The Harbingers of Doom

[Lira]

The Harbingers of Doom

  The Harbingers of Doom are...[INDENT]... a sect of militant Hoarites dispensing the vengeful judgment of the Doombringer
 ... secular vigilantes stalking the Dark's worst criminals: the ones the Law won't touch
 ... partisans of a free and lawless Lower who still believe that actions have consequences
 ... the only place the poor and dispossessed of Sanctuary Below can turn to for Justice
[/INDENT]In short, the Harbingers are a hell of a lot more than a church. They're an association of secular, religiously-backed, conflict-oriented characters who have joined forces under the auspices of the Temple of Hoar to punish those who would otherwise escape justice, and to protect the vulnerable population of Lower from being preyed on by the strong. Think Salvation Army if it were run by Batman, but with less salvation theology and more righteous vengeance. Anyone who's willing to pursue the Harbingers' goals, wear the heavy mantle of their responsibilities, and live alongside devout servants of the Doombringer is welcome. Tyr and Beshaba in particular have notable histories with Hoar which could compel their followers to throw their lot in with the Harbingers.

 A word of warning: our faction goals, theology, and position in Lower make the Harbingers of Doom magnets for conflict. We're embroiled in some of the most interesting conflicts on the server, with a complicated web of alliances, entanglements, and rivalries, and part of the fun of the faction is building up those relationships and bringing them to a boil. If you're not comfortable with the possibility of working directly against other PCs, this is not the faction for you. But if you like diving head-first into conflict and enjoy being part of high-stakes cold wars that could turn hot at a moment’s notice, you’re reading the right thread.
 

 Goals and Themes
 Dispense vengeful justice. The Harbingers right true wrongs inflicted on those who have no other recourse. Vengeance is intensely personal, so it’s important to Hoar that the punishment be fitting, but there are as many interpretations of “fitting” as there are Harbingers. Swift eye-for-eye justice? Sure. Carefully moderated retribution to cauterize the bloody cycle of violence? Yep. Elaborate plots that end with an ironic reversal of fortunes? Absolutely.  

 Uphold justice, not the law. Hoar's doctrine of personal, preferably ironic vengeance doesn't play nicely with one-size-fits-all codes of law. We're not a police force standing on corners keeping crime at bay. We're vigilantes who ultimately want people to be so mindful of the inevitability of vengeance that order can be maintained without restrictive codes of law.
 
 Defend the unjustly persecuted. The Harbingers see an inappropriate punishment as a wrong to be righted all by itself. And you’d be hard-pressed to find people who’ve seen more, ah, excessively zealous applications of Upper law than the Lowersmen. The Harbingers have a soft spot for Lower’s people, and we defend them from Sanctuary’s justice if we believe they might be innocent.
 

 Faction Information
 Application: No.
 
 Recommended Alignment: Non-Chaotic. (Exceptions possible)
 
 Recommended Race: Non-Monstrous.
 
 Recommended Class: Non-Druid. Clerics and Paladins must be Hoarites.
 

 The Doombringer, Lord of Three Thunders, the Poet of Justice, Hurler of Thunders
 Portfolio: Revenge, retribution, poetic justice
 Domain: Nirvana/Doomcourt
 Alignment: Lawful Neutral
 Symbol: A black-gloved right hand holding a coin with a two-faced head or three lightning bolts or three deep rolls of thunder
 Cleric Alignments: LG, LN, LE
 
Dogma: Hoar charges his clergy to uphold true and fitting justice and to maintain the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. Fitting recompense will always accrue for one's actions. Violence will meet violence and evil pay back evil, but good will also come to those who do good. One must be careful to walk the line of Hoar's teachings, to seek retribution, but to fall not into pursuing evil acts for evil's sake, for that way is seductive and leads only to one's downfall. Vengeance must be sought for all injustices, and all punishments must fit the crime. Revenge is sweetest when it is sharpened with irony. All attacks must be avenged. Those who do not respond to attacks against their person or that which they hold dear only invite future attacks.

