Planewalker Tales

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Xantra, a female tiefling who hopes to get into the Mapping Infinity set (by Mike Hachey)

Who says only the Outer Planes have gate-towns? Any berk who thinks that the Unity of Rings stops at the Outer Planes might as well go into the mazes now. There is a way to get to the Inner Planes straight from the Outlands, but it ain't easy. Took me one hundred years to discover it.

Anyway, to get there, you must scale a small part o' the Spire. Told ya it ain't easy. Since no magic works at the Spire, I had to use standard mountaineering techniques. I got up to about a mile, then I saw a cave. No one on the ground could possibly see.

I hoisted m'self into the cave, and I saw elementals and elemental-kin of all sorts. Djinns, salamanders, efreet, azers, anything a body could imagine havin' to do with the Inner Planes. It wasn't really a town, but I guess gate-town's the best way to describe it.

At the very back of the cave, there was a portal. I entered it, and found m'self in the Deep Ethereal, lookin' straight ahead at the orbs that make up the Inner Planes.

A Not-so-Senile old Man speaks of the Lady of Pain (by Dan Summers)

I know!

They all think I'm crazy for saying what I say. But only I know the truth. That's why I live here. Here at near the Spire. The closer I am to it, the less I have to fear of the powers and....her! I know her secret!! And if it got out it would through the plains in turmoil... Now listen up berk, this has to be told, but not by me. See I'm to smart for that! So I'll tell you and you'll spread the chant around for me. By now you all know of the powers, or gods as they sometimes prefer to be known as. You know some of these gods group together in pantheons..right? And some of those pantheons have another god above all of the others in that pantheon. I'm sure you know of some of them. Well there are those out there that would have my soul...no my very essence of existance that goes beyond the soul for the chant I have up in my head. You see contrary to what the powers say they did not form the planes, a higher power did...a power high then the supposed over-powers!

This Ultimate Power designed the Outer Planes and gave birth to everything that was here in the begining. He is the Source of the Athar priestss power. Though he doesn't reside here on any of the planes. He lives just outside any beings preception here. Since he created the planes he can go undetected. Now that might be more common knowledge then most bloods think. What most don't know is that he didn't do it alone. This is where The Lady Of Pain comes in, [he looks around and up the Spire as if waiting for a bolt of lightning to come and render the flesh from his bones.] She is, actually was his wife.

They arranged the planes and made life as we know it. And then let it run its course. This was fine in the beginning, until they had an argument over how magic would work. This cause a great upheavel in the planes. The Lord, or Ulitmate power was locked away in what in now known as the Spire. That's why magic doesn't work, it's not anulled....it's absorbed into him to keep his prison empowered. What the Lady did not know as while he was trapped inside the spire she would be trapped on top of the Spire. Since their magic was so interlaced only she would be able to use the force known as magic at the point of her former husbands prison. That is when she formed the cage. Sigil became her prison. That is why everywhere can be reached through Sigil, she was intsrament in making the multiverse. So she can bend or even reshape the rules to fit her will.

Remember the Rule of Threes? The Lord, who is now the Spire The Lady, who in essence is the Cage What is the third you ask? Their child...the Planes, but that is getting off topic again.

Now where was I...oh yes The Lady.....her prison and her former husbands prison...they are linked. That is why The Lady can not be worshipped, if she had worshippers that would take away power that would go to keeping her husband(The Lord) entrapped. Now we all know that belief is power. If people started to worship The Lady then the truth would be know that indeed she is a power, more powerful then all the others. And the lack of the truth is all that keeps the Lord entrapped. So if you my friends...spread the chant around..spread the truth...maybe we'll be able to change the balance of power on the planes and bring in a new era.

Now you wouldn't have anything to wet my partched throat, I've been doing a lot of talking lately.

Reportedly a short time later the man was found dead in Sigil. But prior to his death large scale quakes were reported through out the Cage and strange weather overtook the entire city for several days.

Sharpeye, a ratatosk from Yggdrasil (by Matthew David)

See. Know. I know. Spire. Theo-ry? That what you ask? I know! Not theory. Truth.

See. Yggdrasil. World Ash. Might-y Moth-er tree. Her fruit is planes. Worlds. Many things.

But her not only par-ent. There also Spire. Might-y Fath-er tree. Was.

See. Yggdrasil. Need pollen. Spire. Have pollen. Pollen give to Moth-er. Fruit made.

Worlds born. Planes born. Suppor-ted by Moth-er.

See. Fath-er got old. Old tree turn to stoney. Petri-thingy.

Sigil. Fath-er's acorn. Out-er Planes. Fath-er's roots.

