Well, I said I was going to do this one day, so here are the factions of Planescape (mixing Final Fantasy and Planescape? It’s a glorious geek fest!)
The pdfs, if you want more details, are here, but I’ll give an overview.
Note: Not all of the factions are listed because, well, I couldn't find them.
Athar (The Defiers, the Lost): They don't believe gods are divine. Powers are just beings with a lot of power to throw around.
"There is no God. I don't care if I can see their puppets before me, waving their little symbols around inlaid with gold, it's not really. A complete hoax. Designed to make money for themselves…the stream of gold into the temples of Sigil is unparalleled. There's a reason for this belief, and that's to keep the gold in the church. When in such an existence as this one, people are eager to believe that if they pay enough money to the right places then their souls will be lifted and they'll be inspired to go on living. Yeah, right, is what I say. These churches are a crutch for the weak that can't stand on their own two feet, and I'm here to make sure that the common folk of Sigil aren't deluded by these people with flashy clothes and spells that are obvious charlatanry."
Believers of the Source (Godsmen): They believe every being can be elevated to the status of the divine beings, or even higher.
"Life is a test. Everything around us is designed to test us, forge us as if we were metal in the smelters, a mighty sword being hammered by our actions and surrounded by the fires of the multiverse. As we make decisions, we either dull the blade, or sharpen it beyond the imaginations of anyone in the multiverse. We ascend or descend through the ladder; in each life we move up or down it based on our decisions. Life is a karmic cycle: were we a slug in the previous life, then a prime in this one? Anyone can advance to the mantle of godhood, all that's required is the proper outlook on things and the proper actions. The 'powers' now aren't so incredibly special: they're just people like ourselves that have taken the right actions, learned the right lessons, and ascended through the karmic wheel into their current positions. Work hard, and you could be one, too."
Bleak Cabal (The Bleakers, the Cabal, the Pointless, Madmen): The universe just IS, there is no grand scheme or purpose. It's all rather depressing really.
"Life has no meaning. Look around, it's a joke. It's a joke that's just so plain funny that nobody's laughing. People live, breathe, love, despair, and die for no reason. The vastness of the planes is everywhere, and nothing that anyone does makes any impact on anyone. People might try to be charitable to their fellow man, but everyone's going to die, and all you'd be doing is patching them up emotionally and physically until they passed on too. Action means nothing, because it's just a hollow reflection of feelings and feelings mean nothing because they're no good without action. There is no connection between any two events: things happen because they must, and there's no changing what's happened before. I exist for no purpose, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Some would call me a member of the Bleak Cabal. I say I'm just a sod that's finally realized the utter joke that is the multiverse."
Doomguard (The Sinkers, Downers, Destroyers, Entropy Rats): Entropy is the nature of the universe, and we'll help it along.
"Everything falls. Raise it up all you like, but gravity will pull it down. Build up your house, someone's going to tear it down, and if someone doesn't than time will. Time, the slayer of all things. Look around, the multiverse crumbles no matter how hard you try to stop it. It started crumbling at the beginning, and will continue to spiral down, down, downwards until at the end, we are nothing but ashes. Ashes. That's the Doomguard, we acknowledge that Entropy exists. Some of us want to help it along, some of us want to stop it. Me? I care to stand here, let it crumble without my aid or interference. Anything I do in the end will be pointless anyhow, entropy sets its own pace in destruction as in all things. We are the Doomguard, the Sinkers, and we don't care about what you're doing…because in the end, it all slides away."
The Dustmen (The Dead, the Cadavers): Life is a lie, an ever repeating cycle of coming back and disappearing into the depths. Only by slipping into the state known as True Death is the only way out.
"We're all dead. We've all passed on from our original existences, and we can't quite seem to help clinging to a false "Life"…that is, we can't accept the fact that we're dead. Emotions cloud our minds and confuse us, preventing us to see that in order to become one with our states and Truly Dead we must separate ourselves in every way from our false emotions and bodies. We must stop clinging to life and accept the fact that we are truly Dead. When this happens, we shall have reached True Death and finally ended this horrible existence. If you just up and kill yourself before you've truly detached yourself from your emotions, then you'll come back again, and again, and again, still clinging to your false life.”
