I must stress the importance for leaders of factions to know and understand the regions they aim to operate in. One can't do well by operating in a land the way they see fit, not knowing how the locals will react. If anyone forms a faction in a region they know nothing about, someone WILL use it against you.
Possibilities for factions that establish in a region they think is safe from other factions are: Uprisings by the locals; Unstable Environment for Terrorist, Black Market Trafficking, Pirates, Organized Crime, Corporate Exploitation, etc. The list goes on. It is your choice though.
In any case of a factions leader getting mad over their defeats enough to leave, they were not worthy enough to be part of the world to begin with. this world is for smart individuals who can understand and comprehend how things are supposed to be done properly, not a world for kids to run rampant and try to capture everything they see because they want it. If this happens, their fate will be the same as Hitlers. Ganged up on by many, put in history as a brutally evil, or global bad guy, and no one wants to be the bad guy.
A good example is VSF Max Randal manipulated Luis Edwards and other UK groups that ended up getting their groups forever destroyed politically. Those who remember them can also explain their down fall. Don't anyone here make those kind of stupid choices, because those who do end up with a destroyed faction, and I mean completely ended.
Here, a faction can be defeated, but never destroyed. As long as the person leading their faction still lingers in the VR-World, their potential of forming a powerful force remains. A faction can both rise and fall and rise again, and that is what makes it exciting.