The Harmonium

Do it our way or no way. Understand that, berk?

- Factol Sarin of the Harmonium

The Harmonium is devoted to peace and harmony, but only under the terms they set. They act as enforcers of the law, policing Sigil as they see fit.

History of the Harmonium

The universe has always needed someone like us.

- First line in the Book of the Harmonium

The Harmonium’s been around a couple of centuries, maybe more. It depends on who a basber listens to. According to the faction itself - and any member’ll tell a body the same thing, ’cause it’s drummed into them at indoctrination - the group was founded about 500 years ago on a prime world called Ortho. There, a group of adventurers went off to “rid the country of chaos and bring peace to the land.” Simple enough goal, right? Many aspire to the same thing.
Thing is, this group actually went and did it.
They brought peace and harmony to their land, so they started calling themselves the Harmonium. And then they moved on to other lands, and spread some peace and harmony there too. It was tough work, sometimes, because they had to force the peace on some poor berks who didn‘t know what was best for ’em. But the Harmonium willingly took on these difficult jobs. Eventually, they delivered their whole world into peace and harmony. Naturally, spreading peace throughout the world required the Harmonium to eliminate a lot of nasty types - all those wrong-headed, free-thinking folks who love to cause trouble. Those who journey to Ortho today say it’s a very rigid place, where dwarves, orcs, beholders and humans all work together under the Harmonium’s law. There’s not an elf or a pixie to be seen anywhere, though.
The Harmonium ruled their world, and their world knew peace and harmony. (If not exactly happiness.) Then the problems started.
Seems that every once in a while, chaos and discord managed to rear their ugly heads. The Harmonium leaders got tired of this occasional disorder and got together to discuss the matter. The high-ups decided that the chaos must originate somewhere else - it couldn't come from within their own perfect world, after all. Suspecting the culprits came from the Outer Planes, the Harmonium mounted an exuedition and journeyed to the Abyss. After gitting their rumps kicked from the Plain of Infinite Portals to the Caverns of the Skull Goddess and back again, they decided they needed another plan. So, the Harmonium expedition relocated to Sigil, to establish a beachhead of sorts.
And here they have remained.
The faction found some like-minded folks in Sigil - folks like the Guvners - and the Lady of Pain seems to approve of the order they bring to the Cage. They also found targets for their war for peace in the numerous folks of other factions. A lot of those groups regard Harmonium members as playground bullies, a bunch of berks who want to spoil the fun for everyone. But ask a Hardhead, and he’ll tell you he’s absolutely right about the Way it Should Be.
Oh, the Harmonium’s made some mistakes in its time, though the members’d never admit to it. Just ask a high-up about the recent Arcadia “incident” and watch him twitch while he tries to come up with some kind of answer. (The Harmonium accidentally allowed the third layer of the plane to slip into Mechanus.) Or mention the town of Fortitude on the Outlands; that’s also a sore spot with the Hardheads that know ahout it. (In response to the loss of the Arcadian layer, the faction tried to shift this town to Arcadia.)
There’s also the matter of the world of Athas, the prime planet that’s home to lots of giant, psionic bugs, among other things. It seems that a few thousand years ago, a hunch of bashers called the “Champions of Rajaat” went about warring on others to eliminate chaos and bring peace. Sounds familiar, right? Well, the Harmonium wasn’t around back then, so the faction couldn’t have been involved - although time does some funny things between planes, once in a while. Or maybe the Harmonium took some inspiration from the Champions. Thing is, bashers who’ve been to Athas call it an awful, dry world wrecked by magic. Almost anything would eat a body just for walking by, they say. Is that what the Harmonium wants?
’Course, the Hardheads deny it. Present-day Athas resulted from the actions of rightminded barmies, who didn’t know when to quit, they claim. The Harmonium knows to back off before that point. So they say.
Harmonium members do have their job cut out for them after all, the Cage doesn’t exactly embrace peace and law. The Hardheads get some help along the way, though from the Guvners and the Mercykillers, their partners in crime. (That is, in stopping crime.) The Harmonium makes the arrests, the Guvners conduct the trials, and the Mercykillers enforce the punishment. All three fadions believe in law and order, so they work pretty well together, though the Hardheads seem happy that the painfully meticulous, fill-this-out-in-triplicate Guvners don’t actually create the laws.
On the other hand, the “wheel of justice” finds opposition in the friends of chaos, like the Indeps, the Revolutionary League, and the Xaositects. ’Course, the Free League seems too independent to constitute much of a threat, but the Anarchists and the Chaosmen can prove dangerous. The Harmonium also considers dangerous the selfish or destructive attitudes of the Fated, the Bleakers, and the Doomguard, as well. The Doomguard has become a special thorn in the Harmonium’s side, because this faction controls the Armory and keeps weapons out of Harmonium hands, preventing the Hardheads from launching a full-scale war for peace. Then again, this arrangement suits everyone else fine, from the Lady down to the Clueless.
The Harmonium considers the Athar and the Godsmen a bit barmy, in light of their weird beliefs, but harmless in the end. Hardheads tend to ignore the relatively inoffensive - if spooky - Dustmen. The Signers can become annoying, with their great egos, but like the rest, they seem largely ineffectual; in fact, the Signers help preserve the peace by running the Hall of Speakers and getting the factions to meet. The Sensates also prove little threat, but most Harmonium feel leery of them anyway: by wanting to experience everything, the Sensates go around looking for disorder. The Clueless, though they can become magnets for trouble, remain acceptable to the Harmonium.
The Ciphers seem an interesting bunch. They seek harmony of mind and body - so far, so good, according to Harmonium beliefs. By uniting thought and deed in harmony, a cutter's spirit can align with the multiverse. Thing is, Ciphers seek individual harmony - not too consistent with the universal harmony the Hardheads want. Also, Ciphers act without thinking, which counters the Harmonium desire to think everything through - or at least appear to. Here’s the dark of it, though The Ciphers resemble the Harmonium a bit too much for comfort. Besides their search for harmony, both groups like members to feel so sure of themselves that they act with no prior reflection. The Hardheads see a halftwisted reflection of themselves in the Ciphers, and it bothers them enough to remain peery of ‘em.
The Harmonium’s outlook on the various other factions dictates how the Hardheads will go about accomplishing their long-range goal of peace. Don’t forget, the Hardheads’re willing to fight for it. Encouraged by their success long ago on their prime world, Harmonium members truly believe everyone one day will come around and join them, In the meantime, members can eliminate troublemakers: starting with the Anarchists, Xaositects, and Indeps.

