History Main / RenegadeSplinterFaction

There are two common ways of applying this trope:
# The Doylist Angle: The writer doesn't want to paint some organization, nation or religion black. It may be a real-world institution, or an institution from this fictional world which was previously described as at least semi-decent. But the author still wants villains belonging to it, so they invent a renegade group.

# The Watsonian Angle: A faction that operates without authorization, and their methodology differs from the main body. Often they are extremists: escalating a conflict, willing to break the rules, far more infamous than their mother alignment - but this isn't always the case.

* ''Blown Away'' takes great pains to emphasize that the villain was ''definitely not'' in the IRA, because he was "too crazy for them." (Oddly, the film is less reticent about claiming that he did freelance work for the Red Brigades and the Libyan government. Maybe the IRA just had a better P.R. department than they did?)

* Islamic extremism in RealLife. Islam as such ''does not'' command anyone to drop planes on trade centers.

* ''Anime/GundamSeed'' has two major samples:

** In one second-season episode the SGC encounters a species of aliens called the Reetou who exist out-of-phase from the rest of the universe (read: they're invisible), and were mostly exterminated by the Goa'uld because proximity gives the snakes headaches. One faction of Reetou decided to exterminate the Goa'uld, and that the best way to do it was a scorched-Earth (pardon the pun) policy against humanity. The Reetou Central Authority found this reprehensible and sent an agent to Earth to warn the SGC.

Note that it doesn't apply to out and out turncoats: the faction must still keep the general ideas of the original; only with less benevolent policies. If the factions are religious in nature, related to TheHeretic. Can result in EnemyCivilWar. RenegadeRussian is a common nation-specific subtrope, since Russians and Soviets get this treatment especially often. If the original organization was bad-ish, but not bad enough, this may result in TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil.

* The crew of the ''Narada'' in the 2009 ''Film/StarTrek''. When Captain Pike confronts the ''Narada'', he states that the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire are not at war with each other. However, Nero replies that his crew do not represent the Empire, as they "stand apart".
** That's because, in Nero's time, there isn't much left of the Romulan Star Empire, as Romulus and Remus were wiped out by a supernova. Sure, there are other worlds in the Empire, but empires tend to fall when their capitals (and the entire leadership) are destroyed (this is proven true in ''StarTrekOnline'', where the Klingon have taken Romulan territory for themselves). The Romulan Star Empire in ''this'' timeline is not Nero's.

* The Second Imperium, the Imperial faction from the ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|ExpandedUniverse}}: YoungJediKnights'' book series was retconned to be one of these, because another series, ''HandOfThrawn'', established that a peace treaty was brokered between the Republic and the mainstream Imperial Remnant under the leadership of the relatively nice mustachioed Admiral Gilad Pellaeon.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Section 31 of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is this for The Federation. A covert and officially nonexistent group, the Section deals with any threats to the Federation, even if it has to violate it's principles.

* Another ''Franchise/StarTrek'' example is the Maquis - a paramilitary group that oppose the Cardassians. Originally consisting former Federation citizens, the group also had Starfleet officers aiding them illegally.
* The rogue NID of ''Series/StargateSG1'' was this for Earth. While the regular NID was rather shady, the renegade group outright criminal.
** Eventually, the rogue NID finally splintered off into The Trust once their wealthy backers were arrested. Freed from any government restrictions, The Trust was even more violent - conducting chemical attacks and assassination. [[spoiler:When their operatives were driven away from Earth by the SGC, the group managed to get themselves captured and implanted with Goa'uld. Ironically, Ba'al and Athena ended up in charge of The Trust, and headed several major corporations.]]

* ''{{Andromeda}}'' has the Knights of Genetic Purity, who utilize highly-advanced technology to hunt down and eliminate any genetically-engineered humans, particularly Nietzscheans, whom they blame (rightly) for the fall of the Commonwealth. While they're too weak to take on the major Nietzschean prides like the Drago-Kazov and the Sabra-Jaguar, they have no problems with going after the lesser ones. Then it's revealed that the Genites (as they're known) are a splinter group of the [[spoiler:Templars, founded by Admiral Constanza Stark, Dylan's former superior]]. While the [[spoiler:Templars]] mainly focus on secretly helping rebuild the Commonwealth, they also plan to destroy the Nietzscheans. The Genites simply take it one step further and go after all genetically-engineered people (Dylan himself is half-HeavyWorlder). It's also clear that the Genites are ''much'' better equipped than their parent organization.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' reveals that the geth you spent most of [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]] fighting [[spoiler:are in fact a splinter faction considered heretics by the mainstream geth population, who call themselves the True Geth. The True Geth believe that they and all other creatures should be free to choose their own fates, whereas the heretics serve and obey the Reapers.]]

* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberium'' series, The Brotherhood of Nod has a chronic issue with these. Various factions of the Brotherhood end up fighting with each other for power; Kane is the only one to really unite them all. Here are a few notable examples:

** [=GDI=] tends to be a rather stable bunch, but in ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianTwilight Tiberian Twilight]]'' one GDI army goes rouge over the alliance with Kane, which leads to infighting within the organization.

* After the Covenant disbanded after their defeat in ''{{VideoGame/Halo 3}}'', the Sangheili who did not ally with humanity broke away to form their own Covenant remnant, which are fought by Master Chief in ''{{VideoGame/Halo 4}}''. [[WordOfDante They are unofficially called]] "the Storm".

* The human-supremacist terrorist organization Cerberus in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series started out as the black-ops division of the Human Systems Alliance.

* An episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' features a group called the "MAH" (Military At Home), who believe that America should focus on fighting crime and social problems, instead of policing the world. A group of MAH decides to take it a step further, plotting to destroy [[spoiler: a communications tower to make a point, with no intention of harming anyone.]] However, [[spoiler: the renegade group also had a splinter group who decide to attack people as well]].

* The crew of the ''Narada'' in the 2009 ''Film/StarTrek''. When Captain Pike confronts the ''Narada'', he states that the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire are not at war with each other. However, Nero replies that his crew do not represent the Empire, as they "stand apart".

* Section 31 of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' is this for The Federation. A covert and officially nonexistent group, the Section deals with any threats to the Federation, even if it has to violate it's principles.

* The [[ChurchMilitant Word of Blake]] in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', which broke off from [=ComStar=]. When the mother organization reformed to lessen focus on it's mystical aspects, the conservatives broke off. The Word eventually started an all-out war that affected in entire Inner Sphere.

* The Suliban Cabal in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', a terrorist faction that seeks to alter the timeline. Because of the [[PlanetOfHats tendency to lump the same species into one group]], many assumed all Suliban were bad. It turns out the Cabal is just a renegade group.

* In MarvelComics, {{Comicbook/Hydra}} has had several splinter groups: AIM, the Hand, and the Secret Empire among others.

* In ''StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', the Klingon Ambassador tries painting Captain Kirk as a "renegade and terrorist" due to the events of the previous film. The likely reason why the Ambassador doesn't claim the entire Federation is on a conspiracy to "annihilate the Klingon species" is political tact.

* Another ''StarTrek'' example is the Maquis - a paramilitary group that oppose the Cardassians. Originally consisting former Federation citizens, the group also had Starfleet officers aiding them illegally.

->'''Faisil:''' ''Now he's formed his own splinter faction called Crimson Jihad.''
-> '''Gib:''' ''Guess he thought the other terrorist groups were too warm and fuzzy for his taste.''

* In the novel ''Literature/PatriotGames'' and [[Film/PatriotGames it's film adaption]], the Ulster Liberation Army is a Marxist splinter faction of the Provisional IRA. Naturally, the ULA is more ruthless than the group they left.

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* Islamic extremism in RealLife. Islam as such ''does not'' command anyone to drop planes on trade centers.

[[spoiler:Then their operatives were driven away from Earth by the SGC and managed to get themselves captured and implanted with Goa'uld, and Ba'al and Athena ended up in charge of several major corporations.]]

* Fлanor and his sons and followers in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' are more or less a Renegade Faction of the High Elves.

Note that it doesn't apply to out and out turncoats: the faction must still keep the general ideas of the original; only with less benevolent policies. If the factions are religious in nature, related to TheHeretic. Can result in EnemyCivilWar. RenegadeRussian is a common nation-specific subtrope, since Russians and Soviets get this treatment especially often.

Note that it doesn't apply to out and out turncoats: the faction must still keep the general ideas of the original; only with less benevolent policies. If the factions are religious in nature, related to TheHeretic. Can result in EnemyCivilWar. RenegadeRussian is a common nation-specific subtrope.

Note that it doesn't apply to out and out turncoats: the faction must still keep the general ideas of the original; only with less benevolent policies. If the factions are religious in nature, related to TheHeretic. Can result in EnemyCivilWar.