Green Pass Campaign: Factions

At this point there have been enough encounters and clues that it's getting a little hard to keep track of which organizations are active in the area. Here's a brief overview of the factions and their allegiances:

Durnovaric Expeditionary Force
Durnovar is the most powerful lawful civilization in the region. The expeditionary forces base out of Centerpost. They control both Footman's Notch (the strategically important gate at the high point of Green Pass) and Balewood Keep (the center of military operations on the dangerous east side of the mountains). Their local forces are substantially depleted and scattered after the defeat outside Umeskelion, putting them on the defensive, unable to properly guard trade caravans or patrol against invaders.

Orcs

Quite of few of these cruel beastmen were found lurking in the caverns a few months back, and put to flight. One of their communications was intercepted. They seem to be the advance scouts of some kind of invading army under a commander named Kormoc, with ambitions to capture the gates and invade into the west to pillage and plunder. They are slavers, and tend to seize captives alive. They dislike the acolytes of Orcus. At least one message in orcish has been recovered from a bandit group. Maybe they have some kind of alliance.

Goblins/Hobgoblins
They hate the orcs, but oddly were found living right next door to them. Since they drove off the last assault into their territory, they've probably had plenty of time to regroup and reinforce.

Lizardmen
A handful of these live in the swamp. They dislike all outsiders and regard the region as their own turf.

Bandits and Brigands
There are a few of these around, but there's no reason to assume they are working together. The party has put a significant dent in the operations of at least one of their camps, but clearly they are being sponsored by some external organization. They regard the tombs as haunted, but are driven to raid them by greed and the shortage of caravan traffic. A note recovered from one of their camps mentions cursed tablets that doom whoever reads them.

Necromancers
These haven't been encountered yet, but have been mentioned in rumors and on the treasure map. They function as an underground cabal and serve under the banner of a demigod named Sutekh (modeled after the Egyptian god of violence and disorder). Most of their leaders are arcane magic-users. They are infiltrating all sorts of locations and seizing victims for their unnatural experimentation with creating new golems and undead. Rumor also has it they might be allied with some tribe of bugbears. According to the bishop at Centerpost, they would be unlikely to be in an alliance with anyone loyal to a different death god.

Acolytes of Orcus
They are a rival cult mentioned in rumors, serving the demon prince of the undead, Orcus. (This borrows the name of the Etruscan god of the dead, but here re-envisioned as a wicked demon lord with a long legacy of archvillainy in every edition of D&D dating back to the 70s). The acolytes are supposedly trying to summon a balrog (or balor, or Type VI demon, or whatever the kids are calling them these days). They are chaos priests who raise undead, and also hire troll goons for extra muscle. Rumor has it that they've engineered new types of undead with fire resistance, compensating for a standard vulnerability that heroes in the past have been able to exploit. There's no indication of where they might be operating, or what their agenda might be.

Nergal
A mostly forgotten death god of the ancient Thulian civilization that once ruled Umeskelion in the distant past and left behind the barrows and catacombs. (His name is borrowed from the ancient Mesopotamian god of the underworld.) The art in the barrows seems to depict and celebrate his worship. Probably doesn't have any living followers, although the treasure map mentions something about "Chosen of Nergal" and "twisted servants"...