"Everywhere, even more, there are crimes being committed. As I waste my time talking to you, a woman in the Hive is being assaulted. A merchant in the Grand Bazaar is being extorted out of his last penny. An innocent is about to meet their end at the hands of the Doomguard, the Xaositects, the Anarchists, or another one of those bleeding groups. A million wrongs go unrighted, and a thousand rights are lost in the darkness of the multiverse. I am here to even that score. Let the lawbreakers and the guilty tremble when they see me, for I am here to punish them for their wrongs and redeem the multiverse."
"Guilty. We're all sodding guilty, every one of us. Have you never done something wrong in your life? Well then, you must be mistaken, because I saw the way you looked at that pretty tiefling that just walked by. That's 'wrong' there. Does she appreciate it? Does she want it? Does she know where your filthy little mind is going, where it's reaching? We're all guilty, sod. I'm just here to dispense the proper punishments, for punishment is perfect. It is free of the quibblings about wrong and right, and only cares to punish the wrong. I am the arm of justice."
"I am Avangiel, servant of the very Heavens! I have come to these filthy streets of Sigil to ferret out the wrongdoers and finally bring peace and goodness to this down! Let all who do wrong know my name, and know that I am coming for them!"
"Everyone is guilty, but punishment need not be excessive. Remember, the act of mercy is far more noble than the act of anger. If you can truly look an enemy in the eye and see that his is completely sorry for his wrong actions... then he is to be let go. Punishment for the unrepetant and those who only fear you is necessary, but it should not be done needlessly. The crowds in Petitioner's Square clamor for blood, not mercy. We shall prove them wrong."
Faction Overview
From their very name, the "Mercykillers" evoke conflicted images: imagines of the dove of peace and mercy, and images of the swinging noose in Petitioner's Square, usually juxtaposed together into images that make no sense, for the concepts of mercy and the concepts of murder are diametrically opposed. These are the Mercykillers, a group of conflicted voices, torn between their twin beliefs in justice and their desire for mercy. These forces are polorised in the faces of Justicar Arwyl Swan's Son and the factol Alisohn Nilesia. Their respective troops are as different as night and day. Arwyl Swan's Son commands the paladins of the Mercykillers, virtuous knights dedicated to making sure that no innocent man goes to his justice. Nilesia's soldiers are cruel, boorish, and obsessed with methods of torture. This conflict within the faction makes for hard feelings everywhere, and the sod that one Mercykiller is trying to persecute and send to the leafless tree might be the same sod that another is trying desperately to prove innocent. Working at both ends rarely works, and the prisoner usually gets the axe rather than anything else, if only because the sheer number of those howling for blood.
It's said that once you've been sentenced, there are two ways out: death or recruitment. It's no secret that a large number of Mercykillers were previously criminals: the Mercykillers run the Prison in the Lady's Ward, a sodding depressing place where people go in... but don't come out. Hangings of prisoners are increasing with the rise of Factol Nilesia to the leadership of the faction. She was preceded by the level-headed and fair Factol Mallin, who in the end grew tired of the pursuit of justice and longed for the peace and tranquility of a pastoral retirement. He was stabbed through the back by Nilesia and his body was disposed on a bitter and destroyed desert-world in the Prime Material. Nilesia claimed that Mallen was weak and lost his will to succeed and his drive to pursue the guilty with all his heart... and so he was to be replaced. Only nineteen years old now, Nilesia was but a mere seventeen when she rose to the head of the faction, the youngest factol of the Mercykillers ever. She grew up within the cold walls of the prison as a child and was given the sparks that currently ignite the fire in the blue-skinned factol's goal towards justice. Nilhesia is a tiefling, one of the strange beings borne of fiendish descent, and is certainly a cruel one at that. Obsessed completely with bringing the guilty to justice, it's whispered that she's begun to cast her sights towards The Lady... surely she's guilty of something. But of what?
What throws the real twist into the equation is the Fated and their factol, "Duke" Rowan Darkwood. Nilesia has somehow fallen for the leader of the Fated, and hard. Why? Nobody knows. Perhaps she yearns for a simple life, or perhaps she's still a child at heart, looking to create the perfect lifestyle of a family that she never was a part of. But why doesn't particularly matter now... instead, people should be careful: this alliance between the Mercykillers and Fated in Sigil has thrown the lawful factions into disarray. The Harmonium and the Guvners know that they have to stand as a group with the Mercykillers or else it doesn't paint a very good picture to the rest of Sigil, so the Fated more often than not are able to bully the law factions into agreeing with their tax increases.
The Mercykillers themselves are no better, as spoken about previously. The reasons for these differences run deep: back when The Lady decided that there were too many factions running around her city (this way back when there were perhaps fifty or more in Sigil), and made her famous declaration that there would be only Fifteen factions in Sigil. Two struggling groups, the Sons of Mercy and the Sodkillers, met up. The Sons of Mercy were a group that attempted to make sure that no innocent sod went to the noose, and the Sodkillers were, well, they were mercenaries and assassins. Somehow, the two groups sat down and formed a new faction, one strong enough to survive the Lady's Purge. The Mercykillers. Just today, the cracks in their agreement made five centuries ago are starting to show.
Faction Life
Like the Harmonium, the Mercykillers don't get out much, but when they do, it's known to all. Their huge massive frames and leers seem to stick out at everyone as they move down the street, and it's a sure bet that they know who you are and what you've done: and they're coming for you. Their vigilantes comb Sigil, without any official authorisation from the Harmonium or the Hall of Speakers, but they both don't care: as long as order remains within the town. But the vigilantes don't care about order: they care about finding the guilty and cutting them down to size. And since the factol protects them from any crimes committed in the pursuit of the guilty, they're immune to their own standard of justice.
There are also those Mercykillers that spend their existances look into the bars, leering at those who thought they could break the Laws of Sigil and get away with it. They Guard the prisons from intrusion. There are even Wardens over particular sections of the Prison. Some lease the prisoners out for short periods of time to other factions: it's known that the better-behaved prisoners occasionally do jobs for the Bleak Cabal, polishing the iron bars of the Gatehouse and whatnot.
Allies
The Harmonium and the Fraternity of Order, both as members of the Lawful Traid of Sigil, respect the Mercykillers and work closely with them. However, the Mercykillers are undeniably the most violent of the three, and the most inclined to evil, so the Harmonium doesn't always see them as completely Harmonious. However, the Harmonium and the Fraternity of Order will almost never make a public lack of support of the Mercykillers... the traid stands together in all things.
Because of the developing relationship between Factol Rowan Darkwood of the Fated and Factol Nilesia of the Mercykillers, the two factions find themselves working together more often than not. The groups may not like it, but they force themselves to get along.
Enemies
The Sensates, with their desire for experiencing all things, often find themselves on the wrong side of the law... and therefore, the Mercykillers. This is complicated by the current alliance between the Mercykillers and the Fated... and the Fated's complete and political hatred for the Sensates.
The Anarchists, Xaosmen, and Doomguard find no love from the Mercykillers. Chaos lends itself to disorder, which leads to breaking laws, which leads to punishment. Those groups are almost never tolerated by the Mercykillers, and when they are tolerated, they're bound to be in chains.
