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Tanar'ri

2020-08-12T07:44:41Z

2601:203:480:4C60:2D0D:20E2:7A6B:6002: /* Types of Tanar'ri */

{{NeedsImages}}
'''Tanar'ri''' are the [[Alignment|chaotic evil]] supernatural badguys, in [[2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons]]. After TSR got their new CEO [[Lorraine Williams]] and [[Gary Gygax]] left in disgust, Williams said "no more demons, or any of that junk". In [[3e]] they wisely decided to use "demon" again, but kept the term "tanar'ri" as a subtype of demon. Since TSR bothered to register "tanar'ri" [[Open_Gaming_License#Parts_of_D.26D_that_are_not_Open_Game_Content|as a trademark]], you will not find this demon subtype in [[Open Gaming License]] materials like the D20SRD.

They are the archetypical chaotic evil outsiders, seeking to destroy all order and plunge creation into mad, violent chaos in different ways. They are one of the two major factions in the ideological [[Blood War]], the other being their lawful evil counterparts, the [[baatezu]], or devils.

''Fiendish Codex II - Tyrants Of The Nine Hells'' states that Devils call all demons Tanar'ri for short, which is strange considering that in the same book it says that in the devils' language "only one correct way exists to construct any given statement in Infernal." and "Devils, except when in disguise, they find the urge to correct errors in spoken or written Infernal nearly impossible to resist." This may be a hint as to the origin of Lorraine Williams, since she also insisted on using the term "tanar'ri" instead of "demon."

==Types of Tanar'ri==
There are many types of Tanar'ri, one more terrible than the next. There is something of a degree of power that seperates the various demons, but this is not absolute. There are five categories that divide them however, and each group is more powerful than the ones below it.

Tanar'ri can ascend to a new form if they believe they have what it takes to do so (mainly based on how deadly it is) and can prove this to those around them. While ascending step by step though the ranks is the most common way to do this, particularly powerful or intelligent Tanar'ri can skip one or more forms.

Note that some of the demons in this list have not been officially classified and so we are just guessing which group they belong to.

===Least Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Mane]]s''': The lowest of the Tanar'ri and barely worth the name, Manes are a source of food and cannon fodder, herded at the enemy to tire them before the main forces strike. This is what a mortal beomes if they end up in the Abyss when they die, or depending on edition, the first form they take upon being promoted from Maggots, which are the forms that all petitioners take in the [[Lower Planes]].
*'''[[Dretch]]es''': Barely above the Manes, the Dretches are real Tanar'ri, albeit the lowest in rank. They suck up to the more powerful members of their race (pretty much all of them), and are treated as such in reply.
*'''[[Rutterkin]]''': Vicious and despised by all other Tanar'ri, the Rutterkin are the preferred targets of higher-ranking demons for harassment, torture and murder. In return a Rutterkin will attack anything that they think can kill without much risk to them.
*'''[[Gadacro]]''': A small sneaky demon that likes to blind enemies.
For some weird reason [[Quasit]]s, which are the chaotic equivalent of the [[Imp]] are not classified as Tanar'ri. They are demons but not part of any of the demon races.

===Lesser Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Alu-fiend]]s''': The female child of a Succubus and a mortal, Alu-fiends can only be born into their rank. They are not physically powerful but they are powerful spellcasters and physically attractive, which makes them useful to the high-ups in the Abyss.
*'''[[Cambion]]s''': The opposite of their Alu-fiend sisters, Cambions are the children of a Tanar'ri and a female mortal. A major Cambion is born when the father is a Lesser or Greater Tanar'ri, while a True Tanar'ri sires a Baron or Marquise Cambion, who are significanlty more powerful than their lesser kin.
*'''[[Armanite]]s''': The [[centaur]]s and [[bariaur]]s of the Abyss. They band together as mercenary groups and hire themselves out to whoever pays the most.
*'''[[Maurezhi]]''': These Tanar'ri have the strange ability to gain the memories and experiences of whoever they eat. They can only be created by Abyssal Lords for specific missions, but can grow to new forms as usual.
*'''[[Succubus]]''': You know them, you love them.
*'''[[Yochlol]]''': The handmaidens of [[Lolth]], the Yochlol are shapeshifters who can freely change between their [[drow]] form, a spider form or that of [[slime|a great mass of yellow ooze with a single staring eye]]. They enjoy Lolth's protection from other demons and act like it, but they'll get brutally murdered if another demon thinks it can get away with it.
*'''[[Bar-lgura]]''': Gorilla-like Tanar'ri trained in guerilla warfare, they are brutish, dumb, slow of mind and can casually rip your arm off. They get very annoyed when you call them "bar-igura", so please don't refer to them with sans-serif font.
*'''[[Bulezau]]''': Rocking a traditional Satan-esque look, the Bulezau are powerful, elite soldiers who want nothing less than murder all their enemies within sight.
*'''[[Jovoc]]''': A small black humanoid with red three-fingered claws. Whenever one of them is damaged, non-Tanar'ri creatures within 30 feet also take damage, and they also heal from their injuries very quickly.
*'''[[Solemith]]''': A large obese demon with a transparent stomach filled with the faces of the other demons and petitioners it has eaten. Their flesh is explosive, and they fight by tearing off pieces of their flesh and throwing them like bombs.
*'''[[Uridezu]]''': Cowardly rat people with a paralyzing bite, command over rats, and the ability to teleport between planes, but not during combat. They enjoy serving under a master, but because other demons abuse them they often are found serving mortal masters on the material plane.

===Greater Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Nabassu]]''': Gargoyle-shaped things serving as the heralds of the Abyss, seducing humanoids to the service of the Abyss.
*'''[[Chasme]]''': Huge fly-like things that seek out deserters of the [[Blood War]]. They mostly stay out of the affairs of others to carry out their duties.
*'''[[Babau]]''': The recruiters for the [[Blood War]]. Or rather than recruiting they press-gang other demons to fight. If they don't meet their quotas however they have to fight themselves.
*'''[[Goristroi]]''': 20' [[Minotaur|bullmen]] that serve as living siege engines to topple walls and crush enemies below their feet. Mentioned in the second Monster Manual which forgot to write them up, so they had to be written up in ''Dragon'' instead.
*'''[[Palrethee]]''': Demons who attempted to become balors and failed become palrethees as punishiment. To further the humiliation, they often end up as subordinates to balors. They are emaciated humanoids with bony wings whose bodies are constantly on fire.
*'''[[Arrow Demon]]''': A grey skinned humanoid with four arms that can wield two longbows at the same time.
*'''[[Cerebrilith]]''': A large hunchbacked demon with an oversized protruding spine which its brain visibly extends into. They have psionic abilities.
*'''[[Adaru]]''': A millipede with a man's face that is able to charm other tanar'ri and constantly produces a cloud around itself that is poisonous to non-evil creatures and strengthens evil creatures
*'''[[Lilitu]]''': A promoted form of a Succubus that infiltrates and corrupts churches by pretending to be [[cleric]]s. They lose their wings but gain four tentacles with poison stingers. They have several of the abilities as a cleric. They are vulnerable to divine magic, but good spells and good magic items treat them as if they were good. By hugging a humanoid, they can place a magical tattoo on them for 24 hours that charges them with chaotic energy and allows the lilitu to communicate with and observe them.

===True Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Vrock]]''': Humanoid vultures that serve as elite soldiers in the [[Blood War]]. Not sure why they are listed as true tanar'ri, as they are actually weaker than several of the demons in both the lesser and greater classes.
*'''[[Hezrou]]''': Frog-shaped Tanar'ri possess a cool, sharp intellect that allows them to perform their duties in the [[Blood War]] with precision and dedication.
*'''[[Glabrezu]]''': The primary summoning material, they are skilled at tempting their summoners and giving them plenty of gifts of power, only to withdraw said power at the worst possible moment to get them killed and pulled into the Abyss.
*'''[[Alkilith]]''': The Type III.5 Demon, if you will. Oozes that can corrupt anything and anyone with a mere touch. They don't fight in the Blood War, mainly for practical reasons on account of them being oozes.
*'''[[Nalfeshnee]]''': The pig-ape judges of the Abyss. All petitioners that enter the Abyss pass by a Nalfeshnee who judges them based on their lives and appoints them a new form. At least sometimes: other times they hand out forms at random. They also determine who gets to be in charge of the armies and who gets to be promoted, demoted or removed from (as in: destroyed) its ranks.
*'''[[Marilith]]''': [[Lamia|Attractive women with the lower body of a snake]] and six arms, they are the tacticians of the Abyss. They have keen minds, anticipate what the forces of Law are going to do and act upon it, much to the rage of the Baatezu who cannot understand the plots of the Marilith.
*'''[[Balor]]''': The dreaded kings of the Abyss, Balors are the most powerful of the Tanar'ri aside from [[Demon Prince]]s and the rarely seen Klurichirs and Myrmyxicuses, serving as lords, generals and leaders, inspiring and threatening others into fighting for the cause. A mix of passion and reason, they are as intelligent and sharp as they are evil and chaotic. These are ''exactly'' the same as the [[Bloodthirster]] of Warhammer, right down to the flaming whips and being literally made evil and chaos (or [[Chaos]]) with the sole difference being that they use swords instead of axes. They like to eat doggies and beat up Pit Fiends in their spare time.
*'''[[Klurichir]]''': The most powerful type of Tanar'ri besides [[Demon Prince]]s. All other tanar'ri including balors are terrified of them. They have skin the color of a frostbitten corpse, four arms, black spines covering their neck and back, red wings, a face like a cross between a orc and a mule, and a giant second mouth with a huge pair of extremely sharp mandibles on their abdomen. They are the elite generals of the most powerful [[Demon Prince]]s and they usually only appear when their master wants to be absolutely sure that an important mission will be completed.
*'''[[Myrmyxicus]]''': Another Tanar'ri that beats the Balor in power. They rule over the oceans of the Abyss. It looks like an giant eel with a reptile skull for a face, six goat horns, four arms, six tentacles around its waist, and a lamprey-mouth on the end of its tail.
*'''[[Jarilith]]''': Demonic lions that like to hunt other demons.
*'''[[Kelvezu]]''': The infiltrators and assassins of the abyss. Aside from the pink skin and poisonous fingernails, they appear almost exactly like a short human.
*'''[[Sorrowsworn]]''': Demons that appear in places where many people have suffered loss. They have an aura that causes feelings of loss in those around them. They read the minds of their enemies and use that to determine the best way to torment them by reminding them of things that cause them to feel more loss. A sorrowsworn demon is a large but skinny grey-skinned humanoid with black wings and a constantly frowning face.

===Guardian Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Molydeus]]''': The only Tanar'ri within this rank, a Molydeus stands outside of the ranks of the other Tanar'ri, making sure that their kind stays true to the ideals of the Blood War. While they report to the Balors, a Molydeus will not hesitate to turn on their leader if they are not showing sufficient zeal. So in essence they are axe-wielding, dog-faced [[Commissar]]s with a snake growing out of the back of their heads.

===Ex Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Shadow Fiend]]''': The [[Fiend Folio]] Shadow Demon was summarily taken off the Tanar'ri list because "shadow tanar'ri" just sounded too gay. It slunk back by way of Ravenloft, MC Appendix; then Planescape of course. It was still Chaotic Evil, and still hung out at the Abyss.
*'''[[Blood Fiend]]''': A demon that became a vampire like undead.

==Demon Lords==
The first amongst the demons, the lords of the Tanar'ri (more commonly known as Demon Lords) are some of the most powerful, dangerous, cunning and deadly beings in existence. They attained their position by strength of arms and cleverness (mostly the former) to rule over their servants. Those who wish to challenge their lords are quickly struck down as an example and to keep the other minions in line.

