Sigil. Yes with a hard G.
City of Doors, on account of all the portals.
The Cage, on account of… well, most people have a theory.
Welcome, you poor Clueless sod, to this grand city of mine, this jewel in the crown of the multiverse, this little slice of heaven and hell of your choosing .
Mind out for that slaad, he looks angry.
Truly, Sigil is the best place to be, anywhere in all of the Planes.
A couple of bashers like us, there’s no trouble we can’t give the slip, no Body we can’t garnish, no sods we can’t con out of all their jink.
Careful, that puddle’s an ooze.
Say chum, seems you keep looking up at the sky like that, you’re going to give yourself a sore neck. You said you weren’t new here, but I get the feeling that might not be the whole dark of it.
Tell you what – for a fistful of jink a day, I’ll make sure nothing… untoward happens to you, and that my mates leave you alone. Two fistfuls and I’ll even give you the grand tour.
What do you say?
Welcome to the Tout’s Guide to Sigil – MY Sigil. This is going to be a collection of locations and NPCs pulled out of my head and on to the screen, for you, dearest reader, to run around with.
If you’re not a big Planescape-head, at least you’ll have a host of planar sods and proxies to go and bother your PCs with.
If you’re a Cager, well, enjoy this little slice of spicy Fire Fruit. Just be careful not to wash it down with razorwine, the two don’t mix well!
First up, a quick overview of the City of Sigil.
The Cage is broken down into different wards – Lady’s Ward, Market Ward, Guildhall Ward, Clerks’ Ward, Lower Ward and the Hive. We’ll also be visiting parts of Undersigil on this tour of ours.
The city holds about 50,000 permanent residents, and that can go up to about 250,000 when you count all the bodies just passing through.
It’s perfectly possible for some Clueless to fall through a portal and land in Sigil only to walk out of another at the end of the same corridor and not realise they were ever in the Cage. Similarly, it’s perfectly normal for a body to fall screaming from the sky and take a nice hit into the cobbles, with little or no explanation to how that might have happened or where they came from.
It’s best not to think about mapping the place, other than a general idea of where the wards are. The Lady and her Dabus have a habit of changing things when it’s least expected, a minor inconvenience for most, but strolling up a street one day to find that your home or workplace is missing isn’t unheard of.
So what locations don’t fit in to the separate wards? Which characters should a character keep an eye out for?
The Night Market
Sometimes it’s best not to ask why something is in Sigil, and just to go along with it. The Night Market is just such a thing.
The saying goes that you can find almost anything in Sigil’s Market Ward. The Night Market is where you can find almost everything else – for some very esoteric items you just have to go and get them yourself.
Every third night, once the city gets ever so slightly quieter and the strange daylight that isn’t exactly sunlight completely disappears, one location in the Cage becomes a buzz of activity.
Small stalls are set up, carpets of trinkets laid out, touts and light boys congregate and swap the latest chant.
If you need a portal key, head to the Night Market. If you’re looking for something interesting, like snark feathers or bandersnatch venom, head to the Night Market. If you need the latest chant to impress your Factol, head to the Night Market.
The major hurdle to heading there is that it’s never in the same place. Every time it forms, the market is some other place in Sigil, and finding out where it’s going to be means asking around.
Characters of the Night Market
Snitch – If you want in with the Light Boys, get in with Snitch. The loathsome little goblin may be one of the ugliest things in all of creation, but he knows who to talk to about what.
Jabberwocky – If anyone’s ever told you to beware the Jabberwocky, they were probably telling you about this one. Appearances can be deceiving – such a friendly old lady selling bonbons from a cart couldn’t possibly be anything to worry about…
Bound too soon – A tall bariaur of some years, his body is covered in tattoos that resemble summoning circles. In truth, he is possessed by several planar spirits from the Inner and Outer Planes, and he can access their memories for information – for a price.
Right, you’ve seen the Night Market, where’s my jink? … Lovely stuff. Find me in the same place tomorrow, and we’ll take a look at one of the Wards.
jot jot ïota 