The Xaositects

Source: The Factol's Manifesto p.150

Sands Threw an Hourglass

The Xaositects - now there's a weird lot. Their history's a little odd too. As near as anyone can tell, the Xaositects showed up in Sigil quite some time after the Great Upheaval: about 150 years ago - at least under their current name. A body bored enough to check records could find some very old references to groups like the Xaositects. The chant says the barmies've been around as long as any faction though - under one name or another. Various documents talk about Xaosophiles, the Discordant Opposition, the Ochlocrats, and dozens more, some with even sillier names, it might be that the same group changes its name every once in a while, or all these different groups could really have been unrelated.

See, that's one of the problems with the Xaositects: They don't write things down. They don't have a real headquarters, and they don't keep histories. So, a body's got to glean an account of the Xaositects from the records of other factions. And that doesn't come to much. These accounts all do paint the same picture of the group, though: They’re trouble. Well, at least most of them.

Most of the time.

The Xaositects never start any movements that last very long, and they rarely do anything of historical significance, 'cause historically significant events usually require a level of planning that's beyond them. 'Course, a basher can’t even make that rule about the Xaositects. There are a few exceptions.

• While the Hardheads were still pretty new to the Cage a couple of centuries ago, a few Xaositects got lucky and managed to assassinate the factol by hitting him in the head with an hourglass.
• A gaggle of Xaositects went into The Lady's Ward 20 years ago anti messed around in a bunch of the local manors' courtyards; some owners woke up the next morning to find only ragged ground, while others found beautiful rock gardens.
• A decade or so ago they arranged an alliance with every single faction at the same time. 'Course, it lasted only about 12 minutes because, when the other factions realized what was going on, they broke the alliances quick.
• And just a few weeks ago, a lot of 'em got together and painted a mural on the Great Gymnasium, a mural most folks consider one of the most beautiful works of an in the planes.

All that might sound pretty benign, or at least harmless. (Except for the assassination. - Ed.) But the Xaositects can take credit for a few other memorable incidents; even though they seem almost incapable of planning major operations, accidents happen. For Instance, take the time the Sensates threw a party and invited the Chaosmen.

See, the more Xaositects a body's got in one place, the greater the chance for trouble - and there were maybe a thousand there that night. Mix in a few Anarchists, and what happens? One of the biggest riots ever to shake the planes spreads through the city, that's what. Mobs of Xaositects swept all the wards, causing vandalism and mass destruction. (A few Sensates went along for the ride, and a few Anarchists directed. - Ed.)

After the first day of the riot, some Doomguards and Bleakers moved in. More Xaositects got wind of it and joined the fun as did a handful of Indeps. A few more cells of Anarchists showed up to keep things rolling. The Harmonium tried to contain it at first, and then the Mercykillers joined the peacekeeping effort, along with some Ciphers and whatever Guvners could hit the streets. For about a week, a meaningless war raged in Sigil, and thousands died. Some thought the Lady'd intervene and "remove" the leaders of the strife, but by the time things bad gotten really out of hand, there weren't any leaders. The City Court burned for a few hours, the Hall of Records nearly collapsed, and a fire swept through the Hive. Some bashers'll tell a body that the Shattered Temple got ruined during these Days of Xaos, or that the Hive was a nice place before the riots, but only an addle-cove'd believe it.

Sure, there's the time the Xaositects painted the Armory pink. (The Mercykillers were not pleased. - Ed.) And the time a Xaosman, as a lark, infiltrated the Revolutionary League, getting three cells deep before he couldn't take it any more and quit. But don't forget the time a mob of Chaosmen went around putting Clueless into the dead-book, just for being stupid. See, the Xaositects ride the winds of whimsy - winds that can blow a lot of innocent sods right into the blinds.

Some will say the Xaositects don't have a history, 'Course, other factions' records say different, but the Chaosmen don't remember what they did in the past - and if they did, it wouldn't matter. So they more or less have a blank slate. No one can beat ’em at living in the present, with ties to neither past nor future. Some Sensates tell folks to "seize the day: "" Take advantage of the present to do things you can't do later. Chaosmen go a few steps further: They "seize the moment." They live in the now, doing whatever seems like a good idea. It's a cinch they'll keep right on doing it, too.

Thing is, why does the Lady let the Xaositects stick around when they can be so disruptive? Why'd she allow the faction in the first place? Well, that question has a lot of possible answers, none of them good. Some jokers say the lady brought in the Xaositects herself, to handle the problem of too many modrons showing up in Sigil. Others say the Xaositects create things the Lady of Pain wants. It's like the old saying: If you put enough red slaadi in a room with enough paint, they'll eventually paint a masterpiece. Just by chance, the Xaositects will do everything eventually. Who knows what masterpiece the Lady's waiting For them to paint?

