What an ugly building!
- Farvis, a clueless, just before a hardhead arrested him for "making disparaging remarks about law enforcement officials"
The imposing City Barracks looks like a gargantuan slab of stone heavy enough to crush the very streets. The structure, with its spiked gray slate roof, appears dull but impenetrable and can house more than 1.000 people. It has a single entrance, over which rises an arch in the shape of two arms raised, clasping hands to form a huge fist. (Some say the high-ups have their own private entrance, but the location’s dark.) The barracks is an ugly place - not that any basher wants a Hardhead to hear him say so.
The Lady's Ward around this headquarters remains calm and orderly - faction members see to that! Local businesses - few and far between - all make sure they toe the line this close to the Hardheads' home base. The first thing a body encounters on the approach to the Harmonium's barracks is a group of guards. Four stand watch at the Building's entrance at all times, day or night, no matter what conditions arise around them. They stop everyone who enters, asking simply, "Who goes there?" The guard rejects anyone without a good reason to visit the headquarters but allow Harmonium members to pass, assuming they have faction concerns.
Visitors walk beneath the clasped stone hands arching above the doorway and into a reception area just inside the main door. Non-Harmonium visitors must sign in here and state their business to the faction's receptionist. If she approves the visitor, she issues a pass the guest must wear while in the building. Only Harmonium may enter freely: those that don't know their way around recieve a faction member to guide them. (Generally those just out of training.) The receptionist, Diana the Guardian, reminds visitors to stay with their assigned guides at all times.
Level 1: Public Areas
Once through the reception area, a basher emerges into the public portion of the City Barracks, encountering the first of many classrooms scattered throughout the ground level. In these large rooms, recruits receive instruction, though they attend lessons at the faction’s headquarters in Arcadia as well. In addition, Hardheads might visit a classroom for a more advanced officer training class or an official briefing. The rooms hold long tables for study, and dozens of chairs. A classroom typically holds a small stage and instructor’s lectern, too.
Walking along the stark, well-lit hallway of the City Barracks, a basher can hear the sound of heavy bootsteps echoing. After passing a number of other classrooms, one arrives at a number of dormitories. These sleeping quarters for namers are segregated by gender. The faction discourages fraternization between officers and those of lower ranks by giving the namers quarters downstairs but locating factotums’ and factors’ rooms on the upper level.
A small auditorium takes up one tower on the first level; a much larger hall encompassing both levels of another tower is used for thrice-daily briefings, held before Harmonium patrols leave for each shift of duty in the city. These auditoriums come in handy for mass meetings, such as addresses from the factol. The small amphitheater holds some 200 people, while the larger one houses 500.
The back hallway leads past a training room and a mess hall. These facilities have duplicates on this level and upstairs as well. The faction’s very extensive library holds books related to law, as well as books of poetry and approved fiction. The library also offers confiscated religious tracts in abundance and multiple copies of the Book of the Harmonium and The Sigil Municipal Code. Faction members can check books out for a week at a time.
From the ground floor, one can gain access to the immense courtyard the City Barracks encloses. Portions of the recruits‘ physical training take place here; so do regular exercise sessions for the namers and daily parade march practices. Faction high-ups remain always conscious of appearance, and only frequent drilling gives namers and officers alike the polished military demeanor that so impresses the folk of Sigil.
Level 2: Faction Areas
The Harmonium reserves access to the second level of the barracks for faction members only. Directly above the library lies the large records room, which holds scrolls listing the Harmonium's membership, along with each hardhead's current assignment and supervisor. This tower chamber also contains books describing the known history of the Harmonium. In addition, the faction maintains record scrolls of all arrests made by Harmonium patrols in Sigil: a large staff of clerks tracks wrongdoears, updating the records regularly. Bashers who think the Harmonium's all about fighting to enforce the law get a rude awakening when they find themselves assigned to the records room for a week or two.
The upstairs level holds two shrines for personal religous observances. One tower's the second floor holds several faction offices.
Officers' quarters lie along the upstairs hallway. factotums and factors live two to a room. Each chamber has simple furnishing: two single beds, two small tables, and three chairs. the rooms also feature small storage closets. The faction allows some personal decorations, as long as the officers keep them inside the rooms. Garnish or overly lavish accessories ain't allowed in officers' country.
Just past the officers' quarters is the office of Sarin's second-in-command, Tonat Shar. This factor handles a lot of the faction's daily business, leaving Sarin free to guide the Harmonium as a whole. the factol gives Shar a good amount of responsibility and power, training him for eventual succession to faction leadership.
Because shar deals with individual Hardheads more often than Sarin, it's not unusual to see officers as well as the lower ranks in Shar's office. Each morning, the high up briefs the other factors on faction business. His office, somewhat larger than the factol's, is set up specifically for briefings.
Shar's office holds a large desk, two utility tables, and a large conference table. A dozen chairs sit around the conference table. A dozen chairs sit around the conference table, and another four chairs wait near Shar's desk, allowing him to hold more intimate briefings. The walls bear no decorations, though in a drawer is one of the smaller tables Shar keeps a number of maps that duplicate the ones the factol has hanging on the walls of his office.
Once past Shar's office, only a few steps more lead to the factol's office. this chamber holds simple furnishings, including a large desk, two good.sized tables, and a half-dozen chairs. On the walls hang maps of Sigil, as well as maps of other trouble spots currently important to the faction. right now, these include maps of Arcadia, Mechanus, and the towns of Fortitude and Xaos. A lot of colored markers have been stuck on the maps.
'Course, a non-Harmonium rarely ends up in Sarin's office: such interviews the factol normally conducts in one of the briefing rooms. Only faction members - or high-up visitors - step into the factol's office, for an interview with Sarin or to recieve orders.
Next door is the factol's family quarters, a collection of rooms for Sarin, faith, and their nine children. Other than being larger, the factol's quarters aren't much different than the quarters of his officers. Sarin believes this fact makes him more appealing to the regular rank and file - he wants to be "just one of the cutters." He's right, too. The officers and namers alike respect Sarin more for not maintaining a lavish style.
Upper Towers
The four towers of the City Barracks each rise one level taller than the main building. One tower consists of a landing area for winged messengers and faction members. The other three hold additional small libraries, records storage rooms, classrooms, training rooms, and a mess hall.
Near the Headquarters
A lot of factions have safe houses in Sigil, but not the Harmonium. The Hardheads prefer to operate in the open. Since they obey the law, they don't need places to hide. 'Course, it doesn't hurt that the Harmonium has such a huge presence in the Cage: with fellow Hardheads just a shout away, a member can feel pretty safe.
Still, the Harmonium does have a few places it tries to keep relatively secret. For instance, take a nearby establishment called Liberty Hall. Most people would call it a tavern, but the place has a pretty sedate atmosphere compared to other alehouses. Here, off-duty Harmonium come to unwind. (As much as Hardheads ever unwind, which ain't much.) Liberty Hall has a Notary Club (for the namers), an Officer's Club, and a secret back room that holds a portal to the town of Melodia on Arcadia. The faction guards this portal well; fact is, Liberty Hall usually holds more than 100 Harmonium at any given time. As far as the Harmonium know, only members of their faction have ever used this doorway - but a body might hear a different story from certain lndeps and Anarchists. . . .
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