Maybe implement an 'armory' that a character can acquire equipment from? Not free or buying, but a sort of point system based on your rank. Low rank might be allowed to collect a pistol of some sort, but at higher ranks you get access to one mecha(avilable sizes increases at higher ranks), some armor, and your choice of weapon.
Maybe let you turn in your weapon to get a new one, or to declare the weapon lost, at a cost of some faction xp? If you declare the weapon lost and it isn't, slap some chaotic karma on the guy. If you declare a *mecha* lost when it isn't, then you get villainous and chaotic.
...actually losing a mecha should probably result in some sort of serious penalty beyond the faction xp, like having to take a really, really bad mission to earn a new one. "Kill Zeus, the God of Thunder, then maybe we'll let you have a new mecha."
...I do not recommend Zeus being a viable target. Please.
(Thor, however...)
A potentially more far reaching idea is to let you choose a faction 'branch' to join. The guardians might encourage diversity of combat styles, and so have no branches. The monk temple is obviously focused in one direction, but the army would certainly distinguish between close combat special-ops types and long range artillery types.
