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The Lady of Pain is a fictional entity, the protector of the city of Sigil in the Dungeons & Dragons Planescape campaign setting. She is also known as Her Serenity, for the permanently vacant expression on her face, or simply The Lady. She is only a lady in so far as she is characterized as female in her countenance. The Lady may as well be male or sexless, or such a type that traditional gender classification is impossible.
The Lady is sometimes seen as a floating, robed woman with a mantle of blades around her expressionless face. She does not concern herself with the laws of the city, and typically interferes only when something threatens the stability of Sigil itself.
The Lady is an entity of inscrutable motives, and often those who cross her path, even if accidentally, are flayed to death or teleported to one of her hidden Mazes (being almost inescapable pocket universes, usually endless and twisted in on themselves). Rumor has it that even minor deities have fallen before the Lady. It is therefore no surprise that the vast majority of Sigil's denizens dread her apparitions, and some even avoid mentioning her name aloud for fear of drawing her attention upon them.
For all her power, she apparently refuses to be regarded as a goddess, and anyone brave (or careless) enough to worship her has met a grisly demise in the shadow of her blades.
Influences
The main inspiration for the character of the Lady of Pain comes from "Dolores (Notre-Dame des Sept Douleurs)", by English Decadent poet Algernon Swinburne.
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