The Akashic Hammer Faction

Overview
The Akashic Hammer is a group of craftsmen, artisans, and creators of things in all stripes. Part poet, part philosopher, part creator of things, the Akashic Hammer forms communities and neighborhoods with the families of their fellow faction members all the time. The Faction created itself simply because a group of those adhering to the Craftsman's Work and the Akashic Guide, two texts, one the approach to the making of things, the other the approach to living life in service to the flow of Creation, form the cornerstones of all members' existence. The system of thinking is pragmatic, values the process more than the product, encourages healthy competition, discourages the notion of perfection, and encourages members to live lives based in simplicity and only having or using what you need. The Akashic Hammer is a bit of a fringe group to the rest of society's thinking, because they embrace a Libertine, free love lifestyle with polyamory and group families very common. Weddings are not the norm for these folks, but they certainly do apply the principles of Creating to their family sizes. They prefer farm-sized families over city-sized ones, yet because craftsmen tend to be a complex level of the economy, most of the Akashic Hammer adherents tend to live in small towns at the very least where supplies and demand for their goods and services makes life possible.

Money does not motivate the Akashic Hammer, however. They only formally became a faction recently, more as an exercise to see what a group of like-minded individuals could create in terms of a political and economic force to promote the lifestyle and philosophy of the Akashic Hammer. One of the first things the Faction itself did was to take on the sole responsibility for arranging sales, prices, auctions, and minimum bids for the masterwork items being produced on a massive scale by the enclaves of the Akashic Hammer all over the West. (Not many AH in Parnath yet. A few here or there, but it's slow to catch on yet even though the finished AH works from Tysdia fetch Ducal ransoms in Parnath, the Tysdian preoccupation with productivity and being busy just clashes with the laid back pace of drinking and whoring the Parnathi prefer.

Symbol
A square stonecarver's hammer with a stylized flame in a circle engraved into the side of the head. Or, a hammer wreathed in blue flame.

Goals
Create. Live life deeply. Hedonism. Excess. Children. But above all, Create.

Beliefs
Creation is the point of life. Creativity is the pursuit of creation and is a universal gift.

Kenku make the Akashic Hammer sad because the Kenku cannot innovate or create. Therefore, the Kenku are a popular motif in melancholy pieces or adornment in shadowy or hidden places. "Find the Kenku" is a popular game at formal Display gatherings where craftsmanship techniques are demonstrated, and finished pieces are Displayed for public appreciation and response. Real life Kenku would be almost venerated by the Akashic Hammer - they see it as sort of their karmic duty to compensate for the lack of the Kenku's innate inspiration by idolizing the Kenku as sort of a challenge or approved form and concept to return to in order to provide artistic inspiration for those races and beings which can innovate. When they succeed at true mastery of a piece, they say the "Dark God weeps to behold it". The full phrase in scripture, no less, in the Akashic Way Mystic Stanzas, is "Benezu held the hammer aloft/ and the Dark God of the Cursed Kenku wept to behold it".

(Number of Akashic Hammer communities who have actually met a Kenku? Zero. These are not incredibly well-traveled people, generally, since crafting requires a more or less stationary existence. The Court of Flowers, the Vice Admiral of the Second Fleet of the Flagship Trading Company, the Kingsguard, and the Broken Crown have a running contest going to try to locate and entice a flock of Kenku to come to the next Grand Faire the Akashic Hammer throws every three years. The faction with the most actual kenku present as official guests of theirs at the event wins, but everyone just wants to see the look on the Akashic Hammer faction faces when they meet their heroes 'on stage at their own show' as it were. 8 more months left.)

Simple life. Don't seek wealth, seek sufficiency. Don't seek fame, seek adequacy. Don't chase perfection, chase your own vision, as imperfect as it may turn out. Love all as you can, serve all as you must, make your mark and live for today while working for tomorrow.

Member Traits
Free-spirited, yet disciplined and passionate. Bon viveurs and libertines mixed in with artistic and artisanal brilliance, a middle-class balance between wealth and work, mostly urban or semi-urban dwellers, many Guild Artisans from prior training who learned the Akashic Way and followed. All are crafters or creators of some kind, but those who do practice the fine arts also have a secondary craft skill which is their philosophical link to the movement... the fine arts interests and performance arts interests technically tend to fall under the Court of Flowers. Multi-talented Akashic Hammer kin are quite common so there are musicians and bards and the like, but they are with the Akashic Hammer all of the faction, each and every one of them, because they read or heard the works and philosophies of the Akashic Way and adopted that mode of thinking and living, sometimes literally joining or forming communes within larger urban communities by taking over whole neighborhoods and building illegal fences and gates across the entranceways (often torn down periodically).

