People's Collective for Sustainable Development
Table of Contents
Who We Are
The People’s Collective for Sustainable Development (aka “Greeners”) play a very particular role within the City of Sigil: that is, the opposition to industry. They are vehemently against mass production and similar methods of manufacture - promoting instead small businesses and local artisans in their place. Some members take this to the extreme and perform more active resistance: sabotaging factories and supply lines or stealing blueprints for free copying and distribution on the blackmarket.
Their other role stems off of the activism somewhat: they are huge gardeners and promoters of home-grown produce. Their members tend to have small gardens with the few sturdy species that can survive Sigil’s environ. Those lucky enough to afford it may have an off-plane farm or two, or tend to the various public spaces that the Greeners maintain.
They do a lot of rogue gardening, spreading seeds throughout the city to deliver razorvine, brambles, and other hardy weeds that can take root wherever they can.
A word from your Factol...
We’ve always been here; telling the Factols that the current system is unsustainable, that sooner or later it will break under the weight of all the corruption and greed that rots it to its core. That anarchy is inevitable. That a tiny nudge in the wrong direction will set into motion the ultimate collapse of the Cage.
Guess what? It did. I was there for the Second Upheaval. I saw firsthand the violence, the starvation, and the greed.
Sigil has forgotten the very roots of what makes life Life. Living in the Cage with all these doors and foundries has cut off our connection to the Green - that which nourishes and enriches us. We, the People, exist to live and to love, in harmony with life and with nature.
Too many have forgotten this.
But the tide is turning. Our numbers swell by the day. Every turn of the Wheel sees more and more trees, allotments, and gardens spring up. We are slowly tearing down the foundries that pollute our skies, clearing the Ditch of all the corpses and the sludge and embracing the razorvine that has such a bad reputation around the city.
Yes, the Hardheads call us ‘Anarchists’. We’re not. We just see what they don’t - that we need change. One way or another, if we are to survive the coming storm we will need to adapt.
So we will be the change.
Failing that? We will be the Storm.
A Greener's Journey (Money Speaks Loudest)
Joining the Greeners is relatively straightforward, and is open to pretty much anyone who has not openly consorted with the Harmonium (bane of activists) or Consortium (proponents of mass production). Even those who have are still permitted access, provided they formally renounce any such prior association and contacts or utilise those contacts for the Greeners' own means.
Moving through the ranks of the Collective is a somewhat arduous task. Every few months, a batch of elections are held wherein members can put themselves (or another) forward for the position of a higher rank. A vote is then held among members of that rank and all lower, with a solid two-thirds majority needed for a person to advance. As such, progression is done via internal campaigning and awareness of one’s accomplishments.
Agent (Namer)
Agents are the bread and butter of the Greeners, taking on any job that comes their way and that they are comfortable taking on. There is a strong sense of community among any Greeners who have been on at least one mission, with most outings resulting in a clash with the Harmonium or a high octane foot chase through the streets of Sigil.
Organiser (Factotum)
Elections for the role of Organiser (Factotum) are held once every three months, and are voted on by all Agents. Campaign spendings must be disclosed, and no campaign may cost in excess of 30 silver pieces in promotional materials.
These elections are a bit of a logistical nightmare, what with how many speeches they have to get through.
Officer (Factor)
Elections for the role of Officer (Factor) are held once every year, and are voted on by all members of the Faction bar the Factol themselves. Campaigns must be documented and spendings tracked, and no campaign may cost in excess of 30 gold pieces in promotional materials.
Factol
Elections for the role of Leader (Factol) are to be held once every three years, and are voted on by all members of the Faction. Campaigns must be documented and externally audited, with spendings tracked. No campaign may cost in excess of 30 platinum pieces in promotional materials.
Only one election has been held so far, in which Corin’na ran unopposed. The next few months will see the next upcoming election - with two candidates stepping forward to run against her.
Faction Mechanics & Character Options
Those raised within the Greeners are given training in a wide range of skills, then allowed to gravitate to the areas that they most excel at and enjoy. They are taught to be responsible citizens, using their surroundings and resources both respectfully and efficiently.
As the newest Faction, having been in existence as the Greeners for only 5 years, it is unlikely that you will have been raised within the faction. Instead, the backgrounds presented here should be used for ‘the kinds of people who would join the Greeners, and have been around for at least a few years’ instead.
Backgrounds
Whilst all Greeners are well attuned to nature, learning all they can about the proper care and maintenance of their local environment, it is their Grovetenders who spend most of their time looking after the plants and animals.
- Skill Proficiencies: Any two from: Animal Handling, Nature, Medicine, or Survival
- Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism Kit, and Choose 1 from: Alchemist’s Tools, Brewer’s Tools or Cook’s Utensils
- Equipment: Herbalism kit, a set of common clothes, an unusually striped chukken feather, a vial of pristine water, and a pouch containing 5 gp
Healthy Botanicals
You have a good supply of enhancing botanicals for addition to your potions and alchemicals. When you create a healing or restoration potion, you may do so in either half the usual time or at half the cost.
