... and how they got to that status. The second part's easy: These cutters bought their ways into power. Folks in Sigil almost respect that, and besides, nobody can argue with them because it's worked.
Anyway, the highest of the high-ups in Sigil - not counting the Lady of Pain, of course - are Priestess Erin Darkflame
Montgomery, Factol of the Sen-sates, and Duke Rowan Darkwood, Factol of the Fated. The priestess is the head of the largest voting bloc in the Hall of Speakers, and Duke Darkwood is coming on as the fastest and most powerful opposition she's likely to face. The two of them, their personalities, and their conflicts shape a lot of Sigil's everyday life.
Erin Darkflame Montgomery
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Female human planar Factol of the Sensates and 9th-level priestess of Diancecht
Spell Spheres: All, Animal, Creation, Divination, Healing, Plant, Protection
Spells/Level: 6/6/4/2/1
Granted Power: All spells of the Healing sphere are considered one level lower (to a minimum of 1st level) for purposes of memorization and casting (a cure serious wounds is treated as a 3rd-level spell, for example)
Psionic Wild Talent: Lend health, 36 PSPs
Magical items: Wand of magic missiles, purple ioun stone (holds up to eight spell levels, set in a silver tiara), crystal mace (+2 vs. normal creatures, +4 vs. evil creatures, double damage vs. creatures linked to the Negative Energy Plane, creates circle of sunmotes* once per day)
* See Tome of Magic
Statuesque, smart, and sensual, Erin Darkflame Montgomery is no cutter's helpless doxy. She's a complete person, and being a woman (maybe a hindrance in some places) hasn't made her any less capable of dealing with the seductions, intrigues, intellectualism, and dangers of Sigil. Though she's no more than average height, the combination of inner fire, lively green eyes, and short auburn hair make her more than unforgettable. Yet for one so striking, she shows little of the vanity folks associate with good looks.
Erin Darkflame Montgomery was born and raised on the Outlands, in the realm of Tir na Og (see map). There, her
philosophical bent, psionic talent (discovered at an early age), and good heart led her to become of a priestess of Diancecht, the Celtic god of healing. For many years of her youth she served the god well, curing all who came to her. She didn't choose friend or foe, being only concerned with the hurt and suffering of others. That view suited well the plane's view of balancing good and evil, order and chaos.
It was in the aftermath of a Blood War raid that her peaceful life began to unravel. It started when a tanar'ri high-up figured a feint through the Out-lands was a good idea. Well, the leatherhead was wrong. The folks of the Outlands managed to take the fiend's plan and pike it, but the problem wasn't over. Renegade tanar'ri escaped into the plane and some of these raiders hit Erin's burg. Although the locals won the battle, the injured taxed Erin's healing powers so much that when the wounded fiends were finally brought to her, she could do no more. Several of them died, including Za'rafas, a favorite of one of the Abyssal Lords. Those fiends who returned to the Abyss blamed her for Za'rafas's death, and she became their scapegoat. Now she had a sworn enemy in the layers of the Abyss, one who in fits of melancholy occasionally sent assassins in Za'rafas's memory.
Fearing for the safety of her village, Erin took to adventuring far from home. Gods only know where she wandered, since the woman's pretty close-mouthed about it, but somewhere she earned the right to use the title, Lady Montgomery of the Skylarian
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Knights. She's also hinted at her hatred of the Pax Imperica - probably some empire she encountered on the Prime Material.
Finally, her wanderings brought her to the Cage. She became a Sensate there, as their views matched her wild wanderlust and passionate beauty (and she is beautiful). She wasn't an addle-coved hedonist, though, which is something that's destroyed more than one over-eager Sensate. She understood that experience meant more than pleasure, that sensing was the way to knowing.
Erin learned quickly, progressing through a series of scholars, lovers, and chefs among other things. Her grace, beauty, and diplomatic skill didn't hurt in a quick rise to power, either.
Now Erin's the factol of the Sensates. Some say it's simply because she looks good for the part, but those who dismiss her like that are most likely bitter from dealings they've had with her, not to their liking. The woman's secure in her position, secure enough that she doesn't even bother with magical armor or other protections. She figures Sigil and her own reputation are protection enough. Reputation she's got, too: kind and loving one minute, a cold-willed blood the next. She's got the love of most of the Sensates to boot, so only a leatherhead'd ever try to pike her in a foul fight.
In part because she's charming and more because she's hard, Erin's got a lot of sway in the Hall of Speakers. The Signers naturally tend to agree with her positions, as do the Guvners, but Erin's even been able to pull in the support of the Bleakers and the Xaositects when the need really demanded it.