{{D&D-Outsiders}}

Tanar'ri

2020-08-12T07:39:44Z

2601:203:480:4C60:2D0D:20E2:7A6B:6002: /* Greater Tanar'ri */

{{NeedsImages}}
'''Tanar'ri''' are the [[Alignment|chaotic evil]] supernatural badguys, in [[2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons]]. After TSR got their new CEO [[Lorraine Williams]] and [[Gary Gygax]] left in disgust, Williams said "no more demons, or any of that junk". In [[3e]] they wisely decided to use "demon" again, but kept the term "tanar'ri" as a subtype of demon. Since TSR bothered to register "tanar'ri" [[Open_Gaming_License#Parts_of_D.26D_that_are_not_Open_Game_Content|as a trademark]], you will not find this demon subtype in [[Open Gaming License]] materials like the D20SRD.

They are the archetypical chaotic evil outsiders, seeking to destroy all order and plunge creation into mad, violent chaos in different ways. They are one of the two major factions in the ideological [[Blood War]], the other being their lawful evil counterparts, the [[baatezu]], or devils.

''Fiendish Codex II - Tyrants Of The Nine Hells'' states that Devils call all demons Tanar'ri for short, which is strange considering that in the same book it says that in the devils' language "only one correct way exists to construct any given statement in Infernal." and "Devils, except when in disguise, they find the urge to correct errors in spoken or written Infernal nearly impossible to resist." This may be a hint as to the origin of Lorraine Williams, since she also insisted on using the term "tanar'ri" instead of "demon."

==Types of Tanar'ri==
There are many types of Tanar'ri, one more terrible than the next. There is something of a degree of power that seperates the various demons, but this is not absolute. There are five categories that divide them however, and each group is more powerful than the ones below it.

Tanar'ri can ascend to a new form if they believe they have what it takes to do so (mainly based on how deadly it is) and can prove this to those around them. While ascending step by step though the ranks is the most common way to do this, particularly powerful or intelligent Tanar'ri can skip one or more forms.

===Least Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Mane]]s''': The lowest of the Tanar'ri and barely worth the name, Manes are a source of food and cannon fodder, herded at the enemy to tire them before the main forces strike. This is what a mortal beomes if they end up in the Abyss when they die, or depending on edition, the first form they take upon being promoted from Maggots, which are the forms that all petitioners take in the [[Lower Planes]].
*'''[[Dretch]]es''': Barely above the Manes, the Dretches are real Tanar'ri, albeit the lowest in rank. They suck up to the more powerful members of their race (pretty much all of them), and are treated as such in reply.
*'''[[Rutterkin]]''': Vicious and despised by all other Tanar'ri, the Rutterkin are the preferred targets of higher-ranking demons for harassment, torture and murder. In return a Rutterkin will attack anything that they think can kill without much risk to them.
*'''[[Gadacro]]''': A small sneaky demon that likes to blind enemies.
For some weird reason [[Quasit]]s, which are the chaotic equivalent of the [[Imp]] are not classified as Tanar'ri. They are demons but not part of any of the demon races.

===Lesser Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Alu-fiend]]s''': The female child of a Succubus and a mortal, Alu-fiends can only be born into their rank. They are not physically powerful but they are powerful spellcasters and physically attractive, which makes them useful to the high-ups in the Abyss.
*'''[[Cambion]]s''': The opposite of their Alu-fiend sisters, Cambions are the children of a Tanar'ri and a female mortal. A major Cambion is born when the father is a Lesser or Greater Tanar'ri, while a True Tanar'ri sires a Baron or Marquise Cambion, who are significanlty more powerful than their lesser kin.
*'''[[Armanite]]s''': The [[centaur]]s and [[bariaur]]s of the Abyss. They band together as mercenary groups and hire themselves out to whoever pays the most.
*'''[[Maurezhi]]''': These Tanar'ri have the strange ability to gain the memories and experiences of whoever they eat. They can only be created by Abyssal Lords for specific missions, but can grow to new forms as usual.
*'''[[Succubus]]''': You know them, you love them.
*'''[[Yochlol]]''': The handmaidens of [[Lolth]], the Yochlol are shapeshifters who can freely change between their [[drow]] form, a spider form or that of [[slime|a great mass of yellow ooze with a single staring eye]]. They enjoy Lolth's protection from other demons and act like it, but they'll get brutally murdered if another demon thinks it can get away with it.
*'''[[Bar-lgura]]''': Gorilla-like Tanar'ri trained in guerilla warfare, they are brutish, dumb, slow of mind and can casually rip your arm off. They get very annoyed when you call them "bar-igura", so please don't refer to them with sans-serif font.
*'''[[Bulezau]]''': Rocking a traditional Satan-esque look, the Bulezau are powerful, elite soldiers who want nothing less than murder all their enemies within sight.
*'''[[Jovoc]]''': A small black humanoid with red three-fingered claws. Whenever one of them is damaged, non-Tanar'ri creatures within 30 feet also take damage, and they also heal from their injuries very quickly.
*'''[[Solemith]]''': A large obese demon with a transparent stomach filled with the faces of the other demons and petitioners it has eaten. Their flesh is explosive, and they fight by tearing off pieces of their flesh and throwing them like bombs.
*'''[[Uridezu]]''': Cowardly rat people with a paralyzing bite, command over rats, and the ability to teleport between planes, but not during combat. They enjoy serving under a master, but because other demons abuse them they often are found serving mortal masters on the material plane.

===Greater Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Nabassu]]''': Gargoyle-shaped things serving as the heralds of the Abyss, seducing humanoids to the service of the Abyss.
*'''[[Chasme]]''': Huge fly-like things that seek out deserters of the [[Blood War]]. They mostly stay out of the affairs of others to carry out their duties.
*'''[[Babau]]''': The recruiters for the [[Blood War]]. Or rather than recruiting they press-gang other demons to fight. If they don't meet their quotas however they have to fight themselves.
*'''[[Goristroi]]''': 20' [[Minotaur|bullmen]] that serve as living siege engines to topple walls and crush enemies below their feet. Mentioned in the second Monster Manual which forgot to write them up, so they had to be written up in ''Dragon'' instead.
*'''[[Palrethee]]''': Demons who attempted to become balors and failed become palrethees as punishiment. To further the humiliation, they often end up as subordinates to balors. They are emaciated humanoids with bony wings whose bodies are constantly on fire.
*'''[[Arrow Demon]]''': A grey skinned humanoid with four arms that can wield two longbows at the same time.
*'''[[Cerebrilith]]''': A large hunchbacked demon with an oversized protruding spine which its brain visibly extends into. They have psionic abilities.
*'''[[Adaru]]''': A millipede with a man's face that is able to charm other tanar'ri and constantly produces a cloud around itself that is poisonous to non-evil creatures and strengthens evil creatures
*'''[[Lilitu]]''': A promoted form of a Succubus that infiltrates and corrupts churches by pretending to be [[cleric]]s. They lose their wings but gain four tentacles with poison stingers. They have several of the abilities as a cleric. They are vulnerable to divine magic, but good spells and good magic items treat them as if they were good. By hugging a humanoid, they can place a magical tattoo on them for 24 hours that charges them with chaotic energy and allows the lilitu to communicate with and observe them.

===True Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Vrock]]''': Humanoid vultures that serve as elite soldiers in the [[Blood War]]. Not sure why they are listed as true tanar'ri, as they are actually weaker than several of the demons in both the lesser and greater classes.
*'''[[Hezrou]]''': Frog-shaped Tanar'ri possess a cool, sharp intellect that allows them to perform their duties in the [[Blood War]] with precision and dedication.
*'''[[Glabrezu]]''': The primary summoning material, they are skilled at tempting their summoners and giving them plenty of gifts of power, only to withdraw said power at the worst possible moment to get them killed and pulled into the Abyss.
*'''[[Alkilith]]''': The Type III.5 Demon, if you will. Oozes that can corrupt anything and anyone with a mere touch. They don't fight in the Blood War, mainly for practical reasons on account of them being oozes.
*'''[[Nalfeshnee]]''': The pig-ape judges of the Abyss. All petitioners that enter the Abyss pass by a Nalfeshnee who judges them based on their lives and appoints them a new form. At least sometimes: other times they hand out forms at random. They also determine who gets to be in charge of the armies and who gets to be promoted, demoted or removed from (as in: destroyed) its ranks.
*'''[[Marilith]]''': [[Lamia|Attractive women with the lower body of a snake]] and six arms, they are the tacticians of the Abyss. They have keen minds, anticipate what the forces of Law are going to do and act upon it, much to the rage of the Baatezu who cannot understand the plots of the Marilith.
*'''[[Balor]]''': The dreaded kings of the Abyss, Balors are the most powerful of the Tanar'ri aside from [[Demon Prince]]s and the rarely seen Klurichirs and Myrmyxicuses, serving as lords, generals and leaders, inspiring and threatening others into fighting for the cause. A mix of passion and reason, they are as intelligent and sharp as they are evil and chaotic. These are ''exactly'' the same as the [[Bloodthirster]] of Warhammer, right down to the flaming whips and being literally made evil and chaos (or [[Chaos]]) with the sole difference being that they use swords instead of axes. They like to eat doggies and beat up Pit Fiends in their spare time.
*'''[[Klurichir]]''': The most powerful type of Tanar'ri besides [[Demon Prince]]s. All other tanar'ri including balors are terrified of them. They have skin the color of a frostbitten corpse, four arms, black spines covering their neck and back, red wings, a face like a cross between a orc and a mule, and a giant second mouth with a huge pair of extremely sharp mandibles on their abdomen. They are the elite generals of the most powerful [[Demon Prince]]s and they usually only appear when their master wants to be absolutely sure that an important mission will be completed.
*'''[[Myrmyxicus]]''': Another Tanar'ri that beats the Balor in power. They rule over the oceans of the Abyss. It looks like an giant eel with a reptile skull for a face, six goat horns, four arms, six tentacles around its waist, and a lamprey-mouth on the end of its tail.
*'''[[Jarilith]]''': Demonic lions that like to hunt other demons.
*'''[[Kelvezu]]''': The infiltrators and assassins of the abyss. Aside from the pink skin and poisonous fingernails, they appear almost exactly like a short human.
*'''[[Sorrowsworn]]''': Demons that appear in places where many people have suffered loss. They have an aura that causes feelings of loss in those around them. They read the minds of their enemies and use that to determine the best way to torment them by reminding them of things that cause them to feel more loss. A sorrowsworn demon is a large but skinny grey-skinned humanoid with black wings and a constantly frowning face.

===Guardian Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Molydeus]]''': The only Tanar'ri within this rank, a Molydeus stands outside of the ranks of the other Tanar'ri, making sure that their kind stays true to the ideals of the Blood War. While they report to the Balors, a Molydeus will not hesitate to turn on their leader if they are not showing sufficient zeal. So in essence they are axe-wielding, dog-faced [[Commissar]]s with a snake growing out of the back of their heads.

===Ex Tanar'ri===
*'''[[Shadow Fiend]]''': The [[Fiend Folio]] Shadow Demon was summarily taken off the Tanar'ri list because "shadow tanar'ri" just sounded too gay. It slunk back by way of Ravenloft, MC Appendix; then Planescape of course. It was still Chaotic Evil, and still hung out at the Abyss.
*'''[[Blood Fiend]]''': A demon that became a vampire like undead.

==Demon Lords==
The first amongst the demons, the lords of the Tanar'ri (more commonly known as Demon Lords) are some of the most powerful, dangerous, cunning and deadly beings in existence. They attained their position by strength of arms and cleverness (mostly the former) to rule over their servants. Those who wish to challenge their lords are quickly struck down as an example and to keep the other minions in line.

{{D&D-Outsiders}}

Abyss

2020-08-12T07:31:00Z

2601:203:480:4C60:2D0D:20E2:7A6B:6002: /* Inhabitants */

[[File:Abyss layers 3e.webp|thumb|right|300px]]
{{Topquote|1=During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.|2= Thomas Hobbes}}
'''The Infinite Layers of the Abyss''' is the [[Alignment|Chaotic Evil]] [[plane]] in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'s'' [[Great Wheel]] cosmology. It's home to an infinite number of [[demon]]s, the Chaotic Evil fiends. Expect [[METAL]].

