Planescape

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Planescape_Torment :: Planescape

Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. As its name suggests, the setting crosses and comprises the numerous planes of existence, encompassing an entire cosmology called the Great Wheel, as originally developed in the Manual of the Planes. This includes many of the other Dungeons and Dragons worlds, linking them via inter-dimensional magical portals. The setting crossed Victorian era trappings with a pseudo-steampunk design and attitude. Planescape won acclaim on its unique visual aspects, products of artist Tony DiTerlizzi.

Cosmology

The Dungeons & Dragons cosmology as reflected in Planescape consists of a number of planes, which can be divided into the following regions:

The Inner Planes (representing planes of elemental nature, such as Water, or Earth, or Lightning)
The Ethereal Plane
The Prime Material Plane
The Astral Plane
The Outer Planes (representing alignments and the primary domains of the various dieties)

Sigil

Sigil, the "City of Doors", is located atop the Spire in the Outer Planes. It has the shape of a torus; the city itself is located on the inner surface of the ring. There is no sky, simply an all-pervasive light that waxes and wanes to create day and night. Sigil cannot be entered or exited save via portals; although this makes it quite safe from any would-be invader, it also makes it a prison of sorts for those not possessing a portal key. Thus, many call Sigil "The Bird Cage" or "The Cage". Though Sigil is commonly held to be located "at the center of the planes" (where it is positioned atop the infinitely tall Spire), some argue that this is impossible since the planes are infinite in all dimensions, and therefore there can never truly be a center to any of them, let alone all of them; thus, Sigil is of no special importance. Curiously, from the Outlands one can see Sigil atop the supposedly infinite Spire.

Sigil contains an innumerable number of portals: any bounded opening (a doorway, an arch, a barrel hoop, a picture frame) could possibly be a portal to another plane, or to another point in Sigil itself. Thus, the city is a paradox: it touches all planes at once, yet ultimately belongs to none; from these characteristics it draws its other name: "The City of Doors."

The ruler of Sigil is the mysterious Lady of Pain. The Lady is sometimes seen in Sigil as a floating, robed Lady with a face bearing a mantle of blades. The Lady does not concern herself with the laws of the city; she typically only interferes when something threatens the stability of Sigil itself. However, she is an entity of inscrutable motives, and often those who cross her path, even accidentally, are flayed to death or teleported to her hidden Mazes, lost forever. It is widely believed that she never speaks, although some unconfirmed (and, most would argue, highly questionable) rumours to the contrary do exist.

Sigil is, theoretically, a completely neutral ground: no wars are waged there and no armies pass through. Furthermore, no deities can enter into Sigil; the Lady has barred them from the Cage. Of course, Sigil is hardly peaceful; with such a condensed population, consisting of everything from angelic devas to demonic glabrezu, violence is common, usually befalling the foolhardy, the incautious, or the poor. Most natives of Sigil ("Cagers") are quite jaded as a result of living there.

People coming to Sigil from the Prime Material Plane are often treated as clueless inferiors by the planar elitists who dwell there. They are thus widely referred to as the "Clueless", or more charitably, as "Outsiders".

Sigil is divided into six districts, called wards:

The Hive Ward, the slum and the ghetto, home to the poor, the rogues, and the unwanted dregs of the city.
The Lower Ward, an industrial district, clogged up with the smoke from the foundries and from the portals to the Lower Planes.
The Clerk's Ward, an affluent district, home to most of the city's lower-rung bureaucrats and middlemen.
The Market and Guildhall Wards are the home to the traders, craftsmen, artisans, guild members and other members of the middle class.
The Lady's Ward, the richest and most exclusive section of the city, is home to the elites of society and of its government.

Factions

The Factions are the philosophically-derived power groups based in Sigil. Before the Faction War, the factions controlled the political climate of the city. Each of the factions is based around one particular belief system; many of the factions' beliefs make them enemies where their other goals and actions might have made them allies. Most factions are organized into covert cells for their own protection. There are fifteen factions in total, per a decree of the Lady of Pain; any additional factions emerging would be subject to her wrath.

The Faction War

In 1998, TSR published Faction War, an adventure that effectively closed the book on Planescape as it was then and ending the product line. The culmination of several adventures leading up to that point, the Faction War brought an end to the factions' control of the city. Instigated by the power-hungry Duke Rowan Darkwood, factol of the Fated, in a bid to dethrone the Lady and rule Sigil himself, the war spread throughout the city before the Lady of Pain, with the aid of a group of adventurers (the players' characters), intervened.

Sects

Sects are in many ways identical to the Factions, differing in that they are not based in Sigil. Sects are often highly specific to the particular planes they originate from, though historically many of the Factions were once Sects and some Sects were once Factions. A complete list of Sects is probably not possible due the infinite multitudes of the Planes.

Published material

Planescape is an expansion of ideas presented in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (First Edition) and the original Manual of the Planes. When Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition was published, a decision was made not to include angelic or demonic creatures, and so the cosmology was largely ignored, being replaced (to a certain degree) by the Spelljammer setting. However, fan demand for a 2nd Edition Manual of the Planes was strong enough to justify its expansion into a full-fledged campaign setting, and so in 1994 Planescape was released. Many expansions and adventures followed, and the setting has since been updated in the 3rd Edition Manual of the Planes, the 3.5 Edition Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Planar Handbook. No Planescape materials are currently in print, and used manuals and supplements often command very steep prices.

In 1995, Planescape won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement of 1994.

The setting was featured in the computer game Torment, the only game to portray the Planescape world (specifically Sigil, the Outlands, Baator, Carceri, and the Negative Material Plane). It is now a cult game, also long out of print.

Novels

Pages of Pain (December 1997), by Troy Denning, (ISBN 0-7869-0508-5)
Torment (October 1999), by Ray Vallese and Valerie Vallese, (ISBN 0-7869-1527-7)

Blood Wars Trilogy

Blood Hostages (January 1996), by J. Robert King, (ISBN 0-7869-0473-9)
Abyssal Warriors (June 1996), by J. Robert King, (ISBN 0-7869-0501-8)
Planar Powers (August 1997), by J. Robert King, (ISBN 0-7869-0532-8)

External links

Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings | Origins Award winners | Planescape

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