So I been thinking about a Planarch/Planescape campaign. I want to combine the fundamental aspects of the two , namely touching upon and dealing with urbanization/imperialism/loss of cultural identity/fabric of reality sorts of things.
The Basics: The Brave Sultana and the Lady of Pain are sisters.
Sigil is Isolationist. The Lady of Pain reclines in absolute authority over her city, knowing that it is this control that manifests her divinity.
Dis represents imperialism and globalization. The Brave Sultana is voracious in her consumption of space and resources, if her city stops eating, it will consume itself.
The Problem:
Dis is in the preliminary stages of consuming Sigil. However, Sigil is still unique in its neutrality: it is a safe zone in the chaos of things, after all, but obviously this aspect is threatened.
Any thoughts on how Sigil’s assimilation and the effects on the Lady will affect things? How about the fact that cultures would be dead or lost if not incorporated/appropriated into the fabric of Dis?
this isn’t really helpful for you, but sort of tangentally related: in my games, I’ve always assumed that the Sultana was actually the Lady of Pain at a far later point in time – the Sultana is supposed (according to a rumour in On a Wintery Plane) to be the only survivor from a previous universe. The Lady was the only being to survive, and missing her beloved Sigil, sought solace in the arms of some being from the earliest times of this universe, birthing Dis and becoming the Sultana.
A cool idea, and one that makes a lot o sense now that you mention it! However, my MO is that I am trying to take the best aspects of both settings and juxtapose them at the same time. It does make me wonder, though, how one synonymous with brutality could transform into what seems to be more of a benevolent guardian, as is my perspective of the Brave Sultana. BTW, because of your icon, I think I follow you on tumblr!
Aha! Yes, I am Fantasypictures on tumblr! As for the juxtaposition of brutality and benevolence, perhaps watchign teh previous universe die soften the Lady. Or maybe it was the realization that in this universe, she’s vulnerable to mortal harm (she actually has stats now! :p)
Or maybe Sigil was Dis all along, and the portal system was devised to keep the city from feeding. Like above, her totalitarian control created her mystery, and when the city broke free she her divinity was devoured as well. How long can you deny your child its needs?