The plane is such a mess of chaos and upheaval that it doesn't even stay the same in basic state from time to time, which is another way of saying the writers can't keep it straight and [[retcon|change it]] whenever it's convenient. It's an infinite plane, like the others, but actually has an infinite number of different layers as well, meaning that the aforementioned changes might just be an examination of a different subset of layers. According to one faction in the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting it also specifically has 666 layers, [[Derp|because that's totally the same as infinite.]] Then again, it's one of the chaotic planes, so not making sense is probably [[Just As Planned|the whole idea]] (ignoring the fact that [[Arborea]] is just as consistent as any of the Lawful planes).

It's also a plane in the [[World Axis]] cosmology of D&D too, but here is a more modestly sized "universe-swallowing" vortex of corruption and evil that lies in the [[Elemental Chaos]], created when [[Tharizdun]] planted a crystallized shard of pure evil from the dying universe of the [[obyrith]]s in the Elemental Chaos.

In the [[World of Darkness]] games, the Abyss is a realm of cold blackness from which [[shade]]s and [[Demon#In_the_World_of_Darkness|demons]] and the [[Wyrm|god of Oblivion]] hail, and from which [[vampires]] wielding [[Obtenebration]] summon either a black ectoplasmic substance for various effects, such as the creation of tentacles, or a raw [[Entropy|Oblivionic]] energy for disintegrating targets. Thematically it is closer to [[D&D]]'s [[Negative Energy Plane]] or [[Shadowfell]] plane.

==Notable Layers==
Most of the layers are often described as containing wildly different inhospitable biomes, sometimes on the same layer side-by-side. All of them are full of the kind of [[Slaanesh|Chaoticy-Evilly fuckery you'd expect]], so none of them are great places for vacation homes. The named layers are also given numbers, but given that they are in no way consistently arranged in space, those numbers are meaningless and changed often (except for the first one). Officially, though, they are numbered in order of their discovery by mortals.

The descriptions are, naturally, weighted to the lower numbers.

A major source for the below is the Planescape box, ''Planes of Chaos''.

'''Pazunia:''' 1st layer

The Plane of Infinite Portals, and the way you get to any of the others. It's covered in giant sinkholes, each one a portal to another layer of the Abyss. This is also the layer that the [[River Styx]] flows through on its path from [[Pandemonium]] to [[Acheron]]. Iron fortresses on this layer are also where Demon Princes leave their bodies when they're busy roaming around the [[Astral Plane]]. Dozens of minor demon princes co-rule this layer, though, officially, [[Pazuzu]] is in charge. The Grand Abyss is sometimes the 4th layer and Pazunia is the Styx shorelines.

This is one of the great battlefields of the Blood War. Mostly, this is a staging ground for the various demon hordes being flung at the [[Baator|Nine Hells]], but that creates a whole set of problems by itself. As some of you may already know, beings that are inherent Chaotic and Evil are just as likely to start axe-murdering one another as anything else. So put a million such beings of pure Chaotic Evil side by side in one place, and count the seconds until they just start killing each other instead of doing what they were told. Now, complicate that problem with the fact that some demon princes may actually want such an outburst to occur to weaken the forces of a rival. Now throw in yugoloth mercenaries turning stag on a demon employer (devils, after all, are much better at keeping their words on contracts and payments and the like). Toss in a force of devils being sent for scouting and/or raiding duties to better prepare for said horde before it even gets to Avernus. And finally, sprinkle in the dozens of other planars - celestials, adventurers, etc. - who are visiting and know that the best way to deal with an ornery demon is basically to fucking destroy it.

Now, it's not all murderhobos and axes to the face. There's a few fiends that run some odd little fortified establishments out here. Some are mercenaries who can press-gang enough demons to make it worth someone's effort to pay for it. There's even a few mercantile or entertainment venues around. But mostly, if you run into a fiend out here, you murder the shit out of it and hope it didn't have any friends who really gave a shit about it. This is the first layer of an infinite amount of Chaotic Evil, by the way; it only gets more fun the further down the spiral you go.

It should be noted that oddly, this is the most stable layer of the Abyss. No, really: it hasn't actually changed all that much, fundamentally, in all of existence. The demons that inhabit it, and who's running what, that does change, and yes, the land itself has been ripped up, rebuilt, wash, rinse, repeat. But this is basically where the teeming, seething primordial chaos of the Abyss touches reality, and thus this connection is by necessity stable. (Since if the Abyss disconnected, even temporarily, it would probably be adrift in the Astral, or possibly it would fuck off from reality altogether for the Far Realm; it's hard to say what the metaphysics of that scenario would look like.)

'''Driller's Hives:''' 2nd layer

This horrible place is one of the most unpleasantly inhospitable layers in all of the Abyss. It's not so much because of the indigenous fiendish insects who try to kill anything on sight, but because of how all visitors who enter risk contracting a horrible disease that causes the sufferer to break out in hatching insect eggs until the afflicted dies and decomposes into a mass of rot and insect eggs over the course of '''minutes.''' The addition of the giant, intelligent fiendish insect thralls of the ruler, Tharzax ''the Chattering Prince'', help make the whole place a big, sentient shit-sprinkle-covered crapcake of '''NOPE'''.

'''The Forgotten Land:''' 3rd layer

This is an almost endless landscape of empty ruins that suggest a once bustling city. No demons, other than the layer's Lord, Zzyczesiya ''The Ungrasped'', master of malevolent ignorance and confusion, come here. The place was abandoned due to a catastrophe, for which Zzyczesiya has been traditionally blamed, and now, entering the layer causes any sentient being's mind, even those of demons and sapient undead, to fritter away like moist cotton candy, leaving visitors as catatonic and braindead. Constructs are immune to the effects, and persistent visitors often use golem stand-ins to explore this godawful place. Allegedly, Zzyczesiya destroyed all the original inhabitants by accident, 1st through 3rd edition claiming by changing the course of the [[River Styx]], and was punished by imprisonment in the Wells of Darkness. Zzyczesiya would escape, and return to the Forgotten Land in order to use the power of this layer to unremember something really, really, really horrible (possibly a first draft of the script for ''Gigli'').

'''The Grand Abyss:''' 4th layer

What starts as a gaping chasm on the first layer is an infinitely deep pit where the walls are dotted with portals which connect to all of the other layers in the plane. Navigation is tricky because the only dimensions of relevance are vertical, so you need to either fly or be a patient climber. This place was created by the now-dead Lord, Asima ''The Unanticipated'', who apparently died because she(?) didn't anticipate pissing off the Queen of Chaos enough to assassinate her. Now, Asima's corpse lies in her tomb, the Tumulus of Abhorrence, which is filled with treasure and secrets, and is guarded by her "seraph," a super-demon named "Guardian of the Gates" who pretty much super-kills anyone unlucky enough to encounter him. Guardian of the Gates periodically leaves his master's tomb to harass/super-kill schmucks in the Grand Abyss, as per his master's original orders: adventurers stupid enough to think that there are no other defenders of the Tumulus tend to die screaming.

'''Realm of a Million Eyes:''' 6th layer

Home of the [[Great Mother]], princess of the Beholders. Presumably not a great place to be for anyone else, because no one's ever bothered to describe it in detail.

'''Phantom Plane:''' 7th layer

Ruled by Sess'lnnek the other god of the [[lizardfolk]]. He grew bored with the Tanar'ri's Blood War, withdrew and officially closed the layer off so that no one can enter without his explicit permission.

'''Skin-shedder:''' 8th layer

Ruled by Volisupula the Flensed Marquesse, lord of ostentatious finery. The layer itself makes you more evil the longer you stay there. Tieflings are immune.

'''Burningwater:''' 9th layer

Acid ocean, so the crustaceans and fish have shells of silica.

'''That Hellhole:''' 10th layer

It's the body of an actual fiend. The dwarf who found this place got chewed up (through adamantite!) before beaming out of there.

'''Molrat:''' 11th layer

Dark tunnels, where the tanar'ri hunt by smell. Besides the demon horde the plane is more friendly to life than most.

'''Twelvetrees:''' 12th Layer

Definitely a place of horror, and a living example of why you can never, ever trust a demon.

Eons ago, some demons tricked some astral devas into having a meeting for the sake of peace. Basically, the powers from the Upper Planes saw the tanar'ri overthrow the obyriths, and thought maybe that the new fiends were "better" than the old ones. Big fucking mistake there: the demons turned on the angels, bound them to twelve of the biggest trees in the layer, and then performed a blasphemous arcane ritual that sacrificed them to the layer, allowing their eternal suffering to become fuel for all kinds of evil shit.

The angels can still be heard screaming, and a big altar now commemorates the site of the sacrifice, surrounded by twelve sickly pines that ooze some kind magically-infused slime. Evil-descriptor spells are Maximized and Extended automatically for free as a result of the power of the place. Demons make pilgrimages to the layer, to honor the screw job their kind put to the forces of good, and the overwhelming evil of the place is like a drug to the fiends, as they bask in a haze of quasi-religious ecstasy and basically don't give a shit what's happening around them, making it scarily easy for non-demons to wander around pretty freely (you only gotta dodge some chasmes that patrol the skies, maybe some kelvezus that look for intruders to murder).

But that's not all. See, someone figured out how to harness all that deliciously evil energy to create a new weapon of war: the ''ship of chaos''. This horrible thing is basically made of flesh, bone, and spirit; it's hull seems to be comprised of some kind of twisted, thick, ropelike fibers, woven into an organic mass of mottled white and yellow, with translucent blue blisters along the flanks. They are powered by the annihilation of soul larvae... meaning that the ship itself absolutely destroys souls beyond recovery in order to operate. It can generate an "entropy field" almost the length of 5 football fields that either drives beings insane or simply repulses them, and shoots waves of force out of the mouths at the front and back. It can warp itself to travel through small portals, but this causes magic stuff onboard to possibly break unless it is made from the Abyss, and tanar'ri and their kin aren't particularly messed up by the warping.

The scaffolds for these ships dot the area around Twelvetrees. Six have been completed for sure. There was a seventh ship in the 2nd edition Planescape adventure In The Abyss, but it's highly likely that it was destroyed. The 3rd edition supplement FC2: Hordes of the Abyss notes another seventh ship is being built, which seems likely. In theory, these ships will not only be awesome weapons to use against the devils, but will mean the demons don't need the yugoloths to help them travel to Baator anymore.

And all this time, the angels keep screaming.

'''Blood Tor:''' 13th Layer

Ruled by the Goddesses [[Beshaba]] and [[Umberlee]], from the [[Forgotten Realms]]. A plane of bad luck - including for tanar'ri, because the baatezu did a successful raid here early in the Blood War.

'''Steaming Fen:''' 14th Layer

Ruled by [[The Queen of Chaos]], the old Lord of Obyriths and creator of [[Demogorgon]].

'''Pleroma/Death's Reward:''' 17th layer

Ruled by demon prince Abraxas ''the Unfathomable''. He has a roosters head and a bunch of snakes for a lower body. He's big on magic and the occult. Diovengia is his city which houses some of the best libraries in the entire Abyss.

'''The Sixth Pyre:''' 21st layer

Ruled by Prince Kardum, the lord of Balors.

'''Ice Wastes:''' 23rd layer

[[Kostchtchie]] is the resident [[Demon Prince]]. An infinite expanse of jagged mountains, glaciers and frozen tundras. Kostchtchie commands a big army of frost giants which he used to further "conquer" his layer, when he isn't siccing them on other demon lords for laughing at him, or conquering other tribes of frost giants on the Prime Material Plane.

