The Lady of Pain | D&D Lore

Ep 140 - the mysterious keeper of Sigil, the Lady of Pain in all her glory.

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#Jorphdan #Planescape #DnDLore

[daverevisions]

It's also worth noting here somewhere that the concept of The Lady of Pain was drawn from a poem by Charles Algernon Swinburne, titled Dolores, or Notre Dame de Sept Dolours. Really interesting poem, and can lend some of the "very much beyond you" mystery to the characterization of the Lady.

[rexreg]

If you can find a copy of it, Polyhedron 127 has an article by Monte Cook about a Sigil holiday called The Day of Grace. It commemorates the time a small girl walked up to The Lady, spoke to The Lady, & wasn't destroyed by Her; no one knows what the child said, but Her Serenity passed the girl by without hurting her.

[patrickdees]

The lady of pain: the paparazzi's natural enemy.

[ivomuniz]

She's actually six giant squirrels with a headdress, robe, and ring of levitation and illusions.

[draxthemsklonst]

I mean, she's a cop for gods that presides over a donut. Oops she heard me: Amazed! ;)

[gabrielrussell]

27: "The Lady of Pain is not a deity, but is possibly just as strong". She isn't a god, but she is a "Power". That's the Planescape umbrella-term for gods, archfey, primordials, archdevils, demon lords, etc.
She did kill a god with just a thought, and while gods have been given stats, her statblock is just "You lose". She is well beyond gods.

[Kerorofan]

Lady Of Pain is basically "Don't start nothin', and there won't be nothin'."

[jonathancampbell]

Theory- Maybe the Lady of Pain is not in fact the ruler of Sigil, or it's guardian or anything; maybe she is a PRISONER, and all of her "powers" are actually defensive spells meant to dissuade people from interacting with her.


When people pray to her, they get gashes; when they try and interact with her, the maze is created to get rid of them lest they free her (intentionally or not), not because of her own efforts but the effects of the magic used on her.


Perhaps Sigil began as her prison and spells don't work because that was the best way to keep her locked in, and over time a city was built there because people found a True Neutral location convenient for trade, without knowing what was really going on, and the powers that put the Lady there allowed it because the traders were viewed as being unable to do much to free her and thus not a threat.


Just a thought, based on this video. Have never played Planescape, so don't know if this would hold up.

[TheMimiSard]

I have a personal headcanon that the Lady of Pain is one of a few entities, beyond the gods, that are multiversal concepts. Her name is apt, as my idea is she is the avatar of multiversal pain, brought into existence by one of the earliest multiversal disasters. Sigil then is both her prison and a way to protect the multiverse from her. She is there willingly, defending her right to keep her pain away from the rest of Reality. She keeps the gods away because they are the only beings who might reach the power needed to use her, and she abhors worship of herself because it is a travesty to worship multiversal pain.

[elwoodbrown]

I played Sigil as a sentient pocket universe. It was a universe that existed before the big bang. After expansion, it fell back into a Big Crunch. As it compressed it gained sentience and managed to encase itself into a protection circle and cast itself into the position above the Outlands. The Lady of Pain was the manifestation of the will of Sigil and powerful beyond measure because of it's age and accumulated wisdom.

[XX-sptt]

One player once played a minotaur, intending to use their natural ability to find their way through mazes to get out of the maze tra-la-la after ticking off the Lady... she placed him in a 'maze' that was a single long hallway that would take the rise and fall of civilizations to reach the end of.

[XX-sptt]

It's safe to say the Lady is an Overpower, like Ao. A power as above the gods as gods are above mortals. They aren't interested in the wars between order and chaos, good and evil, they just want to keep the universe in one piece.

[Colin]

Don't mess with the Lady of pain.

[yannmc]

Jorphdan confirmed - Planescape setting book coming up next. Thanks Jorphdan.

[SamaelHellscrem]

In my Homebrew world the Lady of Pain is one of the three gods that created the Universe itself :D
And she is the only one that wasn't torn asunder during the big bang.

[rlt]

I always figured she was a god, she ascended where she is in Sigil and can't get out any more than other gods can get in, because in the ring around the spire even gods powers fail and they are unable or unwilling to cross that threshold. She doesn't need worshipers because she created her own race of them with the Dabus. That's mostly the way I handled her when running a Planescape game myself but meh... she's a mystery on purpose so each DM can decide for themselves if they choose to.

[ashenwuss]

I'm so happy to see Jorphdan more and more again lately

[bobk]

Holy crap, I love planescape. Had all the 2nd edition boxed sets. So good to see this.

[Wildstag]

A clarification: Die Vecna Die! was not written by any of the staff that wrote the Planescape Campaign Setting, so it's kinda hard to justify using information from the adventure in analyses. In a way, it's almost a fan's headcanon inserted unceremoniously into the "canon" of the setting.


On a different note, the Faction War actually confirms the possibility of escaping mazes. Factol Rowan Darkwood, Factol of the Fated, gets mazed on the 19th day of the Faction War. He survives and becomes known as Gifad, but is also somehow pushed backwards in time. Basically: Darkwood finds and procures the "Labyrinth Stone" before the Faction War. He communicates with the spirit trapped in the gem and learns the "Sigil Spell", which is powerful enough to redefine Sigil, with the potential of defeating the Lady of Pain. Darkwood is then mazed, but escapes due to a prepared Wish spell. Like any good Wish spell, it works in unexpected ways, sending him 500 years in the past, an amnesiac that is confined to the Gatehouse.


During the War, he escapes the Gatehouse, regains his wits, and attempts to use the spell again. This time, The Lady of Pain sends him back more than 10, 000 years, where he suffers amnesia again, is sold into slavery. This incarnation of Darkwood becomes a great wizard that "returns" to Sigil and begins creating the Sigil Spell. The Lady of Pain imprisons him in the Labyrinth Stone and the stone ends up in Pandemonium.


He does not survive the Faction War though. The only Factol to do so is Rhys of the Transcendent Order.

[NOopulence]

glad to see you covering arguably my favourite RPG setting of all time. Hope you continue with this.