Ortho: The Beginnings

I stuck them on the northeastern continent, personally. It fit better with my history.

So I assembled Pre-Harmonium Ortho like this:

It's still a work in progress, of course.

I'm not trying to dominate this project, mind you. If you guys have better names and suggestions, I'm happy to bow to your opinions.

Wizard, a Monk, a Druid, and Paladin work great. All of them would have specific views on what "harmony" is, which might conflict in different areas. These conflicts would carry on to the Harmonium in the present day.

If there is a variation on alignment on the good-evil scale, which would lead to some needed method of dealing with moral alignment differences in societies and even in individuals. Perhaps an overarching bureaucratic structure might help. Perhaps something along the lines of sociologist Max Weber's ideal traits of a bureaucracy. Here’s a few ideas:

1. The government proceeds in an orderly and regular manner governed by paperwork. Any grievances with government activity must be submitted formally through the proper channels. Requests and complaints must be filled out in triplicate and take time to be processed. Issues thought to be of highest order by the hierarchy gets processed first.

2. A high degree of specializations. This develops as the citizens learn to cooperate and depend upon each other as a universal order is enforced. Professionals of various specializations exist in a bureaucracy. There might be various overarching boards and committees to handle conflict. One might be a Morals and Values committee for good vs. evil issues.

3. Objectivity and depersonalization of exchange. Emotional exchange and display are discouraged, for they break down and complicate the regular and harmonious nature of bureaucratic exchange that is done through regulated, objective official channels. Consequently, you might see a deadening of individual emotions and outbursts to run in line with collective mental states. The rules that exist exist for everyone regardless of personal traits.

By the way, how did was it decided on what happened to the chaotic elements? Were they victims of genocide? Forced off the world to other planes? Put in internment camps?

'Clueless' wrote:

The Rilmani were mentioned above - I could see them as a definate force in this world trying to re-set it. Though that may be wandering a bit *too* far from the topics of this thread in regards to background, it's an idea to hold onto for later.

Though the Rilmani would definatly need more of a reason than just the plane is utterly dominated by law. There are infinent prime worlds, and many are probably dominated by good, evil law or chaos, so "resetting" one world might actually shift things out of balance more than leaving it alone. Thus the actions of the Rilmani would have to be to halt or slow the greater advance of the Harmonium itself rather than just to push the prime back to neutrality. IMHO

Who knows the Harmonium might be a Rilmani tool to counter balance some other growing chaos in the multiverse.

Paladin: Romhel of Voll. A knight of noble blood dedicated to all the Lords of Law in an abstract sense. When he became the first Composer of the newly dubbed City of Harmony, he decreed that no lawful god should be set above any other, just as no lawful citizen should be set above any other.

Wizard: Jhary of Heka. Lawful evil (though he masks this with anti-divination items), formally a keeper of Balance, now an outspoken advocate of Order.

Monk: Lawful neutral. Anju, a female warrior (in the broad sense) from an island recently liberated from the Empire of Pan Thaera by a slave revolt. A great believer in personal discipline conquering all.

Druid: Neutral. Mogranhu, a priestess from the northern lands who believed in harmony between civilization and nature. Now primarily remembered as the inspiration for an ornamental garden in the capital city, her actual beliefs twisted to serve civilization's needs.

One difference has to be the religion. The pantheons of Ortho were entirely adversarial, divided into lawful and chaotic parties that had been in continuous open war over the world since its creation. The pantheon of Krynn, on the other hand, is cooperative; the good and evil gods created the world together and, despite the occasional open battle, have more or less been on speaking terms with one another thanks to an equally strong Balance faction. Ortho's gods didn't have one of those.

There were those in Ortho at the time of the Harmonium's first rise that believed in Balance, but it was not an opinion that the gods shared, and they received no support from the powers that be. The Lords of Law were happy to see their hated foes finally driven from the world.

