True states of the Post-Apocalypse: The Great Clans are defined by their adaptability, social fervor, and endurance. At least half of the population in Post-Burnout America can trace their loyalty to one of the Great Clans. 

Except for the Blue Column, all of the Great Clans are derived from the political blocs that Tara Endell created during the Widow’s Passage. They each contain one clan that was the original recipient of an Agribine, political support from Tara and her following, and a first-generation Caller. These “seed-clans” used their technological advantage, clarity of political vision, and whatever social/supernatural appeal their Caller produced to annex or align with neighboring clusters of survivors. This process of expansion took place in the early ’30’s, and was mostly concluded by ’33. Seed-clans realized that competition with other groups that had been similarly assisted by Tara was inevitable— and that the first resource they would be competing for would be influence over other survivors. Leadership structures determined that it would be years before anyone developed the capacity for drawn-out warfare and thus the most effective way to claim territory would be to absorb as many communities, or “periphery-clans” as possible. 

Geography played a significant role in this early expansion process:

• Large distances between the seed-clan and the communities it reached typically meant that periphery clans would be without friendly contact for months at a time— leaving them vulnerable to attacks and offers from other seed-clans. 
• Close proximity between communities meant tighter bonds and a massively decreased likelihood that the periphery-clans would have interest in another patron. 

Naturally there were exceptions to this geographic “rule”: some seed-clans were in a populous area, consolidated those groups, and then went “imperial” by trying to annex more remote clans(often with disastrous results). Some seed-clans in the middle-of-nowhere used their isolation to become fully autonomous. A seed-clan’s actual “control” over other communities — or the amount of “Political Loyalty” that they had for the seed-clan— was considered in two dependencies:

• Industrial Dependency, making resource-flows function in a way that a periphery-clan cannot meet its resource-needs without the seed-clan’s involvement. 
• Social Dependency, Making a periphery-clan’s culture, belief systems, speech-patterns, clothing, cuisine, spiritual rituals, and all other non-industrial factors so close to the seed-clan’s that separation becomes unthinkable, as the clan would be unable to integrate into any other culture. 

Making their periphery-clans fully dependent in either category proved impossible for the seed-clans. Even though Callers were making distinct cultures for each seed-clan, it would be years before any of these efforts “sunk-in”. Realistically, true social dependency would only be achieved when the generation born after the Burnout came of age. The extreme resource scarcity made trading a necessity amongst clans and in turn created dependencies between seed-clans. Furthermore, this trading served as an assurance of peace. Near the end of the Hungry Years, it became clear that there were both periphery clans and other surviving groups that hadn’t been influenced enough by the seed-clans to align with a single patron. These groups typically depended on trade with multiple clans and also had clans that were dependent on them. They also had a second(or later)-generation Caller and their own culture. The largest of these groups became the Free-Clans while smaller groups were relegated to “backdrop factions”. 

The fundamental difference between a Great Clan and a City of the Guild is that the Clans view each other as rivals, not allies. In fact, Great Clans will only form alliances amongst themselves for a handful of reasons:

• Sieging a Dreadnaught. This requires the commitment of at least two siege companies, each of which is extremely loyal to their patron clan. 
• Rare economic opportunities
• Countering another Great Clan that is too powerful for any individual clan to attack. 
• Foreign Invasion. Leaders in The Great Clans, Guild, and even a few groups in the Swells have an unspoken agreement to form into a “continental-alliance” if they ever need to counter a sufficiently large “foreign threat” from continental America or either ocean. 

Great Clans have little formal communication between one another and they are constantly fighting between themselves over territory, resources, or control over valuable Free Clans. Their cultures are also woefully incompatible (and they tend to hate each other). This is not to say that they are not less organized or capable than the Guild. The leadership apparatus and bureaucracy of any Great Clan far exceeds that of an individual City. The Great Clans have simply realized that the most effective way to resist the Guild is to curate a system that is so chaotic that no one group can ever hope to control it.

Another nuance between Great Clan and City is in their relations with weaker allies. Lesser Clans, small clans that are dependent on a particular Great Clan for survival, are usually tied to their patron by either being extremely specialized (refining a certain chemical or training personnel), or holding valuable territories. These Lesser Clans are generally included in the Clan’s culture and have mild political influence. Cities often have small clans near them. Historically, these clans frequently raided the Cities for resources or assisted other groups in doing so. With the rise of the Guild, these clans agreed to assist their local City in its operations in exchange for a small cut of their trade. These Guild-friendly clans have no say in what their City does. They are treated as interchangeable, and often expendable, partners and often need to trade with other clans to meet their resource-needs. The Great Clans call these factions “Gilded Lap-dogs”. 

Great Clans are amalgamations of may Clans of various size, influence, and geographical domain. Although they all subscribe to their overarching identity as members of their patron Great Clan, they have minimal cooperation amongst themselves. Great Clans are prone to infighting. And when they engage in hostilities with another Great Clan, it is rarely a conflict between the entirety of both states. Aggraria does not declare war on Hellridge. One of Hellridge’s fleets expands their domain to the Northern border of an independent that is valuable to Aggraria, prompting one of their missions to retaliate, with support from some of the Great Clan’s specialist teams and so on. This is not the case with Cities of the Guild. These urban centers survived the Burnout through unity and consistency; nothing is changing that. Component parts of a City may engage in lesser struggles, but all decisions go through the high-command, not the whims of a lesser-clan’s warlord. Naturally, there is tension, misunderstanding, miscommunication, and general resentment between a City and the Guild itself, but no where near the complexity and frequency of what the Clans experience.