Disappeared, enslaved, mazed, and dead..the myriad fates of the "Factols" the grand architects of this clash of ideas, and the sheperds of a multiverse search for truth. A strange thing the multiverse is, and sometines it appears to have a will of its own. Not every edict of powers and planar lords is borne willingly by it, nor is any action without consequence. And actions this monumental rate reactions on an equally grand scale.
Enter the arch factols, unique beings embodying the utmost ideals of the exiled factions, and uniquely suited to accomplishing the ultimate goals of each. Perhaps some (or all) had existed all along. And indeed many were believed to exist long before these modern times. But whatever their history, or reason for revealing themselves, they are here to stay.
For example...
"Her gaze ages all who look upon her. Her touch corrodes metal, and erodes rock. Where ever she walks civilization comes tumbling down at her feet. She leaves only chaos and decay in her wake. Beware our inevitable Lady of Entropy!"
-the late "Poet of Entropy" composing his last morose melody
So...what do you guys think about this so far?
For example, where are these 'arch factols' most commonly seen? What's their interest in Sigil, if any? Do they interact between themselves or with their respective factions? Just some thoughts.
All of the Arch-Factols are physical beings. They're pretty much like planar lords of factions.
Here's a brief overview of my vision for the other arch-factols (in the form of news clips). If anyone's interested I'll post the full write up each when I'm finished. I'm not really concerned with stats right now.
However, all of them carry two unique artifacts; a weapon somehow related to their power, and a magical cloak bearing an enlarged faction symbol on the back.
Athar (" the God Killer")
Found in a nearly inaccesible vault in Agathion by a cleric of the Great Unknown, "the Abomination" (an Infernal) claims to be one of three beings endowed with a small portion of the Great Unknown's power.
In exchange for leading the Athar to greater and more concrete knowledge of the Great Unknown, it has asked the faction to aid it in destroying those that imprisoned it. The Athar have yet to make a final decision in the matter...
Believers of the Source ("the Ascendant")
Working on it.
Bleak Cabal (the Poet Morose)
Hark, my lad! I say! What sound I hear?
The winds of Pandemonium, father dear.
No, oh no, it can not be.
There's more than howling in this wind, see?
Father, father! Now I hear, but oh so daintily
Yes, my son, I hear it, but oh so faintly
That wailing screams of true despair
A madman screams his poems upon the air
Dressed in black rags tattered and torn
His face is one that's weary and worn
Of trying to see that which was not there
The meaning of life you seek is not anywhere
So now this dreary world he walks
Only now in poems he talks
He aids the poor and raving mad
And drowns the hope of all who're sad
In his presence happinness seems to die
And all but self seems such a lie
But try you not to give him meaning
For if you do you're simply dreaming
Doomguard ("the Lady of Entropy")
Despite the lack of living witnesses, rumors persist of the existence of "the Lady of Entropy" a stunningly beautiful woman who, oddly enough bears a suspicious resemblance to ex-factol Pentar.
It is said that her stare crushes the will, ages the mortal, rusts metal, and even erodes rock. At the moment, only undead, a few lucky para-elementals, and a misplaced squad of baateezu have survived her appearances. She leaves only destruction and decay in her wake. None know her purpose, but supposedly tracking the locations of her appearances shows an "obvious" route to one of the hidden citadels of the Doomguard. The Doomguard deny this claiming that if she is, she's taking the long way around.
Dustmen ("the Dead One")
Three weeks ago a barmy ex-dustmen was admitted to the madhouse. Drained of most of his life (seemingly) by prolonged exposure to the negative energy plane, the former dusty namer continued to rave about the return of Factol Skall. Curiously he claims that Skall now inhabits his original body, and no longer projects a false image to the world. He also claims that Skall "looks deader somehow". Has factol Skall reached True Death? And if so, what's he still doing here?
the Fated ("?")
Still working on this one. Probably something in the vein of Rowan Darkwood.
