My take on the Lady of Pain

[Nanoblack]

After running a single campaign from levels 1 to 20 and reading up on many of the planes quite a bit (especially the far realm), I have developed an interesting theory for why the Lady of Pain is trapped atop her spire in Sigil.

(Please forgive my obsession with the Far Realm)

First things first. All of this is based off of two things:

1.) The theory that the far realm used to be the only plane of existence until some force caused part of it to "bud" off and fashioned it into the planescape we know of today.

2.) The Lady of Pain is the child of that "Creator"

Now for the real meat of my aimless thought processes...

I have come to believe that the Lady of Pain is stuck within the boundaries of her city because both the Spire and the city of Sigil itself is a focal point where the far realm is more closely connected than anywhere else. My theory is that since the Lady herself is the very daughter of whatever omnipotent being that created existence, she has been charged with the task of protecting all of creation. In that effort, though she is ridiculously powerful, she requires proximity to the planar breach in order to keep it closed.

This would explain Sigils penchant for portals as well as the spell dampening that takes effect as you near the city. The random portals are residual magic thats leftover from supressing such a massive planar breach and the spell dampening is explained as a side effect of her supression efforts.

(Man, looking back at this post, I really though I had more to say than this. Either way, I'd like to hear everyones thoughts on this.)

[arguskos]

1. Personally, I'm a big fan of Planescape and ascribe to the "the Lady is an enigma" theory, where knowing what she is defeats the point of having her.

To quote an old blood I once had the pleasure of talking to, "Eh berk, see 'ere. The Lady, may her Shadow not fall on me, 'he's what 'he be. Let the dark of it drift away berk, lest 'he come looking for you."

2. As far as theories go, eh, that's not the worst one I've heard. Plausible-ish from an IC perspective. No worse than many others I've heard the berks and clueless bandy about with their blabbers. Note: this is not sarcasm. It's actually a decent theory, I'm just of the perspective that knowing what Her Serenity is is pointless.

[LOTRfan]

I like this idea. The Far Realms being the first plane of existence, I like that a lot (in fact, I use something slightly different in my campaign).

I don't think I've ever heard a theory that didn't involve the Lady of Pain being the most powerful thing in the multiverse, so the idea of something even more powerful is very interesting. I guess Arguskos is right about the Lady of Pain being a mystery, but the players never actually have to find out. Overall, cool theory.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Mmm, as homebrew having the Far Realm be the first is fine, however, by D&D official, Aboleths came from the first realm, and they are not of the Far Realm.

[Yora]

Did the Far Realm even exist in the Planescape setting?

[LOTRfan]

Technically, no. It was introduced as a variant cosmology in 3.5e. I do not know about earlier editions.

[hamishspence]

3.0E Manual of the Planes had stats for the Far Realm.

However, I think there were mentions of "The Plane of Nightmares" which was very Far Realm-ish quite some time before that.

[Nanoblack]

Mmm, as homebrew having the Far Realm be the first is fine, however, by D&D official, Aboleths came from the first realm, and they are not of the Far Realm.

Where might I read up on that? I find all of this incredibly interesting.

[Urpriest]

Where might I read up on that? I find all of this incredibly interesting.

The Aboleth fluff is in Lords of Madness.

[Yora]

Which is also post Planescape.

I think when it comes to planar stuff before 4th edition, there isn't really anything "official". There's no custom setting in 3rd Ed. and the books combine some stuff salvaged from Greyhawk and Planescape, with some scraps from other settings, and completely new ideas.

[Nanoblack]

This last IRL campaign I ran involved the Lady of Pain disappearing (Uber-Alienists fault) and I tied the whole story behind the Pact Primeval into the plot by having it as another pillar of stability and a way to reawaken her... was very interesting fighting alongside the archdukes in an attempt to drive back the pseudonatural hordes.

[Alleran]

3.0E Manual of the Planes had stats for the Far Realm.

However, I think there were mentions of "The Plane of Nightmares" which was very Far Realm-ish quite some time before that.

Do you mean the Region of Dreams?

(Being a fan of Sandman, I altered the Plane of Dreams somewhat to make it pretty much the same thing as Gaiman's Dreaming - complete with an "Endless" watching over it from the Heart of the Dreaming. I also incorporated some of the story aspects, where gods are born from stories and walk out of the Dreaming to be gods. And when their time is done, they return to stories before passing on from memory. It worked because it helped tie the Dreaming in to the mythology of the cosmos, and in a way made it one of the first planes to exist, because everything begins as a story. A bit "meta" but I liked it. I gained a whole new level of respect for Gaiman's storytelling, above and beyond what I'd started with, just from trying to comprehend the many levels, implications and concepts he placed into his story when I was attempting to adapt it.)

Anyway, as far as the Lady of Pain is concerned, I leave her as something that the players, or even gods, cannot fully comprehend. She is a universal constant, some unknowable aspect of what might be balance, or might be something else entirely, something that needs to exist. As far as DR goes, she could be considered an "overgod" in terms of power, but she's not a god. She's beyond gods, something far more cosmic in nature. She is the Lady of Pain, Her Serenity. And that's all that those berks need to understand.

[Nanoblack]

Well I by no means explained any of this to my players, I just had this as the central idea for the structure of my game. I felt that my idea was interesting enough to share on here for anyone who would like to run a similar game.