The Colonists:
Space-age colonists from Earth, whose spaceship was disabled and lost upon arrival. The default player faction. There is a choice of landing sites allowing the player to choose where they will start in the world and which factions they will have first contact with. The colonists will be separated and other landing sites can be contacted later.
Quests:
Basic defence and survival tasks.
Colonist units:
Mainly militia with an assortment of engineering tools as weapons, and parts of spacesuits as protection. Also a handful of full powered armour troops and hovertanks.
Colonist Specials:
A handful of large powerful robots roughly equivalent to the Mecha and supernatural giant creatures of Gaia's factions.
The Fracture:
Spiritual beings who wish to end suffering by removing all sentient life from the physical dimension. They see themselves as saviours. They cannot remain long in the physical world, and rely on undead and possessed minions to carry out their wars of annihilation. The souls of defeated enemies are captured and forced to serve a hundred-year term as undead soldiers. This is their 'duty' to other physical life, before they are allowed to pass on to the spirit world. The Fracture were accidentally summoned by the old Atlanteans (who they destroyed) and now have fortified portals all over the world. They are now seeking to gather ancient artefacts in order to build an energy weapon which will finally wipe out all sentient life on the planet, and possibly all other life too. In the meantime they are continuing to wage war against all other factions.
Quests:
*The first aim of the game is to survive and escape back to Terra. It is not essential to stop the Fracture, but it leads to the games 'good' endings. If enough battles are won against them, or enough of certain items are acquired, then their main portal-fortress becomes vulnerable to attack, and the super-weapon can be destroyed after a tough battle. Several allied armies will probably be needed to break through the defence.
*Being defeated by Facture forces results in your soul being captured. It is possible to break out of this with enough magic power/protection. Your spirit form can fight its way back to the physical world where you will emerge as a half-undead version of your former self.
Fracture units:
Hordes of skeletal undead soldiers, armed with a variety of armour and weapons. They are hard to destroy, but they are not mindless zombies. Many have the minds of elite warriors. Some souls are not in skeletons but are used to animate various war machines. There are also many possessed units originally belonging to other factions. All these are accompanied by energy blobs and all kinds of strange spiritual creatures.
Fracture specials:
The Fracture beings first appear as great whirlpools of blazing energy. They can then morph into various grotesque forms with a fluid magma-like texture. They have all kinds of powerful magic and melee attacks. They cannot manifest for very long unless near one of their portals. They can possess their enemies, or steal their abilities, or create temporary mirror-image clones which fight against them.
Wildmen:
A group of so-called barbarian cultures. A mix of ancient british, gallic, germanic, slavic and scandinavian.
Quests:
* Many old magic sites and stone circles have become corrupted. Cleansing them of evil will reduce the number of enemy creatures appearing in the land and increase your standing with the Wildmen.
* Find the correct spells to awaken dormant magic items and artefacts.
* Challenge elite warriors to battle, in order to increase your rank with the Wildemen.
* Locate long-lost settlements and rare tribes of Wildmen with special knowledge/abilities.
* Defeat powerful supernatural creatures to gain special relics and items. These items can be kept for your own use or can be handed back to their rightful owners throughout the world.
* Defeat possessed warlords and their warbands to turn more of the Wildmen against the Fracture.
Wildmen units:
Masses of un-armoured (naked!) infanty, armed with enhanced melee weapons, protected by tech shields or magic shields / runes. Various kinds of beast-men: werewolves, werebears, werestags, centaurs, hawkmen, snakemen, boarmen, waspmen, etc etc. Druids have powerful offensive and defensive magic.
Wildmen Specials:
Elite warriors can morph into giants with very strong melee attacks and supernatural powers. Other elites have Mecha-like suits, powered entirely by magic, often in the form of various creatures instead of humanoid shape. There are also gigantic supernatural creatures which may become uncontrollable once summoned. Giant stone monoliths have been made to levitate by Druid's magic, and some have been built into flying fortresses.
The Kingdoms:
A group of medieval-style kingdoms, with split loyalties, complex intrigues going on between the royal houses, etc. They are mainly based on central european culture, but some have hints of arabic, viking and ancient greek.
Quests:
* Retrieve treasures and captives stolen by the Wildmen, and take part in Mecha-jousts and deuls to win money, experience, and reputation... that is if you don't get killed. Eventually it is possible to be granted the rank of 'Knight' with many benefits.
* Collect certain rare materials so that Forgesmiths can create special weapons and Mecha for you.
* Gamble for money in taverns and even royal palaces.
* Assassinate certain Kings and nobles to gain money, and the favour of certain kingdoms, though others will be very hostile to you. This will keep the Kingdoms divided, and will hurt your reputation.