Currently, Erin's watching the rise of Duke Darkwood, calculating the threat and the moves she's going to have to take if he ever becomes too dangerous. 'Course, not all her time is spent in plotting, and she's sometimes seen in the company of her longtime half-elf paramour Cuatha (Pr/m/he/R15/S2/LG), an Outsider she met during her travels on the Prime Material Plane.
Duke Rowan Darkwood
Late of Vaasa and formerly Protector of the North, Guardian of the Great Glacier
Male human prime Factol of the Fated and dual class 19th-level ranger/
Spell Immunities: Cause fear, charm person, command, forget, friends, hold person, hypnotism, ray of enfeeblement, scare Spell Spheres: All, Combat, Divination, Guardian, Protection, Summoning, Sun
Spells/Level: 11/11/10/11/7/5/2
Granted Powers: See up to 100 yards, day or night; hear any sound within 500 yards
Ranger Abilities: Animal empathy (-6 to saving throw), hide in shadows and move silently/ (both 95%, studded leather or less, halved in nonwoodlands)
Species Enemy: Giants
Magical Items: Sword +2, giant slayer, ring of protection +5 (not effective with armor), +3 splint mail, portable hole, red ioun stone
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(water breathing), brooch of shielding, potions of hill giant control and growth
Duke Darkwood's certainly an imposing figure, tall and whipcord lean, his tanned skin a mesh of scars even magical healing couldn't hide. His hair is long, bound back with a leather thong, and almost silver to match his eyes. He might have been handsome, but years of
hard living - too many broken noses and too many cares - have left his features furrowed and craggy. Except during the most formal occasions of state, he dresses in the plain, homespun, workmanlike clothes of a common ranger. Yet even in the most common garb, the duke is nothing if not striking.
Where Erin Montgomery is charming, persuasive, and well settled into the how of things in Sigil, Rowan comes across as a hard-headed basher. He's shooting up like a skyrocket and isn't too concerned about who he ruffles on the way. Thinking about it - that alone gives him all the qualities to be the factol of the Fated. The reason he can get away with it is just because he does - there ain't many berks out there willing to challenge him straight up.
Rowan's every inch the self-made man, and there's parts of his life that he'll boastfully tell a cutter about. Although he usually gives his home as Toril (of the Forgotten Realms® campaign setting), the truth is he was born on Oerth (of the greyhawk®
world) as the third son of a petty noble. There weren't any prospects for him there, so his first act in creating himself was to go out and learn the ranger's trade - hardly the calling for nobility of any rank. Still, he did good by it and eventually set himself up a small fief, thus living up to his family's name.
All that ended in a magical mishap with a deck of cards. For reasons he won't say, it earned him the hatred of a lieutenant of Baator's Dark Nine, who eventually caught him and did something to him. Rowan never talks about what happened to him, but bloods with good memories from Oerth report that he vanished for more than a decade, and a few planar bashers remember seeing him in the lower reaches of the Great Ring. When Rowan finally returned, he found that Oerth had changed, and his old life was long gone.
That would've done in most sods, but Rowan wasn't the type to stay still. He'd seen the planes and they fascinated him, so he learned the ways of getting around and set out to adventure in the multi-verse. To hear him tell it (in his most convincing bluster), he drank from Mimir's well, was Heimdall's right hand, and single-handedly saved Ysgard from total destruction.
Whether it's true or not, somewhere along the way he became a priest of that power and rose quickly through the ranks.
Certainly his adventures were enough to literally remake himself until he was stronger, fitter, indeed better in almost every way than those around him.
Primes from Toril pick up his trail from there, for someone matching his type was supposed to have helped crush the witch-king of Vaasa in the Bloodstone wars. The Duke never said it was true, although he admits the connection to Vaasa, but he never denied it, either. It's quite possible he rebuilt himself again, this time as a High Priest and noble lord in that northern region.
Now it seems that Duke Darkwood's found Sigil. He's only been in the Cage for about a year, but already he's staked his claim to the leadership of the Fated. Passionate about the cause of good and the glory of Heimdall, Rowan seems determined to carve himself a new fief in the very heart of Sigil. Given what he's already done, who's to tell him it's impossible?
The Duke's a driven man, both to his credit and his harm. He believes in good and he cares for people, but he's also obsessed with success. He can't accept obstacles, rules, or limits, so he's always trying to push further than anyone else. For all his wit and wisdom, he's not the negotiating type - action suits him more than words. He'll gladly break those he thinks deserve it, and he has few qualms about steam-rolling any opposition. In Sigil he's made almost as many enemies as friends, and it doesn't seem to matter.
Duke Darkwood's greatest challenges stand before him. First, there's Erin Montgomery and the bulk of Sigil's ruling class, but they're trivial in comparison to what waits behind them. It's the Lady of Pain he's really preparing for, because the Duke's no leatherhead - he knows that someday they're going to clash.
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