For the magazine, see Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...

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The Harpers are a fictional and semi-secret organization in the Forgotten Realms

Forgotten Realms

The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...

campaign setting

Campaign setting

A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...

 of the role playing game Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

. The organization was created near the founding of Myth Drannor

Myth Drannor

Myth Drannor, formerly known as Cormanthor, the City of Song, is a fictional elven city in the Forgotten Realms world. It is located in the area called Cormanthyr.-Fictional history:...

 by elven elders, generals, and priests, and led by an elven mage named "Lady Steel" (and advised by a young Elminster.) Over time, and after the fall of Myth Drannor, this organization evolved into a new group, founded by Elminster and other influential and powerful individuals, with support from many freedom loving and good-aligned deities and churches (although the churches don't always agree with Harper aims, the deities themselves do.) The deities who sponsored the Harpers are; Deneir, Eldath, Liira, Mielikki, Milil, Mystra

Mystra

Mystra is either* Mystras, an archaeological site and Byzantine city in the Peloponnese in modern Greece* or Mystra , a deity in the fictional Forgotten Realms universe....

, Oghma, Selune, Silvanus, Tymora, and The entire Seldarine. Most of the Seven Sisters

Seven Sisters (Forgotten Realms)

The Seven Sisters—fictional characters of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons Role Playing Game. The sisters are epic level characters of differing abilities, most of which involve some form of spellcasting and use of magic...

, especially Storm Silverhand, are dedicated Harpers.

Pushing for Balance as well as what is right, they oppose all evil organizations such as the Zhentarim

Zhentarim

The Zhentarim is a fictional organization in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Also known as the Black Network, it is an evil organization based on the continent of Faerûn. One of its goals is to dominate the lands from the Moonsea to the...

 and the Red Wizards of Thay. The Harpers strive for many small, allied kingdoms, keeping rulers close to their people and too occupied with actively helping their subjects to be concerned with making war and conquering their neighbors. They are also concerned with maintaining a balance between nature and civilization, keeping woodlands and other natural areas safe from too much destruction, and with preserving all knowledge and learning, especially history, music and art. They recruit a variety of people, but the majority tend to be human, elven, and half-elven rangers and bards (people who are free to roam around a lot); there are more female than male Harpers. Harper members are recognizable by their magically imbued silver pins, which grant various magical protections (such as immunity to electricity, and to magic missiles.)

Harpers are hated in many countries such as Thay or Tethyr, for a variety of reasons, but especially for their vehement opposition to the practice of slavery. The Tethyrian government has a grudge against the Harpers for assassinating their last recognized leader, driving the country of Tethyr into a swirling chaos of civil war and assassinations. However, the Harpers were framed by another, unknown, secret organization.

In 1371DR- The Year of the Unstrung Harp (1 year previously to the start of the 3rd edition campaign)- there has been growing divisions between the Harpers who wished to further the cause of Balance (neutral-aligned) and those who wished to combat evil (good-aligned). A schism happened after the Harper Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun made a deal with Fzoul Chembryl, leader of the Zhentarim. He was expelled from the Harpers, and, with his wife Laeral Silverhand of the Seven Sisters, he went on to form the Harper splinter organization known as the Moonstars

Moonstars

In the fictional Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Moonstars are one of the most recent and most covert secret societies to appear in Faerûn in decades...

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The Harpers are also part of the plot of the Forgotten Realms computer game Baldur's Gate

Baldur's Gate

Baldur's Gate is a computer role-playing game developed by BioWare and released in 1998 by Interplay Entertainment. The game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a high fantasy campaign setting, using modified Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules...

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