Contents Main Page A Day in the Life of a Cager Introduction Jaimi Bimkz Pekan Shu Cage Chant From Factioneers From Planewalkers Darker Chant Clerks' Ward Castles in the Sand Dair's Mercenaries Darkwell Court Golden Confessions The Grove of Erik House of Mattados The Planarium The Scriptorium Théatre Broulliard Guildhall Ward From Primes to Planewalkers Michandoco's Maze La Pax The Sculptor's Guild The Sunken Plaza The Weather Tower The Zen Garden Hive Ward The Behemoth Deffas' Laboratory Fallen Angel Fiend's Salute The Goblin Quarter The Happy Medium The Mangled Leg Montekkai's Alley Suicide Alley The Warehouse Xaco"#ti Lady's Ward The Arched Gardens The City Zoo The Godswatch The Hollow Fountain The House of Life Selphi's Enchantment The Spiral Cathedral Temple of Celts Temple of Titans Underground Canals Lower Ward The Calculating Engine Darthiir's Test Hall The Fire Pit The Furnace House of Mymirs The Lost Bridge The Pentacle Petrified Forest The Schlacthof The Scuttle The Spiral Cathedral Styx Oarsman The Theatre of Harmony Market Ward Chater's Field The Drunken Dabus Jonas' Visions The Merchant's Scale The Silver Tongue Tholin's Machines Torpedo Room

Darker Chant on the Cage These are some of the tales and stories I've picked up, from more unreliable sources on my jaunts around the city... Thanto Zephistopheles, Etheroscope Manufacturer and Suspected Rilmani agent (by Colin McComb) "Sigil's not part of the Outlands. "See, some folks say the Spire is the focal point of all belief in the Multiverse -- that belief slides from other planes, drawn to the magnetic pole of the Spire. It travels down the Spire and into the Outlands, where it begins to disperse throughout the Outer Planes -- each belief set moving inexorably toward the plane that is most to its liking. Like a waterfall into the centre of a pool, the belief splashes into the Outlands and ripples outward toward the other planes. "Thus, the Outlands were never permanent. They are as malleable as water. The towns and realms located in the Outlands maintain a fixed position from the Spire, but occasionally seem to move back and forth between the ripples as the rings of the Outlands expand outward. "What does this have to do with Sigil? Well, Sigil's located at the top of this waterfall. It's the magnifying glass, the faucet, the focus through which all this belief spills. Just as the glass is not part of the sunbeam it focuses, just as the cave mouth is not part of the waterfall it disgorges, just as the faucet is not part of the water it spills, so Sigil is not part of the Outlands. "And if you take this justification, hey, it would also explain why Sigil's connected to everywhere. Belief from everywhere spills through the city, thus linking the city to everywhere belief exists. "That's why it's so important that the city remain neutral -- that's why it's so important that neither the fiends nor the celestials nor any faction assert control over the city. If any of them do, it could cause the multiverse to come crashing down as belief is siphoned only to those places approved by the ruler of Sigil." Linklater, an Anarchist about to meet Keepers for the first time (by Rip Van Wormer) "I've got a dark for you, cutter, and it's a big one... Sigil is less than 1500 years old. Sure, there's berks who'll tell you different, but the planes they've came from are mostly even younger. All of history's been invented by the Fraternity of Order to cement their power over us decent cutters! See, the chant is that a Guvner wizard once stumbled upon one of the Reality Keys -- like spell keys, but far, far bigger -- that the powers of creation used so they didn't have to be kept down by their own rules, y'know. It let him "find" places that didn't even exist before. "We've positively correlated his activities with a surge in jink throughout the planes at the time. We got a mimir out at great personal expense that shows when he needed a way to get around, he "found" the Arcane and their spelljammers. When he needed safety from rival mages, he "found" the Spire and its magic-draining rings When he found his protection too inhibiting, he found a circular gate-array with a bladed guardian... hey! You said there weren't going to be any Hardheads here! Tell them to take their sodding glasses off! Hey! What're they up to..." Mordire the Moonraker, an Alienist and frequent Resident of the Bleak Cabal's Madhouse "You berks all reckon I'm barmy, right? Well, I'd be the first to admit I'm a little - erratic. But that don't mean I don't know something real dark and scary. It was discovering it that made me like this in the first place, right. I'll tell you, too, if you like. Careful though, it might drive you insane as well... "Sigil's the body of a deity. I don't mean the town, but the whole tyre-shaped structure. It's a very old being and most people have long forgotten about it, except me, that is. See, aeons ago the power got put in the dead book by Aoskar, who was jealous of its sphere of influence. The power was a god of portals and shapechangers. The god of mimics, perhaps. Anyway, it wasn't a very mighty cutter, and Aoskar polished it off and threw it into the Astral, stealing its portfolio... "The dying power drifted through the Astral for thousands of years until it was discovered. Some bloods started to inhabit it like the other decaying bodies. They called their burg 'Sigil', which was the name of the power itself. Then they discovered the portals, which were actually part of the god's metabolism. They used them for travelling, and this drew more attention to their tiny burg. At