Use the Organization template to describe any group of characters that are united for any reason. Think magic covens, armies, assassins' guilds, and even a country!
Contents
What should I use this template for?
Organizations and factions are at the core of most worlds, so the Organization template can be used for many different things.
Also remember that many organizations can have organizations within them too! A religion may have multiple sects (such as the Knights Templar, part of the Christian religion), a government will have a variety of agencies (such as the MI6, CIA, or the Environmental Protection Agency), and a school might have student clubs and the teachers' assembly.
Here are some examples of what an Organization template could be used for!
Countries
The government of a country is an organization! For the land that the government controls, you would use the Geographic Location template. And for its citizens, you can use the Ethnicity template. But the government itself is a geopolitical organization with specific goals such as defending and caring for a place and its inhabitants.
Religions
Organized religions, like Christianity, Sikhism, or Game of Thrones' Faith of the Seven, are organizations. An organized religion is one that has an official doctrine, established ranks, and a clear rules for the proper way of performing its rituals. Note that many religions in our world are not organized (such as Shinto, some types of Buddhism, or Game of Thrones' Old Gods beliefs). For a non-organized religion, consider using the Tradition template instead.
Families
It's not always by choice, but a family is a group of people united by blood or an emotional bond... and some of them get very powerful! Think imperial dynasties, family mafias, or simply the families of your protagonists. In the real world, the House of Medici and the Kennedy Family have both been very influential.
Pantheons
Deities are often represented as having a personality and a name, so they are characters. Therefore, a group of deities is an organization... and one that's quite similar to a family! They are united because of who they are, not necessarily because of what they want. Many real-world religions have pantheons (like the Ancient Greek religion or Hinduism), and it's a common element of fictional religions too. Remember that a religion can have multiple pantheons (such as the Old Norse religion).
Companies & Guilds
These are the most obvious examples of an organization: groups of people united to provide a service or just make profit. They're still fun to write about though, as you can often use them for intrigue (secret guilds!) and even politics (megacorporations).
Schools
A school is also an organization, but it's a bit different than a company, because the "customers" (i.e. the students) are also part of the organization! You could even argue that the parents of the students are part of it, if they have a Parents' Association. For examples of schools, think of Nevermore Academy (Wednesday), Strixhaven (Dungeons & Dragons), or Starfleet Academy (Star Trek).
Special features for Organizations
The Organization template has a couple of special features:
Use Diplomacy Webs to visually and interactively display relationship levels between organizations.
Relationship Panels
You can also set up static diplomatic relation panels in the "Diplomacy" tab of the article editor.
These are a great way to keep track of allies, adversaries, and which corporation is about to stab another one in the back. They're great for political intrigue too; think Game of Thrones or The Expanse.
Template walkthrough
Organization is a very expansive template, but remember that all prompts are optional! In fact, because there are so many types of organization, some prompts might not be relevant to you. As always, there's a free-writing section at the top (which we call vignette) and the prompts are under the Expand prompts & connections button. In the Organization template, the prompts are organized into four tabs:
- Generic
Here's where you can find the general data about the organization. There's both quick data fields (such as the founding date or the leader) and long-form text fields (such as history and assets). Most fields here are relevant to most organizations. - Geopolitical
This tab is dedicated to countries or other geopolitical organizations (such as alliances, city-states, empires, or even megacorporations in a cyberpunk setting). You'll be able to go into detail about the inner workings of this kind of organization, such as its capital, its different powers, demography, and more. - Religious
These fields are dedicated to organized religions. Use them to write about its tenets of faith, mythology, ethics, the role of priests, and more. - Military
Finally, this tab is for specific military organizations, such as army-specific formations and battalions. Use the Military Formation template to write about "unit prototypes" (e.g. "Clone Commando" in Star Wars), and Organization to talk about specific instances of this prototype (e.g. "Clone Force 99" in Star Wars).
While there isn't a specific tab for Families, use the Family Leader field in the Generic tab to integrate this organization with family trees. If you select a character as the organization's Family Leader, that character's family tree will be embedded in the article's header.
Feature recommendations for organizations
Here are some ideas on how to use other features with organizations:
- Content Trees: With Content Trees, you can display a representation of the internal structure of an organization. Check the guide to Content Trees for more information.
- Maps: With polygonal markers, you can easily show the borders or area of influence of an organization. Check the guide to Maps for more information.
Step-by-step guide to writing an organization
With so much variety in the type of organizations you can write about, you might wonder where to start. Here's some steps you can follow!
- What's its purpose?
If an organization is a group united for a specific reason... well, what's that reason? This will usually be the organization's purpose. It could be financial gain (like corporations), altruistic goals (like charities), or a mix of both (like some governments or private schools). Consider your world's genre and themes to decide what the organization should be all about! - Who's in the organization?
An organization is nothing without its people, so this is the next step. What type of people would this organization attract? Consider their skills, values, and personalities. And who gains from or is impacted by its actions? Try creating a couple of actual characters at different levels in your organization (e.g. the guild master, an apprentice, and someone in the middle) to see how they would fit in the world! - Think about conflict!
Conflict makes everything more interesting. It can be external (i.e. the organization has a rival, competitor, or enemy), or internal (i.e. different members have different opinions about something). Think about how this conflict affects not only the organization itself, but also the world around it. How does the organization seek to solve this problem? Are they even aware of it? This will make your entire world feel more interconnected.
Need more pointers? Take a look at these guides:
Community examples for inspiration
Need some inspiration? Here are some organization articles written by our amazing community!
- Wyld Wytches, by Tillerz (witch coven)
- Hammerfalls, by RiverFang (military organization)
- The Bright Miners, by TJ Trewin (guild)
- Children, by Scalenex (religious organization)
- Incarnates of the New Age, by Polina "Line" Arteev (pantheon)