The rilmani did interfere, had been interfering from the beginning since before their instrument Jhary of Heka turned away from them. Despite several successful cuprilach assassinations of high-level Harmonium officials (including, one at a time, all the original Knights of Harmony and many of the leaders of the various other allied nations) the Harmonium endured, having found purchase in more than one ideological soil. In the end, even with ferrumach legions sent to the aid of the elven lairds, rebellious islands, and other embattled groups, the rilmani simply failed (and, in fact, helping the war with the elves last so long only made things worse for them in the end). Whether the natives of the Planes of Law were willing to dedicate more resources to this one world than their chaotic or neutral rivals or whether this operation was simply bungled as the rilmani response to Rajaat had been, Balance failed in this world.

Note, as an aside, that Rajaat was actually created by the rilmani under the leadership of the argenach Jemorille, later known as the Exile for that snafu and many others. Is it possible Ortho also showed Jemorille's silver hand at work? Perhaps the Knights of Harmony were also the result of his inspiration.

You're right, of course, that a world cannot go so far out of Balance without suffering. Here are some possible ideas:

1. Magic itself is diminished in the world, due to the flight of the fey.
2. Positive energy is somewhat diminished as well. The soil is less fertile and childbirth is less frequent.
3. The sun is affected, turning reddish in color.

I can see the present day Ortho being alot like the movie "Equilibrium" or the book "1984", with a HUGE Big Brother or Big Sister thing going on.

As for the four first adventurers, I like the idea of the Druid being female. Maybe she IS LN and is slipping twards True Neutral. She becomes, over a long amount of time, more accepting of chaos. Maybe SHE is the one that falls, like the biblical Lillith from the Garden of Eden, twards The Empire of Pan Thaera, and becomes a protector of the chaos ridden people who still search and fight for their right to freedom. She becomes like a goddess to them when she dies, it would be great if the Druid was elven for a longer life span to play this all out in. She could become the Forbidden Goddess, the one that you worship in the darkness, in corners, in secret, amoungst the Harmonium population. And maybe she is exhaulted in The Empire of Pan Thaera as the Forbidden Goddess. Worshipped in the open, statues and temples openly shown to all to worship her.

Just some thoughts that I thought would work nicely. Also, check out "Equilibrium" or reread or watch "1984" and get a real feel for what exactly the Harmonium could do. I like the idea of the Paladin reaching greatness within the Harmonium and maybe using her/him as Big Sister/Brother, probably not using that name though.

Well, I have rambled long enough.

"Now back to your normally scheadualed program."

Very nice addition on the Forbidden Goddess aspect Clueless .

TheFlamedance Mountains would be the area where the gold and silver would be best mined. Think Africa. Also precious stones, aka diamonds, would be found there.

The coal, steal, iron ore would be found in the Empire of Iathra. Think Pennsilvania and the mid-western states.

Spices would be best found in the Han empire area. Think India and the Spice Trade.

Southern Motmurk would be the best place to have the harvest land. Think the middle of America. Maybe Northern Motmurk for the timber. Thinking Northern America and Canada. Maybe the Empire of Thaera for exotic woods and precious stones. Think of the South Pacific. Thaera could also be involved in the Spice Trade, pirating ship filled with pirates and mercanaries.

-Ophelia

a couple ideas- was it mentioned in the Factols manifesto if the Harmonium Factol was the Leader of all Harmonium, or just the Commander of Harmonium actions on the Planes?

Also- I have to ask- has any consideration been given to Orthos Crystal sphere? To control Ortho, the Harmonium would have to have a fairly strong navy, and I cant help but think that the discovery of Spelljamming would cause the Harmonium to create a sunstantial spelljamming navy, if only out of a continuation of their naval tradition.

But I'm just thinking, if their was another habitable planet in the shpere, who says that the Chaotic aligned gods didnt simply steal away enough of their preists to keep themselves from dying out, and now there is a small colony o f outlawed races living close inisde The Crystal sphere.

