---
title: "Factions — The War"
description: "How the color war actually runs: the Marginalia around every Output, grip, holding and taking a Project, sieges, conquests, the Book of Conquests, and the pings and tape lines it sends."
category: "factions"
keywords: ["war", "marginalia", "hands", "relic", "crypt", "struck from the stone", "corners", "banner", "grip", "siege", "stronghold", "conquest", "book of conquests", "territory"]
last_updated: "2026-10-19"
---

# The War

Every Project is a piece of ground. The faction whose members hold its Outputs longest, with the most standing, leads it. Rivals can lay siege, and a siege that holds takes the ground. The war is worked out again every few minutes from what really happens on PD: who mints, buys, sells and holds.

**How:** Fly your Sigil in a color. The war shows on Output pages, the tape and the map while it flies.

Not in a faction yet? Start with [Raising your flag](/docs/factions#raising-your-flag).

```show glyphs
{
  "caption": "The war's glyphs. A faction itself never wears one: it's only ever its color.",
  "glyphs": [
    { "g": "⚐", "name": "Banner", "means": "A faction's flag: the WAR button, a conquest, the banner on a swept Output." },
    { "g": "▟", "name": "Corner", "means": "One fallen corner of an Output's Marginalia; held ground." },
    { "g": "▞", "name": "Siege", "means": "Ground under siege: two colors contesting one Project." },
    { "g": "≣", "name": "The Book of Conquests", "means": "The war's chronicle. Every line is dated and permanent." },
    { "g": "‡", "name": "Struck from the stone", "means": "A hand pushed out of a full margin, into the crypt." },
    { "g": "➹", "name": "Takeover", "means": "A live takeover on a Project. It shows on the map, but money never moves the war." }
  ]
}
```

## The Marginalia

Every Output carries a margin: the record, in order, of every wallet that ever held it. It's public. Anyone can open it, flag or not.

**How:** On an Output's page, triple-tap the art. Or open **+More › Market**, and tap the **▟ Marginalia** tile in Stats.

A frame binds around the art, and the hands sit around its border:

- **Each hand** is the wallet's face (its PriceSprite, or its [Sigil](/docs/factions/the-sigil) once forged) with its place in line, plus the price it paid when it bought. Tap a hand to open that profile. Your own hand wears a dotted ring.
- **A mint or a sale strikes deep**, in full ink. **A free transfer lands faint.** The difference is permanent.
- **Twelve places.** Empty ones show as dots. The line under the art reads `UNTOUCHED` (no hands yet), `7/12 HANDS`, or `RELIC · MARGIN FULL` once all twelve are taken.
- **The crypt.** When a thirteenth hand arrives, the oldest hand is **struck from the stone**: it leaves the border and is listed for good on the crypt line, `‡ THE CRYPT · @name`. The struck wallet gets a ping: `Stone: STRUCK — your mark on #12 was struck from the stone`.
- **One hand per wallet per Output, ever.** Buying the same Output back writes nothing new, so trading it back and forth gets nobody anywhere.
- The art itself is never touched; the frame sits around it. Close it with the ×, Esc, or the same triple tap. A single tap on the art still opens the artwork as usual.

**With your Sigil flying**, the frame also shows the war:

- **The four corners** fly the color of the faction leading this Output's Project, but only when the Output's owner is sworn to that faction. They fall one at a time: one for ground held, two once it's been held a week, three for a Stronghold, four when it was taken by conquest or the leader holds 85% or more of the grip.
- **All four fallen** and the Output flies one banner: `⚐ GOLD`.
- **The war line** under the art reads the ground: `HELD · GOLD`, `STRONGHOLD · GOLD`, or `▞ SIEGE · BLUE vs GOLD`.

**Holding or selling?** Holding builds your side's grip but writes no new history. Selling leaves your hand in the margin for good but gives up the ground. Every Output is one or the other.

