Harmonium before FW

I'm shamelessly biased, but try browsing The Ortho Project.

 A lot of people spent a long time trying to make the Harmonium more three-dimensional over there - the Hardheads do have an awful lot of the Prime Material on their side, and I think part of their problem is that the relatively simplistic view of mortals from the Prime has become tainted/subverted/exploited by canny planars.

 If you want to play up the better aspects of the faction then just...play up the better aspects. Specifically pre-FW, I'd play up what a goddam tough job policing Sigil actually is...let alone places like the Hive. Don't forget that not every Harmonium is a warrior either. Include charity workers, the Hardhead equivalent of the Red cross and Salvation Army, campaigners against racial prejudice (members of HFTETOO; 'Hardheads ForThe Ethical Treatment of Orcs') etc etc.

And don't forget the Paladins.

Another thing to consider when it comes to a faction like the Harmonium is that, while Nemausus was a pretty catostrophic screw-up on their part, it's also a screw-up they've done (or at least, the source material indicates that they've done) a fairly good job of covering up. Unless you've plotted your players for this personally, they likely wouldn't be aware of it.

The thing about Planescape to remember, though, is that it's all about extremes. Everything is meant to be an extreme: I believe some of the canon mentions a rumor (or fact! who's to say) that the Celestials don't actually stop the Blood War, despite how horrific as it may be, simply because it's easier/more convenient/benefits the 'greater good.' And this is an excellent example of Harmonium ideals. Your average good PC would likely be appalled if a Celestial actually confirmed that, seeing things from the 'mortal perspective.' The Harmonium, like your average good PC, would be unlikely (in my opinion) to "approve"of such blatant evil or evil acts.

I've seen many Paladin players decide that their LG gems would actually be Indeps, and not Harmonium/Guvners/ETC simply because (IMO) they can't get their head around an organization actually being a collection of people who all have their own beliefs, thoughts, motives, goals and interpretations of a given creed.

Each Harmonium is going to see their own hopes/dreams/beliefs in the Harmonium's ideals, and this is how you "reach" your players with them: You emphasize that they're still people, and people will always disagree or believe different things. Even in a faction that's about Unity and Harmony, the factions all have a certain amount of "wiggle room" around their core beliefs, with which you can fine-tune individual characters and their beliefs to whatever you need. 

Even the Mercykillers had a canon NPC who was a Paladin. People forget these things, they just go for the "worst" of the extremes and focus on that.

Another point is that I've observed that many players seem to assume that good-aligned people always have to be nice and friendly and to share their interpretation of good alignment.

First things first: Hi! Long time lurker finally deluking...

I totally agree with Clueless that the negative portrayal of the Harmonium in canon writing is a result of anti-authoritarian feelings on the part of its authors. Game-wise tought, I've personally explained that by the fact that since the time the Harmonium became a Sigil Faction, it's been consigned to the City barrack, with a mandate limited to public security, which has exacerbated its militaristic tendencies. If they could run things in Sigil like on Ortho, they would probably be doing the job of the Guvners, Mercykillers, Bleakers (charity and social work), Fated and Signers.

So while the Harmonium may have been greeted with open arms when they cam to Sigil a few centuries ago, with their idealism and inclusive and equalitarian ideology, as time passed, the movement was suffocuated and holden back by its limited mandate and it became corrupted by its own militarism. The Harmonium became a self-serving bureaucracy with members too occupied by climbing the ranks to remember their lost idealism. But then again, the same could be said of about every faction just before the Faction War.

In my campaing, even tought the PCs have a pretty negative view of the Harmonium, this negative vision is tempered by a reformist movement called the Comitee for the Reform and Salvation of the Harmonium that proposes a 9 point program :

- Ban all Baatezu from the faction

- Renounce to war without approuval from the Faction Council of the Hall of Speakers (In my campaing, the Harmonium lauched a "War on anarchy" about a year before FW. They accused the Doomguard, Xaositects and Bleakers of forming an "Axis of Chaos" that supported anarchists. It did'nt lead to an all out war but it helps explain how tensions could then lead to the FW a year latter.)

