History Main / ImpartialPurposeDrivenFaction

* The eponymous warriors in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' have been created to fight the demonic yoma and are actually hybrids with human and yoma DNA. They are forbidden to get involved in human affairs and even wield their blades against baseline humans. [[TheHero Clare]]'s OriginsArc is rooted in this prohibition, since her mother-figure Theresa killed a bandit to protect Clare and was, in turn, slain by fellow Claymores for breaking the rule, motivating Clare to become a Claymore herself.

* The Jedi Order from ''Franchise/StarWars'' wants to be this, and sometimes manages it. Most ages of peace and prosperity occur when the Jedi are completely neutral, refusing to take political sides (usually acting as mediators in conflicts) except against any enemy using the Dark Side of the Force. However, they are often drawn into conflicts in both the movies and the EU. The movies present the worst case scenario so far; functional destruction of the Jedi Order. The EU, however, tends to do three things to them when they get involved in politics; massively knock down their numbers to a mere fraction of what they were, push them back to their positions of neutrality and semi-religious protection against the Dark Side, and then proceed to become very conservative, controlling as much of the order as possible. The last one is usually because their political meddling is a result of them giving a lot of freedom to their members; as opposed to the highly oppressed Jedi appearing in the movies, certain periods of republic history had active Jedi be land owners and even reigning monarchs, sometimes with families (usually justified as a political duty). There was, in fact, a 400 year period in which the leaders of the Republic (Supreme Chancellors) were all Jedi without exception.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: The Avengers start out as this and try their best to maintain it, having no political aspirations and no goals other than defending Earth from extraordinary threats. After a while, however, the realities of operating an international superhero team, a string of tragic incidents, an increase in government scrutiny, and personal issues within the group lead to the breakdown of their neutrality, culminating in the team [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar being fractured by internal political disputes]].

** The sworn brothers of the Night's Watch exist solely to defend the realms of men against the Others (and wildlings beyond the Wall, but they are secondary). This means that they-- officially at least-- leave all political ambition and allegiance behind and will take help from anyone they can. In practice, of course, this is more easily said than done, and stories and legends would indicate that this has been true for pretty much the Watch's entire history.

** The Iron Bank of Braavos, the most powerful banking institute of the known world. It will lend its money to anyone as long as they pay it back -- if a noble house doesn't pay their due, the bank will stop all transactions with said house, and pay another house to eliminate them. The Banks has a much more dreaded reputation, as [[MagnificentBastard Tywin Lannister]] dares not cross them. [[StupidEvil Cersei]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Lannister]] however was foolish enough to not pay the kingdoms dues: in response the Bank cancels all its deals with Westeros, plunging the realm in debt.
* The eponymous witchers in ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' series were invented to kill the monsters that invaded the world after the [[CataclysmBackstory Conjunction of the Spheres]]. Although they have no universal code of conduct, taking sides is bad for their business, so most avoid it. The entire Blood of the Elves saga spans from the fact that the witchers (Geralt in particular) get involved in the power-play around Cirilla.
* The History Monks of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' are mostly concerned with fixing/protecting time and space, as well as patching up {{Continuity Snarl}}s and do not interfere with business that doesn't concern time travel. In ''Discworld/NightWatch'', Lu-Tze is even called out by another monk for helping Vimes (though he got away with it), and in the only other book where they feature prominently, they avoid contact with any factions they aren't already fighting.
* The Silent Brothers and The Iron Sisters from ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments''. They don't take part in the disputes of the Clave and Downworlders, instead the former devoting their time to writing all of it down, with the latter residing in Idris and forging weapons.
* The Knights Radiant from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' were an order of knights and heroes whose only goal was defending the world against [[EldritchAbomination the Voidbringers]] that threaten the world during Desolations. They were neutral politically and quite good at staying neutral, until one day they inexplicably betrayed humanity, [[spoiler: corrupting their spren and indirectly creating more Voidbringers. Though it's eventually revealed to have been less "betrayal" and more giving up their oaths after learning a terrible secret, with disastrous and unforeseen consequences.]]
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": The Encyclopedia Foundation is said to be under the direct control of the [[GalacticSuperpower Imperial Emperor]]. Due to this, they begin as a strictly neutral organisation of [[TheWatcher archivists and historians]] whose sole purpose was to maintain the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'', a [[GreatBigBookOfEverything compendium of all human knowledge]]... or so their founder, [[TheChessmaster Hari Seldon]], ''claims''. When his pre-recorded [[DeadManWriting posthumous holographic message]] informs the Board of Trustees that said Encyclopedia was nothing but a convenient cover story and ultimately irrelevant to his [[LongGame long-term plans]], the members who hadn't seen this coming are (not unreasonably) quite upset.

