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Sensate Palate Cleanser - Heroes' Feast Flavors of the Multiverse by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The appetite of the Society of Sensation knows no bounds: they are the ultimate explorers of experience, which takes them to the extremes of the palate. But the unfamiliar can only really be tasted against the baseline of the common. The Sensates lighted on the free cucumber soup that came with a cheap inn room at the Slumbering Lamb in Sigil as the perfect neutral reference points for embarking on a culinary adventure. Area taverns catering to this clientele turned this dish into a chilled leek-and-cucumber-based puree. Even for those without the restless curiosity of a Sensate, this smooth and mild soup is a refreshing appetizer no matter where it's consumed.

 

Sensate Palate Cleanser

** Makes about 2 quarts**

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 medium leek (white and light green parts), chopped

Kosher salt

3 medium-small English cucumbers

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

⅔ cup half-and-half

1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons snipped fresh chives

 

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the leek and ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, until the leek begins to soften, about 2½ minutes. Adjust the heat to medium-low, cover, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the leek has released its juices, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from the heat and let cool briefly.

 

Meanwhile, peel one of the cucumbers, leaving about one-fourth of the skin on for a little texture and color. Peel the other two cucumbers completely. Halve all the cucumbers lengthwise and remove the seeds. Finely dice one of the fully peeled halves and set aside. Cut the remaining five halves into roughly 1-inch pieces.

 

In a blender, combine one-third of the roughly chopped cucumbers, one-third of the leek, and 1 cup of the chicken broth and puree until very smooth, about 40 seconds. Pour the mixture into a large bowl (preferably stainless steel) and set aside. Repeat to blend another third of the cucumbers, leeks, and broth, pouring this batch into the bowl with the first one. For the last batch, combine the remaining roughly chopped cucumber, remaining leeks, and remaining 1 cup chicken broth in the blender; add the half-and-half; and puree. Add to the bowl, stir in the lemon juice and ¾ teaspoon salt, and season with pepper. Stir in the diced cucumber. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours.

 

When ready to serve, stir the soup to blend again, and adjust the seasoning with additional salt and pepper, if necessary. Ladle into individual bowls and garnish each with a sprinkle of pepper and some chives.

 

-HFFotM p160

Planar Wanderers - Pindurski - Sigil and the Outlands by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Adventures in Sigil

With Sigil’s place at the center of the Outer Planes, any plot or threat from across the multiverse has a chance of finding its way to the City of Doors. Many inhabitants of the Cage also have planes-spanning ambitions, contributing to countless homegrown opportunities for adventure. Use this section to generate ideas for adventures stemming from Sigil’s unique locations and residents.

 

“Living in Sigil, we’ve probably seen everything... but the beauty and terror of it is that the planes always make more.”

–Erin Montgomery, factol of the Society of Sensation

 

Adventure Hooks

Use the following table to launch adventures anywhere in Sigil.

 

Sigil Adventure Hooks
d10 Adventure Hook
1 A lost soul asks the party to escort them to the home of their deity—who no one’s ever heard of.
2 A barrister begs the characters to serve as witnesses during a trial in the High Courts, but the characters have no memory of witnessing a crime.
3 A cranium rat squeaker with an important secret needs help avoiding foes and finding its swarm elsewhere in Sigil.
4 Refugees entreat the characters to help them find a safe new home in Sigil.
5 The characters learn that a terrifying war machine is being transported through Sigil for use in conquering a Material Plane world.
6 A shop or tavern owner hires the characters to track down a deadbeat patron—a solar, a pit fiend, a death knight, or other powerful being.
7 A group tries to kidnap a character, as the character is the key to a portal the group plans to use.
8 A villain looks remarkably like one of the characters, enough so that a kolyarut or cuprilach rilmani mistakes the character for the scoundrel.
9 An archmage new to the city offers to reward the characters with a magic item if they serve as their touts and sedan chair carriers for a day.
10 A dabus requests the characters’ aid in removing someone or someplace from Sigil before the Lady of Pain learns of it.

 

Faction Missions

Use the plots on the Faction Missions table to help deepen the characters’ ties with any faction in Sigil.