* Uncover conspiracies and defeat assassins to gain the favour of certain kingdoms. This leads to a war between kingdoms and makes some hostile to you. If you help your friends to win the war, the Kingdoms will be united, and will stand against the Fracture.
Kingdom units:
Various foot soldiers with all kinds of weapons. Some have tech powered-armour in the style of medieval armour suits. And some of them are elite knights who ride Mecha horses or armoured supernatural horses. Paladins (war priests) handle the magic side of things.
Kingdom Specials:
Medium-sized Mecha armed with power swords or a variety of devestating close combat weapons. Giant Mecha Dragons. Huge siege engines.
Empire:
Based roughly on the roman empire. It is potentially very powerful, but is crippled by corruption and in-fighting.
Quests:
* Protect the corrupt emperor from assassins and put down slave revolts to gain his favour.
* Escort traders over land and sea, protecting them from supernatural attackers.
* Help slaves escape the empire, to gain friends and allies, but make yourself an enemy of the corrupt emperor.
* Help overthrow the emperor (a long and difficult quest, involving a big civil war) to reunite the empire under wise leadership, so it will be willing to fight the Fracture. You will also gain high status in the empire and command of some of its soldiers.
* Fighting gladiators in the arena offers a way out if you are defeated in these various quests.
Empire units:
Armoured soldiers with large tech-shields, especially good against ranged attack. Some have tech powered-armour in the style of ancient armour. Wildmen and supernatural beasts fight as mercenary units. Imperial priests can limit the power of enemy magic and supernatural creatures.
Empire Specials:
Centurions and Imperial Guard pilot medium-sized Mecha, armed with a good mix of ranged and close combat weapons. Other elite troops have Mecha with gladiator-style armour and fight in close combat. There are also huge siege catapults and giant tracked Mechas in the form of siege towers. And huge siege juggernauts dominate the seas.
Kaliphate:
A large empire equal in size to the other 'Empire', but not equal in population (mostly arid land). A mixutre of arabic, ottoman, persian, indian and ancient egyptian culture.
Quests:
* Gambling, trading, exploring old ruins, gathering artefacts, escorting traders and wiping out centres of evil supernatural forces.
* The Kaliphate seeks to invade the Empire. The player can choose to aid or sabotage this effort.
* The Kaliphate's rulers have some of the most precious artefacts from old Atlantis and the oriental empires. These can be protected from falling into the hands of the Fraction, or stolen for the player's own use.
Kaliphate units:
A variety of lightly-armoured warriors with various weapons, protected and inspired by holy warrior priests. Other warriors riding camels, horses, and elephants. Fanatics with powerful energy melee weapons but no armour. And swarms of large killer beetles.
Kaliphate Specials:
Elite armoured soldiers riding huge Mecha elephants and scorpions. Also large supernatural elephants, scorpions, vultures and serpents. Powerful humanoid Mecha with ornate arabic/indian style armour design. Siege engines with unique chemical and magical weapons. A handful of Sandships based on reverse-engineered Atlantean flying craft, armed with beam weapons.
Bahaus:
Renaissance/early industrial style european. A small state with big ambitions. Turning their back on the magic side of things, they focus on the purely mechanical. Some say they have already been corrupted by the Fracture, and are building flying airship fortresses to attack the Koryo flying mountain states...
Quests:
* Helping the Bahaus master forgers to acquire certain special materials and artefacts to build new war machines.
* Assassinating rebel anti-mech leaders to gain favour with the leadership.
* Working with the rebels to gain them as allies, and weaken Bahaus's ties with the Fracture.
* Stealing powerful new war machines from the Bahaus forgeworks.
Bahaus units:
Renaissance pikemen, halberdiers and musketeers with mechanised armour suits. Many small steam-powered vehicles and walkers. Small clumsy airships. Elite troops in the style of ww1 german stormtroopers, except with heavy armour. Elite forgesmiths use strange energy devices in battle to disrupt enemy tech, with less effect on magic.
Bahaus specials:
Large steam-powered Mecha and tracked vehicles, a mixture of renaissance and ww1 style. They have the best firepower in the game. Also large airships and even flying ironclads.
Koryo:
The empires of the far orient were the most powerful in the world, and were the first to be targeted by the Fracture after the fall of Atlantis. The survivors escaped on magical flying mountain-sized rocks, on which japanese-style fortresses and cities have been built. The flying mountains travel the world map and have no fixed position. They can only be reached by flying or teleporting.
Quests:
* Return sacred artefacts, protect against attacks by evil supernatural dragons
* Defeat elite warriors in single melee combat to convince them to join you
* Defeat elite Koryo mecha that are possessed by the Fraction (very difficult) to gain lots of benefits.
