Company of the Phoenix and Factol Zander the Explorer - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Company of the Phoenix and Factol Zander the Explorer

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
ephealy
Jun 13, 2006 0:10:33 In the blurb on the Heaving Hills (Abyss #67), in the back of Planes of Chaos, it mentions the Company of the Phoenix and someone named Factol Zander the Explorer. Anyone know if either are mentioned anywhere else?
#2
ripvanwormer
Jun 13, 2006 15:05:08 Factol Zander the Explorer was factol of the Fraternity of Order (as all the factols mentioned on the Abyss poster map were, since it was written in-character by the Guvners). He reigned for at least twenty-five years. He seems to have been known for exploring, or for the exploration that took place among the Guvners while he was in charge of the faction.

The Company of the Phoenix was the adventuring party who "discovered" the Heaving Hills and reported that discovery to the Guvners on the twenty-fourth year of Zander's reign. There's no indication they interacted with the factol directly, but who knows?

Assuming the Fraternity of Order started their lexicon of the Abyss around the time the Fraternity first became an organized faction in Sigil, and assuming they've been cataloging its layers at a fairly consistent rate, the Company of the Phoenix probably entered (and exited) the Abyss around 881 years ago, centuries before the Great Upheaval.

I'm pretty sure they were just a throwaway reference, never mentioned anywhere else.
#3
ephealy
Jun 13, 2006 17:44:44 Rip, as always, thanks for the valuable information.

Most of it is Greek to me. Can you expound on any of this in any more depth?

- Where can I get more info on the Fraternity of Order?
- I assume the Guvners is the FoO governing body?
- How'd you arrive at 881 years?
- What would the Great Upheaval (something else I'm woefully ignorant of) have changed?
#4
ripvanwormer
Jun 13, 2006 19:46:25
- Where can I get more info on the Fraternity of Order?

Planescape Campaign Setting, Factol's Manifesto, the Planewalker encyclopedia entry, or Chapter 3 of Planewalker's 3rd edition Campaign Setting.

- I assume the Guvners is the FoO governing body?

No, it's just a nickname for members of the Fraternity. They're a philosophical faction devoted to codifying and exploiting the laws that govern the multiverse, based in the Fortress of Disciplined Enlightenment in the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus (which is briefly described in the 3rd edition Manual of the Planes). "Guvner" became a slang term for them.

The faction (like most planar factions) is governed by a "factol," which just means leader. Factol Zander the Explorer is one of those. The current factol of the Fraternity of Order is Jamis, who was preceded by Hashkar. Hashkar reigned for 130 years.

How'd you arrive at 881 years?

The Fraternity of Order, according to the Factol's Manifesto, first organized themselves into a formal faction 982 years ago. In that time, they compiled a list of 679 Abyssal layers. The Heaving Hills are the 68th layer to be discovered (that's what the numbers represent: order of discovery by the Fraternity of Order. They don't mean anything other than that). From there, it was simple algebra to guess approximately what point in their history the Heaving Hills was discovered. It assumes the rate of discovery hasn't substantially increased or decreased over time.

That was a simple estimate. I could get more detailed, noting that the first Abyssal layer was discovered in the fourth year of the reign of Clarille, and Planes of Chaos was published one year before the Factol's Manifesto. If we assume that Clarille was the first factol, we can subtract five years from the total time the Fraternity has formally existed, leaving 977 years.

977 = x
679 = 68

977 x 68 = 66436/679 = about 98, so we can guess this happened about 98 years after the Abyss started being explored, or about 883 years before the assumed "present day" of Planes of Chaos.

It's a pretty vague guess, but good enough for rock and roll.

What would the Great Upheaval (something else I'm woefully ignorant of) have changed?

The Great Upheaval happened about 630 years ago; at the time, there were 49 philosophical factions ruling the City of Doors; the Fraternity of Order was one of them. The Lady of Pain, for reasons of her own, visited each factol and her servants told them, in their language of floating puzzles, that they had a fortnight to reorganize themselves into 15 factions, leave the city, or die.

Within a fortnight, Sigil (the City of Doors) only had 15 factions. The Guvners were one of those to survive the calamity intact.