Factol Karan

Male githzerai planar

Karan ain’t the typical factol. Fact is, he’s not factol all the rime - only when he wants to be. See, when he gets tired of the job, he stops for a while - he quits two or three times a day, sometimes. So far, he keeps coming back to the job, 'cause it suits him most of the time.

'Course, there’s a small bunch of other Xaositects, each of whom'll tell a body he's the factol. Sometimes one of 'em is - whenever Karan’s not in a "factol mood" for more than a few hours, another Xaositect jumps in for a bit but steps aside when Karan wants the job back.

Why do other Xaositects follow this githzerai? It’s sure not because Karan’s impressed them with his past accomplishments. (They don't know anything about his background. Then again, Karan doesn't remember anything about it, either. - Ed.) Still, faction members clearly have a few reasons for letting Karan lead them. For one, he wants to do it, and not many others want the headache of governing the Chaosmen for longer than a day or so. Also, Karan's about as chaotic as they come, and other Xaositects respect that. Finally, the charismatic factol has some good ideas. As surprising as it sounds about a Xaositect, Karan is a great leader - he just doesn’t necessarily lead others to great things.

See, Karan leads by example. More active than any other factol, Karan himself goes among his ranks and stirs them up. A handful of Xaositects (seldom the same handful from day to day) follows him around most of the time, waiting for him to have a good idea - and he does, pretty often. Sometimes the factol keeps the idea to himself and acts on it alone. Other times, he tells a few followers, and they go off, like eddies from a whirlpool, to create smaller whirlpools of chaos. He might even start gathering dozens of Xaositects together to act on an idea - but only for a time.

Karan can come off as a surly basher, a brave cutter, or the barmiest of the barmy. It depends on his mood, as mercurial as the winds of Limbo. One thing, though: He's got a magnetism about him, something that compels folks to follow him. He’ll turn this magnetism to intimidation when simple persuasion fails him.

The factol's appearance changes occasionally, within certain parameters. He’s a githzerai - that never changes. He generally wears a beard and a topknot, but these get longer or shorter, messier or neater, depending on the factors whim. His clothes usually look tattered, and he tends toward a disheveled appearance. Folks frequently see him in a motley collection of plates and pieces that form the equivalent of chain mall. Once in a while, the factol really cleans up and gets some nice clothes - but then he wears ’em until they literally fall apart. Karan almost always remains heavily armed, but he never specialized in the use of his favorite weapons; he doesn’t have the concentration.

That’s something folks usually notice about Karan pretty quick: his short attention span. He leaps from topic to topic without hesitation. He’ll talk normally for a bit, then break into babble, then launch into a speech that sounds like it should be understandable, but isn’t. He’s a unique one, Karan is, just like every member of his faction.

The factol also has a unique ability - leastwise a body’d hope it’s unique. This power resembles the wizard spell creation; Karan doesn’t use it very often, and, when he does, he hides it. His ability lets him call up pure chaos as raw material for his creations, rather than reaching into the plane of Shadow as wizards do. The spell-like power, which requires no casting time and no components, creates an object that lasts nine rounds, in Karan’s case. He can use the power three times a day.

Hive Sweet Hive

The Xaositects don’t have an official headquarters. They don’t even have an unofficial headquarters. Oh, there are places they hang out, where a body can always find a few Chaosmen. 'Course, it likely won't be the same Chaosmen who were there yesterday. If asked, though, most Xaositects claim the Hive as their headquarters. They don’t mean the whole Hive Ward, but the section within the Hive Ward called the Hive. The sprawling slum boasts decaying hovels and nameless streets, tenements as crowded as rat dens, and taverns and flophouses that the word "sleazy" doesn’t even begin to describe, in this ever-changing place, buildings fall daily, only to be replaced later by new temporary structures. Some businesses have operated there for years, often changing owners without notice, and more than a few bashers conduct business there every day, always on a different corner from the day before. Corpses decompose in the reeking Ditch. The Hive's a chaotic jumble, a place where a body can easily get lost.

In other words, its perfect for the Xaositects.

Chaosmen wander the area in groups, doing what they will, but generally avoiding Harmonium patrols that strut through from time to time. A basher can always find a Xaositect in the Hive, whether he wants to or not. Karan and the big bosses wander the area, talking to people, checking on things. (Even they don't stem to know exactly what. - Ed.) They keep food and supplies in empty tenements there and sometimes light purple-flamed torches to announce a gathering. Basically they do whatever they want, ultimately maintaining the Hive in its state of disorder Until the Hardheads figure out how to handle them, the Xaositects rule here. (Harmonium Factol Sarin has more than once rejected the idea of burning down the Hive. - Ed.)

