Chaotic. Not Silly.

[lightful]

Well, my players have finally decided that there are enough matters on their extra-planar agenda to make a trip to Sigil worth their while.
Just to make things clear, I love Sigil and Planescape in all of its pre Faction War glory. There is just one tiny matter which irritates me like an itch I can’t scratch.
How do I make the Xaositects chaotic and not silly ?
Every example I’ve seen of their behavior (building spokes across Sigil, jumbled speaking, on-the-spot made-up games, etc.) seems childish and inane. On the other hand if I look at chaos from the needs-of-the-one-outweigh-the-needs of the many theory I’ll step all over the “turf” of other factions (Signers, Free League). So, I ask you again, how would you suggest portraying the paragons of chaos as more than infantile ?

 

[Henry]

So, I ask you again, how would you suggest portraying the paragons of chaos as more than infantile ?

Make them anarchistic terrorists. They undertake plots to disrupt communication, travel, and well-being in Sigil. Maybe I'm not comprehending them well enough, but you don't have to NEVER plan or organize something if you're chaotic. They have te goal to sew chaos because they believe it's "the perfect order" or some other such rot, yes? So they could undertake a LITTLE coordination and planning to sew the greatest discord. They won't be navy SEALS, but they could be small-scale terrorists, who don't focus on destruction of people so much as destruction of organization and order. Public works (but steering clear of actively screwing with dabus), paperwork, important merchants and officials, all would be targets for delayed fireballs in inconvenient places, for golems who have had their commands magically altered, for buildings that have had all but one or two critical pylons removed, that sort of thing. If people die, so be it, but the main thing is the interruption of the natural blow of life and business.

 

[Zappo]

Henry is describing the Revolutionary League pretty well. IMO, Xaositects believe in chaos on a more abstract level. On an adventure I wrote, Xaositects were trying to cause modrons to go rogue en masse using a powerful chaos artefact (and they were coordinated enough to do this, although barely so); not exactly comical stuff.

You could also make heavy use of the numerous uncanny abilities of the chaosmen. Finding lost items in the most unlikely places. Screwing up probabilities wherever they go, just by being there. A Xaositect played in the right way can be downright creepy. Unlikely stuff keeps happening, and he isn't doing anything...

 

[NiTessine]

And finally... in a group like the Xaositects, one could expect a certain amount of silly stuff. See, they're not the paragons of chaos, per se. That's the slaad. These are people trying to be the paragons of chaos. Not every lay member of the faction can pull that off perfectly. There's that element of human fallibility. There are members like that in the Sensates and the Hardheads, too. Sensates have hedonists who just want to keep partying, without seeking out new sensations, and the Harmonium has your average holier-than-thou officer who exists for no other reason than to make an honest adventurer's stay in Sigil miserable.

 

[Kemrain]

I'd like to learn more about these chaosmen... Is there an online resource where I can get information about them?

- Kemrain the Inquisitive.

 

[Laman Stahros]

www.mimir.net


www.planewalker.com
One of those is 2e (I think?), but they are both great.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Murder. Rampage. Blood, guts, and a revelry about it all. Simply because it's not expected.

Think of constant battle. Think of a disregard for other's physical and emotional well-beings. Think of destruction, obliteration, consumption. Think of psychosis and of sociopathy.

Take those childish things and turn them macabre. That on-the-spot game turns into a game of "hunt down and kill the little lost child and see who can make the most pretty wreath out of his intestines." That ability to find things that poeple lost turns into a malicious joy in bringing up past pains.

Don't go too overboard -- they're not doing these things because they're evil, they're doing these things because no one expects them to. But make those pranks and public insanity have a grisly angle, and you've got a sect no one wants around.

To a certain extent, 2e has a "Chaos Good, Law Evil" complex,....it's mild, but it's there. The Harmonium are authoriatarian thought police and the Xaositects are harmless pranksters just out to have a good time. But Bacchinalien revelry isn't harmless...it's not just drunk fun. People get killed. Society gets inverted. Security dissappears. And no one is safe.

 

[lightful]

Thanks for the replies people

Kamikaze - What you're describing sounds utterly debased and evil, not that that kind of thing doesn't have it's place . It just doesn't seem to me like it should be with the Xaositects.

NiTessine - To an extent you're right and it might be a good way too show what Xaositects are not, compared to the real deal.

Zappo- You're second paragraph hit the nail on the head. That would work wonderfully especially with my "control-freak" players !

 

[Shemeska]

The Xaositects can be pretty violent at times if the whimsy strikes them. IIRC, Factol Hashkar of the Fraternity of Order was assassinated by a Xaositect, and one of the former factols of the Harmonium was assassinated by another Xaositect w/ an hourglass.

As well, there's a group of Xaositects who had the idea to go around and "recruit" new members for the faction, with the intention of driving them insane from the exposure of random chaos at their hands.

And the probability manipulation can be downright creepy if played that way.

 

[Incenjucar]

The Xaostects are amusing, yes. Until they get close to you.

There is absolutely no way to know what they're going to do.

Upon bumping in to a Xaostect on the street, they could react in the following ways, as just a tiny sample:

-Appologize, brush you off, and go on their way
-Grunt and curse at you for bumping in to them
-Look in to your eyes, fall deeply in love, and start making up poetry on the spot to convince you to marry them
-Grope you
-Pick your pocket
-Give you something of theirs
-Quip a sermon
-Fall down and start convulsing on the ground
-Start crying
-Start yelling at everything around them
-Offer to bow down and be your slave
-Demand that you kiss their boot and buy them breakfast
-Wet themselves
-Punch you in the face
-Tell you a deep secret of the multiverse
-Warn you that Shemeshka is in heat and has re-adopted her 'h'
-Start dancing
-Tell you where to find a magical item
-Lie about the magical item
-Give you a hug and call you brother
-Slit your throat with a clay pot shard and use your body as a latrine
-Offer to paint you
-Offer for you to paint them
-Ask to be allowed to cover the person BEHIND THEM in body paint, forgetting you exist
-Act as if you were invisible
-Act surprised that you are tangible
-Pick their nose
-Pick your nose
-Pick someone else's nose
-Pick a statue's nose
-Pick a nose off of a food cart and eat it

They're basically insane, but they're completely aware of their surroundings.