* The Federation of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' are supposed to be this, but are such a large organization that they are forced to be active participants in galactic politics. The Prime Directive states that the Federation may not interfere with the internal affairs of non-Federation cultures, and that they may not make any form of contact with, or interfere with the development of, pre-Warp civilizations. However, individual Starfleet officers have broken, bent or re-interpreted this rule when they see fit.

** Starfleet are pretty inconsistent on this policy, as there is an undercurrent of pragmatism in its upper echelons, as well as highly compassionate and capable members being the norm.
* The British Civil Service is ''supposed'' to be this in ''Series/YesMinister'' (and in RealLife, in fact): A politically neutral, professional body that advises Parliament and the Cabinet with no agenda except keeping the day-to-day business of government ticking over. Unfortunately, this leads to many civil servants like [[THeHumphrey Sir Humphrey Appleby]] coming to believe that a Minister's job is to sign on the dotted line where he's told to and leave actually running the country to the professionals, a point of view that his Minister understandably takes a dim view of.
* On ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', the resident TimePolice (first the Time Masters, then a combination of the Legends and the Time Bureau) are supposed to protect history from being changed. That means they can't interfere in the politics of the times/places they travel to, since that would be changing history, and someone else would have to clean up the changes they made. But since the Legends, as their motto goes, "screw things up for the better", chaos is frequently left in their wake instead, resulting in more stuff to clean up.

* ''[=ComStar=]'' was ''intended'' to be this in the backstory of ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'', being responsible for keeping faster-than-light communication running through human space and otherwise intended to stay out of worldly politics. Of course, given that they now had monopoly on something as vital as communication between worlds, soon found themselves in sole possession of LostTechnology that was wiped from the rest of the Inner Sphere by the Succession Wars, and a CargoCult turning their purpose and advanced tech [[MachineWorship into a religion]], [=ComStar=] ended up becoming anything ''but'' impartial and began running much of human society from behind the shadows.
* In the third to fifth edition of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the [[RobotWar Necrons]] exist only to kill all organic life in the universe and never interact with them in any other way. One of the more hilarious moments in 40K canon happened when a Tau world was under attack by a [[BugWar Tyranid]] fleet. A Necron armada appeared and slaughtered the Tyranids, then made planetfall. The Tau sent a delegation to their saviors, ready to embrace them into the Greater Good. The Necrons slaughtered the delegation and the rest of the planet.

* The Keepers in the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series are hell-bent on recording history without interfering with it. Enter Garrett, a failed Keeper trainee with a knack for getting involved with history-changing events.

* In the world of ''VideoGame/StarCraft'', there's the Kel-Morian Combine. They remain neutral of the three major powers that war for the sector over the series, the Confederacy, the Dominion, and the United Earth Directorate, and occupy themselves only with living and expanding their mining operations. They went to war with the Confederates years ago, but signed a peace treaty and now operate independently of everyone. The reason is two-fold. On the one hand it'd just take too much time and resources to take over the Combine, and on the other hand, and more importantly, the Combine is ''very'' rich. They occupy some of the most valuable planets in the sector in terms of natural resources, so they stay out of wars by paying off the combatants to leave them alone.