The Fated (The takers): The strong rule. Take what's yours, and be as self-reliant and prosperous as possible.
"The way I see it, being a member of the Fated is like realizing your potential. The multiverse is at your fingertips…you just have to reach out and take it. You can take without harming, without hurting other people, but it's all there, ripe for the taking. Grab it, embrace it, hold it close, and realize that there's an infinite amount more for you to take."
The Fraternity of Order (Guvners): The universe works on rules. Learn the rules, and everything else will click into place.
"Order is present in all things. Even in the middle of what some scholars might deem "chaos", there is the presence of order, an underlying scheme to it all. We of the Fraternity of Order know this. We know that the multiverse is based on law, rules that govern everything that we know. Every action can be traced back to the exact laws of the multiverse, as we all operate within the constraints and boundaries of these laws, of Axioms as they are more commonly known. Once we have determined the exact rules that govern the multiverse, we will know all and be able to do anything. Because once you know how to work within the laws, you know how to work outside the laws. Once you know the loopholes of reality... then you truly are the most powerful being in the multiverse."
The Free League (Indeps): Not really a faction, just a group of people getting together for protection. Independence is the most important thing here.
"Born free. We are free from any past, present, or future. Live, but live free. Never swear allegiance to one side or another, for choosing one over the other invariably leads to ties to another being…ties that nobody needs. We are the Free League. We live and die alone, and nobody's going to tell us otherwise."
The Harmonium (Hardheads): Further the Harmonium goal of bringing order to the multiverse…by any means necessary!
"I joined the Harmonium about three years ago. I had heard rumors about a vicious gang roaming the streets. Then my brother fell to their leaden pipes. I wanted to get back at them…there was nobody to keep the order in Sigil, I thought. Then I learned about the Harmonium. Sure, people call them "Hardheads" and claim that they "keep down Sigil", but in reality, they're really nice people. It's our job to make sure that criminals don’t just slip through the cracks…we are the Harmonium. We keep Sigil safe for honest folk that just want to work for a living. It's no surprise that all sorts of merchants and shop owners join the Harmonium: they know that in unity, there is strength. When you're a member of the Harmonium, it's not just joining a military organization that keeps Sigil safe…you're actually joining a family. One of the largest families in the multiverse."
Mercykillers (Red Death.): Justice is absolute. Everyone must be punished if they commit a crime. You are judge, jury, and executioner.
"Guilty. We're all sodding guilty, every one of us. Have you never done something wrong in your life? Well then, you must be mistaken, because I saw the way you looked at that pretty tiefling that just walked by. That's 'wrong' there. Does she appreciate it? Does she want it? Does she know where your filthy little mind is going, where it's reaching? We're all guilty, sod. I'm just here to dispense the proper punishments, for punishment is perfect. It is free of the quibblings about wrong and right, and only cares to punish the wrong. I am the arm of justice."
The Revolutionary League (Anarchists): Society is corrupt. Sneak into the cracks, then crack it open! Rebuild it from the ground up!
"Burn it, burn it all. It's all been a bleeding error up to this point, just one stupid error after another, and I'm sick and sodding tired of it all. The status quo doesn't care about philosophy anymore, the status quo cares about remaining the status quo. Most corrupted of all are the factols, the Fat Cats. Sitting around in their luxurious apartments, surrounded by their hordes of followers…well, then of course they'll forget about philosophy. Of course they'll be lured by the shine of gold…of course they'll forget belief. They need to be taught that for the real truth to be seen, there must be the destruction of all that the factions hold dear. First their followers, then their prestige, and most of all their money. For when the factions are pulled down, we'll all be able to find the real darks of the multiverse without those sodding thought-guilds in the way."
