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Alienists in Sigil?

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Mon, 2010-08-30 00:44
#1
Hyena of Ice
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Alienists in Sigil?

How would the Lady of Pain view Alienists in HER city? I can't imagine she would tolerate it. At all. These folks are up to no good, and the shenanigans of even a low-level alienist could corrupt parts of Sigil.
Not to mention the threat of the Cerebral Blot (severe Far Realm taint; see Dragon 330 if you really want details, though you can probably picture it already-- madness such as the cobblestone streets becoming undulating or pulsating, coccic/granulomatous flesh-like masses. Cerebral Blot is when it gets so bad that it's permanent to some degree, even if greater powers of Mechanus clean it up.)

Would she act directly, or simply let the Harmonium (oooh, yeah, you can bet this faction is going to hate alienists, who flirt with defiance or even destruction of the very physics of the Multiverse, with utmost disdain. Hoo boy, it wouldn't be pretty...) deal with them, send her Dabus, or would she confront them directly (or confront them directly if she determines they might be powerful and need to be smited before they get a chance to call upon their multiverse-bending powers)?

Man, a rift to the Far Realm opening in Sigil? That would be a real nightmare scenario...
(Don't tell me it couldn't happen, either. The Far Realm does not follow the physics of the Multiverse, so a rift could conceivably open at any point.)

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Mon, 2010-08-30 09:28
#2
Kobold Avenger
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Re: Alienists in Sigil?

An alienist is maybe something like a small leak into the Far Realms, and there's small leaks to their everywhere. I don't think the Lady of Pain is actually against anything to do with the Far Realm, as she does allow Aberrations such as Illithids, Chokers and Beholders into Sigil. She wouldn't be against Warlocks or certain Psionic characters who draw their power from the Far Realm either.

And just because someone draws their power form there, doesn't necessarily mean they directly serve the entities of the Far Realm. Some might be serving their own ends, and others might be trying to fight fire with fire by using powers related to the Far Realm.

Though I'd say that some on the surface of Sigil would be against the presence of some Far Realm related stuff, which is why you'd probably see most of them in Undersigil the City Below.

Mon, 2010-08-30 10:41
#3
Hyena of Ice
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Re: Alienists in Sigil?

I don't think the Lady of Pain is actually against anything to do with the Far Realm, as she does allow Aberrations such as Illithids, Chokers and Beholders into Sigil.
Those have far less of a connection to the Far Realm, considering they're naturalized to the Multiverse. Alienists specifically flirt with the powers and creatures of the Far Realm itself, often serving the will of beings from that plane.

and others might be trying to fight fire with fire by using powers related to the Far Realm.
They'd be doing it wrong considering that IIRC the path of the Alienist leads to bonified insanity.
It doesn't matter what their original intentions are. People who mess with that stuff end up serving it one way or another. That's why the anti-Far Realm heroes generally have to target aberrations in general rather than just going for the Far Realm stuff; if they did the latter, they'd flirt with madness.

Mon, 2010-08-30 17:35
#4
ripvanwormer
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Re: Alienists in Sigil?

I like to think that Sigil is the one place in the multiverse where pseudonatural creatures can freely mingle with natural creatures as if it's not a big deal, where kaorti can sell their excretions in the marketplace, neh-thalggu shop for the finest brains, and dimensional horrors and uvuudaum trod openly down the streets. Sigil is the crossroads of all existence. I think it should be cosmopolitan enough to accept the most eldritch of horrors with a shrug and a wink.

Quote:
Not to mention the threat of the Cerebral Blot (severe Far Realm taint; see Dragon 330 if you really want details, though you can probably picture it already-- madness such as the cobblestone streets becoming undulating or pulsating, coccic/granulomatous flesh-like masses.

Sure, I bet that happens all the time, and I bet experienced Cagers hardly blink. It's not any worse than what they'll see around a portal to the Abyss or Limbo, and doors to Bytopia or Arcadia are just as distinctive in their own ways. Sigil probably naturally heals itself after a while.

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(Don't tell me it couldn't happen, either. The Far Realm does not follow the physics of the Multiverse, so a rift could conceivably open at any point.)

For sure, and I'm not going to try to tell you not to run a plot involving the PCs trying to stave off a runaway Far Realm infection that the Lady of Pain can't or won't do anything about if that's how you want to play it, but Sigil doesn't follow the physics of the multiverse either, and it could just as conceivably shrug off any Far Realm incursion that would destroy any location anywhere else.

I've speculated before that the Lady of Pain (or Aoskar) was an aspect of Yog-Sothoth, and that Sigil itself was a massive Elder Sign (a literal sigil) that sealed off the cosmic horrors from conventional reality. Whether this makes it immune to the Far Realm's corruption or whether it makes it especially vital that all things aberrant be kept out of it depends on how important an antagonist you want the Far Realm to be in a Sigilian campaign.

But personally, I want Sigil to be a neutral ground in all cosmic struggles, even when horrors from outside space and time are involved. Maybe especially then.

I think alienists would do fine in Sigil, and be thought of as nothing more than exotic and eccentric mages by the general populace. It's worth mentioning that the entities of the Far Realm aren't a monolithic force, too; some of them want to keep the multiverse from contaminating their realm as badly as "we" want to keep them out of "ours." While all of them tend to shatter mortal minds, some will use their mortal pawns to keep the boundaries to their realm sealed, opposing those who want to open them.

