Thieves' Guilds and jackal lords in Sigil

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ripvanwormer's picture
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Thieves' Guilds and jackal lords in Sigil

Thieves in Sigil are dominated by two figures: the arcanaloth Shemeshka and her rival, the ursinal Ni'ka. With these powerful personalities ruling Sigil's underworld most have little chance to do anything without the go-ahead of one or the other.

To quote Dave King's Dreams of Dreams website:

Quote:
Lying deep within the Undercity of Sigil, the ursinal Ni'ka is said to be one of the cruelest examples of her species. Ruling over three seperate thieves' guilds in Sigil, Ni'ka is a constant thorn in the side of the so-called King of the Cross-Trade, Shemeshka the Marauder. It's rumored that they once had joined forces in order to extort more money from the merchants of Sigil, but the two got involved in a major squabble over who would get the most jink from the operation's earnings. Ni'ka surrounds herself with tieflings, wererats, and other creatures that live off the city of Sigil without contribute anything. She supposedly has a heart black as pitch, and usually slays anyone attempting to move in on her territory. Her three most trusted servants (her "most trusted servants" change often) each are in charge of one of her respective thieves' guilds, and deal in extortion, larceny, and the elimination of any competition. She has a good section of the Clerk's Ward truly shaking in their boots, and has made a good many merchants of the Market Ward either relocate or pay through the nose. She deals openly with fiends, making many a "business deal" with the yugoloths, the baatezu, or the tanar'ri.

Still, despite this reputation, Ni'ka is still a good creature at heart. She's fooled most everyone in Sigil as to her true motivations, and they see her more as "one of them" than they do as a servant of Elysium, which serves her aims quite well. Her extortion and larceny are evils, of course, but she makes sure that only the most deserving receive her treatment. She even manages to funnel some of the goods and cash that she steals into charitable works, something like a Sigilian crusader for equality and freedom. 'Course, she'd never let anyone know this, and keeps those that work for her completely in the dark regarding information.

There are few jackal lords in the Cage, as most prefer the easier task of dominating small towns with few supernatural rivals, and they dislike having the only canines available to mimic Sigil's mongrel packs of wild dogs. Still, the City of Doors is a powerful temptation, its portals bringing wealth and power from a thousand thousand planes, and some consider the challenge worth it. For them, the presence of Shemeshka and Ni'ka is more of a benefit than a hinderance, though they would feign admit it. Left alone, they would likely spend more time trying to rid themselves of one another than accomplishing anything useful, but the overlords of crime often exert their formidable clout to persuade them into other schemes.

One jackal lord, Queen Bis, is currently one of the three most trusted servants of Ni'ka (the other two are a vermin lord known as the Queen of Things That Creep and an unseelie thorn fey assassin named Honeysuckle). Queen Bis is served by naztharune rakshasas, witchknives, changelings, humans, and protean scourges. She lauds her access to the King of Thorns before her rival jackal lords at every opportunity, even intimating that they are lovers (they are not, but Ni'ka does not contradict her). Like all of Ni'ka's primary servitors, she also runs a thieves' guild.

Another jackal lord, Bishop Jah (Prime/male jackal lord cleric of Set/LE), is served by jackalweres, shifters, human cultists of Set, and flinds. He is ultimately commanded by the Marauder, but he is several levels down from any position of authority in her organization. He chafes at the rule of his immediate superior, the examiner (beholder abomination) wizard Khuxuwes, and openly envies Queen Bes. He also receives commands from the Minions of Set, and must delegate frequently to accomplish all of his responsibilities and still have time to scheme to bring Queen Bes down. His most trusted underlings are both human clerics of Set.

The jackal lord known as the Go-Between serves neither Shemeshka nor Ni'ka exclusively, but attempts to play each off of the other. The Go-Between is a guildmaster of sorts for the city's jackal lords, working to advance their interests in exchange for regular gifts. In reality the Go-Between is more Ni'ka's than Shemeshka's, but for this to become widely known would ruin him. He is also visited infrequently by Duke Dyavin B'wee, an arcanaloth ally of A'kin's who serves to further widen the gap between the Go-Between and the King of the Cross-Trade. The Go-Between keeps no servants, but is surrounded by both human and jackal concubines.

Ni'ka. (Blackheart, King of Thorns). Elysium/Female ursinal mystic theurge/NG

Honeysuckle is worshipped by Sigil's bladelings as an avatar of their goddess Hriste. She is served by bladelings and needlefolk.

Shemeshka has her own bladeling assassin, Adamok Ebon, who left her race millennia ago. Ebon has acquired several parties of astral stalkers who she dominates as if she were an exceptional member of their own race. They hunt for her when she is otherwise engaged.