'''Sholo-Tovoth/ Fields of Consumption:''' 32rd layer

Ruled by [[Demon Prince]] [[Turaglas]], ''The Ebon Maw'', who was spawned directly from the Abyss. A 100% pure demon and therefore envied by [[Orcus]] and [[Demogorgon]] for this (Demogorgon was a creation of the Obyriths, while Orcus was a former mortal) who joined against him and imprisoned him for a while. His goal is to devour and destroy, he has spawned his own breed of demons, the turagathshee. The layer itself, like That Hellhole #10, tries to eat anyone that enters it that's not either Turaglas or one of his minions, with mouths and tongues popping up everywhere. Those minions number millions of insatiably hungry demons.

'''Azzagrat:''' 45th, 46th, and 47th Layers

Ruled by [[Graz'zt]], demon lord of depending on your source, A)tyrants, manipulation, and, unofficially, blatant nepotism, or B) [[Slaanesh| lust, hedonism, and incubi]]. There's a salt river that connects all three layers. [[Zelatar]] is a big, shiny, evil pastiche of the Emerald City of Oz that stretches across the three layers. Relatively well-behaved demons, not that it's saying much, as all of Graz'zt's minions know that Graz'zt torturing them to death for a minor screw up is the least he can do to them. Not a terrible place for a party, assuming it's [[Slaanesh|the right kind of party]].

'''Phage Breeding Ground:''' 53rd Layer

Ruled by Urae-Naas, a "female" [[slaad]] [[Demon Prince]]ss so bloated with eggs she can't walk anymore and has to drag herself along on her long arms and enormous tongue. Comprised from the interiors of the ever-rotting organs of her former boyfriend, the slain [[Archomental|Primordial]] Ramenos. Iconic local feature: screaming, insane humanoids sewn into the walls begging ceaselessly for help before she gets around to implanting her offspring in their bodies. Created in 4th edition, and probably lost with the change to 5th edition seeing as how Slaad are Chaotic Neutral in all non-4 editions.

'''Torturous Truth:''' 57th layer

Ruled by Alvarez the Purging Duke, the head of the demonic Inquisition. His forces investigate the tanar'ri for any signs of lawful behavior. His torture is notorious throughout the Abyss.

'''The Demonweb Pits:''' 66th layer usually

The place where [[Lolth]], the deity of the drow, and the rest of the drow pantheon, hangs out with her spiders. In [[Demonweb Pits|Jeff Grubb's entry]], the Demonweb was 65th and her actual abode on the 66th. In [[3e]] this was changed to be an entirely separate plane, though it's still connected to the Abyss.

'''Heavenly Hills:''' 67th layer

Swamps and hills, which swap places after (frequent) earthquakes. And varrangoin ruins.

'''Morgenta's Layer:''' 68th layer

Barren, "abandoned", and airless. No-one's named it but ''Planes of Chaos'' does have a name for the planewalker who survived to enter it into the list: Morgenta, the mage.

'''The Crushing Plain:''' 69th layer

A surface made up of chasme, manes, and lemures all "crawling over one another". ''Planes of Chaos'' claims they are avoiding suffocation but it's more likely they end up squished like bugs further down.

'''The Ice Floe:''' 70th layer

That ice would be ''thin'', over black running water. The cold acts as energy-drain. As to whence / whither the water flows, we're not told but we can guess probably the Styx.

'''Spirac:''' 71st layer

Tree-ferns and spiky mountains. A happy hunting ground like Molrat / #11. The demons might be friendlier, or maybe that's just because they got along better with the cutter who penned this entry.

'''Darklight:''' 72st layer

Visitors get a halo of darkness (if evil) or light (good). Either is a beacon for the demons here, who enslave the former and kill the latter.

'''[[Wells of Darkness]]:''' 73rd layer

A spa-cum-prison for some of the worst prisoners the plane could play host to. Jacuzzi tubs of black ink keep unspeakably powerful beings trapped beneath the surface, unable to get out, but perfectly conscious and able to communicate. The demons don't visit. It's amusing because the idea of an unbreakable prison on a chaotic plane constantly attracts ''break-in'' attempts by those who just want to prove otherwise.

'''Smargard:''' 74th layer

[[Merrshaulk]] rules here. He is the deity of the Yuan-ti snake men. Basically a nightmarish, evil, rainforest (one of several in the Abyss).

'''The Gates of Heaven:''' 77th layer

Actually not named ironically, it's apparently a gate to Celestia in the middle of a Chaotic Evil hell. Must be a really sturdy gate. Ruled by demon lords and brothers, Munkir and Nekir.

'''Abysm/The Gaping Maw:''' 88th layer

The realm of [[Demogorgon]]. Also known as "The Upside Down" thanks to ''Stranger Things''. Pretty much a tropical nightmare, with demon- and demonic-disease-infested jungles and a roiling ocean. [[Dagon]], his special friend and mentor, lives in his basement.

'''Shadowsea:''' 89th layer

Ruled by [[Dagon]] one of the few obyrith lords still part of the establishment. It's an underwater realm without a surface although it connects to the 88th. Filled with myriads of aquatic demons.

'''[[Demonwing]]:''' layer unknown

An entire layer of the Abysm transformed into a crazy demonic pirate ship by Demogorgon that can move freely about the planes.

'''The Guttering Grove:''' 90th layer

Ruled by Ilsidahur, the Howling King, who's a bootlicker to [[Demogorgon]]. He leads the bar-lgura, these orangutan looking demons, as well as these winged gorilla looking guys. The Guttering Grove was recently subsumed into Abysm by Demogorgon as punishment for Ilsidahur screwing up an invasion of [[Arcadia]], though Ilsidahur is apparently either too unaware, too uncaring or too stupid to notice.

'''Ulgurshek''': 92nd layer

Ruled by a being also named Ulgurshek who is older than the [[Great Wheel]]. Either that or the ruler ''is'' the layer.

'''The Realms:''' 99th layer

Plotted out by Rick Swan in the ''Tales of the Outer Planes'' anthology. The Abyssal chaos sometimes diverts visitors here when they're aiming for elsewhere, Kali's plane in this one. It's a network of sub-layers, attached to each other through portals:
* Gray Realm. Desert of black sand, infested with dretch.
* Lightning Realm. "Blank white" plain with pillars. Disputed between Orcus and Demogorgon. Yeah, this is oldschool.
* Swirling Realm. Connects to Juiblex's crib. It's a waterfall and ocean... made of puddings and slimes. Yecch!
* Yellow Realm. Primordial tropical forest. 50' blades of grass.
* Fog Realm. "Jellyfish" surface and it stinks. It's a colossal demon uterus.
* Silver Realm. A silvery ice glacier, where sound doesn't travel.
* Star Realm. Another black sand desert, but cratered. Kali's kitchen, preparing souls for her breakfast.
At a guess, only the Gray Realm is truly the 99th. The others look to be other Abyssal layers entirely, like #222 or, indeed, #500.

'''The Mind of Evil:''' 111st layer

Ruled by Prince Sch'theraqpasstt, the Serpent Reborn.

'''Thanatos:''' 113th layer

Its as much undead as demonic. [[Orcus|Orcus's]] crib. He spends most of his time chilling here not doing things.

'''Slugbed:''' 128th layer

Lupercio the Baron of Sloth rules here. It's a tropical, mostly overcast realm filled with lush forests and coral reefs filled with all manner of demon gastropods. Because Lupercio is too busy spending most of his time sleeping, where his perpetually darkness-shrouded form is perpetually parasitized by shadow demons, and too spending what precious little waking hours he has maniacally doing ''something,'' the demon gastropods of Slugbed do not recognize his authority, and, instead, do their own thing, i.e., eating the scenery, each other, and intruders too stupid to understand the threat posed by demon gastropods until they get eaten. An army of angels has secretly constructed fortresses in the clouds above Slugbed, and eventually intend to use their fortresses here to stage attacks on the demons of the Abyss.

'''Outcast's End:''' 137th layer

Ruled by the exiled and outcast Azazel, Prince of Scapegoats.

'''Lifebane:''' 142nd layer

Ruled by [[Chemosh]], the god of undeath in [[Dragonlance|Krynn]].

'''Hollow's Heart:''' 176th layer

Ruled by [[Fraz-Urb'luu]]. Fraz-Urb'luu pissed off virtually all of the other demon lords by learning how to summon them in order to humiliate them in front of his sniveling minions. This led to the demon lord being forced to take a sabbatical in the dungeons of [[Oerth]] while lesser Lords moved in, turning the place into a demonic continent of crazy shit, including a jungle of skin, where trees are hairs sprouting from the ground; a desert made of grains of clotted blood; and a city shrouded in powerful illusions to make petitioners think everything is happy and safe, so the demons can take it away piece by piece.

'''The Writhing Realm: ''' 177th layer

Little is known about this layer except that it is the place where Golothomas are most commonly found and it consists of lightless tunnels. Ruled by the [[Obyrith]] lord Ugudenk.

'''The Rotting Plain:''' 181st layer

Ruled by [[Laogzed]] the god of the [[troglodyte]]. Here they archive everyone's browsing history, purchases, and other personal information forever.

'''Vulgarea:''' 193th layer

Ruled by demon princess Eshebala the [[furry|foxwoman and wolfwere]] goddess.

'''Shedaklah, the Slime Pits:''' 222nd layer

[[Juiblex]], the Slime Lord, and [[Zuggtmoy]], the Lady of Fungi rule here. A fetid swamp of every variety of ooze, slime, fungus and filth; obviously a disgusting place. Sometimes the 528th layer.

'''The Dreaming Gulf:''' 230th layer

A phantasmal dark and wind-swept realm with no ruler. This is where the dreams of evil gods go when they die, slowly being given form by the Abyss, becoming the incorporeal demons known as [[Loumara]]s.

'''Palpitatia:''' 241st layer

Grankhul and Skiggaret, the [[bugbear]] gods, rule here.

'''The Scalding Sea:''' 245th layer

Another ocean of acid but this one at least has a surface; it might even be the route out for Burningwater. It also has islands... of black glass. Probably deserted, the one island town is empty, with its former occupants encrusting the town's walls while the town's fountain screams eternally and sprays yet more acid.

'''The Hidden Layer:''' 248th layer

A huge thunderstorm-ravaged wasteland. Was ruled by Demon Prince Eltab, until he was summoned into the [[Prime Material]] and bound there, also sucking small portions of his realm with him to [[Faerun]] in the form of demoncysts and leaving his subordinates to fight amongst themselves over control of the rest.

'''Durao:''' 274th layer

A ruler-less layer dotted by military encampments and demon barracks interconnected by iron roads that snake through the otherwise swampy environs along the River Styx. It was from here that most of the demon armies staged before departing to wage the [[Blood War]] in [[Gehenna]].

'''Feng-Tu:''' 300th layer

A citadel overlooking a tributary of the River Styx, it is ruled by Tou Mu, goddess of the North Star, and Lu Yueh, god of epidemics, both gods from the [[China|Chinese]] [[Mythology#Chinese Mythology|Mythology]].

'''The Sulfanorum:''' 303rd layer

As the [[Coenobites]] have taught us, what are demons to some are angels to others; so what's a hell to many could be a heaven to some. Here is the tobacconist's heaven, as ''Planes of Chaos'' wittily illustrated. Full of flames designed to light pipes, which the Abyssals smoke here.

'''The Broken Scale:''' 333rd layer

Ruled by [[Hiddukel]], the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' god of greed and treachery.

'''Fortress of Indifference:''' 348th layer

Rough terrain with fiery skies. An evil 200 foot tower is the main attraction, and is [[Hellbound: The Blood War|why we don't let Monte Cook listen to Nine Inch Nails anymore]]. Its the home of outcasts, half-fiends, [[tiefling]]s, etc. that turned their backs on the [[Blood War]]. Its particularly anarchic. Tapheon, a barely held together demon, tries to rule here but mostly goes around torturing random beings.