'Course, it's an easy rule, one without laws. Either a body belongs or he doesn't, and a cutter that doesn't belong (like a Hardhead, an annoying Clueless, or just anybody the Chaosmen don’t like at the time) might pay the music for a trip to the Hive. Though not malicious, most Xaositects by their very nature prove dangerous.

Faction members do venture into the rest of the Hive Ward sometimes, singly or in groups, and it seldom takes more than a minute or two to find some Chaosmen there. The rest of the Hive Ward, though also a slum, seems much less chaotic and degenerate than the center that gave the ward its name.

The Hive holds several main houses where Xaositects sleep and various taverns where they congregate. One place in particular, run by Quake Lavender, has a steady clientele of Xaositects. That might sound surprising, 'cept for the way the tavern’s laid out. See, the place is built of light walls and furnished only sparsely. Every few days, Quake and her employees rearrange the walls, often repainting them or replacing furniture inside. They like to change the name, too but not necessarily at the same time that they alter the place physically or move it to a new location. Quake is a Xaositect herself, a big boss (factor), and she knows that to keep Xaositects coming to her place - herself included - she's got to keep it fresh. That means changing it whenever the mood strikes her.

A body never can tell what Quake's place'll look like from day to day, or what it’ll be called. At least it always stays in the same block. A body can't predict when Quake'll remodel, either; recently, during a party with more than 100 revelers crowded into the hovel she was using, Quake decided to move to another building. Most of the party went with her.

Quake Lavender
Female half-elf planar

Quake's a wild mage of the first order. According to the chant around the Cage, she received training from the famed mage Homung the Anarch (Whom she recruited into the Xaositects a year or so ago. - Ed.) and by Homung’s former apprentice, Naha the Incorrigible, With her magic, she renovates her tavern, sometimes just throwing a spell into the middle of things to see what happens.
The half-elf has short, dark hair and wears layers of different-colored clothes, A long scar on the right side of her face mars her prettiness. She uses makeup occasionally just to draw a design on her cheek.
Quake can look pretty surly when she wants to (which means most of the time), and she talks tough, refusing to tolerate bothersome customers. She walks away and ignores those who displease her - at least, when she doesn't throw a spell. Some folks've seen her cast confusion in her tavern just for fun. She loves chaos all right, but doesn't seem to care for much else.
The tavern manages to hold Quake's interest pretty steadily, though she leaves for days at a time when she feels like it. She never hires Xaositects, knowing how unreliable they can be. (Quake does allow Xaositects to work part-time voluntarily, though. - Ed.) Most employees are Clueless, newly arrived in Sigil.

Within the Ranks

How does one recognize a Chaosman? The most obvious method is to look for the faction symbol on the basher's clothing. A more patient cutter might observe the character: Eventually, a Xaositect'll do something disorderly. 'Course, just because someone acts chaotic or disobeys a law doesn't mean he's a Xaositect. A body might also figure it out by talking to a Xaositect; lots of 'em scramble their syntax once in a while, and others do it all the time.

Finally, a Xaositect might come right out and admit he belongs to the faction. Few others, even barmies, would go around falsely claiming membership. See, the Harmonium doesn't like the Chaosmen. Siding with chaos violates their rules - so the act could really place a berk in a blind. The Xaositects don't like pretenders, either, and more than one sod has wound up in care of the Dustmen for impersonating a member.

Role-playing the Xaositects

Every basher's got a stort about the weird things Xaositects do or say. Then there's the time a couple of years ago when all the Xaositects acted "normal" for about a week. That really shook some bashers, 'cause no one could figure what the Chaosmen were up to. Turns out they weren't up to anything, things just happened that way. See, the Xaositects figure that if they acted chaotic all the time, they'd become predictable. Namers, smashing things just for havoc's sake, miss the point. Being chaotic ain’t an excuse to kill wantonly. The object ain't to cause chaos, but to observe it and be a part of it. A lot of cutters talk about the Chaosmen like they know 'em. Ain’t true. Nobody really knows the Xaositects - not even other Xaositects. Members of this faction do share a few common traits, though.