Faction Philosophy

The secret of the multiverse? That's simple, and every cutter in the Harmonium knows what it is: "The Harmonium is always right." Look, the goal of every enlightened being in the multiverse is to live in perfect harmony with all others. Look around: Peace or war - those are the only true states of the multiverse. If a being and its neighbors got the same views, then there's peace between them. When they don't agree, that's what causes war; one body figures it can use fists to convince the other. Now, there's some powers who say otherwise, but the Harmonium believes that peace is a better end than war. For one, all of a body's work won't get destroyed during times of peace. Families don't get killed, kings can actually spend time ruling the people, scholars can study, and petitioners can raise their crops. Everybody, even the fiends on the Lower Planes, can prosper. On the other hand, the Harmonium says there's only one way to have peace: their way. War or peace - squabble among each other or join the Harmonium - those are the only choices. The Harmonium believes that the ultimate goal of the multiverse is universal harmony, and it's ready to spread that belief to all those other sods out on the planes. If it takes thumping heads to spread the truth, well, the Harmonium's ready to thump heads. Sure, there may not be peace right away, but every time the Harmonium gets rid of an enemy, the multiverse is that much closer to the universal harmony it was meant to have. And what happens once the Harmonium succeeds? (And it will succeed, that's certain - just ask them.) That part's simple. When everyone is in agreement with the Harmonium, a new golden age will begin. That's why the Harmonium works so hard to get folks to conform - it's all for their own good.

Within the Ranks

The Harmonium's a big faction. Besides several thousand members in Sigil and the 10.000 in Melodia, the Harmonium includes several thousand more elsewhere in Arcadia and a few thousand in the town of Fortitude - not to mention a whole prime world full 'em. That's a lot of people. A Hardhead seldom finds himself far away from a fellow Hardhead.

Roleplaying the Harmonium

The Harmonium opens its doors to all who huly believe in the grnup's terms for universal peace. Members of any race and any profession can join, as long as they follow a lawful ethical code.

Alignment

True belief in the Harmonium way implies a lawful-alignment, but evil members find themselves as welcome as good ones. The understanding of law and order is more important than consideration of good and evil. Fact is, few in the Harmonium seem actually evil; many are good, and lots fall somewhere in the middle of the good-evil spectrum. See, evil doesn't prove truly conducive to harmony and peace. But even a baatezu understands order and the advantages of stabdity.