Koryo units:
Oriental armoured soldiers protected by a mixture of magic and tech. Elite ninja-style soldiers can either be invisible or can fly in various ways. Monks have powerful defensive and disruptive magic. Small elegant flying machines also use a mixture of magic and tech to fly.
Koryo Specials:
Overall, they have the most powerful Mecha in the game - they transform from Samurai style humanoids to flying Oriental dragons, and both modes have powerful attack combos. There is also a variety of powerful artillery weapons defending their fortifications. They also have large oriental-style sailing ships, which fly.
United Colonies:
A union of small but ambitious cities on the coast of the western continent, founded by settlers from the Kingdoms. A mixture of native american and early colonial european culture.
Quests:
Artefact gathering, winning trust of native tribes, locating lost colonists and defending vulnerable outposts against the Confederacy, rescuing slaves from Confederacy, protecting ships from Confederacy pirates.
UC units:
Ranger-type light infantry, with stealth and healing abilities, and good mix of weapons. Native warriors protected by magic artefacts. Light cavalry also protected by magic and tech. Heavy musketeers have a mix of napoleonic-era style uniform with some renaissance style armour. Native shamans have powerful defensive magic.
UC specials:
Large supernatural eagles and bigfoot-type creatures summoned by natives. Large ships-of-the-line with magic/tech artefacts onboard. Balloons equipped with magic artefacts and weapons. A handful of old rusted sword Mecha from the Kingdom, some rebuilt with the help of native magic to resemble something like a totem-pole.
Confederacy:
Began as a rebellion from the United Colonies. They use mass slave labour (mainly natives) and have purchased deadly technology from Bahaus.
Quests:
The confederacy will want to return runaway slaves to their masters, wage war against the United Colonies and Zlan, and capture native artefacts and destroy native shrines. You can choose to aid or sabotage these efforts.
Confederacy Units:
Stealthy militia armed with powerful firearms. Light Cavalry in the american civil war style, armed with powerful energy pistols and swords, protected by magic runes, some ride hovering mecha horses. Small steam-powered walkers and mobile cannons.
Confederacy Specials:
Large steam-powered tanks and walkers on land. Heavy cannon artillery. Ironclads and submarines in the seas and airships in the skies.
Zlan:
Mutated descendents of atlantis. Militaristic Aztec/Mayan/Incan culture.
Quests:
Artefact gathering, reactivating ancient magic sites (stepped pyramids) for use against the Fracture and cleansing them of evil control, rescuing slaves from Confederacy, defeating possessed warlords to turn the Zlan against the Fracture.
Zlan Units:
Masses of Frogmen, Snakemen, Lizardmen, Fishmen, Crabmen, Batmen, Dinosaur-men... All have some magic and tech (including beam rifles!), and can regenerate health. Some have special poison attacks. Some have wings to enable flight. Elite troops ride on triceratops and T-rex style dinosaurs, or medium-sized flying dinosaurs. Zlan shamans have powerful offensive magic and can shape-shift into various beast forms.
Zlan specials:
Large sophisticated Mecha in the shape of various dinosaurs and serpents. Large Atlantean flying craft with heavy beam-cannons - these can also travel underwater. Super-heavy beam weapons mounted ontop of pyramids. All of these are powered by special crystals. Also huge supernatural reptiles, snakes, and dinosaurs can be summoned.
Guardians:
Descendents of the mechanical/magic slave beings of atlantis. They keep many secrets. They often appear to be evil to outsiders, but they really have no intention to cause harm, and are not part of the Fraction. They are just completely uncompromising and pitiless. All their equipment and artefacts are crystalline in shape and almost totally black, except for glowing blue, red and purple joints. They have fortified temples dotted all over the world.
Quests:
It is possible to be granted knowledge and special artefacts if you prove your worth in various ways. Alternatively you can take these things by force, but that is very difficult. It is also rarely possible to recruit the powerful Guardian units as allies.
Guardian Units:
Black guard - soldiers with heavy crystalline armour, power swords and energy-wips. They can hover, teleport, cloak, and can take a large amount of damage. Black mages - can remove the magic power of almost any opponent, and their energy attacks can cripple mechanical devices. They often take the form of glowing, floating crystals surrounded by black shards, but can morph into various other forms for melee attack.
Guardian Specials:
The Sky, Earth, Fire, Water and Metal Guardians. Each are large mecha war machines with different abilities and modes. The most powerful units in the game and practically indestructible. But away from their temple fortresses, they can only fight a short while before running out of energy.
Call it as you wish!
. I might make a NES of this someday 