* The Falenan Dragon Cavalry from ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' "only swears allegiance to rivers of Falena". They only ride out when when a foreign power invades and do not involve themselves with any internal conflicts. They stick to this policy when Civil War that breaks out between the Godwins and Loyalist Army (lead by [[PlayerCharacter Prince of Falena]]) [[spoiler:but this goes out the window when the Godwins make an alliance with an enemy nation, and take the Cavalry's Hatchery hostage. They side with the Prince for the rest of the war]].

* VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft has several factions that will gladly accept help from either the Alliance or the Horde, such as the [[ThePaladin Argent Crusade]], paladins who fight against evil forces such as [[TheUndead the Scourge]] or the [[LegionsOfHell Burning Legion]]; [[FriendToAllLivingThings the Cenarion Circle]], druids who work to protect and nurture life; or [[ElementsOfNature The Earthen Ring]], shaman who work to maintain the balance of the four elements.

* On ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', the resident TimePolice (first the Time Masters, then a combination of the Legends and the Time Bureau) are supposed to protect history from being changed. That means they can't interfere in the politics of the times/places they travel to, since that would be changing history, and someone else would have to clean up the changes they made.

** The Iron Bank of Braavos, the most powerful banking institute of the known world. It will lend its money to anyone as long as they pay it back, if a noble house doesn't pay their due, the bank will stop all transactions with said house, and pay another house to eliminate them. The Banks has a much more dreaded reputation, as [[MagnificentBastard Tywin Lannister]] dares not cross them. [[StupidEvil Cersei]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Lannister]] however was foolish enough to not pay the kingdoms dues, as such the Bank cancels all its deals with Westeros plunging the realm in debt.

* The title organisation from Isaac Asimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series started out as this, being a strictly neutral organisation of [[TheWatcher archivists and historians]] whose sole purpose was to maintain [[GreatBigBookOfEverything the Encyclopedia Galactica]], a compendium of all human knowledge... or so their founder [[TheChessmaster Hari Seldon]] ''claims''. When his pre-recorded posthumous holographic message informs the Foundation Council that said Encyclopedia was nothing but a convenient cover story and ultimately irrelevant to his long-term plans, the members who hadn't seen this coming are (not unreasonably) quite upset.

** The Cult of the Ancestor Moth is an Imperial cult based around divining the information contained within the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Elder Scrolls]], using a ritual known as the Ritual of the Ancestor Moth. Originally, this ritual was used for weaving "ancestor silks" from the silk of the ancestor moths, but at a time lost to history, it was discovered that this same ritual granted the performer special protections which allowed for the (relatively) safe reading of an Elder Scroll. The Cult has since shifted to their focus to the use and protection of the Scrolls themselves, though they have often been co-opted by the various Empires of Tamriel in order to perform this task specifically in service to the nation. Even before the first empire of Men, the [[AbusivePrecursors Ayleids]] used an order known as the "Moth-Eyed" for this purpose (and they were famously IgnoredExperts as the Ayleids fell). In the 4th Era, after the Elder Scrolls mysteriously vanished from the Imperial Library, the Moth Priests have taken to searching the far corners of Tamriel to find them, once again making them neutral of any particular nation.

* The Federation of ''StarTrek'' are supposed to be this, but are such a large organization that they are forced to be active participants in galactic politics. The Prime Directive states that the Federation may not interfere with the internal affairs of non-Federation cultures, and that they may not make any form of contact with, or interfere with the development of, pre-Warp civilizations. However, individual Starfleet officers have broken, bent or re-interpreted this rule when they see fit.