'''Arch of Eternity:''' 359th layer

Ruled by Eldanoth, the Prince of Crime. He once served under Orcus but left after Orcus was overthrown for a time, now his servants sabotage Orcus's plans. He's worshiped by criminals. The realm is, ironically, a huge, but finite plane of fire and snakes with a copper fortress at its center.

'''The Plains of Gallenshu:''' 377th layer

Dirt-storms, and "bat-winged creatures" forever fighting the tanar'ri slavers here.

'''Hungry Tarns:''' 380th layer

A bleak and poisonous realm of fens and black bottomless lakes that once was ruled by the [[Obyrith]] [[Sertrous]] but is now abandoned since Sertrous's death. As Sertrous returns to life, the layer becomes more infested with Golothomas and other serpentine monsters.

'''The Worm Realm:''' 399th layer

Urdlen's home, another plane of tunnels. Very diseased - possibly from a clash with Zuggtmoy.

'''The Woeful Escarand:''' 400th layer

Here, under a great mountain, is the court of judgement for chaotic-evils.

'''White Kingdom:''' 421st layer

Ruled by the King of Ghouls, who, depending on the author, is either a toady of Orcus, a hostage-turned-minion of Yeenoghu, or an undead god who's free to do his own shit.

'''Death Dells:''' 422nd layer

Also called the Seeping Woods in ''Planescape''. Ruled by [[Yeenoghu]], Demon Prince of [[Gnolls]].

'''Ahriman-abad:''' 452nd layer

Ruled by Ahrimanes, the Chief of the Cacodaemons.

'''Androlynne:''' 471st layer

Owned by [[Pale Night]]. This layer has become a battlefield where the forces of good fight to protect a group of [[Eladrin]] children who were trapped there by a deal with Pale Night. This may have backfired on Pale Night because the amount of people fighting for good on this layer is slowly causing the layer to change its appearance, and may eventually shift it out of the abyss to a higher plane.

'''Guttlevetch:''' 480th layer

A sea eternally swept by perpetual typhoons and hurricanes, its beaches of blood are littered with innumerable shipwrecks. Was ruled by Zuregurex, Lord of the Drowned, but he seriously fucked up when he tried to invade Demogorgon's layer. Zuregurex fled to the 245th layer to escape retribution.

'''Mansion of the Rake:''' 487th layer

An entire layer stylized as a perpetually shifting baroque-style palace. Ruled by Kanchelsis the god of [[vampire]]s, born of the blood of the elven gods. His primary servants are vampires, drow, and the occasional crazy birds in his aviaries. His live-in boarders-turned-sort-of-minions are a trio of crazed blood fiends, Memnul, Dagrobard, and Vonce, who are so unpleasant, they apparently scare even Kanchelsis shitless.

'''Noisome Vale:''' 489th layer

Tarnhem is the official ruler here, though he's left for a while to go and hike Mt. Everest to find himself or something (if playing ''Return to the Tomb of Horrors''', he's now his son [[Acererak]]'s guest). The layer itself is mostly volcanic, creating a poisoned and acidic atmosphere. However, a deep canyon carves its way through the layer which is infested with worms. These worms thrive in the acidic air, breathing it in and expelling breathable air as a waste byproduct. Tarnhem's estate is built along the ravine, and his servants still occupy it awaiting his return.

'''Kali:''' 500th layer

Kali makes her home in a big red India-themed jungle under a cloudless red sky, on the shore of the Screaming Sea; all described in Rick Swan's adventure. Or not. ''Planes of Chaos'' has her in layer #643 instead. But she's ''Kali''; she's probably got several layers.

'''Torremor:''' 503rd layer

An aerie, built out of bridges, buildings and junk, floating in a void, and inhabited by vrock, chasme and other flying demons. Officially ruled by [[Pazuzu]], though, he has, more or less, abandoned it to his ex-girlfriend, [[Lamashtu]]. For a while they were a disgustingly close couple, then Lamashtu betrayed him, and then they broke up when he ate out her eyes and impaled her on top of a tower at the very top of Torremor, where ever that is. He's more or less forgiven her, but still can not be assed to un-impale her.

'''Occipitus:''' 507th layer

Adimarchus, Prince of Madness, founded this plane and was its first prince. He is a fallen Celestial and thus this layer is actually a fragmented piece of Celestia (the Seven Heavens) that fell with him. Demons avoid this layer all together, its filled with ruins and basins. Adimarchus fought a big fight against [[Graz'zt]] and lost at one point. He has a split personality, one angelic, one demonic, which is why he's called "Prince of Madness." Now he's imprisoned in Skullrot in [[Pandemonium]], the Great Wheel's funny farm.

'''Shatterstone:''' 524th layer

Ruled by Vaprak the [[Troll]] and [[ogre]] deity.

'''Vudra:''' 531st layer

Ruled by [[Shaktari]], the queen of [[Marilith]]s.

'''Fleshforges:''' 558th layer

Ruled by Demon Prince Dwiergus, the Chrysalis Prince. He has control over the shaping of demonic races. Probably older than Pale Night. The Father of Demons in some ways. A mentor to Baphomet who taught him how to create new demons. Stats in Dragon #359.

'''Shendilavri:''' 570th layer

Islamic Paradise! ...for Malcanthet, Queen of the Succubi. Not so much for her visitors and guests.

'''Prison of the Mad God:''' 586th layer

A maelstorm of various gasses and orbiting rock. Imprisons Diinkarazan, one of the two gods of the [[derro]]. Space itself is warped.

'''Goranthis:''' 597th layer

A little demonic [[Magical Realm|slice of paradise]]. This pleasure-palace and the surrounding gardens are the realm of [[Socothbenoth|Socothbenoth, the Persuader]] who rules from atop his [[/d/|Palace of Quivering Flesh]].

'''Shubgottia, The Endless Maze:''' 600th layer

Ruled by [[Baphomet]], Prince of Beasts. He lets [[Pale Night]], a ghost looking entity, the mother of demons allegedly, have a castle here as well though she rarely does anything. Lyktion is his palace and at his ''Tower of '''Fucking''' Science'' he experiments and creates new demon breeds and such. He has vast armies of beastmen looking demons and is revered by the minotaurs. He is smart, savage, one of the top tier princes, and is not to be fucked with. He began as a mortal creature, either as a beast that lived as a man or a man that lived as a beast, and was cursed by the gods, though obviously he made the best of it.

'''Conflagratum:''' 601rst layer

Ruled by Alzrius, Lord of the Flowing Flame. He usually manifests himself as a pillar of fire and leads his legions to the burning of all [[bitches]].

'''Caverns of the Skull:''' 643rd layer

Kali again, ''Planescape'' edition. The authors decided that reading Sanskrit would be too hard so just watched ''Temple Of Doom'' for this one.

'''Zionyn:''' 663rd layer

Ruled by [[Obox-ob]], Prince of Vermin. As an obyrith and, perhaps, the last surviving aspect of the old Prince of Demons, he plots here to dethrone Demogorgon and to run all [[tanar'ri]] off the Abyss.

'''Unnamed Layer:''' 665th layer

A layer with gravity and atmosphere but nothing to stand on, spells that prevent or slow down falling do not work, and all portals connected to it go in but not out, so if you stumble into it and can't teleport out or have someone rescue you, you will endlessly fall until you die of dehydration or get ripped apart by the air friction.

'''Bottomless Pit:''' 666th layer

Ruled by the Demon Lord Abaddon, Prince of Apocalypse. The center of the layer is a literal black hole singularity that is slowly eating away at all of creation and the Abyss. Anything that enters the singularity, known as the Maelstrom, is lost forever. It is theorized by the [[Fraternity of Order]] in [[Sigil]] that a portion of the energy devoured by the Maelstrom is used to keep [[Tharizdun]] imprisoned, which is a bit ironic on a plane devoted to chaos and evil.

'''Abyssian Ocean:''' Many layers

The Abyssian Ocean is not really a layer of the abyss, but is a vast ocean that connects to all of the oceans that exist in the abyss and so spans across many layers, making it a useful way of traveling around the abyss. No demon lord rules over the Abyssian Ocean as it is protected by the extremely powerful myrmyxicuses, who rule it in floating citadels made of bone, shells, and coral.

=Inhabitants=
The main race in the Abyss are demons. There are four different categories of demons: The [[Tanar'ri]], the [[Obyrith]]s, the [[Loumara]]s, and everything else. The Tanar'ri are the only ones who ever get shit accomplished. They are also the "most numerous". This may owe to Georg Cantor's metamathematic: the number of rational numbers (aleph-null, the smallest possible infinity) is infinite but countable (You can count them using a pattern but can't finish) but the number of all real numbers including irrational numbers (possibly aleph-one) is infinite and uncountable (No pattern of counting them can include all of them) - so some infinities are greater than others. The demon ''princes'' are finite: most Tanar'ri, though there are some Obyriths. Loumaras are a relatively recent addition to the abyss. They are ghostly demons spawned from the thoughts of dead gods who possess can objects or living things.

The petitioners in the Abyss are called manes, and become a low caste of Tanar'ri. If they survive for a very long time, they can be promoted up into the ranks of the not-worthless, and even to demon lords if they're cunning enough. This is how [[Orcus]] got his start.

Most of the chaotic evil deities live in the Abyss as well, for obvious reasons, including the aforementioned Great Mother and Lolth (depending on edition). Deities here are also called demon lords, because that's generally just a title and not any kind of useful disambiguation. Also because there's plenty of layers to go around so if you've got the power you might as well rule one.

==Why You Really REALLY Shouldn't Come Here==
Whenever some berk (that's an idiot, in Sigil cant) drops by here, there's a chance she gets killed. It's often the case that said berk wasn't Chaotic Evil herself. In the Outer Planes, undead as such don't exist - yeah, we know, Orcus but here we're really dealing with the damned in the ''form'' of undead. So a decent person getting into the dead-book on the Abyss ''should'' have her soul end up in a final rest suited for her true alignment. Anywhere but here.

As one final barbed grind up the arse, that depends on ''how'' one dies here. Here are some chaotic energies so mighty and blasphemous that it twists a person's body and soul into a special, Abyssal sort of unlife. Such a wretch is a [[Bodak]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:World Axis Plain of 1000 Portals.png|A map of Pazunia's [[World Axis]] counterpart.
File:Pazunia 3e.jpg|Pazunia
File:Grand abyss 3e.jpg|The Grand Abyss
File:Twelvetrees 3e.jpg|Twelvetrees
File:Abysm.jpg|The brine flats in Abysm
File:Drooling jungle 3e.jpg|The Drooling Jungle in Hollow's Heart
File:Shedaklah 3e.jpg|A map of Shedaklah
</gallery>

{{OuterPlanes}}

Noblebright

2020-08-12T07:03:13Z

2601:203:480:4C60:2D0D:20E2:7A6B:6002: /* More examples of works and their ranking */

{{topquote|Why does the third of the three brothers, who shares his food with the old woman in the wood, go on to become king of the country? Why does James Bond manage to disarm the nuclear bomb a few seconds before it goes off rather than, as it were, a few seconds afterwards? Because a universe where that did not happen would be a dark and hostile place. Let there be goblin hordes, let there be terrible environmental threats, let there be giant mutated slugs if you really must, but let there also be hope. It may be a grim, thin hope, an Arthurian sword at sunset, but let us know that we do not live in vain.|Sir Terry Pratchett, “Let There Be Dragons” (A Slip of the Keyboard)}}

'''NobleBright''' is an adjective derived from the term often used to describe Warhammer 40k: [[Grimdark|Grimdark]]. Just as every hero has a "mirror opposite" version that is evil, it's supposed that there must be a mirror opposite version of the heroes of WH40k where everything goes RIGHT. It can also be used to describe artwork that has a noble/bright feel, even if the setting itself would not normally be considered noble or bright.