I don't want to ressurect too many factols, but some of them just fit their roles sooo perfectly.
the Fraternity of Order ("the Enlightened One")
Working on it. Put a really old wizard in there somewhere.
the Free Leaugue
The indeps don't rate an arch-factol, seeing as how they don't even have a factol. Forget that, they're not even a faction for cryin' out loud!
the Harmonium ("the Conformer")
High up members of the Harmonium are knocking each other over in a frantic rush to suppress recent rumors of "the Conformer". This mysterious construct is credited with the recent surge in new hardhead recruits. The recruits, who hail from nearly every outer plane, have only one thing in common. They were all petty criminals arrested by the Conformer. After being released from prison, they expressed a fervent desire to join the faction.
Inteestingly enough, many of the places the Conformer frequents are slowly slipping into either Arcadia or Mechanus. The Harmonium requests that anyone who comes in contact with an empty, cloaked, suit of armor should report it immediately.
Sign of One
Let's imagine something in an egotiscal size 18, shall we?
the Society of Sensation ("the Ancient Traveller")
Cuatha Da’nanin has asked for the help of all Sensates in tracking down an old traveller he met recently. Cuatha met him in a local pub one night a month ago. Hour after hour, the old man kept the factol spellbound with tale after tale of his incredible experiences, and the wonderful things he learned from them. Cuatha says that when he attempted to find the old man the next day, he was informed that he'd been talking to the wall all night long.
Convinced that "the Ancient Traveller" is much more than a voice inside his head, he has begn to investigate similar claims he has found in old journals of former Sensate factols.
MercyKillers ("Living Justice")
Umm...something vaguely similar to the conformer.
the Revolutionary League ("debatable")
I'm not sure if the anarchists should get an arch factol. Maybe they should have a group of contradictory ones just for kicks.
the Transendant Order (" The Maiden of Harmonius Unity?")
Working on it. Think sword-dancing nymph.
Xaositects ("the Architect of Chaos")
All planar travelllers en route to the Planes of Law should seriously consider delaying their venture, or else bring some sort of protection against chaos magic.
A previously unknown Slaad Lord (who seems to be of the ultra rare "prismatic" variety) has taken his "Crusade of Chaos" to the Planes of Law. This creature, who styles himself "the Architect of Chaos" was hatched last month from the Spawning Stone itself.
Since then he has launched a "Crusade of Chaos" to bring his special brand of pure, undiluted, premeditated chaos to the more lawful planes. Authorities have charged him with the slaying of several Balors, whom he then used as sleds to slide down Mount Celestia. Upon reaching the bottom, he jetted off to Avernus, which has now completely frozen over. He has also been accused of opening an unusually portal on Acheron that leads directly to the prime world of Toril. This report remains unconfirmed.
The last official sighting of this creature was in Mechanus. He was seen flying towards Regulus several days ago. He is currently accompanied by "Boss Prophet" (aka the Prophet of Chaos) and his gang the "Metaphysical Society of Mischief" . When questioned about his purpose, the "prophet" responded by throwing a monodrone at us. He then made one of his signature, wildly inaccurate predictions, claiming that a new faction would soon replace the remaining Xaositect fragments.
Below are a few of my ideas for the arch factols as a group.
For example, where are these 'arch factols' most commonly seen? What's their interest in Sigil, if any? Do they interact between themselves or with their respective factions? Just some thoughts.
1) Later on I might decide to contradict myself, but for right now, I'm treating all of the arch factols as newly created beings. Basically, they're robots right now. As soon as they're "created" they instictively set out to a location where they can accomplish one of their faction's goals. Once that's completed (or whenever the last one is spawned) they will all head to Sigil for a while.
Basically they are seen wherever they can best accomplish one of their goals. When not on a quest they can be found on their factions' home plane.
2) Their interest in Sigil is basically the same as the factions'. It will give them a place to reach a large variety of people at one time. Beyond that they have no special interest in the City of Doors unless it directly relates to a current project.
3)I've decided that each of them should spend a month in Sigil every year. This will be the month that corresponds with their faction. In addition to that all of them will be present during Leagueheim.
In general they make no special effort to interact with members of their faction. Otherwise only the most dedicated and faithful members (regardless of rank) can locate them at all. Anyone from their faction who meets them will likely have an epithany of some sort, and the arch factols don't think that should be something incredibly easy to obtain.