* The Greybeards in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' are an AncientTradition of monks who believe in enlightenment through mastering the dragon magic (thu'um). Because of that, they are above any and all power plays, despite every one of them being a PersonOfMassDestruction. This puts them in opposition to the Blades, the former PraetorianGuard of the Empire and an ancient order of dragon slayers, who believe that the Greybeards are wasting their abilities [[spoiler:and strongly dislike the fact that their leader is a dragon]]. The Greybeards aren't happy that one of their former students, Ulfric Stormcloak, used the Thu'um to kill the High King of Skyrim as the prelude to his rebellion.
** There are or have been plenty of other organisations in the setting who ''nominally'' were this (such as the chartered Guilds), though in practice few come as close as the Greybeards -- mostly because the Greybeards have a purpose that requires focusing on that purpose solely (whereas many other organisations allowed being involved with ''other'' organisations who weren't so impartial, meaning even if the organisation itself was impartial you couldn't rely on a member to be) ''and'' allows them to stay on a mountaintop rather than go out and interact with other groups.

[[folder: Live Action Television]]

** The eponymous organization of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' is supposed to be this as well. The newly-reformed Inquisition has no allegiances and is beholden to no authority except its own. Its only purpose is to restore order to Thedas in the wake of numerous different conflicts and disasters, repair an enormous breach in the Veil, and hunt down those responsible, by any means necessary. In practice, this is easier said than done, especially given the Mage-Templar War is raging at the same time. The Inquisition ends up unwillingly tangled up in a fair amount of political struggles and it’s up to you to decide if the Inquisition enforces it’s neutrality or starts actively picking sides. By the time of ''Trespasser'', Solas warns the Inquisitor that the group will eventually start losing their neutrality whether they like it or not; like any sufficiently large organization, they’ll inevitably have to deal with corruption, unprofessional conduct, and unwanted political scrutiny. [[spoiler:You’re given [[SadisticChoice the choice]] to either disband the Inquisition and allow it to die with it’s integrity intact (but making the coming battle against [[BigBad Solas/Fen’Harel]] more difficult), or keeping it active to defend Thedas (but potentially allowing it to grow bloated and corrupt).]]

** The eponymous organization of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' is supposed to be this as well. The newly-reformed Inquisition has no allegiances and is beholden to no authority except its own. Its only purpose is to restore order to Thedas in the wake of numerous different conflicts and disasters, repair an enormous breach in the Veil, and hunt down those responsible, by any means necessary.

* The titular organisation from Isaac Asimov's ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series started out as this, being a strictly neutral organisation of [[TheWatcher archivists and historians]] whose sole purpose was to maintain [[GreatBigBookOfEverything the Encyclopedia Galactica]], a compendium of all human knowledge... or so their founder [[TheChessmaster Hari Seldon]] ''claims''. When his pre-recorded posthumous holographic message informs the Foundation Council that said Encyclopedia was nothing but a convenient cover story and ultimately irrelevant to his long-term plans, the members who hadn't seen this coming are (not unreasonably) quite upset.

* In the world of ''Franchise/{{Starcraft}}'', there's the Kel-Morian Combine. They remain neutral of the three major powers that war for the sector over the series, the Confederacy, the Dominion, and the United Earth Directorate, and occupy themselves only with living and expanding their mining operations. They went to war with the Confederates years ago, but signed a peace treaty and now operate independently of everyone. The reason is two-fold. On the one hand it'd just take too much time and resources to take over the Combine, and on the other hand, and more importantly, the Combine is ''very'' rich. They occupy some of the most valuable planets in the sector in terms of natural resources, so they stay out of wars by paying off the combatants to leave them alone.

** The Grey Wardens were created to fight the Darkspawn and don't take sides otherwise, e.g. in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', a group of Wardens refuses to get involved even as Kirkwall is being torched [[spoiler:by the Qunari]]. The reason for that can be seen in the Soldier's Peak storyline, which reveals that the Wardens were banished from Ferelden for involving themselves in dynastic struggles and left the country unprotected in the face of a Darkspawn invasion. This also forms part of the conflict in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', where Teyrn Loghain refuses to let the Orlesian chapter of Grey Wardens into Ferelden to aid against the Blight because he has grown paranoid over the years, constantly expecting Orlais to try to re-conquer Ferelden.

