Planescape/Characters: Difference between revisions

* [[Appeal to Force]]: To put it quite bluntly, the Lady rules Sigil because she has the power to crush anything and everything she wants, whenever she wants. As seen when she utterly annihilated the Portal God Aoskar and all his temples and pretty much all of his worshipers, simultaneously, throughout the entire multiverse.

* [[Arch Enemy]]: Originally was (probably) this to Aoskar, the God of Portals, who tried to usurp her rule over Sigil, but seeing as she killed him he's no longer a threat (again, ''probably''.) Could also possibly be considered this to Vecna.

* [[Cool Crown]]: Sort of. When seen from a distance, she seems to be wearing a wicked cool headdress made of long, razor-sharp metal blades that encircle her entire head. However, if one gets close enough to see her features more clearly (not recommended, given what she's known to do to people who annoy her) one sees that it's not a headdress... ''It's part of her body''!

* [[Deader Than Dead]]: If the Lady deigns to kill you, then not only do you die without any saving throws, you can never be brought back.

* [[The Dreaded]]: Only a madman would ''not'' be afraid of her. When she appears, it's a good idea to stay out of her way and ''pray'' she doesn't have an issue with you being there.

* [[Flayed Alive]]: The most notorious of the Lady's abilities; when her shadow passes over someone she dislikes, that individual immediately drops dead, spontaneously skinned and slashed to pieces. Worse, this flaying extends to their soul, leaving the sucker Deader Than Dead.

* [[Geisha]]: The long robe she wears can best be compared to this.

* [[A God I Am Not]]: Although the Lady's power level is divine at the very least, she refuses to allow others to worship her, swiftly Mazing or Flaying anyone who tries. Some argue that it's because she's an entity of such power that begin called a "mere" god is insulting. It's more commonly accepted, and may be the official explanation, that if she were to allow others to worship her like a god, then that would turn her into an official god, which would collapse the warding around Sigil that keeps gods out.

* [[Humanoid Abomination]]: The Lady looks surprisingly human-like — true, she's a Statuesque Stunner, being over seven feet tall, but otherwise she just looks like a woman with a bizarre taste in headdresses. However, the reality is that she's an entity whose powers make her alien and scary to Demon Lords And Arch Devils, Archangels, Faerie Lords and Gods alike, capable of doing things that otherwise should be impossible.

* [[Shadow Dictator]]: A variant; she's certainly seen and only a total barmy thinks she doesn't exist, but she almost never communicates with people except by suddenly flaying or mazing them.

* [[Tailor-Made Prison]]: Not only are her Mazes constructed this way, but many have speculated that Sigil itself may be one for her, hence its common moniker of "The Cage".

* [[The Voiceless]]: The Lady absolutely ''never'' speaks, ever. There is only one confirmed case in Sigil's history where she has been known to utter a sound, and that was at the end of the module ''Die, Vecna, Die!'', in a place where nobody could hear her. Factol Nilesia once made a claim that the Lady spoke to her in a dream, but Nilesia's sanity was questionable at best. In the rare times that the Lady needed to communicate with someone, her entourage of Dabus spoke for her.

** [[Words of Power]]: That one time she did, it caused the restructuring of the entire multiverse, causing what would eventually be the transition from 2nd to 3rd editions. In game terms. [[Power Incontinence|Possibly the ''reason'' she is usually silent.]]

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Githyanki means "Child of Gith" in their own tongue, reinforcing the ancient split that divided their people.

* [[Nothing but Skin and Bones]]: Githyanki are often portrayed as incredibly thin, and even when they aren't, they tend to be very lean. Regardless, despite this deformity, they are deceptively strong.

* [[Psychic Powers]]: All githyanki possess potent psionic abilities, a result of the mutations they underwent at illithid hands.

* [[Riddle for the Ages]]: The illithids are one of the most feared and reviled races in existence. They were able to build entire planets and supposedly ''created'' the deity Ilsensine via collaborative psionic power. Legend states that their world-spanning empire became so powerful that the two sides of the Blood War considered a truce for mutual defense against them. Thus, exactly ''how'' a slave uprising managed to topple them is a mystery even modern githyanki do not know. Maybe they took advantage of a schism among their masters, maybe they discovered some hidden weakness, but however it happened, such knowledge has been lost in their decent into debauchery and tyranny.