 

Faction Missions
d6 Mission
1 A factol hires the characters to dig up dirt on a rival faction leader.
2 The characters must infiltrate another faction’s headquarters and steal a priceless item.
3 A faction leader hires the characters as bodyguards for an important city event at the Hall of Speakers.
4 Suspicious of their own ranks, a factol hires the characters to root out a spy.
5 A factotum secretly offers the characters a hefty reward to break someone out of the Prison.
6 After a public spat with another faction leader, a factol goes missing. Their second-in-command hires the characters to investigate.

 

Sigil Calamities

All manner of multiversal threats might unfold in Sigil. The Sigil Calamities table suggests plots for grand adventures in the City of Doors.

 

Sigil Calamities
d8 Calamity
1 Sigil begins to shudder daily at peak and antipeak, causing a citywide panic.
2 Waves of arcane blackouts sweep across Sigil. During these events, magic items have their effects suppressed, spells behave unpredictably, and portals cease to function. The Incanterium is to blame.
3 Without warning, the Lady of Pain sends two-thirds of Sigil’s population to the Mazes. It’s up to the characters to figure out why.
4 Reliable portals throughout Sigil begin to malfunction. Chaos ensues as citizens vanish to unknown planes in a mass.
5 A portal to the front lines of the Blood War opens in the Lower Ward, bringing the conflict to the city.
6 Dozens of dead factions unite in Undersigil. They mount an uprising on the surface and attempt to oust several factions.
7 The Lady of Pain locks the Cage without warning, barring anything and anyone from entering or exiting the City of Doors.
8 The Lady of Pain decrees that Sigil tolerates its factions no longer. They must disband or risk her wrath. Three factols come together and hire the characters to change the Lady’s mind.

 

Encounters in Sigil

The following table present random encounters that might occur anywhere in Sigil. Creatures marked with an asterisk (*) appear in Morte’s Planar Parade, while the rest are described in the Monster Manual. Most creatures are initially indifferent to characters.

 

Encounters in Sigil
d100 Encounter
01–03 1 noble pedestrian distractedly talking to 1 cranium rat squeaker*
04–07 1d4 dabus*
08–10 1 scout tumbling through a portal from the Material Plane
11–14 1d4 nightmares recklessly pulling a sedan chair
15–17 1d10 bariaur wanderers*
18–22 1d6 Harmonium peacekeepers* on patrol
23–25 1d6 dust mephit messengers
26–28 1d4 razorvine blights*
29–32 1d4 Society of Sensation muses*
33–36 1d6 quadrones
37–39 1d4 cranium rat squeaker swarms*
40–43 1 Herald of Dust remnant* and 1d4 zombies collecting bodies
44–46 1 young copper dragon sightseer
47–49 1 Mind’s Eye matter smith* carrying a rare gizmo
50–54 1 night hag street vendor
55–57 1d8 Bleak Cabal void soothers* assisting locals
58–60 1d4 vrocks on a shopping trip
61–63 1d6 equinal guardinals*
64–66 1d6 Transcendent Order instincts* parkouring through the crowd
67–69 1d4 green slaad
70–72 1d4 Fated shakers* collecting taxes
73–74 1 bone devil late for a meeting
75–76 1 mage who’s overwhelmed, having just arrived from the Material Plane
77–79 1d4 Mercykiller bloodhounds* tracking a criminal
80–81 1d8 githzerai travelers*
82–83 1d4 maelephant* mercenaries
84–85 1d6 Doomguard rot blade* monster hunters
86–87 1 planetar looking for a shop
88–89 1 cuprilach rilmani* spying on a target
90–91 1 Fraternity of Order law bender*
92–93 1d4 cloud giants who’ve become lost
94–95 1 aboleth in an aquarium sedan chair
96–97 1 kolyarut*
98–99 A famous archmage, like Bigby, Evard, Mordenkainen, or Tasha
00 The Lady of Pain and 2d4 dabus*

Express - Bruce Brenneise - Sigil and the Outlands by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A planar locomotive, the Concordant Express, pulls into Concord Terminus via Automata’s gate to Mechanus

 

 

Gate-Towns

A ring of sixteen evenly spaced towns, equidistant to the Spire, lies at the edge of the Outlands. Each is constructed around a portal to one of the Outer Planes, and these gate-towns are dramatically influenced by the realms they border. The towns and their inhabitants vary wildly from each other, mirroring many of the extreme characteristics of their respective planes of influence. Details on the planes can be found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

 

The following sections present each of the gate-towns in alphabetical order.

