In Emergent Stories, I wrote that various ‘major figures’ have purposes. This sounds like it means individual characters (‘figure’ in this context usually means a person), but it doesn’t have to.
A faction is a collection of people (characters or creatures, not necessarily humanoid) with a shared purpose. It seems a faction could well be the driver behind the various plots and situations in the setting.
In many ways, a faction can be even more useful than a single powerful figure. The PCs can run into Argomance the Vehement only so many times before it becomes a farce. PCs can run into agents, dupes, squads of hired blades, and champions of a faction many times without it becoming too monotonous. Each encounter can involve different NPCs, different scenarios, different goals of the NPCs, all without it being contrived.
Argomancer can evade death only so many times before it gets… awkward.
Factions also have the benefit of many bodies, which is to say they can be all over the place. Faction members can get into any kind of mischief involving the PCs, anywhere, any time.
Argomancer… not so much. If the PCs keep crossing paths with him, he loses a lot of mystery. And credibility. And intrigue.
Are factions better than individual powerful figures? I contend they are not better, but they are easier to work with from a scenario perspective.
Best, I think, is to have a mix. Have some major figures, much like 13th Age icons. For the most part they exist in the background, and are known prime directors behind events. Or perhaps only rumored. The PCs should only rarely encounter an icon or have direct interaction with their plots.
Instead, the icon is associated — positively, negatively, or mixed — with multiple factions. Some might be organizations the icon has developed to serve the icon’s interest. Some might be organizations spawned to contest the icon’s interest. Still others might be unreliable allies or looking for opportunities resulting from the icon’s activities.
And, of course, the factions can interact and interfere with each other, as well.
Within a faction, there can still be noteworthy members, who may well hold personal power. A particular faction might have an icon as its head, or maybe a faction’s leaders are ‘lesser icons’: important in their own area and interests, but not broadly noted. They might even be incredibly important in their home town and neighboring region, or incredibly important to those who hold a particular interest, but lack the ubiquitous influence of a true icon.
Lots of room to work with here. Icons, as major figures, make good figureheads (and targets) of factions, and can be the focus of many things that happen in a campaign. Factions are quite a bit easier for a GM to apply when devising a scenario, and can have a cast of recurring characters and a great variety in their cast.
I don’t believe ‘icons or factions’ is the way to go, I think ‘icons and factions’ gives me a lot more to work with.