Sigil

Sigil, also known as the Cage, the City of Doors, or, less commonly, the City of Secrets, was a floating city in the center of the Outlands and the self-proclaimed center of the multiverse in the Great Wheel cosmology. A major hub for interplanar travel, the city contained multiple portals to every single plane, as well as to numerous locations in the Prime Material Plane. It was considered a demiplane in the World Axis cosmology.

"Ah, the Cage. Nexus of the planes. You've gotta hate it…"

- Trykk

Description
"This city has more political intrigue than Waterdeep, the people are more arrogant than Westgate merchants, and the air's more foul than a Zhentil Keep sewer."

- Joel of Finder

Sigil was located in the Outlands, hovering above the immensely tall landmark known as the Spire that stood at the plane's center. From the Outlands, it was possible to see Sigil hovering atop the Spire as the mountaintop vanished into nothingness.

Sigil was shaped like the inside of a torus. According to official measurements by the Harmonium, the city's primary diameter―that is, the ring's diameter―was, with a circumference of. Later measurements put the primary diameter at approximately, with the same circumference as the Harmonium's measurements, and a secondary diameter―the ring's thickness―of approximately. Despite these attempts at measurement, the city did not have a fixed size and its dimensions could be changed at will by the Lady of Pain.

The city's location and geometry was considered by most sages, in particular the inhabitants of the Material Plane, to be impossible. Although all magic was completely impeded at the center of the Outlands, it worked normally within Sigil, with the exception of spells that involved planar travel. There were many hypotheses that tried to explain Sigil's location and existence. Although they varied wildly, one of the more popular explanations posited that the Lady of Pain was behind the city's existence and properties.

The city did not fill the entire inner surface of the torus, but just the outer portion of the ring. For that reason, the city was recursive only in one direction, along its major circumference. Even though it was not a completely closed surface, it was impossible to see outside of the ring from any point within the city. If one looked up, the far side was visible, as the gentle curvature caused any point in the city to resemble the bottom of a valley. The edges of the ring were lined with solid buildings that had no windows outside, so the only way to try to see what lay beyond the edge was to climb a rooftop. Those who did reported that there was nothing to see beyond the edge―not empty space or a vacuum, but nothing at all. Those who jumped over the edge disappeared into a random plane.

As a result of this unique geometry, Sigil had no sky. The city was kept lit by an intrinsic luminescence of its air, which waxed and waned creating the appearance of a 24-hour day-night cycle. The brightest moment in the cycle was referred to as "peak" and the darkest point was referred to as "antipeak". Time was measured by counting down the hours before peak and incrementing them after peak. As a result, most of the time the city was illuminated only by a hazy twilight. The equivalent of full daylight only lasted for about 6 hours, from 3 to 3, so even creatures that were sensitive to bright light were comfortable in Sigil most of the time. During the six darkest hours of the cycle, light coming from lanterns on the opposite side of the ring gave an illusion of a sky filled with stars. Clocks in Sigil did not have numbers and were marked with 24 1-hour segments, with the daytime hours and peak on top and night hours and antipeak at the bottom.

The city was crowded with buildings that squeezed over each other with very small living spaces. New buildings, courtyards, and streets were constantly being built, changing the city's landscape and turning old structures into underground crypts. Sigil's architecture was marked by its iron spikes and bladed fences, serving both as protection against intruders and as a stylistic choice. Stone gargoyles were also typical decorations.

Weather on Sigil alternated between foul-smelling smog, frequent chilly rains, and somewhat clear weather. The haze from the city's myriad chimneys was a near constant, often reducing visibility to about, or even down to in the worst cases. When it rained, it was common for the water to mix with the walls' and the air's impurities and turn to a brown drizzle. After it rained, the city air cleared out for a while, with light breezes and a pleasant cool temperature.

Cosmography
According to its own inhabitants, Sigil's central position in the Outlands, at equal distance from the each of the gate-towns that led to the Outer Planes, put the city itself at the center of the planes, at least according to some interpretations of the Great Wheel cosmology. Most sages agreed that, since the multiverse was infinite, there was no true center, but nevertheless Sigil was generally acknowledged as one of the most important places in the multiverse.