- Declare neutrality towards all factions (no more allies, no more ennemies)

- Fight internal corruption

- Multiply ward garrisons while making them smaller and more in touch with the local communities around

- Collaborate with other factions to put in place a poverty alleviation initiative in the Hive

- Make the planar branch of the Harmonium autonomous in relation to Ortho

- Show more transparency

- Collaborate closely with Sigil's Celestial community to show the Harmonium's clear commitment to Good.

I agree that some of those ideas may be historically inconsistent with the medieval fantasy context of D&D, but i always saw Planescape as a setting where anachronistic ideas and beliefs were not only acceptable, but also a part the its appeal.

Anyway, now that the FW is about to break out in my game, the reformists have thrown themselves with the rest of their faction, seeing the need to eliminate the threat of the "enemies of peace" (e.i. Doomguards led by a barmy heart-breaked Tanar'ri) as more important in the short term that internal reforms. Of course, it is now too late for reforms and even thought they suport Faith as next Factol, most of them will decide to stay in Sigil after the war and help set the new City Guard instead of retreating to Arcadia.

Hope this helps anwsering The Bleaker's question.

Something you'll want to watch out for, when it comes to making your Harmonium more friendly outside of Sigil, is that none of the gate-towns are truly meant to be hospitable. Even Sylvania, the gate-town to the chaotic good plane Arborea, is full of gang violence: The Olympian humans and the Arborean elves vying for supremicy. And, in this setting, the gangs don't stop the city from being considered "good."

So, when you read about Fortitude and their "system of justice," you shouldn't think it's unusual. 

This, of course, brings up the question of "how good do you have to be, to be considered good?"
While Sylvania may not be a place of 'ultimate good,' such as an Upper Plane, its relatively secure spot on the Outlands solidifies it as a 'good' location at least in my own mind. The Gate-Towns all have "something" wrong with them that holds them back from their respective planes, absolutely, but they're also not drifting spire-ward and being replaced with more suitable cities.

I, personally, find the Gate-towns much simpler to look at for 'alignment inspiration,' given that a chaotic evil PC ought to not be equally evil or chaotic as the Tanar'ri, a lawful good PC ought to not be equally good or lawful as the Solars, etcetc. Outsider races, at least in my own opinion, are generally best portrayed as being "ultimately evil" or "ultimately good," or even simply "otherworldly" if we remove a few aspects of depth from them. A player character is most successful if they're dimensional, interesting, have ... conflicts and struggles and so-forth.
Sure, you could play a paladin who is never, ever tempted, always does exactly the right thing at the right time, never wavers, never flinches, never so much as thinks about something off his or her path -- but is that really realistic? It may be realistic for a Celesital, but for a human or demi-human? I don't believe that a well-played character should, ever, be the "ultimate personification" of any ideal, unless this character is also an outsider.

This opinion holds, in my mind, for both PCs and NPCs, bringing it to relevance on the subject at hand: While the Harmonium may not be 'the ultimate law,' or 'the ultimate good,' and while individual factioneers may hold to different opinions, on the whole they're still 'lawful' and 'good.' They're just also mortal. 

They can and should strive, absolutely! And in-character we can turn our noses up at them if/when they don't "measure up." But out-of-character, I think, it's important that we don't. Out-of-character, and especially for the DM, it's important to make the distinction between "mortal" and "immortal": The Harmonium being distinctly the former.

So long as those fulfilled goals aren't "Rehabilitate all elves to be lawful," or "Rout all fiends from the Abyss," absolutely. Those silly Hardheads and their lofty plans!

: >

Nice! Can we steal this quote from you wholesale for the Ortho project Stix? It would make a great chapter intro.