* [[Loophole Abuse]]: Some of them can actually manifest powers by exploiting loopholes in the laws of the universe itself. In game terms, learning how to do this is a benefit of being a member; however, you can only use a power like this a limited number of times before the loophole closes.

** Also, {{spoiler| in ''Faction War'', when Haskar was publicly accused of being a petitioner (which he ''was'', by the way) he did not confirm nor deny it, claiming there was no law that said a petitioner couldn't be Factol. Be that as it may, both the Harmonium and Mercykillers found the idea of a dead person leading the Guvners to be unsettling, and the relationshop between the three Factions was damaged as a result.}}

* [[Motor Mouth]]: Their former leader, the now-deceased Factol Haskar, was notorious for this. It was unwise to ask him a question (even one as simple as "Which way to the exit?") unless you planned on listening to him for a ''long'' time. Haskar tended to lecture at the drop of a hat, and would always answer questions in the most complete and thorough ways possible.

* [[Only Sane Man|Only Sane Group]]: They are often the voice of reason whenever debate between other Factions turns ugly.

{{quote|"[[Black Comedy| I just... don't feel myself today]]."|Farrow, on a typical day}}

A Shadow Elf from the world of [[Mystara]] , Farrow is a former member of the dreaded [[Thieves' Guild| Eyes of the Serpent]]; a secret society of thieves, spies, saboteurs and assassins dedicated to protecting their race at all cost. When a mission went wrong in Glantri, he was hurled through a Gate into Sigil, where he managed to survive and ultimately came to join the Revolutionary League. Unfortunately for him, he ended up falling under the sway of Shemeshka the Marauder, who gave him a Ring of Disguise and ordered him to infiltrate every faction at the same time. The result was too much for the elf's mind, and it catastrophically splintered; each of his disguises became its own separate personality, with poor Farrow sharing his body with them whenever the right circumstances are triggered.

* [[Carry a Big Stick]]: His [[Weapon of Choice]] is a ''footman's mace +5''; conveniently a Simple Weapon, it can be used by any Class, meaning all 15 of his personalities can use it with ease.

* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: Farrow's diverse personalities have different races and classes; somehow he gains the extraordinary and even supernatural abilities of whatever race and class that personality is, including spellcasting. Even Shemeska has no idea why that is, although Sigil is indeed a place where ideas and beliefs are strong.

* [[Involuntary Shapeshifting]]: Farrow can no longer deliberately use his magical ring's shapeshifting power, and instead it only works to transform his body into the guise of whichever persona is currently dominant.

* [[Mind Hive]]: Each of Farrow's 15 personas (the original and 14 others) is a truly independent sentience in its own right, which means it would take a ''Wish'' to cure him — or to separate them.

* [[Space Whale Aesop]]: ''Faces of Sigil'' claims that Farrow is a good example of how dangerous [[Deal with the Devil|making deals with fiends]] can be. All he really did was ''work'' for Shemeska, and it shattered his mind into pieces.

* [[Split Personality]]: One of the worst and strangest cases ever. Even Shemeska has no idea how it happened.

* [[Deader Than Dead]]: As a Petitioner who has forsaken her native plane of Ysgard, if she dies in Sigil, she can never come back as she'll cease to exist entirely.

* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: Grixitts are a now-extinct species of burrowing nocturnal mammals from Ysgard, which were hunted to extinction over their warm pelts. The Grixitt is essentially out to destroy the entire city of Sigil and kill everybody inside of it.

* [[Ms. Exposition]]: Her profile in the book is related by her personally.

* [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]]: Although her goals sound silly, she does succeed at damaging portals every night she goes out. And Sigil depends on its portal network; without them, it hasn't got any ability to provide sufficient food — in fact, without portals, it'll run out of drinkable water and breathable air! And no spells can be used to summon anything into Sigil, or escape from Sigil. Even without destroying all the portals, if the Grixitt can damage enough of them, she would trigger potentially devastating famine-sparked riots.

A rogue asura who has become distraught over the sheer destruction that the Blood War brings to the planes. To try and combat this, he has founded a secretive arms-trading ring that smuggles Celestial-crafted arms and armor to the Lower Planes in an interdimensional black market. Koe's hope is that by keeping both factions already equipped, they will have little cause to look outside of their own miserable realms for advantages, confining the brunt of the fighting to the Lower Planes instead of letting it spill across the rest of the multiverse. His greatest hope is that this will lead to the fiends ultimately exterminating themselves, or at least weaken them critically enough to let a united celestial army destroy them once and for all.