It was impossible to walk into and out of Sigil from the Outlands or any other location. It was also impossible to enter or exit the city, or even observe it, via spell, magic item, or any creature's innate abilities. Although spells like plane shift, gate, and astral projection were incapable of entering or exiting Sigil, the city was not completely cut off from the Astral Plane, so spells such as raise dead, which required access to the Astral, still worked. Teleportation within the boundaries of the city also functioned normally. Like all locations in the Outer Planes, Sigil was cut off from the Ethereal plane.

The only way in or out of Sigil was via its innumerable portals. Any bounded opening (a doorway, an arch, a barrel hoop, a picture frame) could possibly be a portal to another plane, or to another point in Sigil itself. In addition, portals could be permanent or temporary, linking to fixed or shifting locations. Thus, the city touched all planes at once, yet ultimately belonged to none. Those characteristics warranted Sigil the other names it was known for: it was called "the City of Doors" for the sheer number of portals, but was also called "the Cage" for the difficulty to enter or exit the city.

Government
The ruler of Sigil was the mysterious Lady of Pain, who reigned from her seat of power known as the Throne of Blades. Her power controlled all the portals in the city and prevented all deities and archfiends from entering it. The Lady did not otherwise concern herself with ruling the city directly; she typically only interfered when something threatened the stability of Sigil itself or crossed one of her few but unforgiving edicts, which amounted to keeping the peace and refraining from worship of her.

The Lady was an entity of inscrutable motives, but she was known for being swift and merciless when dealing with threats to her and to the City of Doors. Those who crossed her, even accidentally, risked being flayed to death or teleported to extradimensional labyrinths known as the Lady's Mazes, never to be seen again. Tales also existed of would-be usurpers to the Throne of Blades who ended up imprisoned in Agathion, the third layer of Pandemonium.

Although the Lady of Pain did not act directly in the everyday management of Sigil, her will was enforced through a number of servants known as dabus, who simultaneously served as the Lady's eyes and ears as well as keepers of the structure of Sigil. Like the Lady, the dabus did not interact much with Sigil's inhabitants or travelers. It was considered wise to leave the dabus be, since antagonizing them incurred the risk of bringing down the infrequent but harsh wrath of their mistress.

The dabus also constantly repaired and reshaped Sigil, recycling materials from one structure to build another. They were believed to be the only ones who truly understood the inner workings of the city, and some even speculated that the dabus were the true rulers of Sigil. It was believed that the dabus dwelled somewhere in the crypts in the city's underground.

Thanks to the Lady's strict forbiddance of open large-scale conflict, Sigil was a true neutral haven to all visitors. It was a location where no wars were waged and even the fiercest opponents, such as an angel and a fiend or a devil and a demon, could be seen sharing a drink and momentarily setting their differences aside.

Nevertheless, Sigil was hardly peaceful; the Lady of Pain did not concern herself with day-to-day crime such as murder or petty theft. Only threats to Sigil, and, by extension, to the Lady herself, were met with direct action by her and the dabus. This lack of direct oversight and the need for personal maintenance of law and order gave visitors and Cagers the feeling that Sigil was constantly on the brink of anarchy.

Trade
Sigil was a prime destination for travelers as well as a center of trade throughout the multiverse. Its merchants accepted the standard currency from anywhere on the planes. Most shops and stalls tended to concentrate on the Great Bazaar in the Market Ward, but there were numerous street markets throughout the city that operated part-time. Day markets traded mostly in food and housewares, whereas night markets offered a larger variety.

The city did not produce any usable natural resources and had to import even the most basic items, such as food and raw materials. In order to survive, the city capitalized on its most important asset: its sheer amount of portals and the fact that it was one of the most frequent stops for planewalkers going anywhere in the multiverse. For that reason, the first priority in Sigil was to accommodate for its visitors' various tastes during their stay. There was an enormous assortment of inns and taverns that catered for just about anyone. Such places were usually highly specialized and each tended to evoke the atmosphere of a single location.

