Planescape
THE SOCIETY OF SENSATION
(The Sensates)
Philosophy: To know the multiverse, experience it fully. The senses form the path to truth, for the multiverse doesn't exist beyond what can be sensed.
Factol: Erin Darkflame Montgomery: female human planar, priestess of Diancecht, ch: 18. Erin is in her early 30s and strikingly beautiful, although people who underestimate her are in for a surprise. She's the head of the largest voting bloc in the Hall of Speakers, a canny, watchful woman. It's said that her right-hand man, half-elf Cuatha Da'nanin, is also her long-time consort.
Sigil HQ: Festhall (Clerk's Ward): A building of staggering grace and beauty soaring more than 1,000 feet upward, its buttresses and supports leading from one pinnacle to another, making it a distinctive focal point in the city's skyline. On the street level, the building is usually surrounded by jugglers, singers, dancers and the like hoping to catch a copper or two from appreciative passersby.
The Festhall is over 600 years old, and its very construction took over a century, as the Sensates scoured the planes and a thousand prime worlds for just the right stone, the right wood, the right paint and glass and fabric. Inside, the Festhall's granite walls are of 50 different textures that each cry out to be touched; its marble floors are veined in the colors of the rainbow; its windows the delicate tints of rock crystal mined from a hundred forgotten caverns. Everything down to the mortar was given careful thought and planning. Even the main entrance is a marvel; the doors are 90 feet high, tall and narrow, and surrounded with glittering stones that form abstract images of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Flat against the outside wall, a geyser of crystal-blue water regularly erupts upward for hundreds of feet, seemingly dissipating into the air.
The Festhall is also remarkable because it is one of the very few buildings in Sigil to take into account the city's peculiar dimensional properties. From the outside, the sprawling structure fills an area some 750 feet wide by 1,000 feet long. But on the inside the building's far more convoluted; some sages speculate that there's two to four times as much square footage as the exterior dimensions allow. And the Festhall is, if anything, even more grand and luxurious on the inside. Incense perfumes the air, mingling with spices and other delightful scents. Colors cloak each hall and room, whether the palest pastels or the most vibrant of hues. Sounds haunt one's ears wherever s/he goes, from the rhythmic beats issuing from a training room to the enthusiastic cheers and clapping from the theaters.
The ground floor of the Festhall consists of three theaters and two sensoriums. Then there are the faction quarters -- assembly rooms, lecture halls, training rooms and the factol's private quarters. The remaining floors hold an intoxicating number of entertainments the like of which can't be detailed in this brief writeup. There are taverns serving the sweetest and sourest ales ever tasted, museums with statues more lifelike than the crowds around them, jewelers selling glittering necklaces that threaten to blind the wearer, and practically every other service and diversion one would ever need.
The best contact in the Festhall is the bariaur Annali Webspinner, in charge of registration and indoctrination. She can direct visitors to where they need or want to go. Her coat is an unusual angora variety, black and several inches long, and she has an attractive face although she always squints behind her spectacles. (DM's NOTE: She's the one who briefed Darin and Anya on joining the Sensates and gave them their recorder stones.)
The three theaters are: Ren Hall, the largest public theater in Sigil. Performances are staged twice a night, almost always to full houses. Sample productions are a githyanki play, a lizard man ballet, an opera featuring the howlers of Pandemonium. The Sensates spare no expense in actors, settings, magic, music and sensory enhancers (such as scents, when needed).
Elloweth Theater is a smaller and more intimate setting for dramatic performances and dance interpretation. Its ceiling is made of capiz shell, a thin, nearly transparent material that lets in considerable light. During the day, the theater is used for poetry and essay readings, extemporaneous speeches and the like.
The Northumber Amphitheater is the same size as the Elloweth Theater, although it's an outdoor playhouse. The seats are carved of shale and limestone, all descending deep into the ground. Contests are staged here, as well as grudge matches between opponents who want an audience. Usually, three performances are held each day, though some contests of magic are held at night -- for example, to better see the fireworks of a wizard duel. The audience attends at its own risk.
The sensoriums are rooms within the Civic Festhall where people can record or experience certain events or sensations. There is a Sensate Sensorium and a Public Sensorium. The former is used only by Sensates; even garnishes won't get you in otherwise.
The Sensate Sensorium offers fully detailed, overwhelming events, usually the potent recordings of other Sensates. Factol Montgomery has instituted a new policy by which many of the junior members of the Sensates glean needed sensations via the sensorium. She's also mandated that all Sensates in Sigil MUST record any new sensations they encounter so that others may benefit from their experiences. Furthering the collective experiences of the Sensates in this manner is an important means of moving up in the ranks of the faction. Use of the sensorium costs nothing for Sensates.
The Public Sensorium is a different matter. It's always crowded despite being open at all hours. More than 200 rooms are available in each of the 20-plus floors of this part of the Festhall. Most are individual rooms offering sensations fthat last from 5 to 20 minutes and cost about 10 gp. A number of dual sensoriums, open to two people at a time and lasting half an hour, cost 20 gp per body. A berk with a limitless budget or a party wishing to experience the same recorded event can rent one of the deluxe sensoriums, which cost 100 gp per user, last for four hours, and must be reserved a week in advance. Adventuring groups often record their experiences at the Public Sensorium and replay them as training sessions, particularly if a foray has been unsuccessful. Some groups use the rooms to prepare for trips that'll take them to strange or hostile environments.
The Sensates have a tremendous collection of sensations, experiences, and events on hand, but they're currently paying 500 gp for anything not in their catalog. A cutter convinced she has something to share can enter the Public Sensorium and inquire at the ticket counter.