See? That Truth!

Walden Tinderspite: Seller of Rumours and Lies, you determine which are which (by Joshua Jarvis)

"Hey berk! Over here! Do you want to know the dark on the Spire? The true dark? Well I'll tell it to you for some jink. You see, the mountains in Bytopia, especially those that connect two layers, are called spires. One of them, Centre Spire, is said to hold the whole sodding plane together. Centre Spire, how ironic since the Great Spire is right under Sigil. I believe that the Spire was once a part of Bytopia. Don't look at me that way; the Outlands constantly loses gate towns, a good chunk of Arcadia is in Mechanus, and a little bit o' hell lurks in the Beastlands 'cause even Baator loses ground sometimes. I say that the Spire went along with Centre Spire to hold together Bytopia until the beliefs changed, ripping the Spire into the Outlands and warping it with the peoples' beliefs. After all a big spire in the middle has to mean something? I feel who or whatever did this wants Centre Spire too. This may just rip Bytopia apart."

Hoffy, an Indep Bariaur from Faunel

"Nobody really knows why the Spire affects some people more than others. They call 'em Spiretouched, and they've got this vacant look in their eyes as if nothing else can measure up to their dreams. Nobody's sure what it is that happens to these poor sods, but it's said that some of them transform into rilmani, to serve the Balance and Centre forever..."

Fox, a Self-Proclaimed Reincarnate of the Godsmen

"The Spire is unshaped belief. The rings of the Outlands flow off into other planes, right? That's why the towns keep shifting rings, and why gate towns float off, and why everything keeps changing. Anyway, the Spire is the sum of belief on the Prime, the splinter thrust by the uncounted infinities of primes living and believing: The nexus of belief on the Outer Planes. The Lady of Pain, long ago, harnessed this power, and the powers've been trying to take it back ever since."

Renouncing Greela, Athar Preacher

"Just because everyone thinks Sigil is at the top of the Spire doesn't make it so. While some berks say that most Signers think it's there (and thus it must be so), I reckon that if I'm questioning the widely-held belief then there's as much a chance of me being right instead. Now, most cutters haven't ever considered Sigil not being at the top of the spire. All the maps show it is, and all the Planewalkers' pictures of the Spire do too. But artists take liberties all the time. If one rendering becomes popular, wouldn't others tend to copy it? And don't some people like to think they know what's going on and try to quantify everything? Take the next speaker, for example..."

Jorikk Cloudhair, a Giantish Priest of Annam

"In fact, it's actually Annam's palace atop the Spire. After all, Annam is the creator of the Multiverse. The Lady of Pain's kip is somewhere else...perhaps in the Astral or the Ethereal, but it ain't atop the Spire."

Renouncing Greela again, Confronted with New Evidence

"Well, even if there is something up there atop the Spire, it doesn't necessarily have to be the Cage. It might just be a doughnut-shaped rock! It's too far from the Outlands to see the lights which Sigil'd surely have at night, so there's never been a satisfactory answer to this theory. And in my mind, that's a proof in itself!"

The Wizard-Prince Zoreth III, Exiled Regent of Neth, a Prime World

"Sigil's balancing act ain't physical, it's magical - after all, it's floating above the Spire. Sigil's some sort of pocket dimension anchored to the Spire. See, the Spire's so high that it pierces all the other Planes - after all, Yggdrasil does it (and that's a bloody tree!) so why not the Spire? That's the reason why the Cage is connected to so many places: it's so high up that it looks right down into every plane!"

Futility Brokk, a Warden of the Bleaker's Madhouse

"We've got this client who swears blind that the Spire's a great drop of water, frozen in time. She reckons some Power dropped Sigil from the skies of the Outlands and it hit the surface, causing ripples to spread out across the land. Then with incredible force the Cage bounced back up, followed by a stream of rock and earth. Thing is, this happened on a different time scale, aeons ago. The Spire looks like it's frozen in time, and thus solid, when in fact it's growing...or maybe it's at equilibrium height at infinity...or it could be shrinking. She changes her story more often than a Xaosman changes his spots. Or was that a leopard?"

The Seeker, a Githzerai Seer

"I've saw the top of the Spire once, though not in my waking hours. I dreamed of a great palace, sliced down with knives, with carpets of razors and chandeliers of severed bone shards. It was the Palace of the Lady herself. I have not slept since, for fear of glimpsing its horrors again..."

Astari, a Rilmani-Blooded Aasimar (or So she Claims)

"The Spire's basically a funnel, constructed to draw planar energy from the Great Ring and up into the Spire itself. The closer you walk towards the Spire, the more obvious the effect becomes: Take the negation of magic, and eventually even the might of Powers, for example!

