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So, about The Bleak Cabal...

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Fri, 2011-11-04 17:36
#1
Clockworkdeity
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So, about The Bleak Cabal...

I'm having some trouble wrapping my mind around what the Factol's Manifesto describes. A couple things spring to mind:

1) They say that there are no answers in the multiverse, that all answers will only be found within. How does that make them super crazy or depressed? Certain answers & motivations can be found within in everyday life and it actually helps people out. Example, by playing a sport on a whim I can decide that I really get fulfillment from it.

2) If the cabal has a reputation for being unstable, why are they trusted with the various soup kitchens and charity work in Sigil? Why would you trust people who are called "madmen" with the hospital and insane asylum of the city??

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Fri, 2011-11-04 18:34
#2
Zimrazim
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Re: So, about The Bleak Cabal...

Clockworkdeity wrote:
2) If the cabal has a reputation for being unstable, why are they trusted with the various soup kitchens and charity work in Sigil? Why would you trust people who are called "madmen" with the hospital and insane asylum of the city??

This is Sigil -- the same city that once had the Doomguard doing the city policing.

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Fri, 2011-11-04 22:26
#3
Hyena of Ice
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Re: So, about The Bleak Cabal...

Aren't the Bleak Cabal mostly in charge of ghetto-tastic stuff in and near the Hive?

Fri, 2011-11-04 23:11
#4
sciborg2
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Re: So, about The Bleak Cabal...

I think the important thing to keep in mind is that no one would do the charitable things the Bleakers do if they weren't around. Or, at least not on that scale.

The planes are where the gods play politics, and even a genuinely benevolent god is up against their rivals.

Celestials have their backs against the wall.

The other factions are convinced that either the poor are part of entropy's natural course, are part of the power structure that the Revolution will cure, or figure when transcendence occurs or everyone is filled with inner peace these problems will take care of themselves.

This leaves the Bleakers, who go mad because in a Multiverse with so many miracles, none of it matters. I think this is a huge challenge in the face of so much suffering and so many hollow answers that seem so beautiful, and in a reality where belief is power but you (if you're a Bleaker) know that all belief is empty.

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Sun, 2011-11-06 13:16
#5
Clockworkdeity
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Re: So, about The Bleak Cabal...

Zimrazim wrote:
Clockworkdeity wrote:
2) If the cabal has a reputation for being unstable, why are they trusted with the various soup kitchens and charity work in Sigil? Why would you trust people who are called "madmen" with the hospital and insane asylum of the city??

This is Sigil -- the same city that once had the Doomguard doing the city policing.

They have the Doomguard in charge of the city's armory. Which... sort of makes sense the way they describe it. Essentially they took it over a long time ago and its too much of a hassle to drive them out.

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Sun, 2011-11-06 13:28
#6
Hyena of Ice
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Re: So, about The Bleak Cabal...

As Sciborg said, the celestials and worshippers of good would have any charity they opened get sabotaged on a regular basis by the forces of evil. Ditto with the forces of law against the forces of chaos (forces of law would have plenty motivation to open up poorhouses and the like, as this would cut down on lawlessness to some degree) The Bleak Cabal, OTOH, are too crazy for anyone to want to bother with. It would be like this:

*Sadistic Yugoloth gives a bleaker a horrible skin-melting disease*
Yugoloth Landlord: Mwee hee, I can't wait to hear the sound of his tormented screams! Serves you right for falling behind on your rent!
Bleaker: *in a stoner voice* Duuude, my skin's melting....
Yugoloth Landlord: >_<

Mon, 2011-11-07 18:08
#7
sirgivesacrap
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Re: So, about The Bleak Cabal...

Philosophers with clubs,The tag line for Planescape, so obviously I think its safe to say a lot of the planescape factions have been derived from our own philosophers.

Bleakers Equal "Nihilism"

The belief that life or existence has no meaning, no purpose. Friedrich Nietzche is the most mainstream of these philosophers but others have produced more in-depth look.

Use this as a basis on Bleakers out looks and roleplaying.

Tue, 2011-11-08 10:39
#8
Hyena of Ice
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Re: So, about The Bleak Cabal...

Readers should bear in mind of course that there is more than one definition of nihilism, as it is latin for "belief in nothing". Nihilism is often used as a pejorative in ethic/moralistic senses and sometimes as a synonym for fatalism. Normally it is used in the philosophical sense which applies as Sirgiveacrap stated.

Sun, 2011-11-13 12:07
#9
Jenx
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Re: So, about The Bleak Cabal...

Of course they go mad. See, you're thinking from the point of view of a human living on planet Earth.

The Bleak Cabal exists out there in the Planes. The Planes which are infinite, the Planes where any change ends up being meaningless since in the end everything returns to where it started (unity of rings, remember?), the Planes where belief is everything, yet none of the other factions have really, well, done anything.

As for the whole "looking for meaning inward", well, what else do you expect them to do? The Planes are so vast, so infinite and so unchangeable, that when you look at it all, a single individual ends up meaning...nothing. What could ONE body do in the Planes? And all the other factions, they keep looking out towards the Multiverse and saying "Well, it all means this, or it all means that" and so on, but if you're a Bleaker then you've accepted that it obviously doesn't mean squat. So where do you go for meaning? Well, if it doesn't come from outside, you try looking inside. If the Multiverse doesn't care for individuals, then let's look at them even more closely.

That's why so many of the Cabal go mad. Also, do keep in mind that mad does not always equal "raving lunatic". That is also why they do all that charity work. Their philosophy forces them to stop looking at "the bigger picture" and when you stop doing that, you are just left staring at the eyes of some hungry homeless person.

As for why they leave them to take care of the mad and the poor and the hungry? Well:
1. As someone pointed out - the Bleak Cabal mostly operates in the Hive. Nobody cares about the Hive. Most people in Sigil would rather forget it even exists.
2. Nobody else would do it. Bigger picture, remember? Why bother with a single madman or some orphan, when we're playing for the fate of the Multiverse here!
3. They are just so damn apathetic towards everyone and so neutral for it, that nobody can really be bothered to stop them.

And that's the Bleak Cabal. Thank you, good night!

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