Sigil
Sigil (Si-Gul) is the crossroads of the multiverse, a city at the center of the Great Wheel.
Connected to every plane of existence and the infinite worlds among them, the City of Doors brims with commerce, travel, schemes, and adventure. Sigil is commonly referred to as the Cage because the only way into or out of the city is through one of its countless portals-path-ways controlled by the enigmatic The Lady of Pain
WHERE IS SIGIL?
Sigil simultaneously exists at the center of the Great Wheel and nowhere. In the middle of the Outlands, an impossibly tall needle of a mountain, the Spire, rises into the sky. Sigil floats above the apex of the Spire, barely visible from the ground, constructed on the inside of a massive stone torus. Attempts to ascend to the city by climbing or flight are futile, as are efforts to reach the top of the Spire.
SIGIL AT A GLANCE
Once inside the city, a visitor is greeted by a vast urban tangle of bladed buildings in a wild array of architectural styles. Built within a great ring, the city curves before and behind observers, as if they stood in a bowl or valley, stretching upward and disappearing into an industrial haze.
On a clear day, a creature that looks upward sees the other side of the city, curving far overhead. Visitors can find this reality unsettling. There are no suns, moons, stars, or other celestial bodies in the sky above Sigil, though city lights twinkle above in the darkest hours.
Sigil is built to the edges of the ring, forming a wall of structures along its border. Anyone who climbs atop this outer wall of buildings can look out over the edge into an empty sky. Few who cross the edge are ever heard from again. Those who pass over the edge don't end up in the Outlands; rather, they are flung to random corners of the planes.
Sigil Wards
The City of Doors is divided into wards that are as varied as their inhabitants. 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 gone-and-done novelties.
Sigil consists of the following six wards:
Clerk's Ward
Housing the Fated, Society of Sensation, and the minor faction the Incanterium
Hive Ward
Housing the Bleak Cabal, Hands of Havoc, and Heralds of Dust
Lady's Ward
Housing the Doomguard, Fraternity of Order, Harmonium, and Mercykillers
Lower Ward
Housing the Athar, Mind's Eye, and the minor faction the Ring Givers
Market Ward
Housing the Transcendent Order and the minor faction the Free League
Undersigil
Made of minor factions including the Coterie of Cakes, Revolutionary League, and Undivided
FEATURES OF SIGIL
Sigil has the following features:
Day and Night: Sigil observes a 24-hour day-night cycle. The sky gradually fills with luminescence during the day and fades into deep darkness at night. This light isn't sunlight. Sigil's brightest and darkest points in time are known as peak and antipeak.
Gravity: Objects are pulled toward whichever section of the city's ground is closest.
Weather: Fog, smog, and drizzle-the most weather variation Sigil sees-gather at ground level and limit visibility to 1d6 x 50 feet on the murkiest of days. The temperature varies between balmy and chilly year-round and rarely nears extremes.
ALTERATIONS TO MAGIC
Planar magic works differently in Sigil. The following magical restrictions apply there:
Banishment. Effects that banish a target from Sigil treat the target as if Sigil were its home plane.
Extradimensional Space. Extradimensional spaces, demiplanes, and pocket dimensions such as those created by a bag of holding or the rope trick spell-function within Sigil, but those spaces follow all these restrictions as if they were part of the city.
Planar Travel. Effects that allow interplanar travel, such as astral projection or plane shift, fail if used to try to enter or leave Sigil, with one exception (see the "Teleportation Circles" section below).
Summoning. Spells, magic items, and effects that summon creatures or objects from other planes, such as a ring of djinni summoning, instead summon targets from within Sigil if possible or otherwise fail. Effects that summon a specific target from outside Sigil, as with a Leomund's secret chest spell, fail automatically.
Teleportation. Attempts to teleport into or out of Sigil fail, but such magic functions normally when used to teleport within the city.
Teleportation Circles. Permanent teleportation circles exist within Sigil, but attempts to create new ones fail. Those with permission can use them to enter the city via the plane shift spell but not to leave.
LIFE IN SIGIL
Creatures from every corner of the planes live and toil in the City of Doors, bringing fragments of their cultures to the multiversal hub. Over eons, these cultural tenets have blended and evolved into a unique way of life made possible by the myriad portals that exist at the Lady of Pain's sufferance.
Inhabitants
Sigil is the backstage of the multiverse. Celestials and Fiends share drinks in genie-owned taverns, agents of evil gods trot through the streets astride nightmares, and hags stable faerie steeds alongside pegasi and beasts of living stone.