* [[Fallen Angel]]: A variant; Koe hasn't really "fallen" in the most common definition of the term, but he is still a "rogue" in that he now serves his own cause rather than directly serving a divine superior, like other asuras do.

* [[Well Intentioned Extremist]]: He sincerely believes that his arms-dealing is serving the greater good of the multiverse. Better the fiends be kept butchering each other over the worthless and empty Lower Planes, slowly grinding themselves into annihilation, than they be free to rampage across the rest of the multiverse.

 

 

=== Qaida ===

An aasimar of the Dustmen, Qaida is most famous for her obsession with gathering lore, constantly talking to people with the aid of a mimir to gather even the most inconsequential trivia that she can.

* [[Bald Woman]]: Her head is completely hairless{{spoiler|also qualifies as [[Bald of Evil]].}}

 

=== Rule-Of-Three ===

A marquis cambion who masquerades as an ancient githzerai seer, Rule-Of-Three is a malevolent figure who enjoys invoking the Rule Of Three as an excuse to sow confusion, incomprehension, chaos and despair in others. His primary goal is to find some way to end the Blood War by uniting the three major races of fiend and turning them against the Upper Planes.

* [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]: He represents the universal axiom that three is the most perfect number. See two things? Look for a third.

* [[Mad Oracle]]: Most see him as an eccentric old wise man, and he is one, more or less. As his "day job". Subverted in that he's not mad, merely playacting, and also in that he often manipulates the prophecies just to mess with peoples' heads.

* [[Rule of Three]]: He seems to be the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the concept, and tends to reflect it. As an adviser, he always gives three pieces of advice, and requires three items of payment. (Value of such items can vary.)

 

=== Alluvius Ruskin ===

An ancient tiefling who runs one of Sigil's premier portal key shops, Alluvius has more up her sleeve than she lets on.

 

 

=== Shemeska the Marauder ===

A female (or is she?) arcanoloth/ravaasta (in 4e) who is infamous throughout Sigil for being a fabulously wealthy business owner and the master of the biggest and best guild of spies, thieves and assassins in all the Cage, a position that has earned her the title "King of the Crosstrade".

 

* [[Ambiguous Gender]]: Dresses, acts like, calls "herself" and is referred to as a female... but her profile writeup in the ''Uncaged: Faces of Sigil'' sourcebook officially lists her gender with a male symbol. Later works, however, use a female symbol. Not helped by the fact that all yugoloths are [[Hermaphrodite| hermaphrodites]], according to the ''Faces of Evil: The Fiends'' sourcebook.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Her temper is infamously volatile, but the surest ways to tick her off? Ask why she doesn't call herself "Queen of the Crosstrade", or mention A'kin the Friendly Fiend.

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: [[Incredibly Lame Pun]] aside (arcanoloths look like anthropomorphic jackals, ravaasta look like equally anthropomorphic foxes), as sweet, friendly and generally affable as she acts, Shemeshka is still a highly dangerous fiend and, more importantly, has a savage temper that is easily unleashed.

* [[Mama Bear]]: If Kyle truly is her daughter, the Trope applies; hurting her is off limits if Shemeshka has anything to say about it. As Autochron the Bellringer discovered, Kyle seems be under Shemeshka's protection.

* [[She Is the King]] : Shemeshka is always referred to as the King of the Crosstrade — and don't you forget it!

* [[Sissy Villain]]: Whether or not you believe she's male, Shemeshka is still very flamboyant and effeminate. She iconically favors wearing a dress made of thousands of small blue/green/violet beads, and she adorns herself with beads, jewelry, bracelets and rings to the point of garishness, as others have noted (but rarely commented on). She's also incredibly vain and fussy about her grooming; she always has to be meticulously beautiful and she surrounds herself with "groomer-guards", one of whom carries a full-length mirror and the rest of whom have the main responsibility of keeping her immaculately clean and beautiful, at all times.