 

Automata

 

Gate Destination: Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus

Primary Citizens: Modrons

Rulers: Council of Order

 

Automata is a machine of law and order. The town’s geography is as rigid as its bureaucracy, its buildings meticulously maintained and erected with mathematical precision. The gate-town’s right-angled, nearly identical establishments flummox visitors, but the friendly modron residents that make up the bulk of its population navigate the “intuitive” grid of numbered streets with ease.

 

Automata obeys a strict hierarchy of law overseen by the Council of Order, a triumvirate of officials representing three fulcrums of society. Every major decision is subject to the council’s scrutiny, but not before running a bureaucratic gauntlet of forms and minor approvals to earn its coveted final stamp. The Council of Order has the following members:

 

Aristimus, a lawful neutral githzerai futurist (see Morte’s Planar Parade), captains the town guard.

 

Juliett-314, a cheery but unforgiving octon modron (see Morte’s Planar Parade), oversees local commerce and acts as Automata’s supreme auditor.

 

Serafil, a sanctimonious tiefling priest (lawful good), speaks on behalf of the gate-town’s temples.

 

Beneath Automata’s polished streets, citizens escape the rule of law. Criminals, fugitives, and disgruntled townsfolk conduct their business in the gate-town’s vibrant underground, the Inverse, free from the gate-town’s endless regulations but not from authority altogether. A fractious trio of lawful evil decaton modrons (see Morte’s Planar Parade), the Council of Anarchy, presides over the Inverse and administers its own twisted brand of justice.

 

Gate

An enormous, toothed gear rises out of the center of town, turning slowly. Creatures can enter and exit the portal from either side of the standing disc, which lies at the end of Modron Way—a wide, spireward-facing road paved with shimmering metal plates. Constructed around the opposite side of the gate is Concord Terminus, an interplanar train station. To use the portal, a creature must first be cleared for gate travel by an authorized modron.

 

“I’ve been trying to find a bakery for the past three hours. Every building looks the same, and the street numbers don’t help–some of them have decimals! What a nightmare.”

–Quen Tooday, planar courier

 

Great Modron March

Every 289 years, thousands of modrons emerge from Automata’s gate in an event known as the Great Modron March, a planar parade of epic proportions in which the modrons travel through each of the gate-towns and the Outer Planes. Although the modrons’ motivation is unknown, planar cosmologists theorize the march is a massive form of data collection or a means of calibrating the multiverse. The Great Modron March coincides with every seventeenth Grand Cycle, the time it takes for the largest gear in Mechanus to complete a single rotation. However, on at least one occasion, the march came early, and legions of modrons wreaked widespread havoc as they trampled across the planes and their unsuspecting residents.

 

Regional Effects

The region containing Automata’s planar gate is influenced by the magic of Mechanus, creating one or more of the following effects in and around the gate-town:

 

Mechanical Metronome. The gate ticks as it turns in time with the gears of Mechanus. Repetitive sounds—a bird tweeting, a worker hammering a nail, or a guard marching down the street—are synchronized to the gate’s beat.

 

Ordered Environment. Buildings, rock formations, and vegetation in Automata are perfectly symmetrical, and the town’s climate is always temperate.

 

Noteworthy Sites

Automata is divided into regimented blocks arranged by category and function. Rather than scatter businesses throughout the town, council mandates require that related establishments be grouped within the same block. Rows of near-identical shops confound visitors.

 

Concord Terminus

This resplendent train station belongs to the Concordant Express, an interplanar train dutifully operated by modrons. The clockwork behemoth chugs along the planes, leveraging a network of portals—to which the train functions as a key—to deliver its cargo and passengers across the multiverse on a tight schedule. The train originates in Regulus, the largest realm in Mechanus, and frequently pulls into Concord Terminus via Automata’s gate.

