Factions and how to prevent abuse

[Davin]

True, but I don't want the factions to be there simply to provide enemies.  And there needs to be enough players to support adding more factions.  Surely there's a way to work in competition/disagreements between the factions of some sort.  The religions could have faith-based disagreements and the families could argue with one another without turning into the Hatfields and McCoys.  Surely we've got some imaginative players that can come up with something.

If every faction doesn't have both pros and cons, and a good mix of friends and enemies, then game balance will suffer as clans flock to the more powerful or most likeable factions.