Harpers

Harpers could be of any age or profession, any sex or gender, and of any race. Humans, elves, and half-elves were most common among them, but a few gnomes, halflings, and dwarves, and even woodland folk like dryads and centaurs also joined. Most members were either rangers or bards, though wizards, rogues, fighters and clerics were also present. Priests could follow any faith; Azuth, Deneir, Eldath, Lliira, Mielikki, Milil, Mystra, Oghma, Selûne, Silvanus, Tymora, and the Seldarine. This caused no issues of faith, though there was some friction with upper ranks of clergy. Druids, particularly of the North, tended to their willing allies rather than members.

The Harpers were led by a council of High Harpers, who were responsible for most of the group's long-term plans and goals. High Harpers were elected through the means of secret ballots among the other High Harpers, with the criteria being long-term service and extreme discretion in the implementation of their plans.

The Harpers operated mainly in north Faerûn, along the Sword Coast, the Western Heartlands, and the Dalelands. The group itself was extremely decentralized and the nearest thing they had to a base of operations was Twilight Hall in Berdusk. An often-employed means of achieving their goals was assisting adventurers who were on quests that would further Harper interests.

In the 15th century DR, the Harpers became active across all of Faerûn.

Waterdeep

Due to the influence of the Moonstars, the Harpers had a relatively small amount of influence within the City of Splendors around 1372 DR. They had roughly 120 members at any time within the city's walls.

Many gods supported the organization of the Harpers: the churches of Azuth, Deneir, Eldath, Lliira, Mielikki, Milil, Mystra, Oghma, Selûne, Shaundakul, Shiallia, Silvanus, Tymora, and the entire Seldarine all contributed clerics to become members of the Harpers and many of these also lent divine aid to the members of the group on a regular basis. This could cause tensions between individual clerics of different faiths but never between deities or between the society as a whole and deities. The drow goddess Eilistraee was among the good deities who looked kindly on Those Who Harp, while they in turn supported her church on the surface.

Powerful individuals supported the Harpers, but equally powerful forces opposed them. Among these were the likes of the Dark Dagger, the malaugrym, the Rundeen, the Eldreth Veluuthra, the Twisted Rune, the Knights of the Shield, the Iron Throne, the Cult of the Dragon, the Red Wizards of Thay, the Zhentarim, and many of the churches of dark gods, in particular the revived church of Bane.

• Harpers work against villainy and wickedness wherever they find it, but they work ever mindful of the consequences of what they do.
• All beings should walk free of fear, with the right to live their lives as they wish.
• The rule of law aids peace and fosters freedom, so long as the laws are just and those who enforce them lenient and understanding.
• No extreme is good. For freedom to flourish, all must be in balance: the powers of realms, the reaches of the cities and the wilderlands into each other, and the influence of one being over another.
• Whatever it takes, a Harper will do. Pride never rules the deeds of a true Harper.
• Freedom is a multiversal right, though Harpers can spare themselves less freedom than those they work to protect when the need presents itself.
• Harpers police their own. A Harper who hears the call of personal power can no longer hear the sweet song of the harp. A Harper who seizes power, and holds it above all else, is a traitor to the harp. Traitors must die for freedom to live.
• Without a past, no being can appreciate what they have, and where they may be going.

What it is to be a Harper...

"Right, then, good Lady Shandril, I shall try to tell thee something of what it is to be a Harper.
"A Harper holds peaceful sharing of the lands above all other goals.
"By sharing, we mean all the races living in and under the land, where each prefers to live, trading together where desire and need stir them to, and respecting each other's holds and ways—without the daily bloodletting that all too often holds sway in the Realms today.
"True, we must fight, it seems often enough to keep our swords and our tempers both sharp enough. Yet, know ye; all of us fight when we must, or die. Moreover, ye only hear of blades drawn and death and spells hurled, and never know of the many, many times that a quiet word or a skillful deal has turned enemies aside from each other, forced a way clear where none was before, or distracted foes from the eager task of tearing each other's throats out. That is the true Harper way: subtle and quiet, behind the shouting. Trust and wisdom, and outfoxing others is what we deal in."
— Mirt the Moneylender explaining the Harper's purpose to Shandril Shessair