This didn't affect the Abyss much at all, of course, although some of the new factions to come out of that crisis, particularly the Doomguard, now have significant presences on that plane.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ephealy Jun 13, 2006 0:10:33	In the blurb on the Heaving Hills (Abyss #67), in the back of Planes of Chaos, it mentions the Company of the Phoenix and someone named Factol Zander the Explorer. Anyone know if either are mentioned anywhere else?
#2 ripvanwormer Jun 13, 2006 15:05:08	Factol Zander the Explorer was factol of the Fraternity of Order (as all the factols mentioned on the Abyss poster map were, since it was written in-character by the Guvners). He reigned for at least twenty-five years. He seems to have been known for exploring, or for the exploration that took place among the Guvners while he was in charge of the faction. The Company of the Phoenix was the adventuring party who "discovered" the Heaving Hills and reported that discovery to the Guvners on the twenty-fourth year of Zander's reign. There's no indication they interacted with the factol directly, but who knows? Assuming the Fraternity of Order started their lexicon of the Abyss around the time the Fraternity first became an organized faction in Sigil, and assuming they've been cataloging its layers at a fairly consistent rate, the Company of the Phoenix probably entered (and exited) the Abyss around 881 years ago, centuries before the Great Upheaval. I'm pretty sure they were just a throwaway reference, never mentioned anywhere else.
#3 ephealy Jun 13, 2006 17:44:44	Rip, as always, thanks for the valuable information. Most of it is Greek to me. Can you expound on any of this in any more depth? - Where can I get more info on the Fraternity of Order? - I assume the Guvners is the FoO governing body? - How'd you arrive at 881 years? - What would the Great Upheaval (something else I'm woefully ignorant of) have changed?
#4 ripvanwormer Jun 13, 2006 19:46:25	- Where can I get more info on the Fraternity of Order? Planescape Campaign Setting, Factol's Manifesto, the Planewalker encyclopedia entry, or Chapter 3 of Planewalker's 3rd edition Campaign Setting. - I assume the Guvners is the FoO governing body? No, it's just a nickname for members of the Fraternity. They're a philosophical faction devoted to codifying and exploiting the laws that govern the multiverse, based in the Fortress of Disciplined Enlightenment in the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus (which is briefly described in the 3rd edition Manual of the Planes). "Guvner" became a slang term for them. The faction (like most planar factions) is governed by a "factol," which just means leader. Factol Zander the Explorer is one of those. The current factol of the Fraternity of Order is Jamis, who was preceded by Hashkar. Hashkar reigned for 130 years. How'd you arrive at 881 years? The Fraternity of Order, according to the Factol's Manifesto, first organized themselves into a formal faction 982 years ago. In that time, they compiled a list of 679 Abyssal layers. The Heaving Hills are the 68th layer to be discovered (that's what the numbers represent: order of discovery by the Fraternity of Order. They don't mean anything other than that). From there, it was simple algebra to guess approximately what point in their history the Heaving Hills was discovered. It assumes the rate of discovery hasn't substantially increased or decreased over time. That was a simple estimate. I could get more detailed, noting that the first Abyssal layer was discovered in the fourth year of the reign of Clarille, and Planes of Chaos was published one year before the Factol's Manifesto. If we assume that Clarille was the first factol, we can subtract five years from the total time the Fraternity has formally existed, leaving 977 years. 977 = x 679 = 68 977 x 68 = 66436/679 = about 98, so we can guess this happened about 98 years after the Abyss started being explored, or about 883 years before the assumed "present day" of Planes of Chaos. It's a pretty vague guess, but good enough for rock and roll. What would the Great Upheaval (something else I'm woefully ignorant of) have changed? The Great Upheaval happened about 630 years ago; at the time, there were 49 philosophical factions ruling the City of Doors; the Fraternity of Order was one of them. The Lady of Pain, for reasons of her own, visited each factol and her servants told them, in their language of floating puzzles, that they had a fortnight to reorganize themselves into 15 factions, leave the city, or die. Within a fortnight, Sigil (the City of Doors) only had 15 factions. The Guvners were one of those to survive the calamity intact. This didn't affect the Abyss much at all, of course, although some of the new factions to come out of that crisis, particularly the Doomguard, now have significant presences on that plane.