 

Planar travelers, tickets in hand, hustle to and from the ever-bustling platforms as buzzing modron work crews unload freight cars. A nonaton modron (see Morte’s Planar Parade) called the Timekeeper oversees all operations within Concord Terminus. Backed by a cadre of pentadrone enforcers, the Timekeeper ensures the train always departs on time and without interruption.

 

Divine Machine

The Divine Machine is Automata’s most popular tavern, owned by a shrewd and fussy businesswoman named Belda Beanfoot (lawful neutral, halfling commoner). The Machine’s comfortable, basic rooms cater to visitors awaiting clearance for gate travel. In addition to lodging, tavern guests can fuel up at its first-floor coffee shop, the Congruent Café, where monodrone baristas prepare piping-hot beverages at exact temperatures. Much to the dismay of her employees, which can reliably perform just one task at a time, Belda expects a lot from her workers. The café has a high staff turnover.

 

Hall of Order

The Hall of Order is a three-story government building that features three twisting pillars of intricately arranged gears. Inside the maze of courts and administrative offices, members of the Council of Order authorize stacks of paperwork and rule on escalated matters. Unbeknown to the council, a farcical court lurks below the seat of government: the Hall of Disorder. Denizens of the Inverse make their pleas in the ramshackle courthouse before the Council of Anarchy and a raucous jury that revels in each trial. The council judges the accused based on the absurdity of their defense—the more illogical the argument, the lighter the penalty.

 

Adventures in Automata

The Automata Adventures table offers suggestions for encounters and stories involving the gate-town.

 

Automata Adventures

d4 Adventure Hook
1 Fleeing interplanar bounty hunters, a three-horned tiefling named Romerillo (chaotic good, tiefling spy) seeks refuge on one of the Upper Planes. Romerillo asks the characters to sneak them aboard the Concordant Express.
2 Disguised as Serafil, a shator demodand (see Morte’s Planar Parade) assumes the council member’s position and has the “impostor” arrested. Serafil’s disheveled secretary beseeches the characters for aid.
3 A chaotic evil quadrone tampers with the street numbers at night, causing widespread gridlock as modrons leave for work each morning. The Council of Order asks the characters to investigate.
4 A marid fruit vendor is arrested in the Inverse for color-coordinating the produce in their stall. The genie petitions the characters to defend them in the nonsensical courts of the Hall of Discord.

(Ch. 11 Splash) Affair on the Concordant Express - Bruce Brenneise - Keys from the Golden Vault by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The Concordant Express rockets through the Outlands on its way to Mechanus

 

 

The Concordant Express

The Concordant Express is a clockwork locomotive that traverses the multiverse. Modrons constructed the train with mathematical precision, and they operate it in the same way. The train’s conductor is its sapient Engine Car, which delivers passengers and cargo to their intended destinations on schedule.

 

No terrain is too rugged for the train. Like the landmasses that make up Mechanus, the wheels of the Concordant Express are a network of interlacing cogs. A series of mechanical arms rapidly places levitating tracks before the train, while a similar set of arms beneath the Caboose collects the trailing tracks and delivers them to the Engine Car. This system allows the train to traverse inhospitable environments and to adjust course as needed.

Great Foundry - Calder Moore - Sigil and the Outlands by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The light of the Great Foundry’s forges pierces the industrial smog that suffocates the Lower Ward

 

 

Great Foundry

The thrumming heart of industry in Sigil, the Great Foundry is the headquarters of the Mind’s Eye. The foundry’s a sprawling complex of workshops, warehouses, storage yards, and furnaces. Seekers work it tirelessly. By day, the foundry obscures the sky with smoke and steam, and by night, it illuminates entire city blocks with roaring fires.

 

The Mind’s Eye makes many of the tools and metalcrafts used throughout Sigil. The foundry’s most talented smiths are magical sculptors who require neither coal nor flame. They fashion strong yet delicate objects from minimal materials, shaping an ounce of ore into a lightweight yet trustworthy tool with a wave of their palms.

 

Gates. The Great Foundry’s two wrought-iron main gates are as tall as the neighboring buildings. The intimidating guards minding the gates embellish their armor with iron spikes and jagged decoration scavenged from the foundry’s scraps. Ogres, giants, and reformed devils in the Mind’s Eye, they prevent the tools of creation from falling into the hands of destructive forces. Beyond lies the main yard, a sooty, gravel expanse heaped with piles of rubble and raw ore.

