The Free Leauge

Source: The Factol's Manifesto p.78

Live Free or Die

Being an Indep, a member of the Free League faction, has its advantages and disadvantages. For the most pan, all the other factions save the Harmonium - cast a peery eye on the Indeps but generally leave them alone. Often, the only interaction between the Free League and the other factions is bartering for hired services, for the Indeps willingly hire out for the right price. Indeps frequently take jobs as mercenaries, spies, couriers, and guards; as such, they're often in demand for key positions throughout Sigil and the Outlands. Furthermore, a number of factols view Free Leaguers as potential recruits for their own factions, including the Sensates, the Fated, and the Revolutionary League. Some of them have begun to wage quite a campaign to get the Indeps to give up their independence and join the ranks of a "true" faction, though, if pressed, most'd admit it's a futile effort.

Indeps in Sigil're having an especially tough time as of late. The Harmonium - no friend of the Free League to begin with - has been stepping up efforts lately in an apparent attempt to rid the city of Indeps. Granted, Free Leaguers don't always follow laws as the judges of the Fraternity of Order might like, but, as a rule, Indeps try not to cause trouble. The Hardheads have always been, well, hardheaded about free-spirited attitudes and viewpoints, but now they’ve taken things a step further, practically trying to arrest the Free League out of existence. And the Hardhead bashers embrace their task with what can only be described as malicious glee.

The nature of the Free League - which isn’t even a true faction, more or less just a collection of like-thinking bodies - has made them vulnerable to the Harmoniums plan. The Free League’s got no factol, which in turn means they have no voice in the governing of Sigil and no seat on the Council. Their free, independent dispositions are such that they cannot even bear to have someone lead their group. But a factol would nevertheless spare them some of their current troubles.

As it is, members of the Free League are only now becoming aware of the Harmonium's tactics. There've been too many disappearances of friends and acquaintances to put down to leaving town in search of greener freedoms. But with no faction hierarchy, they've no recourse via the normal channels. What's more, the Indeps are far too self-sufficient to report the problem to any other faction, even the Fraternity of Order. Fact is, the Indeps suspect the Guvners and the Mercykillers of being in on the Harmonium's plan. After all, the three factions often work hand in hand: The Harmonium makes the arrest; the Guvners conduct the trial: and the Mercykillers carry out the punishment. The Indeps have taken to avoiding all three factions, watching their members with wary eyes. And then there's the matter of what the Harmonium is doing with those Free Leaguers they’ve "arrested" Plenty of Indeps aren’t even scragged at all, but beaten or killed - and some vanish without a trace.

Pure fact is, Free Leaguers're far more at home on the Outlands than they are in the Cage, and not just because the city's been rough to them lately. Inside the Cage there are just too many conflicting passions and philosophies, with too many people warring over power and might. The Indeps, with their love of neutrality, often seem a frail throwaway in the fight for power.

On the Outlands, however, it’s a different story. The Land's a place of supreme neutrality, a perfect meeting ground for bashers of all callings, vices, and creeds. The Indeps' symbol of a dragon devouring itself is common in just about every town across the Outlands, marking taverns, shops, hostels, milliners, and what-have-you as being friendly toward this faction.

See, the Outlands are a balancing point for all the planes. Parts of it are sucked away by the overwhelming philosophies of the surrounding Outer Planes, but the struggle for neutrality - and identity - continues on. This is largely due to the Free League. The Faction spreads its clear-sighted philosophy throughout the Outlands, imbuing the inhabitants and even the very land itself with the ideal of freedom. And that means freedom from the passions and machinations of all those who would control a land, who would warp a portion of the land into the heady philosophies of another plane.

Tradegate, near the neutral plane of Bytopia, is a popular town with the Indeps. Several portals lead from the town to points within the Bazaar in Sigil. Tradegate's a place where any Indep can find a ready, helping hand. For a generously low price, local bashers are willing to join an Indep’s party to explore Baator. Acheron, or wherever; Free Leaguers looking for such assistance know to go to a blood called Swider(Pr/♂human/Ro3/Free League/CN). 'Course, cutters who aren't Free Leaguers might find all the independent thinkers a bit much for an extended journey, bur the Indeps are good about not trying to convert others to their philosophy.