The Queen of Things That Creep is served by xixchil, thri-kreen, humans, rogue formians, and abeils, but her most prized servants are simple vermin. Her sentient servants she mostly ignores, and they are in most practical situations led by the abeil queen Lady Alustriel (no relation). They venture into the den of the Queen of Things That Creep only when they are absolutely forced to, but she is too powerful for Lady Alustriel to usurp; at least, so far.

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Thieves' Guilds and jackal lords in Sigil

An interesting view on the criminal underworld of Sigil (and a good way to use some antagonists that would otherwise be neglected). I'll eventually come up with my view of the underworld and some of the players involved...

I certainly see post faction war Sigil as being quite the struggle between various organizations, criminal or not.

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Thieves' Guilds and jackal lords in Sigil

I was saving reading this post for the weekend and it was as good as I'd hoped it would be. It is great to see that the Philosphy of Crime explored in the context of Planescape. Encore!

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The Things That Creep

Long, long ago, there was a conjunction of the sort that happens only a few times in an Age; Sigil collided with an insectoid other, a parallel City of Doors that was more hive than city. Bejeweled, mantislike beings began to exist in the same space and time as Sigil's existing inhabitants; buildings and people changed, gaining chitinous shells and pinchers, the buildings taking on the features of wasp nests and termite colonies.

Eventually the conjunction ended, and those who had merged with their insectoid equivalents were exterminated by a zealous faction devoted to mammalian purity. Only a few survived, hiding in the warrens and alleys of what had become the last stronghold of that race, the part of Sigil that became known as the Hive.

Over the centuries, the insect-touched Cagers vanished, thoroughly interbred with the convoluted gene-lines of the Hive poor. If occasionally a tiefling or aasimar was born with a jewel-like carapace or pair of antennae, people forgot the significance of this, even those so afflicted.

Flash forward to the last days of the Communals. When that doomed faction's radical notions of equality expanded to include the Lady of Pain herself, some rebelled, terrified at the idea of trying to survive without a firm leader to keep the city safe from fiends and gods and worse. A group calling themselves the Original Insect suggested that Sigil was like a hive, where food and goods were distributed for the good of all, yes, but it was still necessary that there should be a queen. They might have found refuge with the Harmonium, if the knights of Ortho had yet left their benighted Prime; as it was, they tried to ally with the Guvners, who turned them down, believing it was only a matter of time before Her Serenity cleansed the Cage from anything related to the Communals and their foolish creed. So it was that the Original Insect fled into the Hive shortly before the bladed shadows fell on the City Provisioners. The Hall of Speakers quickly decreed that anyone who ever belonged to the Communals was anathema; with no legal status, the members of the Insect fell in with the criminal underworld, where they remain to this day.

Their philosophy, however, is still strong - many in the Hive found themselves inexplicably attracted to their creed, and for a group that is still technically illegal they have done well for themselves, not straying far from their original roots. They remain steadfast in their assertion that food and wealth should be evenly distributed, under the wise direction of a queen. Without challenging the Lady of Pain herself, they have drifted into the protection of the Queen of Things That Creep, a massive, terrifying insect with command over all nonsapient vermin in her vicinity - perhaps every bug in the City of Doors. She in fact gives her sapient followers no direction, and barely acknowledges them, but this is not as important as the idea of a queen, someone to provide stability with her power and might. Without challenging her, they get wise direction from a rogue abeil queen who calls herself Lady Alustriel (no relation). Under this "lady," groups of humans, plane-touched, and mostly-humans have allied with formians, abeils, thri-kreen, and others of like temperment. Where once the Original Insect wished to restructure Sigil's government, the sect that calls itself The Things That Creep are content with being what can only be called a guild of thieves, stealing goods with hivelike efficiency and bringing them in tribute to their leaders, who decide how best to fence them and use the procedes to benefit their guild members. Some in the Hive pay them for protection against rival thieves' guilds, and they too benefit from Alustriel's wisdom.

This essential nonselfishness makes the Things That Creep stand out from other groups of Sigilian thieves, who more often espouse Taker, Free League, Xaositect, or Anarchist philosophies (there was at one point a group of Sinker thieves who destroyed everything they stole, but they ultimately destroyed themselves in a war with a gang of Believers of the Source who had tasked themselves with recreating everything the Sinkers broke).

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Thieves' Guilds and jackal lords in Sigil

Heh. Given that Ni'ka is a being of pure belief, and lives in a dimension where belief is reality, what do you reckon the odds that the belief she is evil will begin influencing her?