The remainder of the first floor of the Civic Festhall is devoted to various faction quarters and public rooms. The reception hall off the main entrace contains pillars, a dais, and a throne. Cuatha Da'nanin, the half-elven right hand of Factol Montgomery usually sits in the throne and receives visitors for about six hours each day. A good part of the headquarters is devoted to lecture halls and training classrooms. Demonstrations and displays of weapon use, magic, and thieving skils -- along with lectures on every subject in the multiverse -- take place 24 hours a day. Sensates are strongly encouraged to study and learn, and any Sensate passing through Sigil is expected to spend time in the training area, either passing on or learning a new technique. Members of other factions may attend these sessions, provided they're accompanied by a Sensate and pay a fee of 10 gp. [DM's NOTE: This is one way to pick up new proficiencies.]
The heart of the Civic Festhall is said to be the Sanctum Sanctorum, a mysterious area accessible only via a hallway from Erin Montgomery's private chambers.
Home Field: Arborea (in the Gilded Hall): The Gilded hall is an immense, ever-changing palace of endless revelry. Factol Montgomery rarely visits more than twice a year.
Allies: Sign of the One; occasionally Indeps, Guvnors
Enemies: Doomguard; often Dustmen, Mercykillers
Namer Abilities: Infravision to 60 feet, gain +1 to saves versus poison and surprise rolls.
Restrictions: Can't refuse offers that lead to new experiences. Note that Sensates respect their comrades' wishes; if they don't want to try something, the Sensate won't force the issue. Also, Sensates don't need to try anything that might cause them or another bodily harm ... of course, there's nothing wrong with offering to suffer damage in place of another, but a Sensate won't swallow a draught of lethal poison "just to see what it tastes like." A Sensate desires new experiences. Some Sensates specialize; one might set a goal to try to feel all different aspects of love or anger, or all the nuances of verbal comedy in every language that can be found.
Archetypes: Hedonist, Connoisseur. Alignment has little impact on Sensates, although a lawful good Sensate won't kill an elderly sod just for the feel of it, he probably would request the sensation at the Civic Festhall. A chaotic evil Sensate, in turn, might use the Civic Festhall to experience giving to the poor. Few Sensates are ever appalled by the acts of their fellows, often cooperating to help grant the experiences another faction member seeks.
Faction Information: As managers of most of the entertainment in Sigil, the Sensates are by far the richest faction in the Cage, and they're generous to their members. Characters who join the faction immediately receive a signing bonus (note: neither Darin nor Anya qualify). Annali Webspinner is quite receptive to adventurers who seek her help at the Civic Festhall; if a party that includes a Sensate agrees to return to the Festhall afterward and record its experiences in the sensorium, Webspinner may offer it advice or aid in its quest.
In addition to the Namer Abilities above, Sensates are innate readers of body language, even of species they have never met before. They have a base 10 percent chance of automatically knowing if a berk's lying to them; the chance of success rises to 20 percent if the Sensate is of the same race as the berk who is speaking. (DM's NOTE: I would include same culture, too; thus, Darin can read other members of his kingdom even if they aren't human, and Anya can read other members of the Glenzor borderlands even if they aren't elven or feline.)
Because they spend their lives trying to glean all they can from the experiences of others, more advanced Sensates are naturally empathetic. Any Sensate of 3rd level or above (DM's NOTE: or who has been in the Order for 6 months, whichever is longest) can perform a Sensory Touch, a laying on of the hand to heal wounded sods. The Touch works automatically but can be performed only once a day and only in a moment of quiet reflection. The Sensate touches the person's injuries and opens her mind to the pain. As a result, 1d10 points of healing are transferred from the Sensate to the wounded person; the Sensate, in turn, *suffers* the the same number of points of damage. The reciprocal damage can't be healed by magical means ... the Sensate can recover the lost hit points only by natural rest and healing.
Beginning at 5th level, most Sensates have started to explore more than just their physical surroundings. They've built up an extensive store of experiences that often give them unusual insights into a problem. This experience translates into the fact that Sensates of 5th level or above can use a bard's local history proficiency and identification abilities as if they were 1st-level bards.
THE CHANT: The Society of Sensation is a ripe faction for rumors -- after all, when you've got a reputation for trying *anything,* the public's ready to believe *everything.*
The most prevalant subject of talk seems to be Duke Rowan Darkwood, who's become factol of the Fated in a suspiciously quick manner. More than one Sensate whispers that the duke wants to take over Sigil, but most sneer at the idea -- after all, the duke would first have to overcome Factol Montgomery's considerable clout in the Hall of Speakers. It's no dark that Factol Hashkar of the Guvnors and Factol Darius of the Signers generally vote with Montgomery, and she recently scored quite a victory by getting Karan of the Xaositects to side with her -- on occasion, at least. But, you know, Factol Montgomery and Factol Darkwood may be the two most powerful and important individuals in Sigil, barring the Lady of Pain, of course ... and that means there's trouble brewing.
There was a sign posted by the ticket window of the Public Sensorium annoucing the recent theft of numerous recorder stones. The faction assumes the worst -- that the enchanted stones were taken from the Festhall, thus losing their encoded experiences. Any adventurers willing to undertake special missions designed to recreate the missing sensations should give their names to Annali Webspinner.
Another bit of chant is that a number of lesser tanar'ri -- alu-fiends, cambions, and succubi -- have been spotted in and around the Civic Festhall over the last few weeks. Many Sensates fear that the tanar'ri are spies or even advance troops from the Abyss, here to punish Erin Montgomery for failing to save the Blood War troops 15 years ago in Tir na Og.