Race

Just as baatezu understand order, so do members of certain other races. Humans and dwarves remain the most likely to appreciate order, and a lot of humans join the Harmonium; dwarves join in smaller numbers, commensurate with their smaller racial population. Githzerai and bariaur generally don't appreciate order and seldom join the Harmonium, but some tieflings and planar half-elves join; while most have too much independence for this militaristic faction. Some of these loners find themselves drawn to the sense of family the Harmonium offers. As for primes, elves and gnomes don't seem very fond of Hardhead ideas. (Especially when they find out that faction members exterminated most of their brethren on Ortho.) Most of the primes who join the Harmonium do so because of the recruitment slogans offering stability and security in a strange, new world.

Class

The World is a tough one, and it requires tough people who'll fight for whats right. Thus, the Harmonium appeals very much to warriors of all sorts, especially paladins. Rangers don't make good Hardheads, as so often they enjoy being on their own. Priests prove much more common - at least, those who appreciate the tenets of peace and stability. Priests of war gods are harder to find within Harmonium ranks, not because they disagree with the faction so much as having too many of them in the membership would be bad for the Harmonium's image. A lot of the faction's priests revere a power called 'St. Cuthbert" from a prime world called Oerth. Seems the followers of Cuthbert have a lot of the same ideas as the Harmonium; any of 'em that visit Sigil find themselves quickly attracted to the faction.
Wizards appear infrequently among the ranks of the Hardheads, though some of the more militant and lawful ones join. Rogues become faction members only rarely, partly because of their very nature - "rogues" don't work well with others, after all - and partly because they are known lawbreakers. It surprises many cutters to see that the Harmonium allows rogues into the ranks, but some thieves actually work to prevent others of their class from committing criminal acts. Even the lawful Harmonium sometimes has a need for good spies - as long as they don't break the law, of course.
Once a cutter has joined the Harmoinium, though, things like race and profession don't matter much. A Hardhead is a Hardhead, and they all stick together, cooperating like one big family. Oh, they have their share of squabbles, to be sure, but all Harmonium members know that turning stag means they lose all the benefits of the group. Not only that, they find their formerly beloved faction hunting them; anyone who's belonged to the Harmonium knows he doesn't want to become their prey. Not many Hardheads turn stag.

Faction Membership

You might not belong to the harmonium yet, berk, but one day you'll understand.

- Factol Sarin on one of his "arrest outings"

A basher can join the Harmonium in one of two ways. First, a body can go to the City Barracks and ask for some recruitment pamphlets. The interested party then receives an invitation to a few minor meetings and social activities, where recruitment officers observe him. If they agree he shows merit, they'll ask him to ioin.
Other cutters'll recieve an invitation out of the blue to join the Harmonium - it's one of the few factions that actively recruits. Bloods will talk lots of the Clueless into joining, knowing that their faction's stability and strength offers the Outsiders a pleasant view of the future. It appears to provide a home and the comfort of what amounts to one huge family. (Reports that the Harmonium strongarms berks into the faction from off the streets using "Hardhead reform taciics" are greatly exaggerated. But when numbers drop too low to handle increased rioting in the Cage. . . well, sometimes things happen that shouldn't. Apparently Sarin knows nothing of these unorthodox recruiting methods.)
Every four weeks, all recent recruits gather for Sarin's indoctrination speech. The factol's talk shows the type of man he is - tough, forthright, charismatic, and unforgiving - and tells the recruits what to expect. They then get shipped off to training camps on Buxenus, the second layer of Arcadia. At the end of the eight weeks of grueling training, recruits either have dropped out to become common berks again or have turned into official Hardheads. Those that fail, though regarded with some caution, can freely attempt the training again later. See, the faction fully expects everyone to join eventually. (Despite Factol Sarin's words to recruits, the faction does give some second chances. The only ones the Hardheads don't invite back are those who turn stag on the group. Those, the factol has arrested and tried. Guilty sods usually get sentenced to the leafless tree.)
The Harmonium has a paramilitary organization. Names who've completed their training become Notaries, common soldiers. Notaries fall into five ranks, depending on their length of service, from the lowest Notary Ones to the highest-ranking Notary Fives.
Some Notaries later decide to pursue officer training. Every six months, Harmonium high-ups select a few Notaries who have proved tough, smart, and dedicated (and have reached at least 3rd level). These cutters receive advanced training and, on graduation, become Measures, the Harmonium name for factotums. Like Notaries, Measures are divided into five sub-ranks, depending on the length of time served; the lowest-ranking Measure One eventually can be a Measure Five.
Above the rank of Measure, the Movers are the Harmonium's factors. These high-ups select new additions to their ranks from among the Measures Five. Each Mover also holds a rank from One to Five. (Tonat Shar and Killeen Cain are the only Mover Fives.) The factol himself decides who is worthy of promotion among the Movers, bashing his decision on ability, length of membership, and outstanding service to the faction.
Governing all the ranks is the factol, also known among the Harmonium as the Composer. (That's cause he's the one directing all the components in Harmony, writing the music, as it were.) The factol holds office as long as his officers deem him competent. When he steps down, a Mover Five becomes the new Composer and promotes a Mover Four to take his place.

