The Modern Harmonium

A brief history of the Harmonium (subject to revision):

Judging from the prehistory of the Harmonium - it is signifigant to note that they are not the normal faction. They are one of the few that truly orriginated on the Prime and in fact never *left* the Prime. They were established as a knightly order not as a faction and as such their techniques and point of view is heavily influenced by this.

They had well over 200 years to firmly establish themselves on Ortho before moving out into the planes - and for much (if not all) of their time considered the Planes to be 'colonies' of Ortho proper. On reaching Sigil, shortly after the War of Iron (ill-fated assault on the Abyss), they took on the mantle of a 'faction' out of convience as an easily understandable way for the planar residents to understand their purposes. From the planar point of view the Harmonium controls Ortho. From Ortho's point of view... Ortho controls the Harmonium, which is merely an extention of the will and beliefs of their Prime and it is this second view that is the more accurate one.

During their time in Sigil, the Orthorian Central Authority (the world government of Ortho) rapidly expanded both planar and prime holdings. A windfall brought them spell jamming technology late in their expansionist period (about roughly 150 to 175 yrs pre Faction War, planar scholars believe), and with exposure to the technology the Harmonium rapidly spread themselves to other Prime worlds, establishing multiple footholds and colonies in other spaces.

300 years after reaching Sigil, the Harmonium found themselves summarily dismissed from the plane, much as all of the 15 other factions at the time were. (Faction War) With this they turned to the planes as a whole, tending to bastions of belief in Arcadia and enduring the troubles and tribulations of events after the War.

About this period is when the over extension of Ortho's forces became clear - the planar 'colonies' felt they were ready to claim position as full 'provinces' within the Orthorian government, and no few of the other Prime worlds felt the same. Political and social debate followed - though in regards to the prime worlds this was rapidly quieted as Ortho became exposed to the scro and the debate was pushed aside in favor of survival. (Aka - a module collaboration with http://www.spelljammer.org that I'm gonna see if I can get launched next year. ) Even the strong orc populations of Ortho found the aggression of the scro turned upon them.

While Ortho was distracted securing their Prime borders, the Planar holdings experienced factionalization over the course of the wars with the scrog and splinter groups formed (or fell from grace as the Schools of Ethics of Ortho would put it in the history books centuries later) - the message of the Harmonium became something of interpretation, and a number of sects broke off at this time - only some of which are still active.

During this period of expansion and consolidation, the Powers of the Orthorian pantheon deepened their division between the Lords of Order and the Lords of Chaos despite the best efforts of the goddess Ina (an 'under cover' greater goddess, mother or grandmother to most of the pantheon) to subtly manipulate events to consolidate the pantheon again and cleanse the people of Ortho of some of their extremist thought.

The events of the Pantheon War provided her the perfect opportunity and while the powers of Ortho prepared to join in Ina arranged for their kidnapping and seclusion upon Ortho itself. For some time the people of Ortho had no access to their deities, or their granted abilities, as Ina - having lost her patience - spent the time getting the family straightened back out. The pantheon resurfaced afterwards virtually unharmed, though spent the next period of time recovering their worship base. At least one goddess, Saeducial, was introduced forcefully to her own errors during the Seclusion - and has yet to return to Ortho's pantheon. (Can we say... plot hook!)

Some, as yet undetermined, time later - the people of Ortho would once again turn their attention to the Planes. Much time had passed since the first War of Iron against the Abyss, and they had learned much about how to organize a force against such a plane. Following the theories of belief, and with the power of their Prime colonies (and full provinces) - the Harmonium felt themselves - finally - in a position to act against the very roots of chaotic evil to further minimize their influences.

For once though, they decided instead of the direct assault - to approach the problem from the side. It has been said by the greybeards, that the bebilith are the manifest guilt of the tanarri themselves. The demons won't fight against these creatures even as they pluck them from the Abyss one by one, horrifically hunting those of pure evil. With that in mind, the researchers of Ortho turned their attentions to the bebilith seeking to understand the nature of these beasts, and the use of such guilt against the tanarri. In their explorations they found great nests of these creatures on the Astral - webs spun from guilt itself. They found uses for these threads which the tanarri found repugnant, and actively persued other applications derived from the study of the bebilith. In isolated research facilities on the Prime, entire clutches of bebilith eggs were hatched for study.

Unfortunately, in what would later be called "The Moment of Truth" - the planeshifted spelljamming ship 'The Brightlady', while exploring the depths of the Astral in nuetral territory and flying the colors of Ortho - was 'viciously and without reasonable cause' assaulted by githyanki raiders under the direct command of their leaders... (Yeah, and it's not hard to assume there was more to it than *that*.) This unconstitutional attack preceedented the war on the Astral that would see to the defeat of the githyanki, and the establishment of a secure Harmonium prescence upon the Plane of Thought. Rumors of the resurgance of the ancient cult of the Lord of the Watch, Saeducial, are of course utter bunk, it is assumed that her corpse will eventually be found in the Astral as well...

And I think that gives a rough outline of where I think the current Ortho document can dovetail with the Urban Planescape work. I'm curious - the PSCS is going with the death of Vlakith as per the Dungeon module - which means that the githyanki race that Ortho comes into conflict with might not be even remotely the same, or at least won't have the same leadership, as the current canon versions. Any ideas on where you're going with that?

The Liuch Queen isn't really a god - though she approaches one on sheer power and the avid attentions of her species. I could see her *becoming* a full fledged god at some point as well - were it not for that troublesome death thing that a band of adventurers brought her....