With this large flux of travelers often looking to trade their wares, Sigil was famous for being the place where anything could be found for sale. Goods from several worlds in the Prime Material plane, such as bronzewood from Oerth or Fire Wine from Toril were available there, as well as exotic items from all other planes, so it was common for travelers to look for those goods in Sigil first, before venturing to their proper places of origin. The city also offered a vast array of services supporting traders, travelers, and residents alike. Many people offered their services as bodyguards, mercenaries, and bill collectors.

Many wizards also set up shop in the city, taking advantage of the variety of items that passed through. Sigil was famous for its magic item production, as items created within the Cage were considerably more resistant to planar effects that weakened magic enchantments. However, prices were considerably high for such items, and their sellers often only kept small businesses that could be difficult to track down.

Services
Services offered in Sigil included:


 * Touts, or unofficial city guides. It was highly recommended that planewalkers new to Sigil employed a guide, lest they be taken advantage of or mugged. Since there as no central agency or any regulation of the profession, such guides could be little better themselves, either serving to persuade a traveler to the side of their faction or simply robbing their "customer" once their backs were turned.
 * Factotums, the city's official guides. Regulated by their respective factions, they guided visitors through not only the city's mazes, but its convoluted politics as well.
 * Public transportation. Sigil had no horses, so unlike Waterdeep's drays and hire-coaches, its transportation system consisted of sedan chairs that could hold up to two people each. The service did not extend to the entire city, as some dangerous areas were avoided by sedan chair pullers.
 * Couriers, hired to deliver messages around the city. It was a dangerous job, so the service was not entirely reliable.
 * Light boys, street urchins who offered escorting services via wands of continual light, since Sigil did not possess streetlights. They were familiar with many of the city's intricacies, so they could act as unofficial guides as well.

History
Sigil's origins were unknown and clouded in mystery and legend. Some speculated that the city had been built by the Lady of Pain herself, while others maintained that Sigil had been built by the dabus. They were believed to be the city's first inhabitants, since there was no record of a time where they were not present in the city. This hypothesis was also favored by the unique level of care the dabus demonstrated toward Sigil, constantly repairing it and silently watching over it.

In its distant past, the city was administered by guilds, with over fifty warring factions wrestling with each other for power and control. In the event known as the Great Upheaval, the Lady of Pain limited the number of official factions to fifteen, handing control of the city to the factions instead of the guilds. This new arrangement lasted for six centuries.

During the period in which control of Sigil was in the hands of factions, the years were measured from the beginning of the rule of certain factions' leaders (known as "factols"), typically those of the Fraternity of Order. Local inhabitants were accustomed to the constant changes in the city, so they did not pay too much attention to the timing of historic events.

At an unknown time, a plot to free Malar from his imprisonment by Talos in the Land of the Hunt in the Colothys layer of Carceri resulted in an artifact known as the dreamlink spreading a corruption of the wild nature of the Beastlands into several Outer Planes and into Sigil itself. The effects, which included intense increases in aggressiveness from animals and other creatures, threatened to spread from there to the entire multiverse.

632 years after the Great Upheaval, in the 130 year of Factol Hashkar's rule, the simmering political tensions between the fifteen factions for supremacy of their worldview escalated to open hostilities, triggering a bloody internal conflict known as the Faction War. The war ended with the complete disbanding of all factions by the Lady of Pain, with some of them being extinguished, others moving their headquarters to other planes, and others becoming underground organizations.

Some time after the Faction War, the lich Vecna attempted to ascend to the status of greater deity and orchestrated an invasion of Sigil, from where he hoped to control the entire multiverse. The Lady of Pain expelled Vecna from the city with the help of adventurers, but the invasion caused a great disturbance in the multiverse. Following his defeat, the Lady of Pain strengthened Sigil's defenses and reorganized the planar structure in order to repair the damage and to prevent such an event from ever happening again.

Notable Locations

 * The Hall of Concordance was an embassy of law, dedicated to the signing and enforcement of contracts. The hall offered the possibility of having the kolyarut engrave a contract onto a sheet of gold that was installed on a marut's chest. The marut then became bound to ensure that the contract was fulfilled to the letter.
 * Imel's Happy Tongue, an inn and tavern known for its periodic menu specials that featured food from all the planes. The favorite item in its annual "Cheeses of the Planes" was the Torilian Death Cheese.
 * The Prime Exotics shop specialized in selling small animals from the Prime Material plane, including rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, and miniature giant space hamsters.