Where the GrimDark tag usually describes a setting in a slow, painful decline, the NobleBright tag usually describes a setting emerging from a dark age and either returning to or in the midst of a golden age.

== Example: WarHammer vs. BrightHammer ==

''"We do not need a Warmaster in this age. A Warmaster would fail us. We need a DADDY."'' - [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Custodes showing their appreciation to Captain-General Kitten]]

This alternate universe setting, [[BrightHammer40k]], comes with the tagline ''"In the Noble Brightness of the far future, there is only HIGH ADVENTURE!"'' This is as opposed to the original tagline of Warhammer 40k, which stated, "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." BrightHammer40k's setting has strong 1920s-1940s pulp fiction themes, crossed with an "age of myth" bronze age culture.

Differences between WarHammer 40k and BrightHammer 40k include:
* The setting is loosely divided into city-states united by race, religion, philosophy or just simple common sense, rather than singular empires defined by paranoia.
* There is a wide variety in the type of characters, nations, flora and fauna, and major characters in the setting.
* Speaking of wide varieties of characters/nations, relations between different groups, whether cultural, political, racial, etc. are usually positive. Conflicts are either out of just cause or have the option of being resolved peacefully. (Unlike Grimdark, in which "conflict resolution" is usually [[Exterminatus|genocide]])
* There is an overall "pulp fiction" feel. Just like real life.
* The universe is old, in the process of rediscovering a forgotten golden age.
* Low level conflicts such as raiding are considered common, but war is not. Just like Mongolia.
* When a Noblebright universe has a war, it's usually for a well defined, just cause. Wars are usually fought with "smart" technology, and massive, endless slaughters are rare. (Grimdark usually devolves technology in some form, then throws in massive slaughters for the fun of it)
* Technology is wildly inconsistent. Just like Alaska.
* Villains are over the top, campy, and rarely played seriously. Very much like North Korea.
* Leaders are usually diplomats or wise "philosopher-kings" like in North Korea.
* Heroes do most of the heavy lifting in society, and there are heroes, great and minor, at every level of society.
* There is a strong emphasis on individual strength. (Grimdark focuses on the massed collective. Individual strength is insignificant in the enormous Grimdarkian Machine)
* Good guys can be jerks, but are still good guys.
* Over-the-top heroism usually carries the day.
* Obvious, thinly disguised Secret Agents everywhere.
* The setting is entering a technological renaissance.
* Everything is bright or vividly colored.
* As seen on TV!

Compared to Warhammer40k, Brighthammer40k is generally brighter and a nicer place to live, but is by no means peaceful, always in a low level state of conflict, internal and external, never quite turning into war. The skull motif is replaced by wings, and colors are often brighter.

==[[MidHammer 40,000]]==
Strikes a balance between Noblebright and Grimdark. Basically, you don't matter much, but if mankind can put their back into it hard enough, it'll turn out okay in the end:
*Big E is alive, and regenerating.

*Primarchs still exist

*There is hope for a better future. Even if you don't live to see it, your children may well.

*While the AdMech got buttfucked twice, it's slowly getting it back together.

==8chan Explanation of the Grim/Noble and Dark/Bright Spectrum (by anons)==
[[File:Alignments.jpg|300px|thumb|An [[alignment]] chart.]]
Grim/Noble asks whether there are heroes that exist, may appear to change the world for good or ill.
* A noble setting isn't one where everyone is good, more like one where people are active. The actions of a single hero can change the world, and a single big villain can ruin it: there are important people, who are so either by birth, rank or sheer willpower, and every single one of these people MATTER.
* In a grim world, no matter what you do, an individual can't secure more than an individual victory, if even that, because the rest of the world is too big/scared/powerless/selfish to act upon his impulse.
Something like Morrowind or Berserk is noble (bright and dark, respectively) because it is about one man forcing destiny's hand and changing the world.
* Now, a bright world is one full of opportunity, of wondrous sights to behold. It doesn't mean that it has to be MLP, it can be dangerous, but your first instinct when looking at a new location should be awe and wonder: people may adventure to save the world, but they leave town with a smile upon their face, eager to see what comes next. The shadow of Risk is largely erased by the glint of Adventure. In a bright world, it's quite possible for people to go on adventure just for the hell of it, since the journey is its own reward. Resurrection, or at least means to heal grave injuries, is usually accessible, to counterbalance the fact that the risks out there are real.
* A dark world is one where life sucks, and something or someone is poised to kill everybody else in the story - whether it be demon overlords, 'nids, or even the lack of water, if this threat has its way everyone dies and they die for good. If you lose an arm, you play a cripple. In the extreme cases, even when you win a fight, your career is over (i.e. gangrene). This means that, even though people may be ready to help (noble), they'll need a damn good reason to do so, since stepping out of line is so dangerous (dark).
Given is an example of each type of setting to show how the combinations of noble/grim and bright/dark work;
*40k is (grim)dark because, no matter where you go, there is only war, and heroism's only reward is usually a notch on a gun or a corpse in a trench. No matter who you are, most of the galaxy probably wants you dead, and staying home today is the best choice you can make. Even if you make it to the end, you may have to sacrifice everything to save everyone, if you haven't already done so.
* Berserk is (noble)dark because, while there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, it takes men and women of insane willpower to get there: no matter whether you are big or small, even when you have nothing, the only thing that may save the world is the will within you screaming, "Go on!" And if hope was to fail, you're getting a book-long bloodbath-orgy, and all its consequences.
* Morrowind is (noble)bright because, even though the world is fraught with dangers, you can fix everything. The reason it isn't dark is because there is so much to see, so many interesting people to meet, so many cool things to experience that, at the end of the road, you'd do it all over again if given the chance to see it once again with virgin eyes.
* Sandman is (grim)bright because the incredible vistas and interesting people are all that can distract Dream from the dullness of his existence. He will tire of them all, but even he has to admit that he saw some cool shit. Also, notice how the relative freedom from consequences (people can get somewhat rezzed/healed/characters don't die much), a bright trait, reinforces the futility of the struggle in a grim world.

In short, grimdark and noblebright worlds both exist, and both are interesting to play in. So do grimbright (perhaps these are the most narratively counterintuitive and hardest to pull off, but simultaneously they can be the most interesting worlds to run in) and nobledark (seems to be enjoying a big surge in popularity these days - people like the aesthetics and adult nature of dark worlds, but not the crushing nihilism; in nobledark, most things suck, those rare moments of genuine nobility and decent change are all the more poignant, even if they come at great cost). Every type allows for evil and struggles to exist, and for stories to be told. Evil can even triumph: it's less of a matter of who wins, and more of a matter of tone. In a bright world, the BBEG can win, but he won't skullfuck to death everyone the PCs know in front of a crowd without the mood turning to dark.

I'll leave you with some examples:

Grimdark : WHFB, W40K, Game of Thrones, Oedipus, E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy, Gears of War 1-3, Killzone 2-3.

Grimbright : Sandman, The Sims, most Tycoon games, Mass Effect series, The Commonwealth Saga, Eclipse Phase, The Culture novels, Deltarune, most of Zeus' flings with mortals (from the gods' perspective).

Nobledark : Berserk, LotR, Starcraft, Dark Sun, Terminator, Fallout, the Iliad. Also arguably WH40k in the more recent editions.

Noblebright : Morrowind, D&D/PF (usually), Magi, Warcraft, Star wars, Trine, the Odyssey, and of course, Star Trek.

== More examples of works and their ranking ==

Please be aware that the following list is a product of many different [[Fa/tg/uys|Fa/tg/uys]] personal [[Skub|opinions]].
[[Image:Helghan Revolution.jpg|thumb|right|Noblebright struggles have heroic sacrifices, copious amounts of bravery, and a just cause to fight for.]] [[Image:Grimdarkery.jpg|thumb|right|Grimdark wars are usually directionless, brutal, and the reasons for fighting are very obscure (When there is one, it's usually thrown away in the face of reality).]]

