Outlands

The Outlands is the plane between the Outer Planes. It is the plane of neutrality, incorporating a little of everything and keeping all aspects in a paradoxical balance — simultaneously concordant and in opposition. The plane has varied terrain, with prairies, mountains, shallow rivers, massive oceans, and everything inbetween. The Outlands is circular, like a great disk. In fact, those who envision the Outer Planes as a wheel point to the Outlands as proof, calling it a microcosm of the planes. That argument might be circular, since the arrangement of the Outlands inspired the idea of the Great Wheel in the first place. Around the outside edge of the circle, evenly spaced, are the gate-towns: sixteen settlements, each built around a portal leading to one of the Outer Planes. Each town shares many of the characteristics of the plane where its gate leads. Planar emissaries often meet in these towns, so it isn’t unusual to see strange pairings, such as a celestial and a fiend arguing in a tavern while sharing a fine bottle of wine. On this plane one can literally travel from a heaven to a hell, without the need for planar travel.

Gate-Towns of the Outlands

Town	Gate Destination
Excelsior	The Seven Heavens of Celestia
Tradegate	The Twin Paradises of Bytopia
Ecstasy	The Blessed Fields of Elysium
Faunel	The Wilderness of The Beastlands
Sylvania	The Olympian Glades of Arborea
Glorium	The Heroic Domains of Ysgard
Xaos	The Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo
Bedlam	The Windswept Depths of Pandemonium
Plague-Mort	The Infinite Layers of The Abyss
Curst	The Tarterian Depths of Carceri
Hopeless	The Gray Waste of Hades
Torch	The Bleak Eternity of Gehenna
Ribcage	The Nine Hells of Baator
Rigus	The Infinite Battlefield of Acheron
Automata	The Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus
Fortitude	The Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia

Sigil, City of Doors

At the center of the Outlands, like the axle of a great wheel, is the Spire. To the inhabitants of Noveatus, the Spire is simple a massive wizards tower but within, a small room is bigger then it could ever appear to be — inside a needle-shaped mountain rises high into the sky. Above this mountain’s narrow peak floats the ring-shaped city of Sigil, its myriad structures built on the ring’s inner rim. Creatures standing on one of Sigil’s streets can see the city curve up over their heads and — most disconcerting of all — the far side of the city directly overhead. Called the City of Doors, this bustling planar metropolis holds countless portals to other planes and worlds. Sigil is a trader’s paradise. Goods, merchandise, and information come here from across the planes. The city sustains a brisk trade in information about the planes, particularly the command words or items required for the operation of particular portals. Portal keys of all kinds are bought and sold here. The city is the domain of the inscrutable Lady of Pain, a being as old as gods and with purposes unknown to even the sages of her city. Is Sigil her prison? Is she the fallen creator of the multiverse? No one knows. Or if they do, they aren’t telling.