If anyone asks, you’re a Grovetender! Reclaimers do what is necessary to bring the Green to the Cage, breaking all manner of laws and rubbing the Hardheads the wrong way at every turn. Whilst most stop at vandalism or petty theft, some Reclaimer’s aren’t shy of a little espionage or murder.
- Skill Proficiencies: Any two from: Deception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth or Survival
- Tool Proficiencies: Poisoner's Kit, and Choose 1 from: Alchemist’s Tools, Disguise Kit, or Thieves Tools
- Equipment: Poisoner's kit, a small vial of emitic poison, a small piece of petrified razorvine, set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 5 gp
Nefarious Botanicals
You have a decent (and very illegal) supply of debilitating botanicals for addition to your poisons and alchemicals. When you create a poison, you may do so in either half the usual time or at half the cost.
d4 | Faction Draw (Ideal) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Plantkin, I love plants and all things green (and not!). Sigil is really hurting from not having them around |
| 2 | Anti-smog, I’m told that living among all this pollution is messing with my humours. But I don’t want to leave - I want to fix my city |
| 3 | Preparation, the next time the doors close, we’re going to be ready. I’ll make sure that me and mine have enough to go off of |
| 4 | Laissez-faire, I was a Godsman before we got taken over, and haven’t jumped ship. I dig the new manifesto though! |
d4 | Faction Contact (Bonds) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Thuringian, a baker who smuggles illicit goods in bread |
| 2 | Bantam, a Chukken-keeper with an attitude |
| 3 | Aughdra Serod, a sapper with no end of explosive magic |
| 4 | Patch, a sentient clump of razorvine |
Faction Restriction
You are bound to help and protect the land and local environment, causing neither harm nor wanton destruction to flora or fauna.
Greeners oppose the rising tide of mass production and industrialisation at every turn, and should never be shown to assist with the development of polluting or otherwise harmful industry.
Roleplaying a Greener
Style and Flair
Greeners tend to have very little in terms of unifying style or flair, beyond their loose-fitting clothes and rather muted colours. Their faction colours are earthy colours: browns, greys and greens.
Their members who often undertake illegal activities rarely carry a faction symbol on them, going out of their way to be as nondescript as possible and sometimes going so far as to bear the symbol of another faction and dress in their colours. They haven’t quite got the Anarchist touch when it comes to impersonation, mind.
The faction symbol is a tree in two halves - one half healthy and bearing fruit, and one half scarred and dead.
A "Good" Greener...
"Protect the land and local environment" is somewhat of a vague description, so use the following as a guide to what this entails:
- Do not assist with the development of heavy industry.
- Treat animals with respect and dignity.
- Aid and assist other Greeners if asked (and do not sell them out to the Harmonium).
Faction Powers
You ignore difficult terrain created by non magical plants and can move through them without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or similar hazards. In addition, you have advantage on saving throws against effects from plants, including those that are magically created or manipulated, such as those created by the entangle spell.
Once per long rest, or by spending inspiration, when you hit a creature within 30 feet with a weapon attack you may declare the attack to be an Entangling strike. That target must make a Dexterity saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. On a success, the target’s movement speed is halved until the end of its next round. On a failure, the target is restrained until the end of its next round.
Once per long rest, or by spending inspiration, you may use an action to touch an inanimate object that has plant life within 10 feet of it. The plants grow at speed, penetrating the object and weakening it from within. That object has vulnerability (takes double damage) from the next attack that hits it.
As an Officer, you have access to secret repositories of highly dangerous herbs and flowers. You gain the following:
- When you drink or administer a healing potion, you may gain double the amount of healing from that potion.
- When you drink or administer a potion with a duration, you may double its duration.
- When you apply or administer a poison, increase the DC to resist that poison’s effects by +3.
Faction Armoury
Tools of the Green
| Name | Rarity | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Factotum Items | ||
| Revival Seed | Very Rare | Wondrous Item (Seed) |
Revival Seed
Wondrous Item (Seed), Very Rare
This large, pleasantly warm seed measures about an inch in diameter and weighs next to nothing. Its rough brown shell is marred with cracks through which spill slivers of silver light.
When you place this seed within a corpse, the seed infuses it with somewhat alien life. The target is affected as though by a Resurrection spell. That target is now a plant in addition to its other creature types, and gains the following trait:
- Plantborne. A friendly symbiote helps to shield your mind and infuse you with new knowledge. The target is now a Plant in addition to its other creature types. You gain proficiency in your choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throws. When you next die, you are permanently dead as your Soul entwines with that of your symbiote. Only a wish may bring you back. Your symbiote has a mind and personality of its own, and may take control of your body whilst you sleep to attend to its own goals, or your goals and safety if the two of you are on good terms.
A symbiote may be removed with a DC 25 medicine check and multiple hours of surgery by another person. This removes the Plantborne trait and creature type, but runs the risk of killing you should the check fail.
