Editing Baator (section)

===Dis===
[[File:Dis FC2.jpg|thumb]]
Dis is both the name of the second layer of Baator as well as its principal city. The two are used interchangeably, as the "City of Pain" sprawls across a blackened iron wasteland to the point where it is difficult to determine exactly where one ends and the other begins. Black mountain peaks thrust into the ash-green skies all along the horizon, although no one can tell if they are a geographic feature or simply a mirage brought about by planar metaphysics. Within the city itself, the iron walls smoke with intense heat, causing painful burns to any exposed flesh. Once you are inside, the city is effectively infinite in size due to the way space is warped there, and short of magic you can't leave the city without devilish permission. The air is filled with the acrid stench of hot iron and the screams of the miserable souls who are condemned to spend eternity building, tearing down, and rebuilding the city with their bare hands.

A type of specter unique to Dis is created by a unique condition called "anagnorisis", where a soul has a revelation upon their death to know and understand the evil they did to others. If the soul sincerely repents soon enough, they are given a second chance as a unique race called the Hellbred, who get one last final shot at life to redeem themselves; if they hesitate for even a moment too long, they are damned as a specter of Dis. This form renders them immortal, and because they suffer emotional/mental torment forever, their suffering can be harvested more efficiently than the usual torment of damned souls (using arcane rods on the towers and bridges of the city). This little secret is what makes the Archduke Dispater super fucking rich in Hell: he can sell one of these specters for several regular souls, and/or any other amount of compensation deemed "fair" (by Dispater, of course). Other devils would pay a mint for the trick of harnessing such souls and their torment, but for now it is a safely and jealously guarded secret.

The Lord of the Second rules the City of Pain from an enormous citadel of iron and lead known as the Iron Tower. From here, he oversees the ceaseless toil of petitioners while lording over his vassals with an iron fist. Mirroring Dispater's omnipresent paranoia, the Iron Tower always seems to be one block away due to spatial warping unless you have a Devil guide or magical means to truly approach the structure. A similar effect can be seen in how the City of Dis is visible on the horizon no matter where you look. The City itself also has a location named "God Street" where any Lawful Evil deities (including homebrew ones) not powerful enough to have their own godly realms can be found. There's also the Garden of Delights, a vast illusory pleasure-palace used to sucker mortals into becoming Lawful Evil (after which they suffer a prompt and entirely unforeseeable accidental death), run by a cabal of efreeti who are handsomely paid for their services. There's also Mentiri, a prison which holds two kinds of guests. The first prisoners are mortals captured in Baator, which is a mixture of do-gooding crusader types and mercenary or outright evil assholes; they are forced to compete for provisions and such, in ways that are meant to drive them into becoming Lawful Evil. The second prisoners are the soul shells of not-Lawful-Evil spirits who somehow ended up in Baator anyway; while they can't be tortured for divine energy (the Pact Primeval forbids it), Dispater does use them for ransom, usually by forcing loved ones who want them out of Hell to sign Faustian pacts in exchange for release.

Dispater isn't stupid, but he is insanely paranoid at this point. He's managed to survive dozens of schemes over the Nine Hells' long history, and while his position is perhaps the most secure of anyone in Baator, he's become increasingly twitchy about things. As a result, he's got half his servants spying on the other half. But, hey, he keeps the evil divine energy flowing into Asmodeus' coffers, he doesn't really upset the status quo hardly at all (which funnily enough doesn't endear him to his more ambitious peers), and his minions get to sink knives into each other occasionally to rise up in status a bit without pissing off the boss. If there's a place in Hell where things are "less shitty", this is probably the one.

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dis Fires of Dis.jpg|2e
dis 3e.jpg|3e
dis PF.jpg|Pathfinder
dis map PF.jpg
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