Bedlam

Bedlam

Gate town to Pandemonium

Location: Outlands / Brinklands

Ruler: Cirrus the Silent (contested by the senile Tharick Bleakshadow, the former Keeper of Bedlam)

Ah, Bedlam, you want the tour of that wind-bitten, howl-swept madhouse, do you? If I crack the lid on this kip of chaos, promise you’ll believe it?

Now picture yourself stepping into a yawning crater of a hopefully-dead volcano called Maurash, with the incessant wail of the winds like a chorus of banshees havin’ a row. This ain’t no place for the faint-hearted, I tell ye. First off, the whole town’s a riot of mismatched buildings clinging to life and each other, as if they were all just dropped from the sky. The architecture’s as chaotic as a drunken slaad, with every structure battlin’ the next for a bit of space and shelter from the relentless gales. And the wind, by the powers, the wind! It gnaws at everything from the buildings to the sanity of the poor sods callin’ this place home.

At the heart of this maelstrom is Sablereach, the obsidian tower that stretches up like the desperate hand of a drowning sailor, reachin’ for the sky. Chant has it that it’s the petrified arm of a forgotten power—which is about as comforting as a night hag lullaby. This tower ain’t just for show; it houses the gatekeeper, Cirrus the Silent, a cloud giant who’s as talkative as a rock and rules with a voice carried on the winds, whisperin’ madness into the ears of anyone foolish enough to listen.

Now, let’s talk districts. You’ve got the Gatemouth at the bottom, where the wind’s so fierce it could fling you sideways if you don’t brace yourself right and then strip the flesh from your bones. It’s a tangled knot of alleys and shacks, each one a testament to the stubbornness of its inhabitants. Climb a bit higher, and you hit Midtown, where things start to resemble normality, if ye squint hard enough, and you seriously give up on the concept of normal. And then, at the top, there’s the Bleakheights or the Citadel district, where the air’s a tad less likely to flay ye alive, and the buildings don’t look like they’re about to tumble down at the slightest gust.

Bedlam’s a town that’s been chewed up and spat out by the winds of Pandemonium. It’s a place where sanity’s as fleeting as a whisper in a hurricane, and the buildings are as likely to stab you in the back with a flying bit of loose guttering as shelter you from the storm. 

The Gate

Bedlam’s gate the Sablereach, oh, it’s a sight—a tower trying to grasp the sky like the night-black claw, with iron blastgates spewing forth winds that’d freeze the blood in your veins. They lead to a chamber where the brave (or foolhardy) can attempt to navigate the howling portal to Pandemonium. It’s like the gate’s giving the multiverse a full-throated scream, just daring anyone to shout back. In the screamshadow of the gate there’s the Eye and Dagger, an inn that’s more fortress than tavern, where silence is a luxury bought at the price of constant vigilance. And for those with a scholarly bent or a death wish, there’s Witherbeak Observatory, perched like a crow on the town’s rim, peering into the winds as if they hold the secrets of the cosmos.

Locations in Bedlam

• Bonechill Wind – a popular inn (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p11)
• Bleakheights, the Citadel District – the safest quarter of the burg, on the hilltop (Great Modron March [2e] p70; Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10) 
• Courthouse of the Damned – the broken heart of the burg’s justice system (Great Modron March [2e] p73)
• Dark Draft – a popular inn (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p11)
• Eye and Dagger – a windowless inn near the gate, popular with Lower Planar patrons. Service is not quick, clean or friendly but no questions are asked so long as the garnish is good. Much of the inn is protected by silence spells to shield patrons from the howling wind (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31; Sigil & the Outlands [5e])
• Gatemouth – one of the quarters of the burg (Great Modron March [2e] p70; Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10-11)
• Keep, the – home of Bleakshadow, the keeper of Bedlam (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p11)
• Maurash – Bedlam is perched on the edge of this volcano (The Great Modron March)
• Midtown – the quarter of the burg with the majority of inns and taverns, and a fair number of barmies (Great Modron March [2e] p70)
• Sablereach, the Black Tower – the gate to Pandemonium (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p11)
• Sanatorium, The – an asylum, spa and boarding house offering room and board and  (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31
• Wailing Hollows – a network of howling wind-eroded tunnels that connect Gatemouth to Midtown, the chant goes they’re prowled by darkweavers. This does little to put off the miners who come here seeking raw Bedlamite ore (Sigil & the Outlands [5e])
• Weylund’s Inn – clean and relatively calm with string beer and a friendly innkeeper (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31
• Witherbeak Observatory – clifftop research outpost seeking to harness energy from the winds – (Sigil & the Outlands [5e])