As a result of this mingling, fundamentally incompatible parts of the multiverse come into direct contact. They don't always clash, but when they do, authorities maintain order and stifle cosmic peril. Only when these eruptions threaten the city on a grand scale does The Lady of Pain intervene.
Humans are the earliest known inhabitants of the City of Doors. Some sages track the existence and spread of humans back to Sigil itself, rather than to a deity or its creations.
Various factions handle the day-to-day governance of Sigil, enforcement of laws, and maintenance of civic infrastructure. These groups each follow a philosophy inspired by a cosmic aspect of the multiverse, and they actively recruit visitors and citizens into their ranks.
Gods and godlike figures - including archdevils and demon lords - can't enter Sigil by any means.
However, their schemes and influence still find their way into the city through their agents.
CURRENCY AND TRADE
Neither port nor proximity dictates trade in the City of Doors, granting its merchants and artisans access to the planes and their wondrous offerings.
Woodcarvers whittle toys from golden trees toppled in Arborea, blacksmiths forge weapons from infernal ingots, and tavern chefs cook halfling recipes passed down on worlds of the Material Plane. With enough time, connections, and coin, one can find anything in Sigil's markets.
A dizzying array of coinage flows through Sigil.
It doesn't matter where a coin was minted - if it's made of precious metal and the weight is right, the money is usually good. However, some traders are particular about the currencies they accept. An efreeti merchant selling instruments from the City of Brass might accept only rainbow sapphires from the Elemental Plane of Earth. Perhaps a night hag hawking rare spell components refuses all currency but fresh larvae from Hades, while a bone devil might siphon years off the buyer's life as payment for a diabolical blade.
Buyers can find goods of every shape, size, and sort in one of Sigil's many marketplaces, the largest of which is the Great Bazaar.
SERVICES
Any and every service is for sale in the Cage.
Courier services staffed by mephits, imps, and lantern archons carry messages across planar boundaries. Brave exterminators rid buildings of cranium rats, curses, and dangerous afflictions. Clandestine agencies offer escape from infernal debt collectors or other looming perils by killing their clients, keeping the bodies safe and preserved, and resurrecting them when trouble has died down, sometimes years or decades later.
Travelers from across the multiverse flood the city, whose establishments cater to a diverse clientele. Taverns and inns are common, their taprooms shaped by the fantastical folk who own them-angels, githzerai, and a host of friendly monsters who scrape by in the City of Doors. No matter where a visitor is from, they can find familiar comforts in Sigil.
GETTING AROUND
Knowing where to look for something one needs is made challenging by Sigil's prodigious sprawl.
Without the aid of magic or in-depth knowledge of portals within the city and their destinations, navigating the Cage is a dizzying affair.
Fortunately, two services exist throughout Sigil to help travelers find their way: sedan chairs and touts.
Visitors to the Clerks' Ward can also hire the cabs of Tea Street Transit.
SEDAN CHAIRS
Sedan chairs are comfortable chairs carried by burly types, Humanoid or otherwise. Sedan chairs act as a citywide taxi service, lingering near civic buildings, municipal hubs, and marketplaces.
A typical sedan chair ride costs 1 sp per passenger and can carry two Medium or smaller creatures to a destination in Sigil, but there are some places they simply won't go, like Undersigil or unsafe parts of the Hive Ward. Heavier chairs that ferry larger customers or groups exist, carried by brawny creatures such as ogres or umber hulks. These deluxe chairs cost more, a minimum of 1 gp per passenger, and those who carry them might be willing to travel to dangerous areas of the city for an extra fee.
TOUTS
Touts are independent local guides and translators who know the ins and outs of Sigil's wards. The best touts know shortcuts through the city to hidden gems off the beaten paths.
A typical tout charges 2 sp per hour of guidance.
More reliable touts vetted by influential clients charge premium prices, starting at 2 gp per hour.
Touts who speak more esoteric languages, who have connections with one or more factions, or who can provide magical assistance can command upward of 20 gp per hour.
Relevant Articles
Navigating Sigil
LANGUAGE
As people and beings from everywhere find their way to Sigil, every conceivable language comes with them. Common is the most frequently spoken language. The fact that Common-speaking travelers from different worlds can meet in Sigil and understand one another perplexes linguists and suggests that the language originated in Sigil. Creatures native to Sigil are typically fluent in Common and one other language.
Visitors who need help communicating can always find touts willing to translate for a price. This service extends to the Cant - Sigil Slang , a complex local slang heard in some corners of the city.
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