Rise and Fall

Perhaps the best way to understand the Indeps' current troubles is to learn how the League developed. Unfortunately, asking any Indep about himself or his history is as useless as asking a balor the point of the Blood War. A Free Leaguer lives for the here and now, and he doesn't see himself as part of a tight group, at least not any group that can be pinned down by mere words. (An interviewer sent to question an Indep centaur in The Great Bazaar was chased away, receiving a cracked collarbone and three sprained ankles - all in the name of honest research! - Ed.)

The frost giant Brigitte Gunnnarsmoon (Pl/♀giant/Fated/CN), a historian at the Hall of Records, was more prepared to talk - for the right amount of jink. An excerpt of that discussion appears below, followed by notes from the interviewer,

Brigitte Gunnarsmoon:
The Free League? Some say it's as old as the Cage itself. Back when the city were splintering -
Erlon Mybrowse:
You're referring to the Great Upheaval?
BG: Aye, miss, close to 630 years ago, now. We had 49 different factions each claiming their own chunks of the Cage back then. Chaos, it were. Then the Lady - the Lady, herself - visited each factol She'd point at a dabus, and the creature spit out a string of pictures that meant - lets see - it meant: By order of the Lady of Pain, there wilt be but 15 factions in Sigil. Organize thy colors by a fortnight hence - or die.
EM: And hundreds did die, if I’m not mistaken.
BG: Well, the 49 factions had to work fast, and they did. for the most part. Inside two weeks, 34 of them dissolved or died. Most members deserted, publicly denouncing their involvement or joining other Factions. All told, only 17,734 folks died in the purge.
EM: What? Seventeen thousand -
BG: Actually, of all the factions, the Free League fared the best. A lot of folks who saw their factions go under turned to the League, figuring they'd join the Indeps for a while until all the mess was over. Alter all, the Indeps didn't even claim to be a faction, so folks thought they'd be safe there. Fact is. the Lady's shakeup gave the league the highest membership of any faction ever - 'round about a million registered members, give or take. Today, of course, there's talk about starting up more factions, that the Lady didn't mean folks had to stay at 15 factions forever. But -
EM: What's the League's membership today?
BG: Here in Sigil it’s dropped to just under 20,000 - and those are just the ones who advertise their membership. Lots of berks call themselves Indeps and don't flaunt it.
EM: Why'd the membership drop so drastically?
BG: Well, miss, they’re a rare group, ain't they? Most folks can’t handle the freedom of it all - they need focus, direction, rules. It's not -
EM: Wait. You're saying that, from more than a million members, the Free League dropped to less than 20,000 in - what? - 600 years?
BG: [uncomfortably] Actually, it happened a lot quicker than that - during the first 50 years after the Lady's shakeup.
EM: But... but how could the numbers drop so fast? Did that many people desert... ?
BG: No. They just - they died.
EM: Died?
BG: [stands up] Pardon, miss. I've got other duties. I bid yer good day,
EM: But -
BG: Please leave, miss, or the guards in the Hall will be happy to escort you elsewhere.

Gunnarsmoon refused all further contact. Public documents from the period in question were spotty at best, but one tome on medicine featured a curious side note on a shun-lived plague that swept Sigil some 600-odd years ago - a plague that seemed to strike at the heart of the Free League.

This cryptic reference was all I could find. Could it have been another faction's war on the Indeps - an attempt to rid the city of free-thinkers? Or perhaps something larger - maybe the wrong fiends got peeled in the Great Bazaar and decided to wipe out every Indep they could find. 'Course, only one being truly governs Sigil — the Lady of Pain.

How much saner - and safer - to believe the dead were the victims of a sudden, wretched plague.

Leaders of the League

In the City of Doors, the Free League's power is waning, mostly because its members have no voice. But although the group has no official factol three people are emerging from the ranks as leaders: Bria Tomay, a human female, and Lethea and Lesander, twin worries.