* The eponymous witchers in ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' series were invented to kill the monsters that invaded the world after the [[CataclysmBackstory Conjunction of the Spheres]]. Although they have no universal code of conduct, taking sides is bad for their business, so most avoid it. The entire Blood of the Elves saga spans from the fact that the witchers (Geralt in particular) get involved in the power-play around [[MacGuffinGirl Cirilla]].

* The Falenan Dragon Cavalry from ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' "only swears allegiance to rivers of Falena". They only ride out when when a foreign power invades and do not involve themselves with any internal conflicts. They stick to this policy when Civil War that breaks out between the Godwins and Loyalist Army (lead by [[PlayerCharacter Prince of Falena]]) [[spoiler:but this goes out the window when the Godwins make an alliance with an enemy nation, and take the Cavalry's Hatchery hostage. They side with the Prince for the rest of the war]].

* The Falenan Dragon Cavalry from SuikodenV "only swears allegiance to rivers of Falena"; They only ride out when when a foreign power invades and do not involve themselves with any internal conflicts. They stick to this policy when Civil War that breaks out between the Godwins and Loyalist Army (lead by [[PlayerCharacter Prince of Falena]]) [[spoiler: but this goes out the window when the Godwins make an alliance with an enemy nation, and take the Cavalry's Hatchery hostage. They side with the Prince for the rest of the war.]]

** The Iron Bank of Braavos, the most powerful banking institute of the known world. It will lend its money to anyone as long as they pay it back, if a noble house doesn't pay their due, the bank will stop all transactions with said house, and pay another house to get eliminate of them. The Banks has a much more dreaded reputation, as [[MagnificentBastard Tywin Lannister]] dares not cross them. [[StupidEvil Cersei]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Lannister]] however was foolish enough to not pay the kingdoms dues, as such the Bank cancels all its deals with Westeros plunging the realm in debt.

Said neutrality often doesn't sit well with other factions' leaders, who will try to put "nobody's" resources to their own use (''especially'' if its members are trained in some SecretArt). The {{Conflict}} commonly arises when members of the organization are manipulated or forced into breaking their neutrality, which ultimately leads to its downfall. Such conflict may be a sign that [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent their purpose is no longer taken seriously]].

* In the third to fifth edition of ''Warhammer40K'', the [[RobotWar Necrons]] exist only to kill all organic life in the universe and never interact with them in any other way. One of the more hilarious moments in 40K canon happened when a Tau world was under attack by a [[BugWar Tyranid]] fleet. A Necron armada appeared and slaughtered the Tyranids, then made planetfall. The Tau sent a delegation to their saviors, ready to embrace them into the Greater Good. The Necrons slaughtered the delegation and the rest of the planet.

** The Grey Wardens were created to fight the Darkspawn and don't take sides otherwise, e.g. in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', a group of Wardens refuses to get involved even as Kirkwall is being torched [[spoiler:by the Qunari]]. The reason for that can be seen in the Soldier's Peak storyline, which reveals that the Wardens were banished from Ferelden for involving themselves in dynastic struggles and left the country unprotected in the face of a Darkspawn invasion. This forms also part of the conflict in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', where Teyrn Loghain refuses to let the Orlesian chapter of Grey Wardens into Ferelden to aid against the Blight because he has grown paranoid over the years, constantly expecting Orlais to try to re-conquer Ferelden.

* The Grey Wardens in the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series were produced to fight the Darkspawn and don't take sides otherwise, e.g. in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', a group of Wardens refuses to get involved even as Kirkwall is being torched [[spoiler:by the Qunari]]. The reason for that can be seen in the Soldier's Peak storyline, which reveals that the Wardens were banished from Ferelden for involving themselves in dynastic struggles and left the country unprotected in the face of a Darkspawn invasion.

** This forms part of the conflict in the first game, where Teyrn Loghain refuses to let the Orlesian chapter of Grey Wardens into Ferelden to aid against the Blight because he has grown paranoid over the years, constantly expecting Orlais to try to re-conquer Ferelden.