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Thieves' Guilds and jackal lords in Sigil

'ripvanwormer' wrote:
Thieves in Sigil are dominated by two figures: the arcanaloth Shemeshka and her rival, the ursinal Ni'ka. With these powerful personalities ruling Sigil's underworld most have little chance to do anything without the go-ahead of one or the other.

To quote Dave King's Dreams of Dreams website:

Quote:
Lying deep within the Undercity of Sigil, the ursinal Ni'ka is said to be one of the cruelest examples of her species. Ruling over three seperate thieves' guilds in Sigil, Ni'ka is a constant thorn in the side of the so-called King of the Cross-Trade, Shemeshka the Marauder. It's rumored that they once had joined forces in order to extort more money from the merchants of Sigil, but the two got involved in a major squabble over who would get the most jink from the operation's earnings. Ni'ka surrounds herself with tieflings, wererats, and other creatures that live off the city of Sigil without contribute anything. She supposedly has a heart black as pitch, and usually slays anyone attempting to move in on her territory. Her three most trusted servants (her "most trusted servants" change often) each are in charge of one of her respective thieves' guilds, and deal in extortion, larceny, and the elimination of any competition. She has a good section of the Clerk's Ward truly shaking in their boots, and has made a good many merchants of the Market Ward either relocate or pay through the nose. She deals openly with fiends, making many a "business deal" with the yugoloths, the baatezu, or the tanar'ri.

Still, despite this reputation, Ni'ka is still a good creature at heart. She's fooled most everyone in Sigil as to her true motivations, and they see her more as "one of them" than they do as a servant of Elysium, which serves her aims quite well. Her extortion and larceny are evils, of course, but she makes sure that only the most deserving receive her treatment. She even manages to funnel some of the goods and cash that she steals into charitable works, something like a Sigilian crusader for equality and freedom. 'Course, she'd never let anyone know this, and keeps those that work for her completely in the dark regarding information.

First of all, before going into my comments and questions here, this is all rather juicy. Nice job Rip.

Did Dave King write anything more about Ni'ka? An interesting character to say the least; sort of like a Guardinal mirror-image of A'kin, the good pretending to be evil. One wonders if she'll manage to use that fuzzy edge between necessary evils in the name of good and an actual fall into depravity (like Cirily).

And I also see her actual nature, if it's known or not, as being something like poison cake for both of Sigil's two major 'loths. Both infuriating and love triangle material all at once, if you wanted to explore them in such a manner.

Quote:
There are few jackal lords in the Cage, as most prefer the easier task of dominating small towns with few supernatural rivals, and they dislike having the only canines available to mimic Sigil's mongrel packs of wild dogs. Still, the City of Doors is a powerful temptation, its portals bringing wealth and power from a thousand thousand planes, and some consider the challenge worth it. For them, the presence of Shemeshka and Ni'ka is more of a benefit than a hinderance, though they would feign admit it. Left alone, they would likely spend more time trying to rid themselves of one another than accomplishing anything useful, but the overlords of crime often exert their formidable clout to persuade them into other schemes.

There are Jackal Lords and there are Jackal Lords. Are there any sources of fluff on these guys beyond their 3.x appearance?

Quote:
One jackal lord, Queen Bis, is currently one of the three most trusted servants of Ni'ka (the other two are a vermin lord known as the Queen of Things That Creep and an unseelie thorn fey assassin named Honeysuckle). Queen Bis is served by naztharune rakshasas, witchknives, changelings, humans, and protean scourges. She lauds her access to the King of Thorns before her rival jackal lords at every opportunity, even intimating that they are lovers (they are not, but Ni'ka does not contradict her). Like all of Ni'ka's primary servitors, she also runs a thieves' guild.

Did you coin the name 'King of Thorns' for Ni'ka? I like that alot.

Quote:
Another jackal lord, Bishop Jah (Prime/male jackal lord cleric of Set/LE), is served by jackalweres, shifters, human cultists of Set, and flinds. He is ultimately commanded by the Marauder, but he is several levels down from any position of authority in her organization. He chafes at the rule of his immediate superior, the examiner (beholder abomination) wizard Khuxuwes, and openly envies Queen Bes. He also receives commands from the Minions of Set, and must delegate frequently to accomplish all of his responsibilities and still have time to scheme to bring Queen Bes down. His most trusted underlings are both human clerics of Set.

Oh that's -got- to be fun, getting to juggle commands from a yugoloth and Set worshippers.

Quote:
The jackal lord known as the Go-Between serves neither Shemeshka nor Ni'ka exclusively, but attempts to play each off of the other. The Go-Between is a guildmaster of sorts for the city's jackal lords, working to advance their interests in exchange for regular gifts. In reality the Go-Between is more Ni'ka's than Shemeshka's, but for this to become widely known would ruin him. He is also visited infrequently by Duke Dyavin B'wee, an arcanaloth ally of A'kin's who serves to further widen the gap between the Go-Between and the King of the Cross-Trade. The Go-Between keeps no servants, but is surrounded by both human and jackal concubines.