Wards of Sigil
Sigil was divided into six wards. Although the boundary between wards was not clearly marked on the city's streets or maps, it was usually easy to identify a ward based on the general upkeep and packing of the buildings, as well as the type of business conducted there. Counter-clockwise around the ring, the wards of Sigil were the following:


 * The Lady's Ward:
 * The richest and most exclusive section of the city, home to the elites of society and of its government.


 * Market Ward:
 * The main location for purchasing goods and services. It was famous for offering items from numerous planes and worlds.


 * Guildhall Ward:
 * Usually counted as part of the Market Ward. Home to the traders, craftsmen, artisans, guild members and other members of the middle class.


 * Clerk's Ward:
 * An affluent district, home to most of the city's lower-rung bureaucrats and middlemen.


 * Hive Ward:
 * The slum and the ghetto, home to the poor, the rogues, and the unwanted dregs of the city.


 * Lower Ward:
 * An industrial district, clogged up with the smoke from the foundries and from the portals to the Lower Planes.

Inhabitants
Sigil had a population of about 50,000 permanent residents, with a much higher number of temporary residents and visitors that resulted in as many as 250,000 people found in the city at any given time. The population included members of virtually every species found in the multiverse. Long-time Cagers and natives usually felt uncomfortable in open spaces or locations where they could see a sky and the horizon, as they were accustomed to the absence of those features in Sigil.

The population of Sigil spoke in a characteristic slang known as the cant that often confused newcomers. They tended to hold inhabitants of the Material Plane in contempt, referring to them as "Clueless", "Outsiders", or, more politely, "primes". Despite their banter, Cagers―and planars in general―held a cautious respect for primes, since they acknowledged that a certain amount of power was necessary to reach Sigil from the Material Plane.

Before the Faction War, Sigil was home to 15 extraplanar factions that struggled with one another for power and prestige but generally did not engage in open conflict. The Lady of Pain tolerated the existence of these factions, so long as they did not interfere with her or her nebulous goals. Several factions even served useful purposes, such as the Guvners, the Harmonium, and the Mercykillers, which served as the judges, jury, and executioners of Sigil, respectively.

Following the Faction War, other organizations took over administrative roles in the city. An Advisory Council was formed by prominent citizens to keep the peace, often hiring adventurers to deal with threats. It was led by Rhys, former leader of the Transcendent Order. The role of jailers was assumed by a group known as the Sons of Mercy, founded by a former member of the Mercykillers. Trade was regulated by the Mutual Trade Association, formed by guild leaders and led by Shemeshka.

The city did not have a lustrous vegetation, and its only park had been overrun with squatters. The only remaining plant life was razorvine, a rapidly growing plant that originated in the Lower planes and was considered a hazard. The darker alleys were crowded with rats and cranium rats, rot grubs grew on garbage heaps, and bats nested on higher places. The city's underground was inhabited by wererats. The city also had two native species of birds: pigeons with a gray-green coloration and large ravens with gray bodies and black heads and wings, known as executioner's ravens.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Saddam Hasan ibn Arvalas, a wizard from Toril and former pupil of Trobriand. A member of the Fraternity of Order, he was the owner of the Hands of Time, a shop specialized in the construction and repairs of golems and other automata.

Rumors & Legends
Sigil's very existence and purpose were a mystery. Some maintained that it had been built by a deposed duke of the Nine Hells, while others suggested that it was the byproduct of an insane demigod's dream, and some even speculated that it had been put together by scattered bits of the Outer Planes shortly after their creation. Another line of reasoning posited that Sigil was a prison for the Lady of Pain herself.

It was also rumored that an unkindness of wereravens inhabited the city's underground.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Great Modron March • Tales from the Infinite Staircase • For Duty & Deity • Faction War • Dungeon #55, "Umbra" • Dungeon #60, "Nemesis"
 * Novels
 * Masquerades • Finder's Bane • Tymora's Luck