Rank Names

 * 1) Apprentice/Neophyte
 * 2) Journeyman/Artisan
 * 3) Master
 * 4) Doctor
 * 5) Maker

Special Faction Training Available (Rank 2+)
Journeymen/Artisans and above can make use of the special training opportunities of the Akashic Hammer. Any guild specialty or artisan toolset can be taught to a level of proficiency for 125gp over 125 days of training. Also available is training for proficiency to operate any Land or Water vehicles - the coastal city of Freeport has the largest commune for the Akashic Hammer working the shipyards and commanding premium wages due to their Faction. Water vehicle training is limited by geography, land vehicle training can happen anywhere, including Lake City where the Akashic Hammer has inspired the Hansom and Carriage design and decoration movement all the rage among the nobles who can afford to hire a hansom cab to go to the (Parnathi traveling company) Opera, or a bona fide carriage the aristocracy and wealthy merchant classes can afford to keep.

Special Faction Item Purchases Available (Rank 3+)
Every Journeyman/Artisan may purchase a magical +1 set of any artisan's tools or guild toolsets for 500gp and 50 days of time to create. Masters of the Akashic Hammer and those of higher accomplishment may also purchase a Ring of Resistance to the type most useful to the Crafter. Potters and smiths might take Ring of Fire Resistance, Dyers and Tanners might take Acid Resistance, Vintners, Bakers, Cooks, and Brewers might take Poison Resistance or Fire, etc.) The rings are especially distinctive since each base ring is wrought entirely by the Akashic Hammer devotees in pursuit of the Akashic Way. Simple elegance and power, the Masters are all proud when they ceremonially are awarded their Master's Ring upon attaining 3rd rank. Nearly every Master or higher has one and uses it regularly.

Other Factions
 The Flagship Traders - Good contacts and connections to have - they usually can source the best and most exotic materials from their trade routes for use in crafting, and they also can be worked with closely to arrange supply routes as well. On the rare chance that a member of the Akashic Hammer wishes to travel and pick up new skills from foreign ports, or to carry the message of the Hammer to the foreign ports and trading posts, the Flagship Traders are only too happy to barter passage for a portion of all output to be sold at their profits. They keep trying to get exclusive sales rights but Akashic Hammer followers find limited markets to be at odds with their philosophy of making a mark and sharing the goods.

 The Court of Flowers  - Flighty people, but they are an incredible market for selling and exposing the world to the handiwork and artisan crafts of the Akashic Hammer, so be patient with their hedonism and selfish world views.

 The Vanguard Brotherhood  - They exist. They stay bought as a matter of reputation, so if you need to transport valuable materials or goods or hire security for warehouses or to guard the settlement enclaves of the Hammer, these are the preferred solutions. Even though they are expensive, the coin you pay up front buys the company you purchase until the end of the contract, satisfaction guaranteed.

 The Wyrd Hunters  - Strange people, these Librarians. They come and go, and they frequently purchase rare objets d'art and exquisite crafts to bring back to their library in Cazor? Wherever that is. Just don't trust them not to steal your books, but they will happily help you write down your trade methods and techniques so other Hammer can benefit from them later, in exchange for a copy of the finished text. So use them when you need to, and just smile and nod the rest of the time.

 The Broken Crown  - Strangely enough, the Broken Crown tends to return the more valuable pieces 'secured' through their underworld networks when it becomes apparent that the piece stolen has real inherent value to the Hammer. We repay them with food and shelter when needed, and while we aren't exactly 'allied', the Hammer tends to discourage making any kind of tools or crafts which will interfere with the Broken Crown, just as a professional courtesy, nothing more. Although Akashic Hammer locksmiths take it as a point of personal pride to create 'the perfect lock', the Broken Crown is usually a willing participant in such things as they can't wait to try and bypass them. Otherwise, we leave well enough alone unless we need the Broken Crown's underworld network to get hard-to-find or illegal materials for crafting.

 The Kingsguard  - We really don't know much about them. They serve the King as his hands and eyes and ears, so if you need to bring something to royal attention they have been known to allow Akashic Hammer practitioners access to noble courts and royal patronages, but that's about all they seem to be good for, at least from our perspective.

 The Gardeners  - A ready-market for any Old Faith religious inspired artwork and craftsmanship. Also a good target market for anyone making agricultural or survival equipment. Aside from that, they're just religious nuts - disorganized and harmless.