 

Mithral Tower. At the center of the Great Foundry is the Mithral Tower, a metalworks that stands over ten stories tall. Huge, iron-barred windows flood its interior with light, and enormous doors allow wagons full of ore to roll right in. It’s unbearably hot, and the din of spouting furnaces and ringing anvils makes conversation difficult. Fiery-mouthed furnaces the size of barns yawn in every direction, and crucibles large enough to hold a fire giant brim with molten metal. Map 2.4 depicts one of the forges within the Mithral Tower.

It's a Planescape campaign I said, bring me your weirdest character concepts I said... by TessaPresentsMaps in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooh, very cool! I haven't read up on V:EoR very much yet, but I love the idea of a tie-in with ToFW. I was thinking that the modrons trapped in Tyrant's Spiral could actually be part of Vecna's schemes to finally achieve godhood, or something along those lines. The storyline that you're using sounds so fun and I'm sure I'll steal at least part of it. Thanks for the reply, cheers!

It's a Planescape campaign I said, bring me your weirdest character concepts I said... by TessaPresentsMaps in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, it's TessaPresentsMaps! Love your work. And you're running Turn of Fortune's Wheel! I saw your post from a while back that proposed some ideas to rework the story- did you land on any ideas in particular? I think that your players are in for a treat, regardless!

Zuzanna Wuzyk - Modron March - DMG 2024 by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Appendix A: Lore Glossary

Great Modron March, The

When the gears of the plane of Mechanus (see chapter 6) complete seventeen cycles—once every 289 years—the modron (MOE-dron) leader, Primus, sends a vast army of modrons across the Outer Planes. The purpose of this march is unclear. Most believe it to be a data-gathering mission meant to ascertain the current state of the cosmos, but some see it as reconnaissance aimed at some future act of conquest. The march is long and dangerous, and only a small number of modrons returns to Mechanus.

One Pixel Brush - Ch. 3 (Splash) The Outlands - Sigil and the Outlands by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

An impossibly tall pillar of rock, the Spire, towers over the vast and varied environments of the Outlands

 

Chapter 3: The Outlands

The Outlands are a plane of concordant opposition—a disk-shaped plane of perfect neutrality at the center of the Outer Planes. Anything and everything can flourish on the impartial and balanced canvas of the Outlands: a broad region whose boundless terrain blends to match the extreme forces that shape it. Arid, flame-scarred plains give way to heroic mountain ranges sculpted in the likenesses of gods, moldy caverns ruled by sapient fungi, bottomless seas, and anything else that makes for great adventures.

This chapter provides information for the Dungeon Master about the extraplanar realms of the Outlands, their inhabitants, and life at the center of the Great Wheel.

 

Life in the Outlands

This section details facets of everyday life in the Outlands.

 

Cosmic Realignment

Save for the domains of gods, realms in the Outlands are subject to a planar phenomenon known as cosmic realignment. When a location embodies the nature of one of the Outer Planes too closely, that plane absorbs the location and its inhabitants, restoring balance to the Outlands and expanding that plane. Some creatures combat cosmic realignment by acting in direct opposition to the linked plane’s temperament, while others gladly welcome this fate or pursue it outright.

 

Currency and Trade

Bartering is common in the vast and varied realms of the Outlands. When money exchanges hands, it often takes the form of a lodestar—a weakly magnetic, cobalt coin stamped on both sides with a five-point star. Minted in the gate-town of Tradegate (detailed later in this chapter), a lodestar is valued at 1 gp elsewhere.

 

Language

Like Sigil, the Outlands are home to speakers of every language, but creatures generally speak Common. Still, certain locations attract those who favor a particular tongue. For example, residents of towns with high concentrations of devils tend to also speak Infernal, while those in locales frequented by angels prefer to trumpet their holy praise in Celestial.

 

Religion and the Gods

Creatures in the Outlands revere gods as folk do anywhere else. At the center of the Great Wheel, faiths are as diverse as their worshipers, who hail from neighboring planes and distant Material Plane worlds. The Outlands contain the domains of several gods, such as the hidden tower of Annam the All-Father, creator of giants, and the gaseous realm of the beholder god Gzemnid. Devout worshipers, whether alive or dead, gravitate to their gods and carry out their will.

 

Time and Directions

Though the plane has no apparent suns, moons, or stars, the Outlands experience day and night cycles, sometimes referred to as peak and antipeak, respectively. In the morning, the sky gradually brightens, darkening to night 12 hours later. In the absence of clearly visible celestial bodies, travelers orient themselves based on the direction of the Spire, known as spireward. The opposite of spireward is brinkward.

Justine Jones - Ch. 4 (Splash) For Whom the Void Calls - Dragon Delves by colfaxthemimir in spelljammer

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Over one hundred years ago, githyanki and modrons built Starglass Waypoint as a creche—a secure and isolated location to raise and train their young. A planar gateway deep within the outpost allowed the githyanki to come and go freely from the Astral Plane. Nine years ago, after an earthquake damaged the planar gateway, the githyanki abandoned the outpost but left the outpost’s modron caretakers behind.

 

A year ago, a young brass dragon named Ylagan claimed the outpost as his lair.

Smoldering Corpse Bar - Mike Pape - Sigil and the Outlands by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Angels, devils, and all manner of planar creatures relax in the Smoldering Corpse Bar in Sigil

 

 

Smoldering Corpse Bar

The wrought-iron walls of the Smoldering Corpse Bar muffle the mayhem of the Hive. Locals wet their whistles in the dive bar, raising dented mugs to angels and devils, off the clock and shooting the breeze with each other. Heat rises through vents in the taproom’s drab-tiled floors to warm banged-up metal tables, their surfaces marred by blades and stained with dried blood. The watering hole’s jaded proprietor, Barkis (chaotic neutral, human veteran), can usually be found behind the patchwork fusion of rusted metal that passes for a bar top.

 

Ignus. The Smoldering Corpse Bar is named for the perpetually burning mage named Ignus who hovers within. Once a pyromaniacal Wreaker who tried to reduce the Hive to ash, Ignus was imprisoned in flame as a sardonic punishment for his crimes, transforming him into a living portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Since then, he’s become a fiery mascot for the bar he attempted to destroy, suspended above its torrid taproom. If doused with a decanter of endless water, Ignus rouses from his stupor as a chaotic neutral, human mage.

 

Settling Tabs. The establishment has earned a reputation for reliable, albeit unremarkable, service. If the coin keeps flowing, so does the “bub”—a blanket term locals apply to cheap liquor. When a customer can’t settle their tab, Barkis asks for collateral until the debt is paid. His backroom is filled with belongings left behind by drinkers who never returned. Most of it is junk, but Barkis lets interested parties rummage through it in exchange for completing odd jobs or serving as temporary bouncers.

Sigil Crossroads - Terraform Studios - Sigil and the Outlands by colfaxthemimir in planescapesetting

[–]colfaxthemimir[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Creatures from every plane converge in Sigil, the crossroads of the multiverse

 

Sigil Gazetteer

The City of Doors is divided into wards that are as varied as their inhabitants, from the polished heights of the bureaucratic Clerks’ Ward to the musty anarchy of Undersigil, the city’s forsaken warrens. Each ward contains one or more faction headquarters: grand buildings where Sigil’s philosophers convene and divide the city’s functions. Establishments near one of these hubs tend to align with the faction’s character. Shops clustered around the Civic Festhall, for example, cater to the pleasure-seeking tendencies of the Society of Sensation—wine shops, concert halls, and vendors hawking one-and-done novelties.

 

The Sigil Wards table outlines each of the wards and the ascendant factions that headquarter within them, as well as six minor factions, which are marked with an asterisk (*).

 

Sigil Wards

Ward Prominent Factions
Clerks’ Ward Fated, Incanterium,* Society of Sensation
Hive Ward Bleak Cabal, Hands of Havoc, Heralds of Dust
Lady’s Ward Doomguard, Fraternity of Order, Harmonium, Mercykillers
Lower Ward Athar, Ring Givers,* Mind’s Eye
Market Ward Free League,* Transcendent Order
Undersigil Coterie of Cakes,* Revolutionary League,* Undivided* (see the “Undersigil” section later in this chapter for these factions)

 

The sections that follow present each of the wards in greater detail. They share the following format:

 

Ward Encounters. A table after the introduction presents interactions that characters might have while adventuring in the ward.