Primary Plane of Influence

The Harmonium is strongest on the plane of Arcadia, where the ideal of harmonious good is seen in all things. Within the city of Sigil, the Harmonium claims the City Barracks as its headquarters.

Allies and Enemies

Because of their fierce devotion to order (albeit their order), the Harmonium often works closely with the Guvners and the Mercykillers. Indeed, within Sigil the trio forms the wheels of justice: The Harmonium makes the arrest, the Guvners conduct the trial, and the Mercykillers carry out the sentence. With their unbending attitudes, the Harmonium also has many enemies. Indeps, the Revolutionary League, and Xaositects all have little patience with the rigid views of the Harmonium.

Eligibility

All races and classes are welcome to join the Harmonium, but the applicant must be of lawful alignment.

Faction Abilities

All harmonium members, from Notaries on up, can cast charm person once per day. Those of Measure On Rank (factotum) or higher recieve additional benefits. At 4th level, because of their intensive training, Measure gains a +1 bonus to attack rolls with a weapon of choice. This ability does not affect specilization: The Harmonium attack roll bonus accumulates with any other applicable bonuses.
Movers of at least 7th level have developed beliefs and dedication to duty so rigid, they become difficult to distract. They can a +3 bonus to saving throws against fear and such emotion related spells (or spell-like abilities) as fear.
Finally, Mover Fours and Five of at least 10th level can use a spell-like ability called dictate once per day, regardless of class. (All Harmonium clerics can access dictate as a 2nd level spell.)

Dictate

2-level Enchantment

Casting Time: 1 Action

Range/Area: 60ft

Components: V

Duration: 1 round or up to 1 minute, Concentration

The dictate spell improves on the 1st-level spell command. It can affect up to six creatures in a 20-foot cube at once with effects lasting more than one round. As a spell or spell-like ability, dictate allows the caster to speak a short, precise phrase or order of no more than 12 words that all targets must obey if they fail a Wisdom Saving Throw. Examples include "Throw down your weapons!" or "Stay bere until I return!" and even "Seize that elf!" The faction member must state the command in a language the targets know, or the spell fails. Subjects continue to obey long-term orders (such as "Wait here.") for up to 1 minute if the caster concentrates on the spell.
To dictate an order, a Hardhead must phrase it to create an immediate course of physical action for the target. Commands to "die" or "sleep" usually don't work, but mandates to "lie down and put your head behind your head" prove effectively. If the faction member phrases the orders poorly, DMs can assign the targets saving throw modifiers of +1 to +4. If the caster directs the intended victims to perfrom an obviously self-destructive action ("Throw yourself off that cliff!"), victims who fail their saving throw stand still for one round, fighting the compulsion to obey.

Available for: Cleric (Harmonium)

Restrictions

Their rigid beliefs also expose several weaknesses in Harmonium philosophy. Any variance from the orders of a Harmonium superior requires an atonement on the part of the character before he or she can rejoin the ranks of the faction. Members who "turn stag" - betray the faction - are automatically sentenced to death by the factol. Even refusing to return to the faction's ranks is considered treasonous.

Notable Faction Members

Name	Rank	Race	Class	Gender	Description
Factol Sarin	Factol	Human	Paladin	Male	Factol of the Harmonium
Faith	Factotum	Human	Cleric	Female	Wife of Factol Sarin
Tonat Shar	Factor	Human	Fighter	Male	Second-Hand of Factol Sarin
Killeen Caine	Factor	Half-Elf	Wizard	Male	Second-Hand of Factol Sarin, de-facto leader of Melodia
Nicolai Mabru	Factor	Tiefling	Wizard	Male	Official leader of Melodia
Diana the Guardian	Factotum	Human	Wizard	Female	Receptionist of the City Barracks

Peace is our goal. But if it takes a little war to get others to set things right, the Harmonium way, so be it. That’s how we’ll reach our golden harmony.

Founding Date

Hashkar -360

Alternative Names

The Hardheads

Leader

Factol Sarin

Controlled Territories

• "Training Camps"
• Melodia
• The City Barracks