was a shift to more decentralized leadership during the Terminal Classic, so perhaps an event that creates more unhappiness as a result of nobles seeking to claim more power for themselves instead of the faction leader pretty much being the sole ruler.