Alignment. Hardly needs saying, but a Xaositect's got to be chaotic. Actions always reveal a faction member's moral tendency, eventually. Evil Chaosmen still act cruel and selfish, just more randomly than most. Good ones leave haphazard beauty and chance kindnesses in their wakes. A truly chaotic cutter might commit an evil act one day and a good one the next, then seem pretty neutral For a couple of weeks. Most in the faction act chaotic neutral; even those that start out good or evil find themselves slipping away from those ethics, which only distract them from the sublime joy of chaos.

Class. As a body might expect the Xaositects attract a variety of different professions. Alignment keeps out some, like paladins, but the ranks of chaos include at least a few of almost anything else. Quite a lot of warriors join, since - as any mage'll say - brawling doesn’t take much concentration. (By the same token, few Xaositect warriors have the single-mindedness needed to learn a weapon specialization. - Ed.) Simple fighters seem the most common, though a few solitary ranger types belong as well. Expect to see a high proportion of rogues, too, since they’re usually the selfish types that like a faction that lets a body do whatever he wants. A lot of prime thieves can accept the Xaositects, 'cause it doesn’t demand much from 'em.

Chaosman clerics, though uncommon, always devote themselves to a chaotic power. Chant says some of the major Xaositect priests are proxies of those powers. Thankfully, the Xaositects don't have too many wizards, either, because studying magic takes a lot of concentration, which most Chaosmen can't manage. However, since magic can add so much chaos to the cosmos, more than a few Xaositects try to become sorcerers. The faction includes a few illusionists, transmitters, and invokers as well, but not many other specialists. A body's well-advised to stay away from any of these spellcasters. A Xaositect with a sword is one thing, but one who can toss fireballs is another matter.

Race. Not only do the Xaositects not have a human majority, the group hasn’t got a majority of anything - just a lot of humans and githzerai, and bariaur, tieflings, and half-elves. The faction also welcomes members from a few dozen other races, from minotaurs to slaadi. A group with no rules to speak of doesn't leave anyone out.

Xaositect Membership

Joining even this chaotic faction requires following a procedure of sorts. Naturally this procedure varies. But the one detail that always stays the same is that bashers wanting to join first have to be sponsored by a member.

Usually, the faction member recommending new recruits is a Xaositect high-up, the equivalent to a factor, or the factol. Sure, sometimes a mere namer accepts someone into the faction and no one blinks; other times, a factor gives the go-ahead, and nobody else accepts the new sod, as though in unvoiced accord. There’s not much rhyme nor reason to this method, but folks say Chaosmen can sense the chaos (or lack of it) in a new member. A basher who fits in with them just fits, and everybody in the faction knows it instinctively. (The chant whispers that nobody even had to let Karan in: one day he just showed up in Sigil calling himself a Xaositect, and six weeks later he was the factol. - Ed.)

Sometimes a basher has to take a test to join, and sometimes a Xaositect sponsor just says "okay." Some new members had to go through a waiting period or an interview with a few Chaosmen; others had to pay dues or sign statements of intent. One sponsor makes prospective members dress up funny and do barmy stunts. 'Course, a basher who wants to join doesn't necessarily have to do what he's told - sometimes the Xaositect sponsor really wants a refusal.

Once an "official" member, a cutter usually starts wearing the faction symbol, so everyone knows his affiliation. The symbol tells other Chaosmen, "I want to know when someone has a bright idea, so I can get in on the act." 'Course, any faction member can always approach a handful of comrades in chaos and give 'em an idea for something new and interesting to try - but if he doesn’t wear the symbol himself, another Xaositect might not know to include him in the fun.

Do Chaosmen have ranks? Well, as usual, the answer is "sometimes." Xaositects form a spontaneous, spastic sort of organization, its members always working at a half-dozen different tasks at once, and ready to drop them all when a new brainstorm hits.

New Chaosmen, or namers, just like to cause chaos and act barmy. Everybody s seen ’em: They make their affiliation an excuse for bizarre actions, seem willing to try literally anything, and can't stick with one thing for more than five minutes. They'll work for themselves or anybody with an interesting idea, regardless of its consequences. Thing is, namers try to be chaos, rather than be a part of chaos. Though they wear their faction symbols like badges, namers don't get much respect.

Once in a while, a namer'll catch a due and advance to the equivalent of a factotum, sometimes called a boss. To become a boss, a basher must win the acceptance of other bosses (as determined by the DM). It’s an unstated acceptance, given when a group of bosses latches onto a namer's notion (like racing around The Lady’s Ward Tickling folks with an erinyes feather) and run with it. See, any berk can unite a group of namers behind a goal, but only a basher of boss material can motivate higher-ups. A cutter from another faction can recognize bosses by their air of leadership, as well as by their small groups of followers. Some will stick with a boss for quite a while, happily caught in the eddies of someone else’s chaos, but others come and go.