first, Sigil was to weak to do anything against this abuse, then it discovered how to feed on the presence of the beings. Now it doesn't need any worshippers, because most people in the planes admire Sigil: 'That's the place you have to go', 'It's the greatest burg of the multiverse' or 'Everything is possible here'. You're heard 'em, I'm sure. "With its new source of strength it became stronger again and created more portals by changing its metabolism, and built cases and kips for the inhabitants so they'd never want to leave (Sigil's good at that, being a former power of shape shifting). Eventually, the power was strong enough to extricate itself from the Astral and return to the Outer Planes. Due to its neutral alignment it had to be somewhere in the Outlands. "Now Sigil was wary of being attacked again, and there wasn't much space left on the plane where it could establish a Realm without angering neighbouring powers, so the only place left to it was on top of the Spire. It also felt that it wouldn't be a good idea to settle somewhere within the anti-magic rings, as this might have lowered the attraction for the visitors. So the top of the Spire was a good choice: it was still a part of the Outlands, but it had no magical restrictions... "To keep the inhabitants under control, the deity placed two forces into the Cage: the Lady - who is something like an avatar - embodies the spirit of the town, and the Dabus - who are like petitioners. Beings that really love the town itself will turn into a Dabus after death and tend 'their' town forever. "Sigil keeps other powers out of its body, as it's bad form to enter another power's realm. It's even worse form to enter their body. Besides, it's uncomfortable for Sigil itself to let them in. Being a liberal sort of power, it doesn't mind cutters in the Cage worshipping other deities; after all, it's still getting energy from them as long as they use the city. Except for Aoskar, that is - Sigil hates that sod more than anything else; that's why Sigil got the Lady of Pain to kill him as soon as it was powerful enough. As Sigil doesn't have worshippers of its own, it doesn't grant spells, because nobody asks for them. Except me, of course, but I'm mad like you say. And just because I get them doesn't mean nothing, does it...? Sirocco, an Air Genasi Priestess "All of Sigil's so-called 'strange properties' can be explained simply. The city it lies at the centre of the Outer Planes. Even an elemental could tell you that the properties of a body change drastically at its centre. Hurricanes or cyclones, for example, have calm interiors surrounded by vicious winds. The Outlands; well, at it's centre it's a place of dead magic. Naturally, in the eye of this null-magic zone there's a place of tempestuous enchantment and tremendous planes-spanning sorcery: Sigil."

Overheard in a Sermon delivered in the Temple of the Abyss "...Those fools scurrying around outside realise not that their precious Sigil was born of the Abyss. The Lady of Pain is merely its guardian while its purpose is lived. The Cage will return to the Abyss when it has gathered enough dark souls, and the tanar'ri shall be forever triumphant..." Some raving Barmy from the Bleaker's Madhouse "Sigil's a ring which fell off Ptah's finger years ago. He's been trying to put it back on ever since. It's still got lots of the magic of the Planewalking Power; that's why there are portals everywhere. The Spire is his finger see, trying to go through the ring. But we won't let him, oh no we won't. You hear me, Ptah?" Another raving Barmy, arguing with the Former "No, leatherhead! Sigil was a ring plucked from the nose of Baphomet, the Minotaur Power by the Lady of Pain. She can create the mazes when she wants because she stole that power from him too. He's mighty angry, so she sealed the doors to him and the other Powers. She's stolen things from most of them too, see." A Third Lunatic, perhaps the most Barmy of all "You're both wrong, addle-coves! Sigil's just a few inches in diameter and every portal to it shrinks plane hoppers to the size of tiny insects! The Cage is really a cork bobbing endlessly in the River Oceanus. Or was it the Styx? Or around a silver thread on the Astral? Or a vertebrate inside Aoskar's spine? Ach, it's so hard to remember things these days!" Multiple Gorna, Arcanaloth Friend of Rule Of Three "Ever thought there might be more than one Sigil? We all know that Sigil is atop the infinite Spire in the Outlands, but who's to say that it's the only one. What if there are other Sigils atop the Spire, above or below the 'known' one. Maybe they've all got portals all over the Multiverse. "Sometimes you come back to one Sigil sometimes you comeback to a different one. All are ruled by the Lady and all are roughly the same, but of course there would be differences. Since Sigil's so big many people might not notice at all: 'There's the Gatehouse, But why can't I find the Armoury?' It might even be that the streets themselves contain permanently open portals, so not all of the features exist in one Sigil but rather some in each different one." Yorothy, aged seven, Singing a Tiefling Childrens' Song "Sigil is, Sigil isn't, Sigil was, Sigil wasn't, Sigil will be, Sigil won't be. "What's so hard to understand berk?" Havfro Silverleaf, a clueless with no idea, speaking to Cirily of the Planarists "The planes....that's where the Gods and their servants dwell. A big grave if you ask me -- all their followers milling about being crazy about the whole...What!? I'm a barmy? What in the Nine Hells are y...Baator! You talk nonsense to