<center>
{|border=1 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0
|- align=left
! NobleBright
! ...and GrimDark
|-
| [[Brighthammer_40,000_(2nd_edition)|BrightHammer 40k]] OR [[Age of Sigmar]] || [[Warhammer_40,000|WarHammer 40k]]
|-
| [[Warhammer_40,000|WarHammer 40k]] 8th ED, but more like Nobledark || [[Xeelee Sequence|Xeelee universe]] OR Age of Sigmar 2nd Edition (sorta. Could be considered approaching Noblebright->Dark)
|-
| [[Exalted]] (Well, Zig-zags between the two) || [[Vampire:_The_Masquerade|Vampire:tM]], [[Werewolf:_The_Apocalypse|Werewolf:tA]] ([[oWoD]])
|-
| [[Changeling:_The_Dreaming|Changeling:tD]] ([[oWoD]]) || [[Changeling:_The_Lost|Changeling:tL]] ([[nWoD]])
|-
|[[Geist: The Sin-Eaters]] ([[nWoD]]) ||[[ Wraith: The Oblivion]] ([[oWoD]])
|-
|[[D20_Modern|D20 Modern]] || [[Call_of_Cthulhu|Call of Cthulhu]]
|-
| Steven Spielberg||Quentin Tarantino
|-
| The West Wing || House of Cards
|-
| Special Unit 2 || [[Delta Green]]
|-
| [[Star Trek]] (in general) || Babylon 5 (closer to Nobledark)
|-
|[[Star Trek]] (in general) || [[Star Trek]] Picard (or even Discovery)
|-
| Star Trek: Voyager || [[Red Dwarf]]
|-
| Andromeda Ascendant || Farscape
|-
| Stargate SG-1 || The First Wave
|-
| Firefly (maybe not, see Discussion) || Blake's 7
|-
| Battlestar Galactica (1978) || Battlestar Galactica (2004)
|-
| Temeraire Series || [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones]]
|-
| Robocop || Judge Dredd
|-
| Code Lyoko || ReBoot
|-
| ReBoot || .hack
|-
| .hack || Sword Art Online
|-
| Previous season of Sword Art Online || Next season of Sword Art Online
|-
| [[Rogue Trader (RPG)|Rogue Trader]] || [[Dark Heresy]]
|-
| Osamu Tezuka || Go Nagai
|-
| The Wizard of Oz || Soul Eater
|-
| MACROSS (Robotech) || Mobile Suit Gundam
|-
| Mobile Suit Gundam || Neon Genesis Evangelion
|-
| Neon Genesis Evangelion || Bokurano
|-
| [[7th Sea]] || [[Poison'd]]
|-
| Zoids || Gundam
|-
| [[Spirit of the Century]] || [[Don't Rest Your Head]]
|-
| [[Traveller]] || [[Eclipse Phase]]
|-
| [[Dragonlance]] || [[Dark Sun]]
|-
| [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Avatar]] (not [[Avatar|Cameron's furfic)]] || Kaze no Stigma
|-
| [[Warcraft]] || [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]
|-
| [[Magic the gathering|Alara]], [[Theros]], [[Lorwyn]] || [[Innistrad]], [[Phyrexia|New Phyrexia]], [[Shadowmoor]]
|-
| [[Neverwinter Nights]] || Dragon Age
|-
| [[The Elder Scrolls]] (Well, somewhat, if you ignore Kirkbride's EU-thing) || Gothic
|-
| Final Fantasy || Megami Tensei
|-
| Persona || Shin Megami Tensei
|-
| Guin Saga || Berserk (more Nobledark)
|-
| Forts || REDCON
|-
| Persona 4 & 5 || Persona 3
|-
| Red Alert 3 || Red Alert 2
|-
| Red Alert 2 || Red Alert
|-
| Wolfenstein || MachineGames Wolfenstein games
|-
| [[Command and Conquer]]: Red Alert series || [[Command and Conquer]]: Tiberium series
|-
| Animorphs || Terraformars
|-
| Fate/Stay Night || Fate/Zero
|-
| [[Starcraft]] II || [[Starcraft|Starcraft: Brood War]]
|-
| [[Diablo]] III || [[Diablo]] I & II
|-
| Grand Theft Auto 1 || Saints Row 1
|-
| Saints Row 3 || Grand Theft Auto 4
|-
| Fable III || Dark Souls
|-
| Cowboy Bebop|| Black Lagoon
|-
| Undertale || LISA
|-
| Kid Icarus || God of War
|-
| God of War 2018 || pre-2018 God of War
|-
| Mass Effect 1 || Mass Effect 3
|-
| Mass Effect universe || [[Setting:Halo|Halo universe]]
|-
| [[Setting:Halo|Halo universe]] || Dead Space universe
|-
| Dead Space Trilogy || Halo: Forerunner Trilogy
|-
| Spore || Darkspore
|-
| Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann || Getter Robo Armageddon
|-
| Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann || Kill la Kill
|-
| Rebuild of Evangelion (Well, Zig-zags between the two) || Neon Genesis Evangelion
|-
| Neo-Hunter Casshern || Casshern Sins
|-
| Dragon Ball || Hunter X Hunter
|-
| Mai-Otome || Mai-Hime (last 10 episodes at least)
|-
| Cardcaptor Sakura || Puella Magi Madoka Magica
|-
| Puella Magi Madoka Magica || Magical Girl Site
|-
| Power Rangers in General || Power Rangers RPM
|-
| Super Sentai || Kamen Rider (especially the Showa Era ones)
|-
| Kamen Rider (most Heisei Era ones) || GARO
|-
| Batman: the Brave & the Bold || Batman: TAS (first two seasons only)
|-
| [[Star Wars RPG|Star Wars Episode I, IV, VI, Star Wars: The Clone Wars Movie and Season 1, and a decent portion of the Expanded Universe]] || [[Star Wars D20|Star Wars Episode II, III, V, VII, Star Wars: The Clone Wars from Season 2 onwards, and the other half the Expanded Universe, especially The New Jedi Order and Legacy]]
|-
| Little House on the Prairie || Deadwood
|-
| Full House || Married With Children
|-
| The Green Zone || The Hurt Locker
|-
| The Sarah Jane Adventures || [[Doctor Who|Torchwood]]
|-
| ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' || ''Black sails''
|-
| ''Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag'' || ''Risen 2: Dark Waters''
|-
| Justice League || Watchmen
|-
| Twilight Saga || Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
|-
| ''Lois and Clark'' or the 80's Superman Movies || ''Man of Steel''
|-
| ''Planetary'' || ''The Authority''
|-
| Cyanide and Happiness || [http://picturesforsadchildren.com/index.php?comicID=132 pictures for sad children]
|-
| The Silver Age of Comic Books || The Dark Age of Comic Books
|-
| [[Steampunk|Steampunk Genre]] || [[Cyberpunk|Cyberpunk Genre]]
|-
| Raspberry Pi || OpenPandora
|-
| South Korea || <s>North</s> BEST Korea
|-
| [[Discworld]] || [[A Song of Ice and Fire]]
|-
| A Wizard of Earthsea || The Tombs of Atuan
|-
| Guilty Gear || BlazBlue
|-
| Mega Man (Classic, Legends, Battle Network, ZX, Star Forces 1 and 2)|| Mega Man (X, Zero, Star Force 3,), The Protomen
|-
| The Chronicles of Narnia|| His Dark Materials
|-
| Anthem || Halo
|-
| Halo || Half-Life 2
|-
| Half-Life 2 || Resistance
|-
| Resistance || Gears of War (The first game especially)
|-
| Gears of War || Killzone
|-
| Just Cause 2 || Spec Ops: The Line
|-
| Plants VS Zombies || The Last of Us
|-
| The Last of Us || The Last of Us Part 2 (10% Grimdark, 90% [[Grimderp]])
|-
| Mirror's Edge || Assassin's Creed
|-
| Iron Kingdoms MKii || Iron Kingdoms MKi
|-
| Marvel Comics films || [[Grimdark#Grimderp|DC Universe films]]
|-
| DC comics || Marvel comics
|-
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer || Hellsing (any medium)
|-
| Hellsing (2001 series) || Hellsing (manga and OVA)
|-
| Marvel comics || Watchmen comics
|-
| Watchmen comics || Wanted comics
|-
| Warehouse 13 || The [[SCP Foundation]]
|-
| [[Eberron]] || [[Dragonmech]]
|-
| [[Planescape]] || [[Ravenloft]]
|-
| [[Wilderlands of High Fantasy]]|| | [[Forgotten Realms]]
|-
| InFamous || Prototype
|-
| Harry Potter 1-3 || Harry Potter 4-7 (ESPECIALLY 7th)
|-
| Deus Ex 1-2 || System Shock 1-2
|-
| RoboCop || Terminator
|-
| Homeworld 1 and 2 || Homeworld: Cataclysm (when the Beast make their first appearance)
|-
| [[Fist of the North Star]] || Violence Jack
|-
| The Simpsons || South Park
|-
| The Glaive || Conan the Barbarian
|-
| The Hobbit || The Children of Hurin
|-
| American Revolution || Vietnam War
|-
| [[Mordheim]] || [[Malifaux]]
|-
| Civilization:Beyond Earth || [[Alpha Centauri]]
|-
| [[The New Testament]] || [[The Old Testament]]
|-
| Overwatch || [[Team Fortress 2]] (Especially Mann vs. Machine)
|-
| [[Team Fortress 2]] || Team Fortress Classic
|-
| Ghostbusters films and Real Ghostbusters || | Extreme Ghostbusters
|-
| Metal Gear (in general) || | Metal Gear Solid V
|-
| Girls und Panzer || Panzerfraulein Alteseisen
|-
| Far Cry 1 || | Far Cry 2 and 3
|-
| Overstrike || | Fuse
|-
| Pokemon Franchise || | Digimon Franchise
|-
| Digimon Adventure || | Digimon Tamers
|-
| Digimon Tamers || Shadow Star Narutaru
|-
| Bakugan || Kiba
|-
| [[Fallout]] series || | S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series
|-
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series || | Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light
|-
| Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light || | Metro 2033 (novel), Metro 2034 (novel), and Metro 2035 (novel)
|-
|[[Approved anime|Slayers]] || | Bastard!!
|-
| Fast And Furious || | Death Race
|-
| Death Race || | Mad Max
|-
| Twilight || | Underworld
|-
| Y:the last man || | Children of men
|-
| Battlefield Bad Company || | Call of Duty Modern Warfare trilogy
|-
| Call of Duty Modern Warfare trilogy || | Call of Duty Black Ops III
|-
| Dead Rising series || | Left 4 Dead series
|-
| Left 4 Dead series || | Dead Island series
|-
| Dead Island series || | World War Z movie
|-
| World War Z Movie || | World War Z novel
|-
| World War Z Novel || | The Walking Dead comics
|-
| Super Robot anime|| | Real Robot anime
|-
| Real Robot anime|| | WAT Robot anime
|-
| The Go-Betweens|| | The Birthday Party/Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|-
| League of Legends|| | Dota 2
|-
| Rome: Total War|| | Total War: Attila
|-
| Freespace || | Freespace 2
|-
| Street Fighter franchise || | Mortal Kombat franchise
|-
| Star Wars Jedi: Outcast duology || | Star Wars: Battlefront 1 & 2 (2000's)
|-
| Minecraft || | 7 Days to Die
|-
| Blood Diamond || | Lord of War
|-
| Naoki Urusawa's Monster || ERASED
|-
| Casa de mi Padre || | Sicario
|-
| GammaWorld || | The Mutant Epoch
|-
| Konosuba || Re:Zero
|-
| Log Horizon || Overlord
|-
| Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? || [[Goblin Slayer]]
|-
| This Means War || Savages
|-
| Brave New World (more like GrimBright, really) || [[1984]]
|-
| Sailor Moon (old censored american dub) || Sailor Moon (original version)
|-
| Sailor Moon (original version) || Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
|-
| Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon || Revolutionary Girl Utena
|-
| Revolutionary Girl Utena || Puella Magi Madoka Magica
|-
| Egan's Diaspora || | Dukaj's Perfect Imperfection
|-
| Touhou Project || Crimzon Clover
|-
| Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, and White Lantern Corps || Red, Orange, Yellow, Black, and Ultraviolet Lantern Corps
|-
| Pod Save America || Chapo Trap House
|-
| Jimmy Neutron, Back to the Future || Rick and Morty
|-
| World War II: Western Front || World War II: Eastern Front
|-
| World War II: Eastern Front || World War II: Pacific Theatre
|-
| World War II: Pacific Theatre || World War I: Western Front
|-
| World War II: French Resistance || World War II: Polish Resistance
|-
| Pork Chop Hill || Tae-Guk-Gi
|-
| [[Death Korps of Krieg]] || [[Xeelee_Sequence#Interim_Coalition_of_Governance|Interim Coalition of Governance]]
|-
| Parasyte || Devilman
|-
| Disney Channel || Cartoon Network
|-
| Cartoon Network || Toonami
|-
| Toonami || Adult Swim
|-
| E.T. || IT
|-
| Homo faber || Lolita
|-
| Maple Story || Made in Abyss
|-
| Ready Player One || 20th Century Boys
|-
| My Hero Academia || ONE PUNCH MAN (more like Grimbright, really)
|-
| Grand Theft Auto || Mafia
|-
| [[Superman | Metropolis]] || [[Batman | Gotham City]]
|-
| Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. || Jak 2 and later
|-
| Axis Powers Hetalia || Polandball
|-
| Soren Kierkegaard || Friedrich Nietzsche
|-
| John Stuart Mill || David Benatar
|-
| Noam Chomsky || Michel Foucault
|-
| Thomas Aquinas || Augustine of Hippo
|-
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau || Thomas Hobbes
|-
| Thomas Hobbes || Friedrich Nietzsche
|-
| Friedrich Nietzsche (before Thus Spoke Zarathustra) || Friedrich Nietzsche (after Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
|-
| Friedrich Nietzsche || Mark Twain (Best example being the Mysterious Stranger)
|-
| Arthur Schopenhauer || Emil Cioran
|-
| Classical Philosophy (e.g. Virtue Ethics, Stoicism) || Contemporary Philosophy (e.g. Existentialism, Postmodernism)
|-
| Jean-Paul Sartre || Albert Camus
|-
| The American Revolution || The French Revolution
|-
| The French Revolution || The Russian Revolution
|-
| The Settlers || Civilization
|-
| Civilization || Tropico (Can be Grimbright if you are a "benevolent" dictator)
|-
| Sgt. Frog || Invader Zim
|-
| Adventure Time || Tigtone
|-
| [[Furry|Zootopia]] || [[Furry|Beastars]] (actually closer to Nobledark)
|-
| [[Furry|Beastars]] || [[Furry|Kevin and Kell]] (The setting is Grimdark, but the story is not due to [[Plot Armor]] and being comedy focused)
|-
| I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream (the video game) || I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream (the book)
|-
| Stellaris (when you play Egalitarian, Xenophile or Federation Builder) || Stellaris (whenever you play [[Imperium of Man|Xenophobe/Fanatic Purifier]] or [[Fall of the Eldar|Psionic Ascension]])
|-
| Care Bears || Happy Tree Friends
|}

</center>

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

Abyss

2020-08-12T06:28:51Z

2601:203:480:4C60:2D0D:20E2:7A6B:6002: /* Notable Layers */

[[File:Abyss layers 3e.webp|thumb|right|300px]]
{{Topquote|1=During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.|2= Thomas Hobbes}}
'''The Infinite Layers of the Abyss''' is the [[Alignment|Chaotic Evil]] [[plane]] in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'s'' [[Great Wheel]] cosmology. It's home to an infinite number of [[demon]]s, the Chaotic Evil fiends. Expect [[METAL]].

