All characters must belong to a Faction as they are used by Mission Control to convey plot information and activities to a large number of players through only a handful of NPCs. Faction members have near-guaranteed access to their Faction Contact.
Faction Contact
An NPC that is played the majority of an event, and attempts to meet with Faction members to offer Missions and other related In-Game information. Not all members may be reached due to the free roaming nature of the game. Information about your Faction Contact is available in your character Profile online.
Mission
A task tailored to a Faction with the goal of providing income beyond the Stipend as well as story, conflict, and intrigue for players to become involved with. If you are given a Mission, you are not required to participate, though there may be IG repercussions for non-involvement. Non-members may participate in a Mission to assist, sabotage, or otherwise complicate the Mission. These situations are handled IG between the characters involved. Only a Faction member can collect the payout of a successful Mission. Distribution of the payout is up to the person who collected it.
Changing Faction
Costs 5, or the current amount charged in the Character Manager, Player Points per change.