The Common Truth
From a cartographer's perspective, Sigil is
pretty much as close to the geographical center of the multiverse as one is
going to actually pin down on a map. It's floating on the top of an infinitely
tall spire, defies all laws of gravity, and serves as a multiversal hub: portals
lead from everywhere to anywhere imaginable. Sigil is on the mind of everyone,
be they the factions, the fiends, the celestials, or the powers. Every single
one of them wants Sigil, whether they say so or not. It's too much of a prize,
too much of a temptation. The one who controls Sigil controls its gateways -
and, well, what force wouldn't want to control where the portals go? Such a
power could make Sigil, now a neutral watering-ground, into a stopping point for
the fiendish or celestial armies, a raging battleground. However, none of this
is. The reason? The Lady of Pain.
Nobody says her name aloud, for fear of invoking her
fearsome presence. Silent and bladed, she appears as a tall lady in loose,
brownish robes. Embedded around her face in a circular fashion are numerous
glittering blades, and her serene face belies any emotion as she floats
through Sigil, several inches above the ground. Those who try to talk to her
get no response, or more commonly are flayed, as if their bodies were rent
apart the Lady's own glittering blades with but a single thought. The Lady
never speaks. In the past, when she has seen it necessary to deliver a
message, it is through her also silent messangers the dabus. The Lady is the
undisputed ruler of Sigil, even though she does nothing in its rule: she
does not appear at the Hall of Speakers, nor does she make or enforce the
laws of Sigil. She acts only in the interests of Sigil: when it is
threatened, she moves to protect it. Minor concerns such as law, chaos,
good, and evil are of no concern to her: she cares only for the safety of
Sigil. Not the people in it, but the city itself. She is called The Lady of
Pain because if someone gathers Her attention, then there is indeed pain.
Other names she is called by, when people actually gather the courage to
speak of her, are Her Serenity (because of her serene expression) and simply
The Lady. Of course, one should keep in mind that one doesn't quite talk
about The Lady in public or in private, because that just /might/ be enough
to gather her attention... and the attention of Her Serenity isn't something
that anyone wants.
What does The Lady do? Well, it's pretty obvious that
she keeps the peace in Sigil. She prevents the powers from seizing it as
their own. She prevents the fiends from rising up and tearing the city
apart. She is there to protect Sigil from the many dangers that threaten it,
wanting to own it or manipulate it for their own use. She's all that stands
between the rest of the multiverse and the citisens of Sigil, and while they
may not speak her name, they are certainly grateful for protecting them and
letting them live their own lives, relatively free from the influence of the
powers, the celestials, and the fiends.
There are as many theories as to the Lady's origin as
there are people in the multiverse. Perhaps she was a rogue tanar'ri who
came to Sigil to flee her brethren? Maybe she was the first dabus, as she
has a sort of affinity to those, her servants. The actual truth of these
theories is irrelevant.
One would think that a few masochists might actually
see the Lady of Pain as their goddess and giver of unending pain. One would
be right. But those who worship The Lady end up dying. Say words of respect
to Her Serenity, yes, fear her. But don't worship her. Those that do...
well, they're not talked about much after the mess is cleaned up. Nobody
knows why The Lady seems to reject worshippers, but she does, and that is
the way of things.
Those that would plot, scheme, or conspire against The
Lady usually end up in a whole heap of trouble. Well, not quite. See, the
Lady doesn't care about conspiracy against her: she's let people plot away
in the past. There used to be a faction in Sigil called the Expansionists:
they believed that every person should have the right to expand, to grow
beyond their humble beginnings. Their factol was quite a schemer, and it's
no secret that he had his eye on Sigil, looking to someday take it over and
add that to his repetoire. Well, one day they apparently stepped beyond that
limit, because their factol, Vartus Timlin, just plain vanished into the
Lady's Mazes. They're like little pocket universes, except endless and
twisted in on themselves, so that there is no chance of escape. However, the
thing is that there's always an exit, and those in the Maze are sure of that
fact: whether it's put there just to infuriate those who find themselves in
the Mazes is not sure. Each Maze is individual: one will never find two sods
sharing one. If one gets a glance at a maze at all. When The Lady gets sick
and tired of someone in her town, or sees a potential threat, they just
vanish into a Maze. Nobody can escape this, because it happens in the blink
of an eye. They vanish when someone looks away, when the victim is
completely alone. The Lady's reach is indeed far within her city.
The Lady's reach is far, and it's just as powerful.
Once, an upstart power named Aoskar, a god representing travel, fortune,
opportunity... and portals. Aoskar became a sort of sponsor for the City of
Doors, and everyone respected him as greater than The Lady, for he was
indeed the master of portals throughout the multiverse. The Lady didn't seem
to care about this thought that was in the hearts and minds of the people
living in her city... until a dabus dared to cast on the robes of Aoskar as
his priest. The Grand Temple of Aoskar was shattered into a thousand pieces,
and everything within a six-block radius was destroyed by the sheer wrath of
the Lady of Pain. As for Aoskar himself... well, a new corpse was sent to
the Astral Plane. Some Astral travellers even say that his astral corpse is
impaled through with The Lady's Blades. Since then, powers stay out of
Sigil. Their priests can come in, their proxies are barely tolerated... but
powers find themselves blocked.
Another group in Sigil called the Communals believed
in the rights of free property in all things. Turns out one day the faction
told The Lady that she should share her power over Sigil... and their
faction's headquarters just up and vanished. Into thin air. Nobody said
anything: nobody dared to. Just another example of those that defy The
Lady's will.
Nobody knows if the Lady is omniscient in Sigil, but
an awful lot of people are guessing no, preferring to plot silently and
preparing for their final confrontation. Some seek a mysterious orb where
the soul of an ancient wizard that supposedly almost defeated The Lady of
Pain years ago. The wizard, Shekelor, almost toppled the Lady all by
himself, such was his power. That was many, many years ago however, and he
has since vanished into obscurity and legend. But he did exist, that much is
certain. People still search for his soul throughout the Lower Planes,
hoping that when they find him, they'll be able to manipulate him into
deposing The Lady. Others search for a way to revive Aoskar, knowing that
he'll return to Sigil full of anger and vengeance, reading to strike down
the upstart Lady. There are others that can only dream about controlling
Sigil... and that's all that they'll ever do.
That's because if those plotters ever decide to act on
their mad schemes and dreams of conquest, they'll be put in the mazes or
flayed into a thousand pieces by The Lady's cruel blades. Evil? Maybe. But
this is Sigil, and this is town of The Lady of Pain. If a body wants a
philosophical debate with her, he's more than welcome to track her down as
she moves slowly through the streets of her City. Such fools will be be
justly rewarded.
