Advanced Setup and the Faction Draft

Advanced Setup is optional, but required if five or more factions would start in corners. Choose the map (on a variant map, place the 12 suit markers at random) and, if you like, the Exiles and Partisans deck. Each player draws 5 cards, keeps 3 and returns 2 face down to the deck before it is shuffled. Draft factions: one militant faction goes in a central pool, then deal shuffled factions face up, one per player plus one; a last-dealt insurgent stays locked until a militant one is chosen, and players choose counterclockwise starting from the last player.