I've decided to use Sigil for the first time in more than five years (yay!), and it's gotten me thinking about the factions.
See, I always felt that a couple of them are rather redundant. For example, Mercykillers just seem like sadistic hardheads; do they really deserve their own faction? On the other hand, there are a couple philosophies that seem like they'd make for great faction politics. Like communists. Maybe they'd be too much of a nod toward the real world, but they're a perfect counterpoint for the Fated.
I know there's no rhyme or reason to faction philosophies, and that I can wield my DM hammer however I want, but I'm curious. Does anyone else see any faction as redundant? Or have you added a faction to your own Sigil?
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I try to define the planes more on a philosophical idea more than by alignment. When I did this, I found the factions fell in line with these philosophical ideas (admittedly, I had also added several new planes)
But I guess my point is that I could see you uniting or breaking up factions in any number of ways. The "Factions of Law" could easily be viewed as one combined faction with different focuses. And this might make it more intriguing. For example, the PCs are confronted by a member of the "Faction of Law" and at first interact with him as though he was a single-minded, but well-intended cop (i.e. a Harmonium) but later they discover that he is hiding a secret, sadistic passion for punishing the "wicked" (i.e. a Mercykiller)
Conversely, if there was an "uber-faction" for law, I could easily see the Xaositects and Indeps having muched more focused goals in opposing them, thus giving them a little bit more of a purpose
I took the opposite route and splintered things further (although this diminished the forceful impact of the factions in play). Aside from a few well-known groups (Wylders, Merkants, etc.) some of the factions I included are:
-The Forgesmiths - a group focused on technological advancement (largely inspired by Bytopia) Aside from gnomes, I had a large number of warforged join up seeking to find a place in the world for themselves
-The Jesters - a group that seeks to shake people out of their conventional modes of thinking. This is often accomplished through comedy but anywhere people are just blindly following rules or tradition is a cause of concern for them
-The Abolitionists - a group dedicated to freedom (largely inspired by an aspect of Arborea). Usually this group focused on noble goals like seeking to liberate all slaves but some within the group take the idea to potentially unhealthy extremes (e.g. freeing all the captives of Carceri)
-The Caretakers of the Mind - a group that believes that the mad have glimsed into the secrets of profound knowledge (inspired by Pandemonium). They care for the insane while trying to piece together their shattered visions into a coherent whole. Some within the faction actually induce madness in innocents
-The Iron Ring – a secret group seeking to control all criminal activity in Sigil and then the planes (inspired by Gehenna). More philosophically driven than your average group of criminals
-The Revealing Light (inspired by another poster) - a neutral group seeking to make all knowledge available to everyone. This has both positive and negative aspects. E.g. Knowing where the Wand of Orcus is hidden allows a noble group to try to destroy it; but it also allows a lot of selfish berks to try to exploit it
As a side note, I included a "cursed" ring that made the wearer desire to give away half of his possessions (not including the ring itself). This was actually an item that functioned as designed by the Ring-Giver faction