Sigil
Sigil, also known as the City of Doors, is a bustling metropolis at the center of The Outlands. The city exists on a giant ring that floats horizontally above a mountain. The buildings and roads lie on the inside surface of the ring, and so when you look up in the city of Sigil you do not see the sky; you just see more city. In the exact center of the ring, however, one can see the empty glass coffin where Aria, conduit of hope, also known as the woman in a glass coffin, used to rest.
This city is home to creatures of all sorts, due to the fact that it has connections across The multiverse, all in the guise of normal doorways with color coded door frames. Any ordinary doorway is potentially a portal to another plane, and as such every building has numerous entrances and exits, sometimes covering entire walls. Local architects prefer open floor plans wherever possible, but where doors are necessary (such as for bedrooms and bathrooms) there will always be at least three doors, in case one or two of them become passages to somewhere else.
History
Founding
The city was founded immediately after The Shattering, populated by residents of the newly-formed Outlands. Though these peoples all already had their own towns scattered throughout the planes, Sigil itself was founded to be a central place to conduct negotiations. The ring was meant as a symbol of unity, and over time a small town began to grow up here to support the council and their needs. Over time, the town continued to grow and became a city, which eventually housed most of the residents of the plane.The Age of Mortality
The portals opened shortly after the beginning of The Age of Mortality, and changed the face of the city forever. Legends abound of travelers inadvertently stumbling into Sigil and never finding their way home, but it is also a mecca for travelers and wanderers of all kinds. Creatures who frequently travel between the planes began to use Sigil as a convenient "central" waypoint in their journeys. This is also when The Window was founded to serve as a cartography guild to map the ever-changing doorways in the city.The Age of Coalescence
At the end of The Age of Mortality, the natural portals that had sprung up throughout the city gradually began to close. Only one such portal remained active, powered by the divine magic of Penguin and The Traveler. This door, dubbed The Wandering Door, is constantly changing. It will only remain open to one place for a couple of days before closing again and eventually reopening somewhere else, usually on an entirely different plane. Aria was placed within the coffin when she traveled back in time during The Age of Mortality, in an attempt to prevent the doors closing. Though the calamity itself could not be prevented, Aria is often credited for the existence of The Wandering Door and is widely considered to be the savior of the city.Current Age
After The Age of Coalescence came to a close, Sigil has begun to return to normalcy. While not as active as they were during The Age of Mortality, more and more doorways are slowly starting to become active. The Wandering Door itself is still maintained, though not nearly as heavily guarded, simply as an homage to days gone by.Government
Ostensibly, the city of Sigil is ruled by a council of representatives sent from every outer plane. In practice, however, the council is currently unable to rule and have willingly given power over to The Window in a form of temporary martial law.
Guilds and Factions
The most notable guild is The Window, the cartogropher's guild of the city. It is their job to map the ever-changing connections between Sigil and the other planes.
Architecture
Any door in the city could lead to another plane of existence, and these connections occasionally change at random. As a result, most buildings have an abundance of doors, usually containing at least three doorways that can be used as entrances and exits, often placed side-by-side with each other. This provides a level of redundancy in case a door suddenly becomes a portal to another plane of existence. If you have three front doors, then you can still enter/exit your house even if one of those suddenly leads to the bottom of an ocean on another plane of existence.
Alternative Name(s)
City of Doors
Type
Metropolis
Location under
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Related Tradition (Primary)
Related Reports (Primary)
- OttD Session 14: 36 seconds of warfare
- OttD session 16: You Must Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth
- OttD Session 17: The Tapestries of Fate
- OttD session 18: welcome to the jungle
- OttD Session 29: Death counts as rest, right?
- OttD Session 33: The Beginning of The End
- OttD Session 6: Black Magic and Black Gold
- OttD Session 9: Assault on The Window
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