The co-lead for Dungeons & Dragons‘ newest book is explaining how the Radiant Citadel differs from another classic location in D&D lore. Earlier this week, Wizards of the Coast announced Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, a new D&D adventure anthology featuring 13 adventures written by people of color. The adventures are all tied together through the Radiant Citadel, a city floating in the middle of the Ethereal Plane with crystals that allow transport to the locales seen in the various adventures. When the Radiant Citadel was first introduced this week, some D&D fans noted that it bore some similarities to Sigil, the famed “City of Doors” that was a central location of the Planescape campaign setting.
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Speaking on Twitter earlier this week, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel co-lead Ajit George explained how the Radiant Citadel differed from Sigil. “The Radiant Citadel only connects to limited places in the Material Plane,” George noted. “It’s also different in flavor, feel, culture, politics, factions, architecture, etc than Sigil. You will get something unique with the Citadel!”
“Also, the Radiant Citadel doesn’t have doorways that can pop anywhere,” George added in a subsequent tweet. “The Concord Jewels, which orbit the Citadel as giant glowing gemstones, are the transits. They have specific functions, limitations, and potential risks involved with them. It’s quite different than Sigil!”
Other than serving as a central hub linked to various places by magical transportation systems, Sigil and the Radiant Citadel seem nothing alike. And while Sigil remains a popular location in D&D lore, its established lore doesn’t seem to line up with the intent of the Radiant Citadel. In fact, George also stated that he specifically wanted to bring something new to D&D canon. “It’s not Sigil. It’s not Waterdeep,” George wrote. “Or any of the established cities of D&D. They are great, but I wanted to put something into D&D that had never existed before and that would blow open people’s imaginations in a wide variety of ways. I hope it does for you as it has for me.”
In a separate thread, George provided another comparison between the two locations. “If Sigil is asking questions about the nature of reality, then the Radiant Citadel is asking questions about society and community–about fundamental questions about people, and humanity,” George stated. “Finally, while I feel the Citadel is “solar punk” and the book is “hope punk,” it has enormous complexity, moments of hardship, and challenge. The directive to the writers was to create was neither utopian nor dystopian lands. Yet, I believe the book has an underlying note of hope.”
Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel will be released on June 21, 2022.
