Factions and Sects for a Modern Planescape game

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factotums
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Factions and Sects for a Modern Planescape game

Hello, as a note, this is being posted here at it is for a specific game I'm running and is not part of Urban Planescape, but a PS game in a more modern setting. Though I am not at all adverse to the UP using some of what I post here.

Xaosers
- The chaositecs or chaosmen. They've been called by many names but they have the same general goals…to never have the same goal going and to spread chaos; except when they're not.

Techphreaks
- The 'phreaks are a fairly recent faction on the planar stage. Individually the group has very little in the way of political aspirations, but individually they have some extremely influential and outspoken members. Mostly they are concerned with acquiring new tech and making sure that they control the best tech on the planes. They are based out three major strongholds on the outer-planes, Acheron, Pandemonium and Bytopia, with a fourth hold in the Astral and other smaller holdings through out the planes.

The Fraternity of Order - In the last hundred years the Guvners have had some major shake-ups in their organization causing a split that has nearly torn the faction into three different factions. The rattling has been the result of a standing debate over the Guvner's philosophy, and how chaos really relates to law. The oldest sub-faction, known commonly as the Old Order, sees chaos and law as being two distinct and opposite forces with law being the true and correct order of the universe. The second sub-faction, the Relativists, argues that there is not real law or chaos in the universe but rather the universe is a set of probabilities with all situations being relative. The third sub-faction, called the Investigators, tries to stay out of the fray and generally refuses to make any over arching hypothesis on the matter instead choosing to investigate and record the universe as they see it.

Ak'ris-Gehenna Corp. - This is not a faction as such but a major corporation made up of two controlling factions, Ak'ris the founder, CEO and 40% shareholder, and a board of major Yuggoloth share holders. It started out as Ak'ris Enterprises as a trading company producing "goods" in several prime worlds and selling them on the lower planes. What it really was, was a front for a war and genocide profiteering scheme that worked far better than Ak'ris ever dreamed. He had simply found one fanatical primeworld nation that had declared war on the rest of its little world and offered to help exterminate their enemies. Giving them spells and secrets to dark rituals that would allow them to cast (their world had little magic) all the arcanaloth asked for in exchange was for the nation to convert those prisoners that it was exterminating into soul gems. Even with the 'loth's aid that nation's armies still were no match for the combined rescores from the rest of that sphere; so Ak'ris intervened again and provided them with gates to other more technologically and magically primitive primes in order to conquer there and gain more rescores to defeat their enemies. In forty years time, the 'loth had glutted the market on souls and collapsed the economy of the lower planes, almost single-handedly. Little is known about what happened to that particular primeworld other than it was utterly de-populated and burnt as barren as the Waste itself. Chant has it that the larva Ak'ris keeps as a pet is the petitioner of the dictator who he delt with in his rise to power. After the economies of the lower planes collapsed the rest of the Yugoloth hierarchy stepped in taking control of much of Ak'ris's holdings. Eventually the deal-making and profiteering evolved into the Ak'ris-Gehenna Corp with Ak'ris keeping most of the power but giving the 'loth hierarchy controlling interests to make sure that things don't go too far again. AGC goods and services can be found sold all over the lower planes and the Corp's name has become almost synonymous with Yuggoloth activity; still the 'loth's do a lot outside the Corp too.

Gerzel's picture
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Joined: 2004-05-10
Factions and Sects for a Modern Planescape game

An NPC
Ak'ris
Male Arcanaloth
Ak'ris never appears in person anymore. There are far too many beings gunning for his furry hide. He appears through projections that are warded heavily against divinations to find him. Most often he sets up an "office space" to project into and his spells project an entire room in his hidden estate into another room. Everything is projected and to the casual observer everything is identical to a real room. Furniture is solid, he is solid, and any other objects appear and feel solid. He usually appears with his pet larva, supposedly the petitioner of a mortal whom he dealt with trading spells and knowledge for the souls of the mortal's people.
Ak'ris appears as a brown furred Arcanaloth wearing a gray business suit. Little is known about his physical and casting abilities though he is believed to be a caster of moderate accomplishment even for one of his kind and is known to have cast from the ninth sphere before. He is rumored to be held up in the AG 'plant built in Sigil because of the protection afforded by the city itself. Where ever he is he is surrounded by a large contingent of fanatical guards taken from the same group of mortals whom he dealt with for souls. They believe him to be their savior and are fanatical bordering on worship and they are his most elite.

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