## Grip

A faction's **grip** on a Project is what decides who leads it. For every sworn member holding Outputs there, it adds up:

- **Time** — the hours each Output has been held under the member's current oath (counted from the later of the oath or getting the Output). Time can't be bought or faked.
- **× Standing** — the member's [PriceRank](/docs/pricescore). A wallet with no PriceRank adds nothing, so a pile of fresh wallets adds nothing.
- **Bags count less as they grow.** A member's first five Outputs in a Project count in full; each one after that counts a little less. One big holder can't carry a Project alone. Factions win ground by recruiting.
- **A defector's new flag adds nothing for 30 days.**

## The states of ground

- **Held** — one faction leads the grip. The first lead on a Project happens quietly.
- **Stronghold** — the leader has 60% or more of all the grip there, and has led for a week.
- **Siege** — a rival's grip reaches 85% of the leader's. The siege opens the moment it does, in public: a line in the Book, and a ping to the defenders.
- **Conquest** — a rival that stays ahead with its siege open for **72 hours** takes the ground. Until then the old leader keeps it, so nothing is ever taken by surprise. If the rival falls back under the line first, the siege is repelled.

Sieges and conquests send a ping to the sworn members holding Outputs in that Project, worded like this (with the Project's name where `arcology` sits):

- To the defenders when a siege opens: `Siege: RAISED — your corner at arcology is under siege`
- To the defenders when it's beaten off: `Siege: REPELLED — arcology holds the line`
- To the winners of a conquest: `CONQUEST — your banner flies over arcology`

## The Book of Conquests

The Book is the war's chronicle: a dated line for every siege raised and repelled, every conquest, every Stronghold, every Relic sealed (a margin filled to twelve) and every hand struck from the stone. Nothing in it resets or expires.

**How:** Open a sworn profile's **+More › ※ Sigil** tab and scroll to **≣ The Book**. The newest lines also ride the tape.

**On the tape.** While your Sigil flies, lines from the last two days join the tape at the top of the app (up to six at a time), each in its faction's color:

```show glyphs
{
  "caption": "The tape's war lines. Each ends with the faction (where it has one) and the Project.",
  "glyphs": [
    { "g": "▞", "name": "Siege: RAISED", "means": "A rival opened a siege on a Project." },
    { "g": "▞", "name": "Siege: REPELLED", "means": "The leader held the line." },
    { "g": "⚐", "name": "CONQUEST", "means": "A siege held for 72 hours and the ground changed hands." },
    { "g": "▟", "name": "Stronghold: RAISED", "means": "A lead hardened into a Stronghold." },
    { "g": "‡", "name": "Stone: STRUCK", "means": "A thirteenth hand pushed the oldest into the crypt." },
    { "g": "≣", "name": "Relic: SEALED", "means": "An Output's margin filled to twelve." }
  ]
}
```

## The war on the map

[Cartography](/docs/cartography#the-war-layer) is the war map. While your Sigil flies it grows a **⚐ WAR** button: rings in the leading faction's color, striped rings where the ground is contested, heavier rings for Strongholds, a pulse on a live siege, ➹ before the name of a Project with a live takeover, and the war row that counts who leads how many territories.

## The rules, in short

1. Grip is time × standing. Standing is PriceRank, which free actions can't farm.
2. A wallet with no PriceRank weighs nothing, so extra wallets add nothing.
3. One hand per wallet per Output, ever. Trading back and forth writes nothing.
4. Defecting resets your time, adds nothing for 30 days, and stays on your record.
5. A siege is public the moment it opens and takes 72 hours to land.
6. Bags count less as they grow: breadth beats one big holder.
7. Sales strike deep; free transfers land faint.
8. Money never moves the war. Stickers, $PRICE and takeovers count for nothing in it.

## Further reading

- [Factions — Overview](/docs/factions): joining, the oath, defecting and leaving
- [The Sigil](/docs/factions/the-sigil): the mark, the Forge and the Sigil tab
- [Cartography](/docs/cartography): the living map and its war layer