me. "Everything comes from here on Toril I mean everything is here Sijil what are you tal...a city shaped like a tyre -- that's impossible and anything impossible is nonexistent. STOP calling me barmy, what are these words you make up?... "Suuuure and demons and angels live there. Baatezu! Tanar'ri! Aasimon? There you go with that human guttural speech again. And you find us elves rude. Why isn't there a war happening on Sijil's streets then? "The Lady of Pain...now that's original and I'm the Man of Destruction. She rules a city containing portals to everywhere? So why hasn't any evil god taken it from her?.... "Nothing can stop a god are you crazy? What you're going to nick me if I can't shut my bone box???? Wha....Urk!!" Elandar of the Pits, an Athar factotum (by Emannuel Reichert) "The Cage is a Crystal Sphere, a Prime World in its own right. Listen, it makes sense: the prime's connected with everywhere right? Magic works normally there, right? Just like Sigil. But in someway, the Cage's sphere has been connected permanently with the Outlands. Perhaps it's a prime world which entered into the Great Ring somehow; could've been dragged there by a barmy power or even the Lady herself..." Barisvati, Dark-Spinner and Screed-Monger Extraordinaire (by James O'Rance) "Anyone who's met the arcane knows how wealthy they are. I once offered them a unique magical artifact, for which they were prepared to pay 20,000 in platinum and a spelljamming ship! But why don't they ever enter Sigil? Here's the dark of it... "The arcane actually own Sigil, and they're just leasing it out to the Lady of Pain. However, the Lady's a canny occupant, and forced the arcane to sign an agreement that they could not enter the premises whilst she was home. The Lady's at least 500,000 years overdue on her rent, but the arcane can't evict her while she's in the city. And that's why the Lady of Pain never leaves..." Guvner Nomin Bookchaser explains the Irony behind Sigil "Sigil is the multiverse's biggest paradox, berk. It's a city located above the top of an infinitely tall Spire which is in turn located bang in the centre of an infinite plane. Add to this the fact that magic works normally in Sigil, yet below it, at the base of the Spire no magic (or anything else for that matter) works at all. An on top of all those paradoxes, you've got the fact that while Sigil itself is technically the most barren spot in the multiverse (as nothing is native to it), it's also the most populous spot in the multiverse (except with Powers, of course). "Still more ironic is the fact that this city is called 'the Cage', yet there are uncountable exits from it that any blood can freely use (once they've got the key, of course). Sigil seems to be able to prove the 'correctness' of each and every single Faction; or so the other Factions claim anyway. "The books say that every place in the Outer Planes is either a Plane, a Demiplane, or a Realm. All of these have been called a dimension by the Clueless at some time or another. (Heck, those leatherheaded Primes sometimes call other parts of the Prime a different dimension!) In fact a dimension is something entirely different. Dimensions pervade all the planes at once, but that's a story for another time. They're bigger than infinite. "Does this mean that the City of Doors is a Demiplane? No, berk. Demiplanes have to be located in the Ethereal or Astral Planes, and all the evidence suggests that Sigil is clearly on the Outlands (although some berks even disagree with that). "So, that means Sigil must be a Realm, right? Wrong again. Realms are created and run by Powers. Powers must have worshippers some where or else they die and end up in the Astral. While it's true that the Lady of Pain runs Sigil, we also know that it is true that she actively discourages worshippers. Any Power who did that would be committing suicide, so by this logic the Lady ain't a Power and thus Sigil ain't a Realm. What does that leave us, then? "To cut a long story, I reckon Sigil is the multiverse's biggest artifact - and the Lady's found the dark to controlling it. How else could a non-Realm alter its size at any given time? How else can a Power be excluded from it? And how else can it have all those barmy portals without being ripped apart and all the pieces sucked into the various planes? "This leads to some interesting questions concerning the Dabus. Are they a race that was brought to the Cage by the Lady? Did they live on this artifact before she arrived and just serve her for the hell of it? Or are they a manifestation of the artifact itself, like golems or linquas? This could explain why they only speak in visual rebus puzzles - they aren't alive, rather manifestations of an extremely alien intellect (perhaps a computing machine of some kind?). After all, Rebus could be considered a truly universal language. Anyone can understand them. Except for the Clueless, of course. "The Cage does not 'keep the Lady in'. Rather, if the Lady were ever to leave Sigil, she would no longer control it. This would allow the possibility of someone else taking it over. so that is why the Lady doesn't leave. Of course, this is the best kind of cage, worthy of any Baatezu: 'Certainly, its ultimate power will let you live forever and you will be able to control it for as long as you like. Yes, you can leave any time you want.' (There's not a word of a lie in that statement.) However, given her unceremonious prohibition of Powers from the Cage, as soon as she leaves, she'll be toast. Thus, it's only a cage of her own making." Copyright 1999 by Jon Winter and Other Authors