"The Rilmani make their cases near the Spire so they can monitor the flows of planar energy, prevent any blockages which may arise, and ensure equal amounts of energy are drawn from each of the Outer Planes. In fact, this unlimited energy source is what the Lady of pain taps into. It's of such a pure form that her Dabus communicate in symbols, for words are concepts too limiting for their needs."

Mouse, an Explorer Made Meek by what she has Seen

"Picture the planes, Outlands, and Sigil. Now, imagine their is another Spire on the opposite side of the Outlands, and another city like Sigil hovering over, or under, it. Like a mirror image. Planars who think they know the Multiverse only know a small portion of it - the portions that lie around the known portals.

"Sure, that covers a lot of area - but the planes are endless! Anyway, this other city has portals to entirely different areas of the planes, and that's why no sod (except me) knows about them. It only takes the right blood sometime to find an unknown portal sometime to get them there.

"This is a dark Outlands where nature is savage, and merciless. It's a battleground Sigil where chaos rules instead of law. Magic is twisted with insanity, witches and warlocks run the temples instead of priests. Magic is granted by alien beings as high above gods, as gods are above humans.

"Here, there's a Blood War between tiefling and aasimar, good and evil. The planes are divided in their hate of one race or the other."

Sigmundo Fraud, a Githyanki Psychic Surgeon

"It iz very simple really. The whole multiverse thinks about reproduction of the species. The Spire iz nothing more than The manifistation of all subconscious masculine thoughts and Sigil iz the female counterpart. Hence the LADY of Pain rules this city. The Spire has to be in the centre of the Outer Planes, because cutters of all convictions think about reproduction."

Unknown member of the Rosebringers, high as a djinni on bub

"Why is the bloody thing infinite, you say?

"Why, it's really just a big pile 'o roses! That' right, ROSES! and it's cleverly disguised itself as an immense rock spire...hehee.. Them rilmani are little more than interplanar gardeners... going about, trying to stem the tide of the roses' destruction! See, the Spire is an infinite structure, correct? Well then, it Must be the source of all roses!!!!!

"It must be...."

Pirvan, Self-Proclaimed Demi-Power of Corrections (by John Kastronis)

"You see, the Spire is infinite in size. Sigil is actually inside of the Spire, which is why magic functions there and why when you look off the side, you can't see the Outlands. So how do you see Sigil from the Outlands? Two answers to that, you choose: One, you believe that you can see Sigil from the Outlands, therefore, you can. Two, the Sigil you view is a supra-magical (ie. magic the Spire can't affect) illusion placed there, so that berks who wander the Outlands can know there is a Sigil."

Leto, a newcomer to the planes (by J. Hoogendoorn)

"It's a really large battery, that allows the portals in Sigil to be used over and over again. And keeps Sigil floating like she does. It drains up magical energies from the area around the Spire. So that's why the moment you get to close to the Spire you start losing spellcasting abilities, see."

Poly Ester, a marilith who sometimes lives in Sigil (by A.G. Rijkee)

"If any of you berks ever find out the dark of the Spire, especially the top of the thing be sure to tell me. I know some people I'd like to IMPALE in it. Oh and S. Fraud; if you ever get to Sigil, find my address and I'll show you some very feminine ideas about the male need to procreate."

Kylo Cedarsmoke (by Alex Pestana)

"By the Rule of Threes, since there's the Astral and Ethereal planes, there must be a third route of planar travel. This is the Spire. It's a hollow tunnel connecting the Inner and Outer Planes. I've heard some bashers bang on about Ordial or somesuch, but it's just the Spire to me..."

CY the Cynic, an Athar rabble-rouser

"Don't tell my superiors but, you know the power behind the powers my high ups are always rattlin their bone boxes about? Well it's the Lady sure as deva's are good.. and don't doubt for a Mechanus minute that she's got a whole army of daubus in that infinite Spire ready to put down the coming of the Great War of philosophers destined for the Cage...just make sure you know who the Queen of Revolution is before your time is up."

* Main Spire Page * Main Outlands Page *

Faction Musings

Factionneers lann some chant on their own beliefs and disbeliefs concerning the Great Spire.

The Spire's Effect on Psionics

Optional rules to simulate the draining effect of proximity to the Spire on psionic abilities.

Scholarly Opinions

Learned graybeards showcase their studies on the Spire and share some of their barmier theories.

Further Questions

How can you see Sigil if the Spire's infinitely tall? What happens if you jump off the Cage?