The pair of wemics and the human make for a strange trio, but they may be the only chance the faction has. The three have learned of the Harmonium's threat to the faction and have banded together, holding secret meetings with other members of the League in the Bazaar. At first, many Free Leaguers objected - they don’t take direction well. But Bria, Lethea, and Lesander know how to handle their fellows. The indisputable fact that more and more Indeps are disappearing from parts of the city has driven their point home.

Bria Tomay
Female human planar

Bria, a bard in her mid-thirties, is from a long line of Sigil silversmiths, many of whom have dabbled in music over the years. Despite her independent nature, she's never left the City of Doors, preferring instead to spin the exploits of others into music. A normally quiet woman, when she speaks or sings before the Indeps a spark of brilliance shines through her ordinary demeanor. She often roams the entirety of Sigil, keeping in touch with Indeps in other wards.
Much of the time, though, Bria's found at Warbling Blades, her father's silversmithy. (It's found on Red wind Road in the Great Bazaar - Ed) She helps her father and much younger brother with the shop; the three are the last of the Tomays of Sigil, Bria's resisted learning the art of shaping silver, preferring instead to create and develop new instruments of wind or string.

Lethea & Lesander
Female and Male wemics

The wemics, brother and sister, are immediately recognizable by their intensely russet manes of hair. They’re virtually identical in appearance, saving only their gender:
Lethea is female, Lesander male, Captured as cubs on their homeworld of Rublia, they were brought to Sigil by the noted biologist Gorad Drummerhaven - and promptly escaped.

The wins grew up evading capture, learning how to survive on the harsh streets of the Cage. Adversity honed their spirits into ones of fierce independence - as a pair. They’re never apart, and they guard each other with savage devotion. So tense are they that they can only be surprised by magical means, such as by someone teleporting immediately in from of them. Their bond is unbreakable, and they operate as if they were a single, highly efficient entity, even sharing thoughts through telepathy. (A band of clever primes once managed to separate the wemics and capture Lesander. Lethea promised to give them anything they desired in ransom , but the berks slipped up and were killed before they could collect. I'm surprised that - powers forbid - more cross-traders haven't tried to succeed where they failed. - Ed.)

Lethea and Lesander seldom leave the Bazaar, but they roam the trading grounds every day laying claim to the area as their territory (an instinct they’ve been unable to curb). They know all of the Indeps who frequent the Bazaar, picking up bits of the chant From merchants and customers who pass through daily.

The Great Bazaar

It's fitting that the Free League doesn’t have an actual building for a headquarters, for that'd rather defeat the purpose of "freedom." Throughout Sigil, a number of places offer safe haven to Indeps - usually in exchange for their hiring on as guards for some future caravan run.

Primarily, though. Free Leaguers gather in the plaza holding the tents, caravans, and wagons of the Bazaar (sometimes called the Great or Grand Bazaar). Located in the Market Ward, the Bazaar covers a number of avenues and adjoining side streets, spreading out like the legs of a monstrous spider. Inside the Bazaar a berk can find literally anything he might happen to want. Or rather, he can find a merchant selling the item; whether the item's actually present is another matter entirely. The plaza’s covered with peddlers' stands and tents; anything that can’t be carried or hauled in is kept in bags of holding or other multidimensional devices. 'Course, anybody who buys something that's not physically present right then and there and doesn't confirm it actually exists is just asking to be peeled. And that’s not to mention the pickpockets, fleecers, and other knights of the cross-trade that’ll mark a soft target in an instant. A body’s got to be careful in the packed aisles of the Bazaar, It’s not a place for the naive or sympathetic, for fast-talkers and beggars'll get a sod every time.

But the Bazaar does offer one thing of genuine value: freedom. The Indeps see to that. A merchant’s free to ply his trade and get an honest wage for it; he doesn't need to gild the hand of some high-up like he might in one of the other wards. Even the smallest peddler can take his wares to the Bazaar, and the Indeps make sure he gets booth space that won’t cost him his firstborn.