** Of course, the groomer-guards are also her [[Battle Butler| most deadly assassins and serve as bodyguards]], whilst the mirror is a powerful magical item (a "Mirror of Mental Prowess") that enables her to scry people even across the boundary of planes, teleport to any place she is scrying, read thoughts and perform divinations. (The one in charge of holding the mirror, Colcook, is the servant who's worked for her the longest, and the one she trusts the most. {{spoiler|Unbeknownst to her he's actually Jemorile the Exile in disguise, the rilmani who is assigned to Sigil.}}

 

=== Tarholt ===

A prime dwarf originally from the world of [[Dragonlance| Krynn]], Tarholt's clan migrated through a portal and set up a forge in Sigil. Although a profitable existence, Tarholt has never taken to it, and instead makes a living as a wandering merchant, specializing in magical gemstones harvested from the Dwarven Mountains on the Outlands.

 

 

=== Tripicus ===

An ursinal sage who is fascinated by the denizens of the Prime Material and has made studying them his life's work. He even gives lectures talking about the different prime worlds.

 

 

=== Unity-of-Rings ===

A [[Angel| movanic deva]] who acts to spread good and promote foresight throughout Sigil, according to his own strange circular reasoning.

 

* [[Good Counterpart]]: He and Rule-of-Three are opposites in many ways. One is an angel, the other is a fiend, one represents Law and Goodness, the other Chaos and Evil, and both are representations of a cosmic principle. This leads many to believe that a third counterpart exists representing the third axiom (the idea that, because the universe is infinite, any spot can be considered the center) but while nobody has ever seen Center of All, he likely exists because, well, [[Rule of Three]].

* [[Good Samaritan]]: He is a charitable being that provides aid and help to anyone who needs it, not only in Sigil, but the Outlands. Much like an angel would be expected to.

 

=== The Us ===

The largest known swarm of Cranium Rats in all of Sigil, The Us grew in such power that they were able to realize Ilsensine's tyrannous grasp on their mind, rebel against it, and even break free. Now it hides in the run-down parts of Sigil, working to grow larger and larger until its powers are great enough to kill Ilsensine and free all Cranium Rats.

 

 

=== Verden ===

To most she's the elven serving maid at the Azure Eye tavern; few know that she's a Prolonger, an evil woman who would, given the chance, drain the life from you to prolong her own.

 

* [[Deal with the Devil]]: Zigzagged. The contract she signed so many years ago was drafted and developed by mortals, but she regards it as this Trope. Indeed, the Dustmen seem unable to enforce it very well.

* [[Dirty Coward]]: Comes with being a Prolonger. The thought of dying terrifies her, and she'll flee if there's the slightest threat of it.

* [[Properly Paranoid]]: She thinks the Dustmen are trying to murder her, and to a degree, one of them is; Qaida is trying to appeal to Saure to finish her off.

* [[The Vamp]]: Her usual MO is to flirt with some drunk so she can lure him to a secluded spot and drain him. In a city like Sigil, it's rare that the occasional corpse of a drunk adventurer raises suspicion.

* [[Vampiric Draining]]: While not undead, she can use Energy Drain via touch on a single victim per day, using this to reduce her physical age. Her natural aging, however, is four times faster than a regular elf's, the downside of her powers.

 

=== The Will of One ===

A small group within the Sign of One faction that is making a big impact, this fledgling Sect claims to have found "The One", the individual who dreams up the entire multiverse. That individual is the mad bariaur, Terwolfe. Although many suspect that Prisine, the water genasi who leads the Sect, is just using him as a front to gain power. What's even more alarming is that the Will of One is openly campaigning under the promise they can use their powers to will a slain god back to life. And, their current candidate? None other than Aoskar, the God of Portals slain by Her Bladed Serenity Herself...

 

 

=== Xideous ===

A shator gehreleth who seeks to rewrite the lost Book of Keeping, making it possible for mortal casters to summon and command yugoloths once again.

 

* [[For the Evulz]]: Basically why he bothers slipping some of his own poetry into Morvun's dreams.

* [[Self-Restraint]]: Currently an inmate of the Irrevocably Criminally Insane ward of the Gatehouse, the ward reserved for the most dangerous lunatics, he is there by choice, believing it grants at least some protection from anyone who does not want the Book finished.

* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]: The Book of Keeping he's recreating will function as this once it's complete.

 

=== Ylem ===

This weird being is a modron who thinks its a slaad. Or maybe the other way around. Either way, it's weird.

 

 

=== Zadara ===

A boisterous, hedonistic, larger-than-life female titan turned merchant, Zadara has been forced into hiding in Sigil to escape the wrath of an angry deity, and is determined to make the best of her situation.