Or better yet. The idea of spelljamming is a big secret, and while the extraplanar harmonium know about it, Spelljamming on Ortho is very hush-hush. Think about Harmoium style men in black showing up when a fisherman discovers an odd looking boat with a metal chair inside.

It could be that the Harmoium dont care about spelljamming enough to build ships, but the colony of outlawed races has been, every so slowly, building a navy. Their revenge against the harmoium that killed off so many of their race.

If there are eight people in charge of Ortho, perhaps there should have been eight original Knights of Harmony.

I think an elf from the Elven Shaar (the elven kingdom) and a human from Heka (the savage lands) would fit nicely as the other two to add to that group Clueless.

Harmonium 300 (Hashkar -74): Corwin of Anchor, the last survivor of Ortho's invasion of the Abyss, becomes the first Harmonium soldier known to set foot in Sigil. She remains trapped there for a time before discovering a portal to Arcadia.

Harmonium 306 (Hashkar -68): The Harmonium sets up shop in Sigil. Grateful to have someone to take over law enforcement, the Guvners give the Hardheads the City Barracks. (Factol's Manifesto, 70)

Harmonium 307 (Hashkar -67): An ambitious Harmonium factor learns of the blasphemous beliefs of the Athar and leads a full-scale attack on the Shattered Temple. The factor is mazed by the Lady of Pain, but discrete guerilla raids continue against the Athar for a long time. Eventually, the Harmonium gives up and takes its case to the Hall of Speakers, gaining the Fated and Mercykillers as allies against the Lost. (FM,

Harmonium 308 (Hashkar -66): Some of the Hardheads' allies send them to pacify the Doomguard, who have been a thorn in their sides since the Great Upheaval. The Sinkers conquer the Armory, hole themselves inside it, and open war between the Harmonium and Doomguard continues in Sigil's streets for months. The Lady of Pain does not choose to interfere, although the dabus repair roads and structures damaged in the fighting. The Doomguard finally calls off hostilities when the other factols threaten to revoke their faction status. The Doomguard swears a blood oath to "never again instigate a war in the Cage." In exchange, the Sinkers get to keep the Armory. (FM 40)

Harmonium 350 (Hashkar -24): The Harmonium factol is assassinated by a few members of the newly founded Xaositect faction. The cause of death is an hourglass the Chaosfolk launched at his brain-box. Whether this was deliberate homicide or the unintended result of some bizarre prank is unclear, and probably doesn't matter. (FM 152)

Harmonium 429 (Hashkar 56): The "Empyrean Harmonies" vogue among the Believers of the Source draws the ire of the Hardheads, and covert bloodshed rages between the Great Foundry and the City Barracks. (FM 18)

Harmonium 449 (Hashkar 76): A young githzerai named Omar rises rapidly through the Harmonium ranks. (FM 114)

Harmonium 450 (Hashkar 77): The githzerai Omar is named factol of the Harmonium. The newly elected factol announces that the Harmonium's mission is now complete. The faction will disband throughout the planes and the City Barracks must now be shut down. The lesser factors arrest him, and in the course of the trial Omar reveals his true allegiance to the Revolutionary League. Omar is swiftly "made short work of," and the next factol announces that of course everyone knew what Omar was all along; they were only stringing him along so he'd unintentionally reveal information about his confederates. (FM 114)

Harmonium 500 (Hashkar 127): Publication of The Factol's Manifesto

Harmonium 503 (Hashkar 130): The Faction War.

Harmonium 504 (Postbellum 1): The Harmonium officially abandons Sigil, leaving law enforcement in the Cage to the Sodkillers, Sons of Mercy, and the Planes-Militant.

Harmonium 510 (Postbellum 7): Today

We need a lawful good religion and a lawful evil religion to schism. Perhaps they were native to two different continents, and didn't come into contact until the unified Harmonium creed forced them to. Perhaps one group revered the Hebdomad while the other revered the Lords of the Nine, and the Schism was finally resolved by forbidding anyone from worshipping planar lords. From then on, the paragons of planar races could be honored, but only as intermediaries between mortals and the true gods.