[Lira]

Example Concepts
 Because the Harbingers are this interesting mix of the secular and the religious, there’s a lot of conceptual space to work in.  
 

 The Proxy (Fighter - Duelist): Some insults are unendurable. Some wrongs can only be righted in blood. But men of good breeding know that the cycle of vengeance doesn’t have to spiral out of control when there are more civilized alternatives. The Proxy champions those who can’t enter the ring of honor themselves, and always leaves their defeated foe with a fitting mark to remember them by.

 The Eumenide (Fighter - Bounty Hunter): Words have power. Oaths and promises are sacred things, and those who break them undermine the rightful order of the cosmos. You specialize in repairing that damage by hunting down oathbreakers and dragging them before those they’ve wronged, forcing them to uphold their word - and to suffer a sting for their insolence.

 The Partisan (Fighter - Vagabond): They said it was a Sanctuary, but they lied. They abused you. Exploited you. And when you demanded restitution, they drove you to Lower with fire and steel. Since then you’ve honed your anger into a sharp edge in countless hit-and-run battles against the Chosen, the Pissrats, and Sanctuary’s invaders. Now, with a new conflict between Upper and Lower looming, you’ve sworn bloody vows to the Doombringer to aid his Temple - if only he will grant you vengeance.
 
 The Furious Penitent (Barbarian - Mad Berserker): The Harbingers accept ‘penitents’ who agree to a period of humble service to work off the karmic debt of a terrible wrong, enduring the vengeance of Hoar over time instead of being crushed by it. Your wild, Herculean rage brought tragedy; now you turn it on the Harbingers’ enemies and work to make amends.
 
 The Coinbearer (Rogue - Merchant Lord): The two-headed coin of Hoar rings truer to you than the Doombringer’s other iconography. Coin is fluid power: soft as your spies’ footsteps, hard as the mercenaries you’ve turned against their employers. When justice is out of reach of your more direct brothers, you open doors with rivers of bright gold.

 The Leveler (Rogue - Spellthief): Magic doesn’t corrupt men - it just reveals their true nature. When an arcanist’s hubris or arrogant cruelty draws the eye of Hoar, you set out to undo what they’ve wrought. For some it’s enough to be humbled by their own magic. Others have abused the gift of magic to such an extent that only one punishment is fitting: to strip their power from them, leaving them broken, wretched, and helpless before their victims.

 The Revenant (Rogue - Spymaster): The dead cry out to be avenged, and offer up the husks of their lives in sacrifice. You specialize in impersonation and forgery, stepping into the lives of dead men to terrorize their murderers with a bewildering array of false identities. When the final confrontation comes, the dead will speak through your voice - and you will wear their face.
 
 The Composer of Fates (Bard - Jester, Orator, or Skald): There are men whose pride is everything to them, and no one can wound them deeper than the Composer. Words are your weapons, and you use them to cut down the ‘untouchably’ mighty of society with humiliating mockery, fiery rhetoric, or cutting verses that immortalize their shame.  
 
 The Mistress / Master of Misfortunes (Wiz/Sorc - Transmutation Spec): Beshaba has long encouraged Hoar’s darker impulses, and her servants conspire with his to curse and bedevil those who draw the Doombringer’s eye. As an arcane servant of silent Beshaba, you ensure that misfortune looms over the heads of the wicked like the sword of Damocles, taunting them with minor successes and perverting the outcome into catastrophe.  

 The Architect of Undoing (Any Class - EFUSS Alchemy / Metalworking): Every wrong is unique, and revenge must be personal. The Architect bends a special talent for some craft to the service of vengeance, fashioning the tools they or other Harbingers will use to ensure that a target meets a truly fitting fate. Anything from Hoarite cleric-smiths hammering out holy weapons that will be used only once to alchemical poisoners and bomb-makers fit the bill here.

 Join #harbingers to brainstorm concepts with us!