The Bazaar changes constantly never the same mix of sellers from one week to the next - part of the reason it’s taken so long for the Indeps to realize their ranks are vanishing. But the taverns, inns, stables, cafés, and other permanent establishments that line the plaza provide a network of safe houses for the Free League. One of them's the Red Lion Inn.

The Red Lion Inn

Bria Tomay and Lethea and Lesander frequent this inn, a large hostelry at the edge of the Bazaar. (The Red Lion's at the comer of Saints Boulevard and Revel Road, a block from Duskgate Road - the main thoroughfare through the Market Ward. - Ed.) The building's quite a sight, more than 450 feet long, with jagged pillars rising 200 feet into Sigh's sky. Its flat roof serves as a landing field for airborne travelers, as well as aerial quarters for hippogriffs, griffons, and other flyers.

Fact is, the Lion caters mostly to hybrid beings - that is, wemics, centaurs, bariaur, satyrs, and the like. The inside of the inn’s on a scale comfortable to such creatures outside the humanoid norm: no chairs, and tables that're either waist-level (for those who prefer to stand on all fours) or knee-level (for those who want to lie down in the soft rushes covering the floor). Spacious stalls provide sleeping quarters for centaurs or bariaur, while wemics and other carnivores can rent cozy dens with exactly one small opening. Apart from Bria Tomay, humans and demihumans are a rare sight at the inn. Unless accompanied by a hybrid companion, humanoid visitors are given the once over and then almost certainly the brush off.

The inn's pillars once supported a multistory structure, hut the current owner, Jadex (Pl/♂centaur/R10/Free League/CN), gutted the building. He left the pillars standing as guideposts to airborne guests. Jadex also left in place the main entrance's portcullis, but added more at all the other entrances to the building, ostensibly as "decor." However, all the portcullises are fully functional, and the Red Lion Inn can effectively close its gates and defend Itself quite well in case of siege.

Lethea and Lesander are especially pleased with the Red Lion as a fortress. They feel secure enough to relax; here, the twins actually sleep at the same time. (They have a private den reserved solely for them, one with an additional den hidden behind a secret door.) And Bria frequents the place so often now that Jadex bought her a chair. The trio has begun holding weekly meetings at antipeak (what some primes call 'midnight' - Ed.) closing the inn off to all but Indeps.

Within the Ranks

While the Free Leagues a loosely based faction, it is a faction nonetheless. Indeps who choose to wear their badge proudly do so not to identify themselves, but to promote the ideas associated with the symbol - namely, acceptance, balance, and individuality. It's also a signal to other Indeps that a potential ally's nearby; Free Leaguers aren't a close-knit group, but they do like to toss the chant around and look out for one another. The Free League's likely to appeal to player characters of independent natures and those who are shy about espousing a particular philosophy.

Role-playing the Indeps

It's hard to be an Indep. Truly independent Free Leaguers have no preconceptions, attitudes, or viewpoints that might cloud the truth of a matter, it's not easy playing a character who has no biases, no prejudices, no leanings one way or another. An Indep might be suspicious, but not judgmental. He doesn't believe that any one philosophy is the be-all and end-all of the multiverse, To embrace one ideology denies independent thought, evaluation, and existence.

Most Indeps, tolerant and open-minded, know how to get along with other factions. They make excellent party members, even though some other factions usually look on them with a skeptical eye, feeling that an Indep's pure neutrality makes him somewhat untrustworthy. But the Indeps' simple attitude and forthright outlook can often act as buffers between less neutral faction members. After all, a genuinely neutral party member shouldn't take sides in any conflicts that arise between comrades, leaving him free to play the unbiased arbiter in disputes. Furthermore, he's not likely to be swayed by the pleas or machinations of fellow PCs; the true Indep makes up his own mind on any given situation.

Fact is, in parties made up of members from different factions. It’s the Indep who often holds the group together. With members of the Fated, he's quite cordial; Takers believe in looking out far themselves first and foremost, and Free Leaguers admire that independence. With all other factions save the Harmonium, an Indep's absolutely neutral, the one who advocates a more standoffish approach in party disputes. 'Course, when a group contains both an Indep and a Hardhead, blows may result, but that makes for exciting role-playing.