The Chant
History
The Greeners first sprung into existence some 20 years ago. Mind you, they didn’t call themselves Greeners back then - “The Collective” is what they started out with. They were an Anarchist Sect, formed from a collection of disillusioned berks growing more and more concerned about the state of the Cage. Prominent among them at the time was Fergus - a fungal druid from Krynn.
Self-sufficiency was what drove them together. The Fated had too narrow a view of it - self-sufficiency extended beyond the ‘self’… it relied on communal spirit. The society in which one lived had to first be able to sustain itself if one were to go about making one’s own way.
Which meant Sigil needed to somehow provide for its countless citizens. At first, the Collective took a page from the Athar’s book - setting up clinics and public services around the Cage. Some of these services still exist to this day - though they’ve since cut ties with the Collective due to all the controversy.
Their next step was to set about trying to solve the issue of food and pollution… which meant a huge push for homegrown produce and fresh greenery. Problem was, there wasn’t exactly space to set up any gardens, nor did they have the resources to do much. This was not even taking into account the fact that **so little** can even grow in Sigil.
Green the Cage
For close to fifteen years, the Collective existed in a state of limbo - they had some good ideas, but short of whatever they copied off of other Factions they didn’t really get much done. There was too much opposition, and their members were still too fragmented and argumentative.
Enter Corin’na. A new member to the sect who very quickly rose through the ranks on account of her quick wit and ruthless dedication. She pushed the Collective to be more proactive - to sabotage the Consortium and their rising wave of industry, not being shy to destroy or murder when needed.
As per her assignment, Corin’na was sent to infiltrate the Godsmen, hoping to drum up new recruits from within and steer them towards the Anarchists.
Thing is… she was a bit too good at it. Before she knew it, she was a contender for Factol, and a good majority of the faction were her supporters (most of them weren’t even Anarchists). So she did the unprecedented… She took the mantle of Factol in a violent coup and claimed the Faction in the name of the Anarchists, rebranding them the “People’s Collective for Sustainable Development” - or Greeners for short.
Their mission? Filling Sigil with ‘the Green’.
Bloody Reprisal
Reprisal was swift and brutal. The Harmonium were none too happy about this turn of events. There were already enough anarchists and troublemakers in the Cage! So they took to rounding up all the Collective that they could get their hands on and arrest them for Anarchy.
Embarrassingly enough, most of those rounded up by them were not, in fact, Anarchists. They were just Godsmen who’d been taken in by Corin’na’s magnetic presence. Corin’na herself was no longer an Anarchist - she had left the Anarchists for the Godsmen-turned-Greeners.
As it later turned out in court, "claiming a faction in the name of the Anarchists does not make everyone in it an Anarchist", as per the precedent set in the case of Sigil v. Bader.
Not having much of a leg to stand on when it came to prosecuting these new Greeners, the Harmonium reluctantly released those that they had with a stern talking to and a good “we’ll be watching” lecture. Those few unlucky sods who actually were Anarchists bore the full brunt of their frustration. The executions were drawn-out and brutal. Corin’na herself only dodged the wyrm by virtue of being a Factol, putting her in a very nebulous place from a legal perspective.
Corin’na herself is under house arrest to this day - guarded at all times whilst the Harmonium prepares for the case of Sigil vs Corin’na, their attempt to prosecute and execute her for her crimes… once her tenure as Factol comes to an end.
Political Fallout
The Greeners have their work cut out for them. The forces of the Consortium are furthering their already vice-like grip over the city’s flow of commerce, proliferating the polluting industries and flow of weapons that the Cage has been known for. The private mercenaries and adventurers they hire to sabotage the Greeners at every turn are a huge drain on both parties' resources, and it is only a matter of time before the trial of Corin’na threatens to end the Greeners for good.
It’s not all bloodshed and rivalries though. The Greeners have made a good number of allies among other factions: the Sinkers, Athar and Sensates are all big fans of their work, even if they do have mixed opinions on the whole ‘Proliferation of the Green’ philosophy. It is the League of Innovation who are of the most assistance however… not that the League is aware of it.
See, the Greeners are no stranger to espionage and stealth, and have a number of members planted within the League to keep them apprised of all the latest technologies and methods - bringing them all manner of new vectors for spreading the Green and weapons for fending off the Hardheads.
So... what now?
The Greeners have a number of tactics at their current disposal for the proliferation of Green around the city. Their ‘above board’ campaigning involves a lot of public speaking and recruitment, demonstrating the benefits of natural connections and local produce. In addition to this, they are also planting a large number of gardens and parks around the City in some of the most Green-deprived areas (which they often refer to as ‘the Grey’).
Under the table, they are using stolen technology to bring the Green to Sigil more effectively. One member of the League has been cultivating ‘Sigilian’ strains of certain plants such as brambles and wheat, fused with a bit of razorvine to be capable of surviving in Sigil’s harsh environment. Unfortunately, such technology has already been stolen and put into use by the Greeners - feeding seeds to the rodents to spread the Green wherever it can take root… which is just about everywhere.
The exact consequences and drawbacks of some of this stolen technology are unknown - it was (and still is) untested and not ready for general use. Only time will tell the impact this will have.