A different perspective: The Harbingers of Doom

[Random_White_Guy]

The Harbingers of Doom in Lower Sanctuary are a group that has been widely ignored at times but also at other times populated with people pushing things in a certain direction. I'd like to cast light on another potential option. To me the faction isn't a group of Hoarrans. The fact it's even a temple of hoar sits a little weird with me.  I've avoided OOC recruitment just as I've been pushing and focusing on things ICly but with a new push I'd like to see if I can't convince PCs to look at the Harbingers a little differently.

To me the Harbingers are not hoarrans. They're a collective of individuals who have been abused and maligned to the point where they take up arms, weapons, and more to fight back and Hoar is simply a patron of such things. That comes in many forms and shapes but on the whole I feel it adds a lot of potential to Lower Sanctuary as a place where people are often victimized.  I believe 100% that non-hoarrans can easily find their place and purpose in this faction. In fact I'd go so far as to say I feel a lot of things are detracted from the server with how much people perceive it to just be "The Faction of the Temple of Hoar".

I would just like to throw this out that PCs could very easily think of the Hoarrans as just another gang. A gang though that espouses an ideal of taking back from those who take. That doesn't say anywhere you can't keep what you take. That doesn't say anywhere you have to be some noble, gold-clad Paladin doing great and wondrous deeds.

To me the Harbingers would be best served if people shift their view of them.

They're not Watchers. They're not Spellguard. They can be criminals.

[indent]They can be bandits who steal from other bandits because they're tired of all the heat brought to lower by a handful of selfish dwellers.

They can be devil Worshipers who aspire to bring law to the chaos of Lower by sacrificing demon worshipers, chaotic preists, and more  to devils in a sweet irony.

They can be thieves and pickpockets who steal from the fat-purses of Gang members and bandits because it's a challenge or it's a "Tax" to raise funds.

They can be cold and rational assassins who recognize the danger of fanatical lowersmen attacking Upper and poking the bear as such causes gassing of lower and uninvolved lives to perish.

They can be wizards who are slavers, selling Duergar and other races or even Auxiliary type tyrants into bondage to give them a taste of their own medicine.

They can be Clerics of Hoar who believe that public displays of brutality and torture are the best way to make people afraid to overstep their gang territory lines[/indent]

These are all just a few ideas off the top of my head but I wholly feel that this faction, while having potential, gets so watered down as being viewed as "Just a Hoarran faction". Banites, fanatical Helmites, Maskarrans, vigilantes, terrorists, and more can all feasibly find a place and purpose amongst the Harbingers if done tastefully and properly.

Instead of thinking of them as "LAW MEN", "JUSTICE TAKERS", and more I'd just like to throw out that it's possible to consider them as something both darker and simpler. They're a counter balance to the chaotic and wild groups that sprout up in and around lower.

A Lawful/Neutral/Evil type gang to scrap with the Scarhides, Ascension, Ibrandulties, Ghaunadurans or even Upper Sanctuary using the same gang-land tactics of abuse, intimidation, narcotics and more. People can join up for the money, for the bloodshed, for the fighting, or you can just have PCs who are just legitimately devoted to the cause of hoar.


Mostly this was just a post to pitch a new spin and change some perspective, rather than a wholesale OOC recruitment post. Just something to consider if you've got a current or upcoming PC and want a new spin on things in Lower.

[Random_White_Guy]

and as a final note there is a lot of blank slates left to work on for this faction. NPC presence is minimal to none and as it uses the term Association even loosely there's a TON of room for players to shift the way things go, how much or how little they are involved in affairs, and so on.

It's got a cool and flavorful headquarters and the sky's the limit.

[Knight Of Pentacles]

Definitely a post that needed to be made. Though I'm not sure I'd call it a gang as much as I'd call it a militant cult.  In a post-apocalyptic world it should be ideas that bind people together, that said "vengeance" is a pretty broad idea.  You don't have to worship Hoar or any other god. Your motives could be as grand as wanting to be some sort of holy avenger to just wanting to get revenge on Bob who killed your friend Ted.  There are far more concepts that'll work here than won't, really.

[Pandip]

Down with the Hoarrans, up with the Harbingers!