There are a number of factions across Alver and Salver that operate outside of companies or Steel Cities.

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Before the Cataclysm there was a sailor's guild in the city of Drucult called the Goat and Salt. Members of the guild helped rebuild the city after the Cataclysm as the new Steel City of Beacon. Today, the guild is now a social club with branches all over Alver. Members meet in lodges to socialise and relax, and there are lodges in all the Steel Cities except Vulcania - where the dictator Lav Lancaster herself has banned the society.

Members of the club are called Salts, while lodge leaders are called Goats.

Across the wildlands of Alver and the wilderness of Salver those who make their livelihood through pillaging and murder are known as bandits; or as highwaymen, desperadoes, outlaws, pirates, or any other number of names. The line between survivalist and outlaw is blurry, considering the wildlands and wildernesses are lawless places, and many people straddle the line daily. Generally, bandits are just trying to survive, but have a violent and brutal outlook forged through hardship.

Travel and industry in the wildlands is severely hampered by the presence of bandits, and Steel Cities try to remove them from their surrounding lands. Though sometimes Steel Cities instead secretly patronise bandit gangs operating in rival lands in order to weaken them. This secret patronage is a major source of the firepower larger bandit groups have access to, and has even allowed some bandit gangs to form paramilitaries.

Though usually small and unruly, under a charismatic or powerful leader bandit gangs can sometimes grow into powerful forces that can destroy entire towns. Vulcania was founded by a bandit gang that managed to take over a town and develop it into a Steel City.

Even before the Cataclysm the area known as the Laina plains were home to clans of traditional steppe nomads who resisted the encroachment of civilisation. These nomad groups have expanded since the Cataclysm and continue to live in the plains. They occasionally organise into large war parties and raid settlements, and they are known to attack explorers, prospectors, and settlers who venture into the plains.

Bluebacks are the remains of the loyalist families and individuals from the former city of Namas, now a Necropol. They are a nomadic raider group that relies on guerilla tactics and banditry to control a vast area of desert territory between Modopolis, New Lange, and Utopia. The Bluebacks have the stated goal of rebuilding Namas city, and taking revenge on Harvest and Modopolis for destroying it.

Across the areas they patrol the Bluebacks are known as fierce and violent raiders, identified by their blue capes and shawls they wear.

An independent radio station operating from somewhere to the east of Utopia that broadcasts planet wide. The stations buys information and stories from journalists using a system of codes to avoid being traced and then broadcasts these secrets with no ads or interruptions.

No one is sure who is funding it.

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Historians have written about a mediaeval guild of assassins who wore black robes and crimson wax masks, and who were associated with various blood feuds in and around Restoria (now Cote Restoria) during the 200 Years' War.

Urban legends and some official reports suggest that the Conclave has continued their activities even through to the present day.

An extremely obscure religious or social cult with only a few hundred followers at any time, followers of Rahtism attempt to transform themselves into "Rahts" - transhumans who no longer age or require food or drink to survive.

Rahtism was apparently originally founded by mystic alchemists in ancient Hajiptus. Some ruined Raht monasteries have been identified in remote deserts or atop distant mountains. These monasteries are sometimes mistaken for Nalohmic temples. Raht monasteries were built in places with sunny skies.

Ancient and medieval texts often mention Rahtic wizards as figures of great wisdom and power, often as advisors to kings or mentors to heroes. After the renaissance references to Rahts become more and more scattered and dismissive. Old texts regularly mention Rahts who had lived for generations, while from the renaissance onwards the majority of documented Rahts are reported as not living more than a few years after transforming.

The process of becoming a Raht involves stange alchemical rituals and meditation, and requires years of work to achieve. Once transformed, a Raht no longer requires food or water, and no longer ages. However, Rahts require sunlight to live, and will die after a few days without sunlight. In addition, the Raht's physical sensations become more pronounced. Minor injuries cause extreme distress, and many Rahts become addicted to drugs or alcohol due to the hightened sensitivity they experience.

Because of weather variability and the frequency of debilitating addiction among Rahts, not many survive beyond a year or two after transforming. Despite this, the lure of eternal life means that there has always been a dedicated core of followers throughout history.