The Last Ember | Fantasy Faction Generated by CharGen

Overview

Five years ago, the border city of Oakhaven was the jewel of the High Empire. Through a series of subtle political maneuvers, economic buyouts, and the mysterious disappearance of loyalist officials, the neighboring Ocher Dominancy successfully installed a puppet council. The transition was so quiet that many citizens barely noticed the law changes until imperial symbols were stripped from the plazas. The Last Ember formed during the Night of Silver Silence, when the remaining loyalist garrison was drugged during a banquet and subsequently executed or exiled. The survivors fled into the subterranean tunnels and forgotten cellars, vowing to reclaim the city or burn it down to alert the Emperor of the betrayal.

How it began

Mara Haze, a decorated sergeant of the disbanded Silver Guard, refused to surrender her post. She gathered a dozen broken veterans and terrified tradespeople in the ruins of a burnt-out tavern. There, they swore an oath over the dying embers of a hearth to remain the city's hidden warmth until a true fire could be lit to drive out the Dominancy's shadow.

How to know them

MottoWarmth in the ash, fire in the heart.

EmblemA single, stylized white flame inside a grey circle, often quickly scrawled on walls as a sign of resistance.

Colours

Ashen Grey, Imperial Crimson, Soot Black

Signs

The Flame
A charred silver coin
Three parallel lines across a keyhole

DressMembers wear no formal uniform to avoid detection, but often carry a small, intentionally charred silver coin as a sign of recognition.

Standing

AlignmentNeutral Good

Age5 years

WealthStruggling (mostly donated supplies and scavenged gear)

What they say they want

Restore the rightful Imperial governance to the city.

Protect common citizens from the Ocher Dominancy's predatory taxation.

Expose the corruption within the current City Council.

What they are doing now

Establish secure dead-drop locations in all four city districts.

Recruit informants within the City Watch.

Smuggle alchemical fire into the grain silos to prepare for a distraction.

Where it leads

To witness the arrival of the Imperial Legion on the horizon, the execution of the traitorous council, and the return of Oakhaven to its former status as a respectable imperial bastion.

How others see them

The public is divided. Some see them as desperate heroes of a bygone age, while others view them as dangerous relics who are only making life harder by inviting Ocher retaliation.

People

4 ranks

Commander of the Ember

Mara Haze

Pragmatic, stern, and deeply scarred both physically and emotionally. She has no patience for idealism and views the movement through a purely military lens.

The Firewatch3 members
Strategic leadership and high-level decision making. They hold the only complete map of all active cells.
The Kindling12 members
Field commanders who manage individual cells and relay messages via invisible ink and code.
The Sparks85 members
The rank and file members who carry out surveillance, petty theft, and propaganda distribution.
The Breath20 members
Deep-cover sympathizers who provide housing, food, and information but never engage in combat.

Other key members

Brother Orin Spiritual Advisor and Master of Records
Kaelen the Rat Chief Scout

How they are organised

How it is runCellular Insurgency

Who comes nextShould Mara Haze fall, leadership passes to the senior-most member of The Firewatch. If the entire Firewatch is neutralized, the cells are instructed to operate independently until a new central hearth is established through a pre-arranged meeting at the Cathedral of Iron.

How they recruitPotential recruits are observed for weeks. If they display sufficient discontent with the current regime, they are approached by a stranger with a coded phrase. If they answer correctly, they are led to a neutral location for a formal screening by a member of The Kindling.

To join

Proven lineage or history as an Imperial loyalist.
A background check by Brother Orin to ensure no Ocher ties.
The successful completion of a 'Testing' task, usually a risky act of minor sabotage.

Relations

5 factions

Ally · Convenience

The Iron Ring

A smugglers' guild that helps move goods for the Ember in exchange for future tax exemptions when the Empire returns.

Operations

What they do

Information gathering

Sabotage of Ocher infrastructure

Propaganda through anonymous broadsheets

Protection of loyalist civilians

How they do it

Dead-drop communication using hollowed stones.

Invisible ink revealed only by specific alchemical salts.

Hit-and-run strikes against lightly guarded checkpoints.

Spreading rumors to lower the morale of the Ocher-backed City Watch.

Services for hire

Secret PassageHigh-quality medical supplies or Imperial steel.
Smuggling individuals in or out of the city via the sewer network.
Information BrokerageA significant favor to be named later.
Providing details on City Council movements and schedule.

What they can do

Expertise in invisible ink and cryptographic dead-drops.

Masters of urban camouflage and sewer navigation.

Ability to rapidly mobilize a flash-mob or riot through underground networks.

What they have

A stockpile of Imperial-grade smoke bombs and incendiary liquid.

Detailed dossiers on every corrupted official in the City Council.

The only surviving copy of the city's original Imperial Charter.

Where they are weak

Limited manpower and no heavy weaponry.

High level of internal paranoia makes them slow to trust potential allies.

Deeply vulnerable to a single high-ranking informant or traitor.

Territory

Headquarters

Oakhaven (The Border Town)

KindHidden Basement Network

Known as The Root-Cellar, this headquarters is located beneath a series of interconnected, abandoned basements in the Grey District. It is accessible only through a disguised hatch in a communal well.

Lands they hold

The Grey District Slums

The Low Sewers

The Whispering Woods outside the south gate

Outposts

The Hollow TreeTwo miles south of the cityA staging ground for smuggling weapons and equipment into the city.
The Chimney StackThe Industrial WardA lookout point for monitoring the City Watch patrols.

Secrets

The big secret · GM only

What they really want · GM only

Hidden plans · GM only

Smaller secrets · GM only

What insiders say · GM only

Trouble inside · GM only

Crimes · GM only

Plot hooks

3 hooks

1
The Invisible Message
EasyReward: Faction Favor
The players find a seemingly blank piece of parchment on a dead Ocher guard. They must find someone to decode it before the guard's unit arrives.
2
The Silo Strike
ModerateReward: Gold and Equipment
The Ember needs the party to help them bypass the guards of the central grain silo to plant incendiaries, intended to draw the Ocher garrison away from the Council chambers.
3
The Traitor's Trial
HardReward: High-tier Magic Item or Land Title
Mara Haze suspects a mole in the high-level Firewatch and hires the players as outside contractors to investigate the inner circle.

Work they offer

1Rescue a Kindling officer from the City Watch dungeon.

2Deliver a supply of 'invisible ink' salts to a contact in the Palace kitchens.

3Intercept a shipment of Ocher gold intended to bribe the last neutral councilman.

What gets in the way

The City Watch has started using trained hounds to track scents from the sewer exits.

A new law makes possession of any Imperial iconography punishable by life in the mines.

A rival resistance group has started using more violent methods, and the Ember is being blamed.

Rumours

1The Last Ember is secretly funded by the Crown Prince who is coming with an army.

2Mara Haze was actually a double agent who helped the Ocher takeover and is now playing both sides.

3The sewers are full of experimental explosives that the Ember plans to detonate simultaneously.

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