The factions of Planescape are fictional philosophical and political organizations in the Planescape campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Introduced in the 1994 Planescape Campaign Setting, the original fifteen factions served both as character affiliations and as institutions responsible for much of the administration of Sigil. Each advanced a different explanation of reality in a setting where belief can physically affect the multiverse.

The factions became one of the setting's defining features. Contemporary critics treated their competing ideologies as central to Planescape's emphasis on role-playing and philosophical conflict, while later commentary discussed their use as character archetypes, political institutions and expressions of the player's internal conflicts.

Conception and design

Designer David "Zeb" Cook summarized the intended tone of the setting as "philosophers with clubs". Faction membership was presented as an optional but important component of character creation. Each group supplied a worldview, institutional support and mechanical advantages and disadvantages in addition to a character's race, class and alignment.^[1]

The factions initially received relatively brief descriptions in the campaign boxed set. The 1995 supplement The Factol's Manifesto expanded them through accounts of their histories, internal divisions, leaders, headquarters, rivalries and abilities available to members.^[2]

In adapting elements of the Planescape setting for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, lead designer F. Wesley Schneider said that the creative team retained factions which continued to work for a modern version of the setting, while combining organisations and changing some philosophies. The Hands of Havoc, for example, combined elements of revolutionary and anarchist groups into an organisation presented partly as freedom fighters.^[3]

Role in the setting

In the original setting, the Lady of Pain permitted fifteen official factions to operate in Sigil. Although she remained the city's ultimate authority, the factions performed much of its ordinary political, judicial, commercial and civic administration. They also competed in an ideological struggle for adherents, since the setting treats belief as a force capable of changing reality.^[2][4]

Most factions used a common hierarchy. A faction's leader was known as its factol, senior officers as factors, full-time operatives as factotums, and ordinary or less committed members as namers.^[2] Their philosophies were deliberately simplified and taken to extremes.^[1][2]

Original factions

The original campaign setting presented fifteen recognized factions. Each supplied its members with a philosophical identity, allies, enemies and game-mechanical benefits and restrictions. Most also controlled a prominent headquarters or performed a civic function in Sigil, although groups such as the Free League and Revolutionary League deliberately avoided centralized leadership.^[1][4][2]

Publication history

The factions were introduced in the 1994 Planescape Campaign Setting and expanded in The Factol's Manifesto the following year.^[1][2]

The 1998 adventure Faction War dismantled the original political arrangement. Several factions were dissolved or merged, while others were expelled from Sigil or continued operating without official authority. The result ended their collective control of the city's institutions and was intended to provide a substantially altered status quo for later campaigns.^[6]

Released for the fifth edition of D&D, the 2023 boxed set Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse restored the factions to a formal role in Sigil's administration, but reorganized them into ascendant and minor factions. Ascendant factions are the twelve most influential organisations in the city and oversee aspects of its government, economy and daily life.^[7][8] Ten of the original fifteen factions returned as ascendant factions: the Athar, Bleak Cabal, Doomguard, Fated, Fraternity of Order, Harmonium, Mercykillers, Society of Sensation and Transcendent Order, along with the former Dustmen under the name Heralds of Dust. The remaining two ascendant factions are the Mind's Eye, formed from the post-Faction War union of the Believers of the Source and Sign of One, and a new faction called the Hands of Havoc.^[7][6]

In other media

Several factions, including the Believers of the Source, the Dustmen, the Revolutionary League, the Society of Sensation, the Xaositects, perform narrative and gameplay functions in the 1999 video game Planescape: Torment. They control several important locations in Sigil, provide quests and dialogue, and allow the Nameless One to affiliate with some of their ideologies.

Reception

Contemporary reviewers identified the factions as one of Planescape's defining elements. Scott Haring of Pyramid interpreted Cook's "philosophers with clubs" conception as the setting's central idea.^[9] Haring wrote that this idea transformed alignment and ideology from background role-playing details into the principal subject of the setting. He praised the groups as colorful and distinctive, particularly the Fraternity of Order, Society of Sensation, Dustmen and Doomguard.^[9] Gene Alloway of White Wolf praised the campaign setting's emphasis on role-playing and critical thought rather than routine combat, and regarded its combination of adventure, deities, philosophies and magic as one of the reasons the setting functioned cohesively.^[10]

Isaac Perry of Game Informer argued that the factions are not conventional military alliances but philosophical positions taken to extremes. Because belief has material power in the setting, he interpreted their competition as both a source of instability in Sigil and a personification of conflicting ideas within the player.^[11]

Jody Macgregor of PC Gamer discussed the Society of Sensation and its Sensorium, as portrayed in Planescape: Torment, as an example of the game giving greater complexity to a faction that could otherwise appear devoted only to spectacle or pleasure. The Sensorium allows stored experiences to be shared, including memories associated with grief, isolation and other painful emotions.^[12]

A retrospective review at RPGnet compared the system with the factional character groupings common in 1990s role-playing games, but argued that the Planescape factions were comparatively flexible because they provided goals and social support without completely determining a character's personality.^[13] Later RPGnet reviews evaluated the factions both as elements of the setting and as tools for character design. One reviewer considered membership an important means of defining how a character thinks, while another praised the groups for providing archetypes, institutional support and goals. The latter nevertheless noted that parties containing members of directly opposed factions could create practical difficulties during play.^[14][13]

Reception of the fifth-edition treatment was mixed. Mollie Russell of Wargamer called the factions one of the original setting's most iconic features, but criticized their compression into seven pages and argued that the revised material reduced the philosophical conflict and grim tone associated with earlier Planescape products.^[15][16] Joel Franey of GamesRadar+ considered the revised factions flavorful, but thought the setting book overemphasized them relative to other unusual elements of Sigil while providing descriptions too brief to be fully useful.^[17]

Further reading

• Wilson, Johnny L. (April 1999). "Planescape: Torment" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 177. pp. 62–66. Retrieved December 27, 2021.

References

External links

• Planewalker.com, the official Planescape fansite
• The Clueless Inn
• TSR Archive Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine '