Lady of Pain

The Lady of Pain is the enigmatic ruler of the city of Sigil. The nature of her being is not clear, but whatever she is, she is not human.

Description

Not much was known about the Lady of Pain; few in the city ever saw her, and those who did never received a response to their statements. Those who had seen her and lived to tell of it described her as being ensconced in sparkling blades.

Personality

While the Lady of Pain is by no means kind or compassionate, she is not necessarily cruel either. She seems to care about little more than maintaining the status quo of her city. She has no interest in simple squabbles among her citizens or normal crimes such as burglary or murder. She only cares for things that might upset the balance or security of the city.

Activities

Despite her mysteriousness, there is never any doubt that the Lady of Pain is real because she is seen hovering over the streets of Sigil on many occasions. Any who try to interact with her at such times find their skin erupting in bloody wounds when she gazes upon them, and many others vanish, teleported into the prisons of the hive, so it is not considered a good sign if she is heard to be about in the streets. Eventually, she vanishes again into nothingness.

Worshippers

The Lady of Pain was not a deity, even if she was as powerful as one, for she had no temples and no worshipers, yet she still existed. In fact, she refused worship. Those who tried to worship her were found with their skin flayed off.

Relationships

According to the great wizard Mordenkainen, the Lady of Pain had some sort of connection to the Raven Queen, another enigmatic character. It was said that only the Lady of Pain knew the Raven Queen's true intentions.

The Lady was served by a strange race of creatures called the dabus. Like the Lady of Pain, the dabus never spoke, but they could communicate her will by forming mystical images of word-pictures. The dabus never left Sigil and likely could not leave Sigil. They acted as workmen to maintain the infrastructure of the city and occasionally appeared in numbers to punish rioters.

History

In ancient past, it was said that an entity challenged the Lady's control over Sigil and nearly defeated her. The Lady of Pain was not able to destroy him; she could only entrap his spirit in a gem, known to history as the Labyrinth Stone, which was lost for over 10,000 years.

This was not the only time that someone dared challenge the Lady of Pain's power. Sometime in the 14th century DR by the counting of years of Faerûn, Duke Rowan Darkwood, a former leader from Vaasa titled the Protector of the North and Guardian of the Great Glacier, rose to power in the city of Sigil. Over the course of a single year, he became the factol of the Fated faction, and only a few years after that, he even sought to challenge the rule of the Lady of Pain herself, starting the ordeal known as the Faction War. Through years of searching, his servants eventually brought to him the Labyrinth Stone, which he hoped to use as a weapon against the Lady of Pain by releasing her ancient foe.

Naturally, the Lady of Pain intervened to stop the war, sending most of the factols into her mystical mazes, including Rowan. Rowan had planned for this, and with the use of a wish spell succeeded in exiting the Lady's labyrinth. Only, she outwitted him yet again. Her magics were so powerful that he exited the maze into a time some 500 years in the past with no way to return to the future.

Over the next half-millennium, his lifespan extended by magic, Rowan, now renamed Gifad, was imprisoned and driven insane, yet still with enough intelligence to await for when he might be able to meet the "younger version" of himself and attempt his plot a second time.

Lady of Pain

Unknown

Basic Information

Pantheons

-

Attributes

Alignment

Lawful Neutral

Realm

Concordant Domain of the Outlands/Sigil

Portfolio

-

Following

Worshippers

Domains