I've always felt that, from a day to day standpoint, the Harmonium in Sigil would be looked upon kindly depending on the Ward in which one lived.  Just some, more or less random, thoughts on the subject:

The Guildhall Ward, with its trade policies and contracts has a fairly significant number of Guvners writing out the contracts, developing them, providing them to the relevant authorities, and also checking the books to verify that all the legal issues have been met for each contract and that all taxes are paid up.  The Harmonium are around for a single purpose: when the Guvners find an irregularity, they call in the Harmonium to secure warrants and important classified documents from the Owners.  Factionholds in the Guildhall ward are few and far between, but in general they take a form similar to that of the guildhalls themselves: two-story structures that surround a courtyard with a single entry large enough to accomodate a full size freight wagon.  A few holding cells are located on the second floor with windows facing the interior, with windowless facades along the street side.  Offices predominate on the lower floor, primarily for record keepers.  The outer edge of the roofline has a parapet walk, from which the Hardheads watch the streets below.  The people of the Guildhall Ward see the Harmonium as a necessary evil, and, in some cases, even as a useful tool.  It's not uncommon for Guilders haggling over a contract to threaten bringing in the Harmonium to "give a look-see to your holding.  Anything we all should know about, neh?"  Harmonium are essentially investigators, though they have a few patrolmen catching catspaws and such.

In the Clerks and Lady's Wards, the Hardheads are looked upon more favorably.  In both Wards, the faction has a number of towers located throughout to clean up crime.  Of course, the Harmonium's headquarters are also located within the Lady's Ward, so the towers are far more common in that area, as are Hardhead patrols.  In the Lady's Ward, the Harmonium are seen as "cleaning up rabble" or keeping undesirables off the streets ("because clearly anyone in such a state is merely looking to rob us blind.  Please pass the crystal snifter, will you?"), where in the Clerk's Ward, the Harmonium are respected for enforcing the law: cutpurses, strongarms, and other criminals without the balls (or, rather, with the smarts not) to take on the Lady's Ward are routinely apprehended and brought to the tender justice of the Mercykillers.  The towers in the Lady's Ward are beautiful constructions of red stones, reflecting the fact that the inhabitants of the Ward pay in donations to the Faction to keep them from "building those ugly towers that would certainly ruin our property value."  In the Clerk's Ward, they are purely utilitarian three or four-story stone buildings, with razorvine continuously trimmed back to only the barred windows on the highest floor.  Factiontowers in the Clerk's Ward are generally located in residential areas midway between two market areas.  Patrols overlap in these areas, so fresh eyes are always on the streets.

Opinions of the Hardheads lower as one looks towards the Market, Lower, and Hive Wards.  The Indep presence in the Market Ward means that most patrols are met with little more than glares and quickly sealed lips.  Faction houses here are shoehorned in between other structures, though the Harmonium do make efforts to blend in.  Holding cells are generally in the back near alley entrances (the Hardheads would rather people not see them bring in their fellows).  In the Lower Ward, the Hardheads are met with pure contempt, curses, and occasionally loogies.  Their structures are similar to those in the Market Ward, except that they stand out due to the effort put into keeping them clean.  It is not uncommon for a Hardhead Namer to spend their first few months working weekends trying to keep the factionhouses from being completely festooned with graffiti.  Finally, the Hive Ward, where Hardheads rarely go, and they tend to be veterans.  On an annual basis, the Hardheads honor those Namers and Factioneers who get knifed in the Hive.  Of course, in the factionhouses (all located outside the slum) the Factors use such stories as cautionary tales for their underlings: if you have to go to the Hive, make sure you've got backup, let people know where you are, and watch your damn back.  

Finally, a word about the Hardheads post-Faction War.  While the majority of the Faction has moved out of Sigil, there are those born and raised in Sigil who see the Harmonium's goal as being unimpeachable.  The Faction has gone underground, becoming essentially a guerilla operation.  Criminals are no longer apprehended and given to the Guvners and Mercykillers for justice, they now dissappear.  There are whispers in the Cage that anyone can be a Hardhead, and that, as well as one may know their neighbor of fifteen years, one day they may catch a body in the midst of a crime against Sigil and then the red masks come out.  The Harmonium are now potentially anyone on the street, so stay in line berk.

Plus I think a lot of the young idealistic young hardheads that cause of a lot of problems are actually Corporate Carrots from Arcadia and the Prime