Maybe there aren't any racial gods in Ortho, just Lords of Law and Lords of Chaos who accepted faithful from any race (like the situation with the gods of Krynn). Maybe there was an earlier pantheon before the Lords of Law and Chaos invaded, and that pantheon is now mostly or entirely forgotten (but would still like their world back).

That said, I'm not sure that "civilized" beholders couldn't revere the Great Mother like most other beholders do. The Great Mother doesn't match any beholder's alignment, really, and they worship her anyway. I think that Ortho's beholders are probably still lawful evil and mostly as xenophobic as any group, but they've accepted the beliefs of the Harmonium and won't attack fellow Hardheads (unless pressed). They just use the Harmonium philosophy as an excuse to focus their xenophobia on members of other factions. I like the idea of them using their disintegration beams to create roads, but mostly it's only going to be the "mad" beholders who are fully integrated into Ortho's greater society.

The Lords of Law should represent various aspects of law, order, and harmony. Seven seems like a good number, or perhaps eight if that's to be Ortho's theme.

I'm not trying to come up with names right now (maybe they don't have any), but, keeping in mind that I'm using "Lord" in the gender neutral sense. Maybe they don't have genders, either.

I. Lord of Discipline (also the god of the military, of agriculture, and of children. Formally the god of war.)
II. Lord of Bookkeepers, Copyists, Proper Knowledge, and (to a lesser extent) Invention
III. Lord of Hierarchy (formally the god of kings and nobles, when Ortho had any. Represents obedience and respect for authortity. Thought of as a divine factol of sorts.)
IIII. Lord of Peace and Harmony (formally the god of martyrs and healing, in the time when the Lords of Law and Chaos knew nothing but war)
V. Lord of Death and Judgement (who once judged all the souls of the people of Ortho, but whose duties have declined as the Harmonium has become more planar. Now this god is more the patron of mortal judges and the peacemaking go-between of all gods of the dead)
VI. Lord of Silence (representing things that are forbidden to speak of)
VII. Lord of Watchfulness (who knows everyone's sins and whose priests use divination spells to know the same)
VIII. Lord of Music (the Harmonium prefers military marching bands, but this god represents all music as long as it respects rules of composition and harmony, which the clerics of this god teach and make judgements on).

Forgotten Gods (gods who are no longer remembered since the Lords of Law and Chaos consumed the world in their war)

- goddess of nature (who a certain druid became the proxy/avatar of)
- goddess of fey
- the beholder Great Mother (I changed my mind)
- Gruumsh, Corellon Larethian, and so on
- goddess of agriculture
- god of storms and weather
- trickster god
- androgynous god/goddess of magic
- god of, um, giant reptiles

I think of the Lords of Law as something like the original Roman pantheon, which was so boring that the Romans eagerly adopted the gods of other cultures, which brings us to planar gods commonly worshipped on Ortho:

- St. Cuthbert (one of the most popular)
- Torm
- Koriel
- Paladine
- Chung Kuel (god of truth and testing)
- K'ung Fu-tzu
- Shang-ti

I kind of think there isn't really a seperate orc culture anymore - that humans, orcs, and dwarves are all integrated (or brainwashed, depending on your point of view) into one people. Ilneval seems like a pretty good choice for the Harmonium in general, and for planar Harmonium orcs. Khurgorbaeyag seems like a pretty good Hardhead god, too.

I think that the Lords of the 8 would definately come after the schism. They would come and "clean-up" what that war left behind. They would bring peace, harmony, and law to a once lawless land. At first the people would be greatful for this peace, until they started getting the REAL idea of what is going on. But by then it is too late, the Harmonium has taken over enough of the people to sway the many. "It is better not to protest that which has brought us peace." could be a saying of the elders of the land, to try to pursuade the younger generation to "follow-along, or else!"