Another or a better term for....

[cren_ew]

Hello! I am currently working on fantasy, NA project and I'm seriously having a hard time finding a work that fits a very specific organization. I found a few options but none of them are truly fitting in the way I had hoped they would. To be completely honest, I have been working on this nonstop and I am fried but I refuse to take a break. I could keep putting it off like I have for a while, however, this particular word is starting to pop up more now in this particular section I am working on and I cannot keep leaving random words that MAY work in red. It is driving me crazy. Any suggestions will help! Please! SOS!

Now! Here I will describe these "organizations". In this project I am working on there are 6 of them. They are almost like "groups" that have power over certain sections of the city. Each with their own specialties and special characteristics, two having slightly more power (equal to each other) while the rest have lesser, but equal power. (think like a king and queen and their 4 council members.) Each of them have their own military forces that have specialized forces (paladins, knights, archers, sorcerers etc.), but also have jobs that aren't involved in the military as well, (politics, medics/healers, scholars and more mundane jobs as well like blacksmiths, farmers etc.) I don't particularly fancy the word "factions" but I guess that is a more modern term that could have been used if I was doing more of a dystopian setting, which it is not. I'm sorry, my brain doesn't work. Please help. Thank you so much in advance from a baby writer.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I don't particularly fancy the word "factions" but I guess that is a more modern term that could have been used if I was doing more of a dystopian setting, which it is not.

Actually, according to the first dictionary I looked at, it's not a particularly modern term. In the sense "a party or group that is often contentious or self-seeking, a clique" the earliest known use in English is 1509. It's borrowed from Middle French, faction, which in turn is borrowed from Latin faction-, factio "the act of making a social set, band, or self-seeking group."

But you said you don't particularly fancy the word, and these definitions may suit even more poorly than you thought, and I am using it only as an example of how we may very often be mistaken about the dates and origins of words we hear around us and assume must be contemporary.

So what I am suggesting to you instead is that (supposing you haven't done so already) you look up the history of some of the words you've been considering, the ones you've been writing in red, and one of them (or one of its synonyms listed) may be found to exactly say what you want to say, as well as fit the sort of time and place you are trying to evoke. Any decent dictionary should assist you in this.

If that doesn't help, maybe someone who posts here after me will have some more specific suggestions for words you might use.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Cohorts. Guilds. Leagues. Cabals.
Syndicate. Combine. Federation.
Consortium. Union.

 

[Swank]

@Alex The G and T named all the good ones, but you could go with self deprecating names like gang, tribe, nation, team, unit, village, division, clan, group, corporation, company, federation, franchise or ward.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

My first thought was 'Guilds', but that's more to do with occupations.
Some further thought and the groups sound like gangsters each controlling their own 'patch' or 'manor', but 'mobs' is too modern and not appropriate for fantasy.
So another thought, is there a name for medieval gangsters? Well it turns out there were gangsters, but I couldn't find a specific one, but the term 'brotherhood' came up, also 'clan'.
And then there were the 'reivers', but that doesn't quite cover it either.

10 Notorious Medieval Gangsters - Listverse

When we hear the word "gangster," we often think of the Bloods and Crips of California or the international cartels that control the drug trade. We don't

listverse.com

Border reivers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[therapist]

I'ld like to throw 'coterie' into the mix. You should pick whatever one sounds/feels the best, intead of what most accurately describes your groups.

 

[Wayne Mack]

Thesaurus results for FACTION

Faction: a group of people acting together within a larger group. Synonyms: bloc, block, body… Find the right word.

www.merriam-webster.com

Thesaurus results for GROUP

Group: a number of things considered as a unit. Synonyms: array, assemblage, band… Find the right word.

www.merriam-webster.com

Thesaurus results for ORGANIZATION

Organization: a group of persons formally joined together for some common interest. Synonyms: association, board, brotherhood… Find the right word.

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[paranoid marvin]

There's a difference between having official power over parts of a town and having unofficial influence. There's also a difference running part of a settlement and having overall control.

Rome had (on more than one occasion) a triumvirate, where 3 powerful men held political control. There was also apparently a septumvirate where the same happened with 7 individuals; I guess yours would be a sextumvirate, but this seems a mouthful and may not be appropriate.

Factions are organised, splintered sections of a 'whole' which (to me) doesn't really fit, whereas your description of 'Each with their own specialties and special characteristics' very much makes me think of guilds. Historically you would find that districts of larger settlements would be dominated by certain trades and governed by guilds. Although they could (sometimes) wield considerable influence, they were usually in overall control (Terry Pratchett's Ankh Morpork had guilds, but was governed by a patrician).

 

[The Judge]

A galere is a group of people, particularly unpleasant ones, but it doesn't really fit for organisations which clearly have some power.

One definition of capitulary is pertaining to a chapter of an organisation (chapter as in a union sense, not of a book) and a corps is a body of people, both of which might work.

But perhaps look at words to do with six eg senary, or make up one eg hexaron.

Alternatively, instead of you imposing a word on the characters, perhaps consider how they would describe the groups -- eg they might think of themselves as brotherhoods or sodalities. The Scuole Grandi of Venice were confraternities formed for religious or charitable purposes, but it's easy to imagine that in a different world their original functions might have morphed so each one became a ruling body for a specific area of the city.

 

[sknox]

As you've seen, there are many synonyms. Just look them up, make a list, then go find some examples of use. Pretty straightforward.

In addition, though, another possibility is to not. That is, maybe just give each of them names. The Red Watch. The Carrion Crows. The Towermen, etc. Let the reader supply a common noun to them as a group, if it's even needed.

 

[farntfar]

Could you go for something like "The Honorable company of...."
It could be function based, like the Honorable Company of Metalsmiths or The Honorable Artillery Company., both of which exist.
Or maybe regional The Honorable Company of Hammersmith and Ealing, which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist.
It gives them some sort of gravitas, while actually meaning little really, other than that they gave themselves a name.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Or how about diving them into 'Houses'?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I rather like cantons for this kind of thing

 

[Danny McG]

How about Families?
(See Star Trek TOS "A piece of the action")

 

[chriscarlton]

Commonwealth. Collective. Hive. Union. Parish. Consort. Guild. Order. Routiers. Company. Band. Fraternity. Brotherhood.
I really often use names or words from other languages to fill things like this. I think it works best when simple or snappy.
Hope that helps!

 

[Christine Wheelwright]

If only there were five, not six. Then you could call them phalanges.

 

[mosaix]

How about Families?
(See Star Trek TOS "A piece of the action")

Also as in mafia 'family'.

 

[mosaix]

Commonwealth. Collective. Hive. Union. Parish. Consort. Guild. Order. Routiers. Company. Band. Fraternity. Brotherhood.
I really often use names or words from other languages to fill things like this. I think it works best when simple or snappy.
Hope that helps!

'Guild' is good. In UK medieval times the guilds wielded immense power.

 

[Swank]

If only there were five, not six. Then you could call them phalanges.

Simple fix: Make the people 6 fingered.