Alignment. Most Indeps are neutral, though members of this faction can be of any alignment But what if a player opts for a Free Leaguer who isn't neutral? Should a lawful good Indep help the world around him, while a chaotic evil Indep fosters the seeds of vile treachery everywhere? Not necessarily, Of all the Factions, the Free League's least swayed by the ideals of the multiverse - or the alignment of its members. And those with strong tendencies toward good and evil tend to shun this faction, finding its unbiased premise disconcerting. Indeed, an Indep PC of any good or evil alignment won't be as trusted by other Free Leaguers: he won't have access to the factions underground network of information (see "Indep Membership" below).

Race. The Free League's open to any race, of course, but it's worth noting that hybrid beings seem to prefer the League over other factions. Perhaps because of their dual nature, bariaur, satyrs, wemics, centaurs, and the like have a more neutrally balanced outlook on life, one that perfectly exemplifies the Indeps. The "animal" in them seems more in tune with the natural rhythms of the multiverse, more aware of the true balance of life.

Indep Membership

Free Leaguers accept others for what they are, imposing no restrictions on members in terms of race, alignment, or class. Anyone with an independent spirit and a questioning mind can join - just ask any Indep for admittance. He'll throw out a few questions, like: What do you believe in? (The answer’d better not be something concrete; if it is, the Free Leaguer steers the berk toward the appropriate Faction.) What would you give up your independence for? (The answer'd better be a resounding "Nothing") Then the candidate's warned that, with no factol the Free League has no representation - and few rights - in Sigil. If the berk's still willing to sign up, all that remains is buying a round of hot drinks for his new fellow Indeps.

Faction Abilities
Indep members gain advantage on saving throws against charm spells and effects. In addition, they can spend Inspiration when charmed to act of their own free will for one round and gain an extra saving throw to break the charm if they normally wouldn't be allowed one.

Members that are part of the faction for some time gain the following feat:

The Chant

Word's spreading through the Great Bazaar that the Harmonium seems to be stepping up its efforts to collar Free Leaguers. A potter named Austick (Pl/♂gnome/0-level/Free League/LN) even swears he overheard two Hardheads passing by his stall joke about supplying the Mercykillers with slaves and troops for wars on Acheron. Indeed, the Hardheads’re arresting quite a number of Indeps throughout Sigil but so far the "incidents" have all taken place beyond the confines of the Bazaar. As such, Bria Tomay and Lethea and Lesander have been recommending that the Indeps retreat from the rest of the Cage to the Bazaar, there to make a stand if the Harmonium should authorize an all-out affront. All but the most stubborn Indeps have moved to the marketplace or nearby.

The Bazaar is large enough to hold the influx - barely. But nearly all of the sleeping establishments are full up, and quite a few merchants from out of town have been refused lodging. No one's yet come to blows over the problem, but there's plenty of grumbling.

Bria and the twins are said to be discussing various lines of defense against the Hardheads: sending spies to infiltrate the Harmonium, getting Indeps to act as bait to ambush roaming Hardheads, even making a strong counterstrike to stave off what might turn into a full-scale war. Any Free Leaguers interested in helping the cause should inquire after Bria at the Red Lion Inn.

Its also worth noting that the chant says the Red Lion's got secret portals to the Outlands, which are used to bring in supplies. Sister Zil (Pl/♀tiefling/P4/Free League/ NE), a minister to beggars in the Bazaar, sat in on a recent faction meeting at the inn. She says talk centered around the possibility of using the portals to bring more Indep troops into Sigil.

Unfortunately, the Hardheads aren't the only problem facing the Free League right now. A number of Indeps in the Cage've come down with a strange illness that makes them lapse into a sweaty, babbling fever. So far, every sod that's contracted the disease has died (some within an hour, some lasting as long as three weeks). No known cure seems to help; no one even knows what's causing the sickness, though some Indeps blame the Hardheads for this, too. But a few Free League wizards in Tradegate have been working on the problem since the first victim fell ill and word now is they just might have found something.