As for interaction amongst themselves...they are all aware of each others' existence. During Leaugueheim they meet to discuss upcoming plans and share stories etc.
Perhaps they are the "physical" embodiment of the Faction's philosophies.
Right on. That was pretty much the idea. Basically, I was up at 2am one night and thought to myself "If planar lords embody alignments, and powers embody ideas, then why aren't the factions represented?" The general idea was to create planar lords for the factions.
I personally like the idea of them being pure belief beings. All of that belief in Entropy, for example, could have formed a being with slightly lower than Demigod status. Or maybe the Arch Factols are in fact demigods, and they merely keep a portion of their divinity set aside so that they can enter Sigil. The question is... What was the catalyst for all of this?
"The Rebel"
"Wherever society asks the individual to conform, The Rebel is there to spit back into its face. Wherever oppression gives rise to riots, peasant revolts and liberation movements, The Rebel is there to shout cheap slogans the loudest and agitate the crowds into a frenzy. His charisma is undeniable; his aura of command...not so much. Others do the planning, the leading and execution. The Rebel only stands and defies authority. Even after the new revolutionary council is installed on the bones of the old regime, The Rebel will be there to challenge their edicts. Why? 'Power doesn't belong to anyone.', he'll say. Then he'll move on, to the next struggle and the next fight. Even if it's against his former comrades."
The Rebel appears as a youthful man or woman, dressed in fashionable but low-class and dangerous-looking clothes. Often these are woolen pants and leather tabards with decorative metal bits or scraps of scavenged armour. A mean-looking but sophisticated weapon adorns his belt, but he scorns armour and never wears a helm. Unshaven and unkempt, he prowls the trendy dives and meeting halls of city and village, loudly proclaimly his opinions, breaking topical taboos, and flirting ceaselessly with the opposite sex. The Rebel has the power to make everyone remember long-forgotten grievances, unfair wages, idiotic rules and oppressive bureaucrats. Where he walks, soldiers desert their posts, farmers refuse their taxes, princes challenge their kings and children talk back to their mothers. His aura of defiance is infectious and his powers of chaos spread from his footsteps like a forest fire. He is the match, and the kindling is always out there.
Whaddaya think?
The question is... What was the catalyst for all of this?
Originally I intended the Faction War to be the catalyst. The idea there being that the disappearance of factols from Sigil created a "void of belief" that the multiverse needed to fill. Enter the Arch Factols. But when I decided to use the pre-FW factions that idea made less sense.
I had two other ideas though. One is that they are all connected somehow to a being named Lord Zandor. I created Zandor as an epic NPC for a Planescape campaign I ran a little while ago. He's the head of an organization known as the "Walkers on the Edge of Infinity". Zandor himself is a True Planewalker (and perhaps the first mortal to walk the planes period). His organization believes that nothing is impossible.
I planned on making him an arch factol and then I noticed that he actually "embodies" several factions all at once. He was just a background character however and I didn't develop him too much after the campaign ran aground.
The second is that they simply arose spontaneosly from the multiverse itself. When this happened is uncertain at this time due to the fact that similar beings have been eluded to for centuries by the factions. Some of them are "simply" powerful beings uniquely equipped to accomplish the factions' goals (ex the Godkiller). Others are personifications of the factions' ultimate goal. The Dead One, for example is actually Factol Skall, who has finally achieved True Death.
Now, hm. Those are some interesting ideas; I think I like the idea of them being abstract concepts brought to life, not created or linked to this Zandor specifically. However, I'm sure a blood like him would love to hunt them down and study them, try to replicate them, etc.
I think it would be best to never explain to your PCs just where they came from. It would have a very Planescapey feel to it. Just make each of them trying to accomplish something really big related to the philosophy of the fact that they are the exemplar of.
Maybe they are, simply, the centuries of the factions' belief collected into one spot, sort of going with your first idea about the Factols' disappearances. Maybe they are somehow linked to the Lady of Pain...
....and the one dabus who still follows the Lady's principles is.....
Fell!
Or perhaps the arch-factols can just dominate the dabus for short periods of time. Who knows?
It may, of course, just not happen. Really, it's up to anybody who uses these guys.