Sigil ain’t like other places. It’s connected to every-place, and it’s impossible, and its peace is enforced by terror. A cutter - even a prime - who learns the city’s customs can get by. A berk who ignores them gets put in the dead-book.
- Wolfgang Baur, “In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil”
Perhaps it was something you said at the wrong place and the wrong time. Mayhap it was the wrong turn you took, through a doorway that led you knew not where, and now remain unsure of where here even is! Maybe it was that thrice cursed wizard and his wretched magic that sent you hurtling across the fabrics of reality.
There are many paths to this Cage, to the top of the Great Spire; many portals that lead to the Sigil, the City of Doors.
Forget what the temple preachers told you of the other side of mortality. Ignore the tomes written by ignorant magi of the truth of the cosmos. For you stand now in the heart of it all, the great crossroad between dimensions. Here, all realities cross paths. Every world, and every heaven and every hell converge to trade, seek adventure, or search for greater cosmic truths.
If it’s profit and coin you seek, then you’ve come to the greatest trade town in all the multiverse, with eager Deva’s and Devils keen to buy or sell. Adventure? As long as you hold the right key, every door or gate will take you to such wonders and terrors, beyond what all the Primes could ever hold. And if you seek something more, something beyond what coin can buy or fortresses can keep, then perhaps the Factions can show you the way.
The City of Doors is Different
Sigil is a neutral place where all kind of creatures meet - Devils, Devas, Giants, Fey and even Dragons walk the street. The fantastic is mundane. The city is the domain of an enigmatic being known as the Lady of Pain, and her servants, the Dabus. Her Serenity is the ultimate authority, but she rarely takes action unless she or Sigil is threatened. The day-to-day affairs of the city are managed by fifteen Factions: philosophical organizations that live out the different aspects of the planes in which they live.
The Harmonium, Fraternity of Order, and Mercykillers keep the peace in the streets, and form the backbone of Sigil's military. The so-called "Triad of Law" is armed by the master weapon-smiths of the Doomguard. The Sign of One runs the Hall of Speakers, the city council which makes the laws of the city. The Believers of the Source, Free League, and Fated drive the economy of Sigil. The city's culture is enriched by the Society of Sensation, Xaositects, and the Transcendent Order. The Athar warn of the treachery of the gods, and the corruption of the Temples. The Dustmen tend to the city's dead; and the Bleak Cabal looks after the most wretch Cager in the Hive.
And for those who are disatisfied with the status quo, the Revolutionary League plots to bring down the whole structure.
In the City of Doors, who and what you are doesn't matter. Sigil, like the planes surrounding it, runs on belief.
At the Center of the Great Wheel
The city of Sigil is built inside of a torus, which sits atop the infinitely tall Spire at the center of the Outlands. No one has ever climbed from the bottom of the Spire to the top, or fallen from the top to the bottom; the only way in or out of the city is through its myriad portals, which lead to every outer and inner plane, and (it is rumored) many Prime worlds.
Since Sigil is in the center of the Outlands, and the Outlands are at the center of the Outer Planes, it is the self-proclaimed center of the planes. Despire being surrounded by every possible gods' domain, the city is proof against deities. Whether because of the Lady of Pain's desire, Sigil's place atop the Spire, or an agreement among the powers, gods do not enter Sigil.
Scholars often think of the Outlands as a great wheel-shaped plane of neutrality, with the great Spire in its center. The closer you get to the Spire, the less magic functions, for gods and mortals alike. In contrast, the closer you get to the edges of the Outlands, the more the terrain and feel of the plane becomes like the aligned planes and godly domains which surround it. Strangely enough, there's no such magical limitation at the very top of the Spire (Sigil).
According to the Great Wheel Cosmology, the Outlands are surrounded by the other Outer Planes, each of which represents an aspect of alignment and plays host to the domains of the powers. The Outer Planes are commonly listed as:
- Elysium - the plane of peace and unadulterated goodness.
- The Beastlands - the plane of idealized nature.
- Arborea - the realm of passion, abundance and nature's caprice.
- Ysgard - the eternal battleground where true heroes prove their valor.
- Limbo - the plane of ever-changing chaos.
- Pandemonium - an infinite network of pitch-black catacombs, with winds that drive men mad.
- The Abyss - the plane of shocking perversity and unpredictable horror.
- Carceri - the plane where liars, cheats and traitors are imprisoned by their own deceptions.
- The Gray Waste - here, all emotion and compassion is drained away, until only hopelessness, selfishness and apathy remain.
- Gehenna - a volcanic realm of evil schemes and merciless cliffs.
- Baator - a realm of oppression, torment, and diabolical plots.
- Acheron - a plane of constant, pointless war, where identity is forever lost.
- Mechanus - this clockwork plane is the ultimate in order; scholars and constructs live here.
- Arcadia - a peaceful world of wildlands and kingdoms where all live in harmony.
- Mount Celestia - the plane of true good, where countless paladins and saints live in bliss.
- Bytopia - the two-sided plane of good industry.
You can read more about Sigil and Planescape on our wiki, or the following great sites:
Or, if you want to know more about how to play on SCoD, take a look at How to Join or Tips and Tricks for New Players.