Mon, 2010-08-30 20:25
#5
Kobold Avenger
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Re: Alienists in Sigil?

ripvanwormer wrote:
I like to think that Sigil is the one place in the multiverse where pseudonatural creatures can freely mingle with natural creatures as if it's not a big deal, where kaorti can sell their excretions in the marketplace, neh-thalggu shop for the finest brains, and dimensional horrors and uvuudaum trod openly down the streets. Sigil is the crossroads of all existence. I think it should be cosmopolitan enough to accept the most eldritch of horrors with a shrug and a wink.
And I always pictured there being some buildings in Sigil made out of living organic parts, with walls of pulsating walls of flesh and writhing tendrils and eyes that watch the streets of Sigil. Which happen to be right beside the Aztec Pyramid with the Tavern built on top, and the Shaolin temple with a giant smokestack in the middle.

And while I don't think all of the aberrations would be completely socialized to Sigil, I think you'd certainly find them around. What's probably more likely is you'd find those who are "touched" by the Far Realms living among the planetouched population. The so-called Foulborn (the 4e term) or Half-Daelkyr (the 3e term from Eberron they were originally introduced as) wouldn't be as out of place as a Tiefling.

Quote:
I've speculated before that the Lady of Pain (or Aoskar) was an aspect of Yog-Sothoth, and that Sigil itself was a massive Elder Sign (a literal sigil) that sealed off the cosmic horrors from conventional reality. Whether this makes it immune to the Far Realm's corruption or whether it makes it especially vital that all things aberrant be kept out of it depends on how important an antagonist you want the Far Realm to be in a Sigilian campaign.
It certainly came as a theory to me that the Lady of Pain might be from the Far Realm herself.

Tue, 2010-08-31 08:50
#6
Hyena of Ice
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Re: Alienists in Sigil?

Sigil probably naturally heals itself after a while.
The Cerebral Blot isn't something that can be healed, naturally or otherwise (not even the powers can get rid of it if I remember correctly). The absolute best-case scenario would involve the equivalent of a keloid scar or a remission of a malignant tumor, and anything that enters a cerebral blot will go insane, at the very best (usually it'll become a pseudonatural creature or half-farspawn, however). In other words, the damage can be 98% reversed, but that point in space-time will always be extremely weak to future onslaughts by Far Realm effects.

It's worth mentioning that the entities of the Far Realm aren't a monolithic force, too; some of them want to keep the multiverse from contaminating their realm as badly as "we" want to keep them out of "ours."
Sure. The problem is that those aren't the ones that the Alienist will be contacting on a regular basis. He'll be contacting beings such as Zurguth (Kaorti deity detailed in Dragon 358) and Mak Thuum Ngatha.

It certainly came as a theory to me that the Lady of Pain might be from the Far Realm herself.
If she is, then she, too, is naturalized.
Even the Psurlons are SEMI-naturalized. That is to say, getting bitten by/getting a glimpse of one won't drive you insane or turn you pseudonatural.
I was talking more about the effects of Far Realm Taint itself, or inimical creatures such as Urquish (Among other abilities, these nasties can secrete a foul smelling fluid that'll send anything with internal anatomy that's not native to the Far Realm into spastic vomiting fits. Can you imagine how much chaos that would cause in Sigil if it could even cause balors and slaad to lose their lunch? It's bad enough in real life when someone releases an SBD in a crowded marketplace or on the bus.), Kyra, and especially the Kaorti. Oh, and you just know that the Tanar'ri and Baatezu will blame each other for causing the vomiting epidemic.
Though looking at the list of Far Realm monsters, it doesn't appear as though there are any who can inflict the effects of an Insanity or Feeble Mind spell on its victims, and only the Kaorti can turn their victims pseudonatural (then there's the Uvuudaum that inflicts permanent Wis damage, but it's an epic creature).

Tue, 2010-08-31 16:00
#7
ripvanwormer
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Re: Alienists in Sigil?

Hyena of Ice wrote:
The Cerebral Blot isn't something that can be healed, naturally or otherwise (not even the powers can get rid of it if I remember correctly).

But Sigil is an impossible place that (like the Far Realm) doesn't necessarily follow the usual rules. If anything can heal a cerebral blot, it's the City of Doors, which is designed to resist unusual planar energies. There might even be something of an ecosystem there where tiny vermin have evolved to convert Far Realm taint into something useful (like some kind of nourishing psychic field). Such creatures might have evolved on some other plane where the Far Realm has touched for millennia, like the Demiplane of Nightmares, and spread to Sigil through portals.

Tue, 2010-08-31 20:30
#8
Kobold Avenger
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Re: Alienists in Sigil?

And canon from different sources often has the tendency to contradict each other. While the only place I remember being mentions of Cerebral Blots were that Dragon article, other places in other books and articles tend to contradict that, even if they didn't directly mention Cerebral Blots.

One obvious place would be Rule 0, in the DMG. But beyond what one rulebook says over the other, it's something for whoever is the DM to say what's valid.

My interpretation of Cerebral Blots not being affected by the divine, was that they didn't simply want PCs casting Consecrate every time there's a Blot and calling it a day. Cleaning that a blot is something that falls under the category of special in that it's something up to the DM, usually related to a quest or something plot-relevant that will fix a blot.

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