And several levels removed from one another, the Marauder and A'kin are still picking at one anothers' interests. Ni'ka must serve herself best just letting those two have their little spats, be they personal or professionally motivated.

Quote:
Honeysuckle is worshipped by Sigil's bladelings as an avatar of their goddess Hriste. She is served by bladelings and needlefolk.

An unseelie fey worshipped as an avatar of Hriste... *ponder* I suppose the question is, is she actually serving in such capacity, or is it simply a local belief by some of Sigil's bladelings?

Quote:
Long, long ago, there was a conjunction of the sort that happens only a few times in an Age; Sigil collided with an insectoid other, a parallel City of Doors that was more hive than city. Bejeweled, mantislike beings began to exist in the same space and time as Sigil's existing inhabitants; buildings and people changed, gaining chitinous shells and pinchers, the buildings taking on the features of wasp nests and termite colonies.

There's something here giving a bit of resonance between itelf and some of your ideas from your story on the Imaskari and Sigil. The idea of another Sigil influencing or subsuming/being consumed by the other.

The notion of insects being involved here is an interesting take the line of "then bejeweled Sigil", and makes me think of Mieville's Kephri ghettos. It's also tempting to associate this conjunction with the event/holocaust that precipitated Mieville's scarab-folk to migrate to Bas-Lag and intentionally forget almost the entirety of their past history.

Quote:
Without challenging the Lady of Pain herself, they have drifted into the protection of the Queen of Things That Creep, a massive, terrifying insect with command over all nonsapient vermin in her vicinity - perhaps every bug in the City of Doors. She in fact gives her sapient followers no direction, and barely acknowledges them, but this is not as important as the idea of a queen, someone to provide stability with her power and might.

So the question is then, what in fact is the Queen of Things That Creep? A fragment of some alien Lady from that other Sigil that leaked over into our own reality (and perhaps saw a piece of the Bladed Queen leak over into theirs)? Or is she just a bug? Or maybe something else entirely posing as such?

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Thieves' Guilds and jackal lords in Sigil

'Shemeska the Marauder' wrote:
Quote:
Honeysuckle is worshipped by Sigil's bladelings as an avatar of their goddess Hriste. She is served by bladelings and needlefolk.
An unseelie fey worshipped as an avatar of Hriste... *ponder* I suppose the question is, is she actually serving in such capacity, or is it simply a local belief by some of Sigil's bladelings?
... No. No. I can see that glimmer in your eyes. Bad crossdressing lothboy. No. Don't you *dare* bring that into your current game... *Velkyn pulls out the rolled up newspaper, hiding the family tree out of loth sight*

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Thieves' Guilds and jackal lords in Sigil

'Shemeska the Marauder' wrote:
Did Dave King write anything more about Ni'ka?

No, that was it.

Quote:
There are Jackal Lords and there are Jackal Lords. Are there any sources of fluff on these guys beyond their 3.x appearance?

I'm not aware of anything beyond the MMIII. I wrote the first post in this thread quite a while ago (and hadn't shared it with anyone), so I don't remember whether this started out purely as an exploration of jackal lords in Sigil or if it was about exploring criminal networks in the Cage. I think I was mostly thinking about jackal lords, and the other parts grew in there organically.

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Did you coin the name 'King of Thorns' for Ni'ka?

Yes.

Quote:
An unseelie fey worshipped as an avatar of Hriste... *ponder* I suppose the question is, is she actually serving in such capacity, or is it simply a local belief by some of Sigil's bladelings?

That is the question, isn't it? Obviously, she's not a literal avatar, not in Sigil, but perhaps some sort of offshoot.

Quote:
There's something here giving a bit of resonance between itelf and some of your ideas from your story on the Imaskari and Sigil.

I was thinking about that, but it's more directly a rip-off from M. John Harrison's book Viriconium.

Quote:
It's also tempting to associate this conjunction with the event/holocaust that precipitated Mieville's scarab-folk to migrate to Bas-Lag and intentionally forget almost the entirety of their past history.

Hm, yes, I hadn't thought of that.

Quote:
So the question is then, what in fact is the Queen of Things That Creep? A fragment of some alien Lady from that other Sigil that leaked over into our own reality (and perhaps saw a piece of the Bladed Queen leak over into theirs)? Or is she just a bug? Or maybe something else entirely posing as such?

I was going to have her be explicitly some remnant of the other Sigil, but it's better to speculate, isn't it?

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