Power Groups

• Misguided (Guiding Lights) – a militia of Outlander petitioners who operate in the Gatemouth district near the Black Tower (Great Modron March [2e] p71,78; Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10-11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31)
• Nimbus Knives – a gang of air genasi who delight in tormenting residents of the Bleakheights (Sigil & the Outlands [5e])
• Sarex, the – disorganised militia gangs of wind-touched planars, based in the Midtown district (Great Modron March [2e] p71-73,75,77-79; Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10-11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p30-31 (pic on p30)
• Windlancers – a militia trying to keep the sanity of the burg in balance, based in the Citadel district (Great Modron March [2e] p70,73; Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10-11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31)

Cutters of Bedlam

• Bleakshadow, Tharick – the senile and savage Keeper of Bedlam (planar human wizard [he/him] / Xaositects / CN) – (Great Modron March [2e] p71,77-78; Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10-11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p30)
• Cirrus the Silent – mute cloud giant keeper of the Sablereach gate to Pandemonium who only speaks through telepathic words carries on the winds (planar cloud giant [she/her] / CN)
• Darkfleece, Althax – proprietor of the Sanitorium (planar bariaur priest of Shekinester [she/her] / Sign of One / CG) – (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31-32)
• Dust Devil – bandit captain of the Nimbus Knives (planar air genus bandit / CE) – (Sigil & the Outlands [5e])
• Flan, Jahni – a barmy of the burg (Great Modron March [2e] p71)
• Grist – proprietor of the Eye and Dagger (planar tiefling fighter-thief [he/him] / Anarchists / NE) – (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31)
• Hrava – shadow fiend who haunts many of the armies of the burg (planar shadow fiend [it/its] / CE) – (Great Modron March [2e] p69,79; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p30-31; Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10)
• Prof. Orbys Bumblewing – leader of the Witherbeak Observatory (planar gnome wizard / CG) – (Sigil & the Outlands [5e])
• Pockmarked Weylund – proprietor of Weylund’s Inn (petitioner dwarf [he/him] / N) – (Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31)
• Sarex, the – a disorganised militia (Great Modron March [2e] p71-73,75,77-79; Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p10-11; Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p30-31
• Thrist – a tout who’s more reliable than most in the burg (planar bariaur [he/him] – (Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p10)
• Trictacalus – barmy modron judge of Bedlam (planar modron / N) – (Great Modron March [2e] p69,73-75,77-79)
• Verrith, Erigyl – leader of the Windlancers militia (planar bariaur fighter [he/him] / Ciphers / N) – (Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p31)

Recommended Reading: Canonical Sources

• Great Modron March [2e] p67-79 (adventure set in Bedlam, lots of flavour and detail)
• Player’s Primer to the Outlands [2e] p5,10-11,27 (detailed description of the burg)
• Planescape Campaign Setting: Sigil & Beyond [2e] p15,30-32 (detailed description of the burg)
• Sigil & the Outlands [5e] (detailed description of the burg)

Brief Mentions in the Canon

• Dead Gods [2e] p104-105,108,115 (brief mentions as possible start points for adventure)
• Dungeon Magazine #055 [2e] p19,32,39,70 (passing mentions of the burg)
• Guide to the Astral Plane [2e] p80 (portal to the Astral Athar Citadel)
• Manual of the Planes [3e] p149 (mentioned in a table of gate towns)
• Planes of Chaos: Book of Chaos [2e] p82 and Travelogue [2e] p6 (mentioned as a way to get to Pandemonium)
• Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p10 (short mention)

Source: Jon Winter-Holt. Etymology: The word ‘bedlam’ comes from the Bethlehem Royal Hospital in London which was established in the 1200s that over time became a psychiatric hospital. Bethlehem was contracted the Bethlem and then Bedlam, which in the 1600s became a word meaning chaotic madness, referring to its patients. Canonwatch: The 5e version of Bedlam replaced Tharick Bleakshadow with Cirrus the Silent as the ‘ruler’ of the burg, and also expurgated any references to ‘madness’, instead calling the residents of the burg ‘spiteful’ and suggesting the winds from Pandemonium ‘magically encourage citizens to commit dark deeds’.