Alignment of Forgotten Realms' Harpers

[TarionzCousin]

What alignment is the collective group known as "The Harpers"? Is a group-alignment stated anywhere in an official product?

This can, of course, be any edition--but I'm giving 2E some love; it seems to be the most-neglected edition, IMHO.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I would say a large amount of them are Chaotic Good, but they have a few Neutral Good, and Lawful Neutral's...

 

[TarionzCousin]

Hmmm...

Per 3E, Khelben is listed as being LN. Of course, he has also left the Harpers to begin his own group.

Lady Cylyria, the senior Harper in Berdusk, is also listed as LN--but many others are either CG or NG (Per the AD&D book Code of the Harpers).

Alustriel Silverhand: CG human female W24
Belhuar Thantarth: CG human male B9
Cylyria Dragonbreast: LN half-elven female B26
Dove Falconhand: CG human female R14
Elminster: CG human male W29 (sage)
Khelben Arunsun: LN human male W27
Laeral Silverhand: CG human female W25
Obslin Minstrelwish: NG halfling male B7
Storm Silverhand: CG human female B22

 

[dd.stevenson]

Clearly not lawful.
Explicitly not evil.

I think not good, but my lore fails me here.

 

[MarkB]

I always had the impression that they were True Neutral, in the proactive preserving-the-balance sense.

However, that may be largely on account of the Baldur's Gate computer games, in which the main NPC member of the Harpers was a True Neutral druid who presented their motives in that light.

 

[Yora]

I think third edition stated outright that there are a couple of major factions within the Harpers, with those in the North and Dalelands being more chaotic good, and the Beredusk faction being more LN. Not sure if that was ever directly adressed in 2nd Edition.

 

[Ahnehnois]

The Forgotten Realms Wiki lists Membership: Alignment as Chaotic Good. I'd be along with the others in saying that the seem chaotic neutral to chaotic good.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I'm unaware of a group alignment for the Harpers, though I would bet your average Harper is is chaotic good or neutral good.

Going forward, I expect to see the Harpers portrayed in a factional, not-spanning-the-Realms way.

 

[Scars Unseen]

The thing about Harpers(as presented in 2nd Edition) is that they aren't really a collective group at all. From Code of the Harpers:

The disorganized and secretive nature of the fellowship of Those Who Harp makes it hard to define what a Harper is (and sometimes, who is and who is not a Harper), and what Harpers do and may not do. This is handy for Dungeon Masters trying to evade probing PC inquiries; it is normal for Harper work to involve deception, layers of misdirection, and lots of things that aren't what they seem.

With such lack of organization or clearly defined methods of operation, it would be pretty much impossible to restrict alignment. That said, it's fairly obvious that non-evil would be a requirement for anyone that is truly a Harper(though again, that doesn't mean that there aren't evil individuals within the Harper ranks; it just means that any such people are working for their own purposes first and foremost). I like the Harpers for this very reason. Lots of room for intrigue within the order rather than a pure them vs us conflict like a lot of fantasy organizations