The Sign of One (Signers): Belief shapes the world. Maybe we are all the product of one guys twisted dreams, maybe we all share one, large, collective dream. Who is to know?
"The multiverse is fashioned on belief. Entire planes, layers, cities shift because of belief. Where someone stands determines their perspective, their outlook, their view. I stand at my center of the multiverse. You stand at your center of the multiverse. They are different worlds that overlap and intersect with one another. The Sign of One superimposes our will as a group over the collective personal multiverses of the rest of the being in existence. We stand and fall as a group. We are the Dreamers, imagining our own personal multiverses and creating a single reality for the multiverse. We are the Sign of One. What we imagine becomes real."
The Society of Sensation (Sensates): The Multiverse has no true, overarching scheme other than to EXPERIENCE it. Go out, see the different sights, feel them. SEE what an infinite infinities have to offer.
"How do I know that something exists? I see it. Hear it. Smell it. Taste it. Touch it. The world is experienced through my senses. And a vivid world it is. Look around you! People of all types, all cultures, everything! The smells here are lush and from all corners of the multiverse…being in Sigil truly makes me feel alive. Music, arts, the whole vast tapestry of the cultural spectrum here…it's glorious, it is. The only way to know truly something is to sense it, feel it, experience it. If you can't do that, then it doesn't exist. To know the multiverse is to experience it. And that is what we seek…knowledge of the multiverse."
The Trancendent order (Ciphers): Don't, think, DO. The only way to attain enlightenment is to let the universe FLOW threw you, thinking will only bog you down.
"Look. Move. Search. Find. React. Listen. Move. Move. Jump. Listen. React. Think. No, bar that. Don't think. Move. Jump. Attack. Parry. Retreat. React. Retreat. Walk. Talk. Move. I am a member of the Order Transcendant. Action is all that I am. Thinking is useless. For every action that is an equal and opposition reaction. Feel the Cadence flow. Act and be guided by the multiverse around you. Cause, effect, reaction time, increase. Meditation. Look. Move. Jump. Search. React. Act. I am at one with all that surrounds me. I am the Transcendant Order."
The Xaositects (Chaosmen): The nature of the universe is pure, unadulterated chaos…act accordingly…or don't.
"Chaos you it's get it berk don't?"
"Ît's bČr|< Xa0s!"
"Dabus! Subades is reprENSTATIVE of XAoS with OBSUREC SPEAK!"
"Soax is berk chaos it!"
"Yeah, sure. I'm not going to start talking weird like sense talking because makes no that."
"lEt's attackkkk the Hardheads!"
"Oh, please, you people, people! Obscuring language doesn't make anything more chaotic or less chaotic! Strange speak doesn't work! Let's go drop bird eggs from the Sigilian trees in the Hive Ward!" -A Xaositect fed up with the rest of the his group, although apparently unaware that there aren't really any trees in the Hive Ward. It doesn't matter; the group went down to the Lady's Ward, stole everyone's hats, paraded around town with them for a while then distributed them back to their proper owners inside-out.
The Mind's Eye (Seekers, Visionaries): Find yourself in the universe.
Ring-Givers (Bargainers, Beggars): You only get as good as you give.
Sons of Mercy (Martyrs): Justice exists in order to hold the greater good.
The Circle of Thought (Circlers, Revisionists): The multiverse is a book always being revised, and the remnants of the last one can be unraveled in texts called semions.
The Mercenaries (Bleeders, Warmongers): Truth is found in conflict and hardship.
Order of Being: Problems are only as bad as you perceive them to be. Problems are never as dangerous as overreacting to it. Serious is bad, and nothing is worse than taking yourself seriously.
Order of Being PDFA Lot of the Factions Here Careful on this one. It's 191 pages, so I suggest that you look only for the factions you are interested in.
Two websites, Lady Cage Mush and Mimir.net, are your best bet for the 15 first factions.
Attached File ( Number of downloads: 1 )
Planescape_faction.pdf (7.01 kb)
Factions, or, Philosophers with Clubs, Hint: Here's Something To Do!