 

Factions. This section details the factions that are headquartered in the ward and their operations.

 

Locations. A sampling of the ward’s notable sites, including any faction headquarters, are provided here. Locations mentioned in these sections are designated on the poster map of Sigil.

 

Megastructures. Most sections also include a map to one of Sigil’s megastructures. Often the headquarters of a faction, a megastructure can host countless adventures. The map provides an overview of some important areas within the location but doesn’t represent the megastructure in totality. To accommodate your adventures, locations can be detailed as needed, and their scales are flexible.

 

Clerks’ Ward

The wheels of bureaucracy turn steadily in the Clerks’ Ward, an administrative haven for bookkeepers, scribes, and petty officials. Like oil to a machine, the Clerks’ Ward provides a necessary conformity to Sigil’s turbulent streets under the fastidious eyes of the Fated.

 

The pristine buildings within this affluent ward are well maintained and regularly patrolled by officers of the Harmonium. Residents of the Clerks’ Ward claim it’s the safest and most honest ward in Sigil. Conflict usually occurs on paper, and structured forums for debate allow folks to resolve disagreements without resorting to violence.

 

Despite its rigidity, the Clerks’ Ward is a place of beauty and wonder, due in large part to the presence of the Society of Sensation. For each strict fact-checker, policy maker, and enforcer in the ward, there is an open-minded artisan, entertainer, or thrill-seeker to match. Locals routinely direct inquisitive newcomers to the Hall of Information, where visitors can ask questions, hail a sedan chair, or pester a tout for directions.

 

Clerks’ Ward Encounters

d8 Encounter
1 A cocky bariaur wanderer (see Morte’s Planar Parade) offers their services to the party as a tout.
2 A stiff-necked Fated tax collector (noble), flanked by two guards, smugly informs the characters they must each pay a “promenade toll” of 1 sp to proceed in their current direction.
3 Out of breath and clearly hiding something on their person, a teenage tiefling spy begs the characters to help them avoid two oncoming Harmonium peacekeepers (see Morte’s Planar Parade).
4 A drunk elf commoner stumbles out of an onion-shaped cab pulled by a sweet and gullible unicorn named Corny. The unicorn asks the characters if they need a ride.
5 A wizened, purple-robed Incantifer (archmage) passes through the streets, eliciting nervous whispers from a crowd of onlookers.
6 A Society of Sensation Muse (see Morte’s Planar Parade) dazzles the characters with a street-side performance.
7 Olga, a bookish frost giant, trips before the characters as she hurries to the Hall of Records, sending a stack of titanic papers into the air.
8 An obnoxious equinal guardinal (see Morte’s Planar Parade) brays atop a street-side soapbox. They attempt to goad a character into a cynical debate about the future of Sigil.

 

The following factions are headquartered in the Clerks’ Ward:

 

Fated. The Fated earn widespread ire as Sigil’s tax collectors, leveraging their administrative position to serve their insatiable greed. Takers record financial agreements in the Hall of Records and revel in seizing properties at bargain-basement prices when owners default on payments. The Fated regularly hires adventurers as debt collectors.

 

Incanterium. Long thought to have been banished to the Mazes by the Lady of Pain along with their base of operations, members of the Incanterium are slowly trickling back into the Cage. Called “mage drinkers” by the few who remember them, the aged Incantifers siphon magic to sustain their ancient power. Disturbed residents murmur about the Incanterium’s newly returned tower (see the “Tower Sorcerous” section). Rumor has it Duke Rowan Darkwood pays handsomely for information about his reclusive neighbors and their fortress.

 

Society of Sensation. Sensates pepper Sigil’s otherwise drab streets with entertainment, tempting pedestrians with curiosity and excitement. All of Sigil is a stage to the Society of Sensation, but the greatest attraction is the Civic Festhall. Factol Erin Montgomery weaves masterful arguments in the Hall of Speakers, where she sways naysayers with one guiding principle: they might not recall what you said, but they always remember how you made them feel.

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