As they grow more and more attuned to the chaos around them, some bosses eventually move up in the ranks. (Again, the DM decides whether to promote a character, an advance not necessarily related to level. - Ed.) These folks become big bosses: more or less the equivalent of factors in other factions. Big bosses really marshal the chaos around them. They act a lot like regular bosses, bringing groups of Xaositects together for specific purposes. But a perceptive cutter might tell that big bosses work with more skill in chaos than mere bosses, and that they can gather bigger groups of followers. Fact is, big bosses get regular bosses to go out and gather groups together for particular tasks. The best compliment a basher can pay a big boss is calling him a "mobile center of disorder."

Maybe a half-dozen big bosses live in Sigil and elsewhere, like the town of Xaos on the edge of the Outlands. Some have held factor rank for months or years; others last only an hour or a week. Some prominent ones fill in when Karan gets bored as factol. One well-known big boss is Mordrigaarz Antill. (First detailed in the adventure The Eternal Boundary, - Ed.)

Mordrigaarz Antill
Male human planar

The muscle-bound Mordrigaarz grew up in the town of Xaos. He came to Sigil in his teens, less than a decade ago, looking for adventure. He found some - he joined the Chaosmem. Before two weeks had passed, he was a boss. The faction recognized him as a big boss recently, after he rounded up Chaosmen in the Hive to defend their turf when a lot of local barmies and bubbers were being kidnaped. The fighter figured that if he randomly thrashed anyone he didn't know, eventually he'd find the one responsible. It worked well enough for other Xaositects to start paying him more attention.
While not a bad guy, Mordrigaarz, like most in his faction, tends to leap before he looks. He enjoys brawling and goes out of his way to start fights. He seems to get involved in quite a lot of them, too; he makes good use of his brawling skill to protect the Hive from non-Xaositects. He leads "patrols" whenever he feels like it, recruiting new members and harassing those who don’t belong in the area. (Determined by whatever criteria he happens to be using at the time. - Ed.)
The blood has bulging eyes and unsightly, patchy tufts of dirty blond hair.

Faction Abilities
Chaosmen know scramblespeak, the secret language of Xaositects, and they have an instinctive sense for where to find lost items; this requires making a Wisdom check against a DC determined by the DM. Chaosmen can't repeat this check until the item moves, and this sense for lost items doesn't apply to items that were deliberately placed somewhere, only to those misplaced through the forces of chaos. In addition, Xaositects can spend Inspiration to invoke the Babble spell. Spellcaster Xaositects add the spell to their spell list at 5th level.

Chasomen bosses gain the following feat:

The Chant

Some bashers feed folks the chant that all Xaositects are barmy. See, most berks can't tell the difference between loony and chaotic. A chaotic basher doesn't see or hear things that aren't there - but he might suddenly remember something from an hour, a day, or a year ago, and comment on it. A Xaositect won’t have more than one personality, but he might seem to change with the time of day. And truth is, both barmies and Xaositects speak in rhyme, say things that don't make sense, or sit and laugh for an hour. A real loon at his tavern job might seem completely normal one moment, then leap up among the dishes and start to howl the next - and so might a Chaosman. Sometimes it’s tough to tell the difference between ’em, and sometimes there ain't a difference; a Xaositect can go barmy like anyone else, 'cept it'd take longer fur anyone to notice.

Xaositects know they seem crazy to other people, and they use it to their advantage. Most knights of the cross-trade, given the choice, would rather bob a strong warrior than a skinny barmy, because at least they can guess how the warrior will react: barmies and Xaositects are unpredictable. If a Harmonium patrol comes by to pick up the chain, will the Hardheads ask a Xaositect? Not likely, ’cause they know the Xaositect won't make sense. Smart Xaositects don't make sense any more than they need to.

One of the faction’s latest hits of craziness is the ongoing painting campaign. A while back, a Chaosman up and decided she wanted to paint. She really wanted to paint. For weeks, she went quietly along decorating anything in the Cage that caught her fancy; sides of inns, trees, roads, anything. Some days she produced beautiful representational works, and others she'd frantically spatter pigment in a colorful rain. It didn’t take long for a few other faction members to catch on to this hobby of hers: Soon she was leading a whole platoon of artists. Their most recent work was the grand mural on the wall of the Great Gymnasium, 'Course, the Ciphers loved the result, but another faction might not be so receptive to Xaositect art. Word is The Painter(Pl/♀tiefling/F8/Xaositect/CG) and her troops plan on visiting the Hall of Speakers next, to do a little "touching up" to that big statue in front of the Hall.