The plane is such a mess of chaos and upheaval that it doesn't even stay the same in basic state from time to time, which is another way of saying the writers can't keep it straight and [[retcon|change it]] whenever it's convenient. It's an infinite plane, like the others, but actually has an infinite number of different layers as well, meaning that the aforementioned changes might just be an examination of a different subset of layers. According to one faction in the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting it also specifically has 666 layers, [[Derp|because that's totally the same as infinite.]] Then again, it's one of the chaotic planes, so not making sense is probably [[Just As Planned|the whole idea]] (ignoring the fact that [[Arborea]] is just as consistent as any of the Lawful planes).

It's also a plane in the [[World Axis]] cosmology of D&D too, but here is a more modestly sized "universe-swallowing" vortex of corruption and evil that lies in the [[Elemental Chaos]], created when [[Tharizdun]] planted a crystallized shard of pure evil from the dying universe of the [[obyrith]]s in the Elemental Chaos.

In the [[World of Darkness]] games, the Abyss is a realm of cold blackness from which [[shade]]s and [[Demon#In_the_World_of_Darkness|demons]] and the [[Wyrm|god of Oblivion]] hail, and from which [[vampires]] wielding [[Obtenebration]] summon either a black ectoplasmic substance for various effects, such as the creation of tentacles, or a raw [[Entropy|Oblivionic]] energy for disintegrating targets. Thematically it is closer to [[D&D]]'s [[Negative Energy Plane]] or [[Shadowfell]] plane.

==Notable Layers==
Most of the layers are often described as containing wildly different inhospitable biomes, sometimes on the same layer side-by-side. All of them are full of the kind of [[Slaanesh|Chaoticy-Evilly fuckery you'd expect]], so none of them are great places for vacation homes. The named layers are also given numbers, but given that they are in no way consistently arranged in space, those numbers are meaningless and changed often (except for the first one). Officially, though, they are numbered in order of their discovery by mortals.

The descriptions are, naturally, weighted to the lower numbers.

A major source for the below is the Planescape box, ''Planes of Chaos''.

'''Pazunia:''' 1st layer

The Plane of Infinite Portals, and the way you get to any of the others. It's covered in giant sinkholes, each one a portal to another layer of the Abyss. This is also the layer that the [[River Styx]] flows through on its path from [[Pandemonium]] to [[Acheron]]. Iron fortresses on this layer are also where Demon Princes leave their bodies when they're busy roaming around the [[Astral Plane]]. Dozens of minor demon princes co-rule this layer, though, officially, [[Pazuzu]] is in charge. The Grand Abyss is sometimes the 4th layer and Pazunia is the Styx shorelines.

This is one of the great battlefields of the Blood War. Mostly, this is a staging ground for the various demon hordes being flung at the [[Baator|Nine Hells]], but that creates a whole set of problems by itself. As some of you may already know, beings that are inherent Chaotic and Evil are just as likely to start axe-murdering one another as anything else. So put a million such beings of pure Chaotic Evil side by side in one place, and count the seconds until they just start killing each other instead of doing what they were told. Now, complicate that problem with the fact that some demon princes may actually want such an outburst to occur to weaken the forces of a rival. Now throw in yugoloth mercenaries turning stag on a demon employer (devils, after all, are much better at keeping their words on contracts and payments and the like). Toss in a force of devils being sent for scouting and/or raiding duties to better prepare for said horde before it even gets to Avernus. And finally, sprinkle in the dozens of other planars - celestials, adventurers, etc. - who are visiting and know that the best way to deal with an ornery demon is basically to fucking destroy it.

Now, it's not all murderhobos and axes to the face. There's a few fiends that run some odd little fortified establishments out here. Some are mercenaries who can press-gang enough demons to make it worth someone's effort to pay for it. There's even a few mercantile or entertainment venues around. But mostly, if you run into a fiend out here, you murder the shit out of it and hope it didn't have any friends who really gave a shit about it. This is the first layer of an infinite amount of Chaotic Evil, by the way; it only gets more fun the further down the spiral you go.

It should be noted that oddly, this is the most stable layer of the Abyss. No, really: it hasn't actually changed all that much, fundamentally, in all of existence. The demons that inhabit it, and who's running what, that does change, and yes, the land itself has been ripped up, rebuilt, wash, rinse, repeat. But this is basically where the teeming, seething primordial chaos of the Abyss touches reality, and thus this connection is by necessity stable. (Since if the Abyss disconnected, even temporarily, it would probably be adrift in the Astral, or possibly it would fuck off from reality altogether for the Far Realm; it's hard to say what the metaphysics of that scenario would look like.)

'''Driller's Hives:''' 2nd layer

This horrible place is one of the most unpleasantly inhospitable layers in all of the Abyss. It's not so much because of the indigenous fiendish insects who try to kill anything on sight, but because of how all visitors who enter risk contracting a horrible disease that causes the sufferer to break out in hatching insect eggs until the afflicted dies and decomposes into a mass of rot and insect eggs over the course of '''minutes.''' The addition of the giant, intelligent fiendish insect thralls of the ruler, Tharzax ''the Chattering Prince'', help make the whole place a big, sentient shit-sprinkle-covered crapcake of '''NOPE'''.

'''The Forgotten Land:''' 3rd layer

This is an almost endless landscape of empty ruins that suggest a once bustling city. No demons, other than the layer's Lord, Zzyczesiya ''The Ungrasped'', master of malevolent ignorance and confusion, come here. The place was abandoned due to a catastrophe, for which Zzyczesiya has been traditionally blamed, and now, entering the layer causes any sentient being's mind, even those of demons and sapient undead, to fritter away like moist cotton candy, leaving visitors as catatonic and braindead. Constructs are immune to the effects, and persistent visitors often use golem stand-ins to explore this godawful place. Allegedly, Zzyczesiya destroyed all the original inhabitants by accident, 1st through 3rd edition claiming by changing the course of the [[River Styx]], and was punished by imprisonment in the Wells of Darkness. Zzyczesiya would escape, and return to the Forgotten Land in order to use the power of this layer to unremember something really, really, really horrible (possibly a first draft of the script for ''Gigli'').

'''The Grand Abyss:''' 4th layer

What starts as a gaping chasm on the first layer is an infinitely deep pit where the walls are dotted with portals which connect to all of the other layers in the plane. Navigation is tricky because the only dimensions of relevance are vertical, so you need to either fly or be a patient climber. This place was created by the now-dead Lord, Asima ''The Unanticipated'', who apparently died because she(?) didn't anticipate pissing off the Queen of Chaos enough to assassinate her. Now, Asima's corpse lies in her tomb, the Tumulus of Abhorrence, which is filled with treasure and secrets, and is guarded by her "seraph," a super-demon named "Guardian of the Gates" who pretty much super-kills anyone unlucky enough to encounter him. Guardian of the Gates periodically leaves his master's tomb to harass/super-kill schmucks in the Grand Abyss, as per his master's original orders: adventurers stupid enough to think that there are no other defenders of the Tumulus tend to die screaming.

'''Realm of a Million Eyes:''' 6th layer

Home of the [[Great Mother]], princess of the Beholders. Presumably not a great place to be for anyone else, because no one's ever bothered to describe it in detail.

'''Phantom Plane:''' 7th layer

Ruled by Sess'lnnek the other god of the [[lizardfolk]]. He grew bored with the Tanar'ri's Blood War, withdrew and officially closed the layer off so that no one can enter without his explicit permission.

'''Skin-shedder:''' 8th layer

Ruled by Volisupula the Flensed Marquesse, lord of ostentatious finery. The layer itself makes you more evil the longer you stay there. Tieflings are immune.

'''Burningwater:''' 9th layer

Acid ocean, so the crustaceans and fish have shells of silica.

'''That Hellhole:''' 10th layer

It's the body of an actual fiend. The dwarf who found this place got chewed up (through adamantite!) before beaming out of there.

'''Molrat:''' 11th layer

Dark tunnels, where the tanar'ri hunt by smell. Besides the demon horde the plane is more friendly to life than most.

'''Twelvetrees:''' 12th Layer

Definitely a place of horror, and a living example of why you can never, ever trust a demon.

Eons ago, some demons tricked some astral devas into having a meeting for the sake of peace. Basically, the powers from the Upper Planes saw the tanar'ri overthrow the obyriths, and thought maybe that the new fiends were "better" than the old ones. Big fucking mistake there: the demons turned on the angels, bound them to twelve of the biggest trees in the layer, and then performed a blasphemous arcane ritual that sacrificed them to the layer, allowing their eternal suffering to become fuel for all kinds of evil shit.

The angels can still be heard screaming, and a big altar now commemorates the site of the sacrifice, surrounded by twelve sickly pines that ooze some kind magically-infused slime. Evil-descriptor spells are Maximized and Extended automatically for free as a result of the power of the place. Demons make pilgrimages to the layer, to honor the screw job their kind put to the forces of good, and the overwhelming evil of the place is like a drug to the fiends, as they bask in a haze of quasi-religious ecstasy and basically don't give a shit what's happening around them, making it scarily easy for non-demons to wander around pretty freely (you only gotta dodge some chasmes that patrol the skies, maybe some kelvezus that look for intruders to murder).

But that's not all. See, someone figured out how to harness all that deliciously evil energy to create a new weapon of war: the ''ship of chaos''. This horrible thing is basically made of flesh, bone, and spirit; it's hull seems to be comprised of some kind of twisted, thick, ropelike fibers, woven into an organic mass of mottled white and yellow, with translucent blue blisters along the flanks. They are powered by the annihilation of soul larvae... meaning that the ship itself absolutely destroys souls beyond recovery in order to operate. It can generate an "entropy field" almost the length of 5 football fields that either drives beings insane or simply repulses them, and shoots waves of force out of the mouths at the front and back. It can warp itself to travel through small portals, but this causes magic stuff onboard to possibly break unless it is made from the Abyss, and tanar'ri and their kin aren't particularly messed up by the warping.

The scaffolds for these ships dot the area around Twelvetrees. Six have been completed for sure. There was a seventh ship in the 2nd edition Planescape adventure In The Abyss, but it's highly likely that it was destroyed. The 3rd edition supplement FC2: Hordes of the Abyss notes another seventh ship is being built, which seems likely. In theory, these ships will not only be awesome weapons to use against the devils, but will mean the demons don't need the yugoloths to help them travel to Baator anymore.

And all this time, the angels keep screaming.

'''Blood Tor:''' 13th Layer

Ruled by the Goddesses [[Beshaba]] and [[Umberlee]], from the [[Forgotten Realms]]. A plane of bad luck - including for tanar'ri, because the baatezu did a successful raid here early in the Blood War.

'''Steaming Fen:''' 14th Layer

Ruled by [[The Queen of Chaos]], the old Lord of Obyriths and creator of [[Demogorgon]].

'''Pleroma/Death's Reward:''' 17th layer

Ruled by demon prince Abraxas ''the Unfathomable''. He has a roosters head and a bunch of snakes for a lower body. He's big on magic and the occult. Diovengia is his city which houses some of the best libraries in the entire Abyss.

'''The Sixth Pyre:''' 21st layer

Ruled by Prince Kardum, the lord of Balors.

'''Ice Wastes:''' 23rd layer

[[Kostchtchie]] is the resident [[Demon Prince]]. An infinite expanse of jagged mountains, glaciers and frozen tundras. Kostchtchie commands a big army of frost giants which he used to further "conquer" his layer, when he isn't siccing them on other demon lords for laughing at him, or conquering other tribes of frost giants on the Prime Material Plane.

'''Sholo-Tovoth/ Fields of Consumption:''' 32rd layer

Ruled by [[Demon Prince]] [[Turaglas]], ''The Ebon Maw'', who was spawned directly from the Abyss. A 100% pure demon and therefore envied by [[Orcus]] and [[Demogorgon]] for this (Demogorgon was a creation of the Obyriths, while Orcus was a former mortal) who joined against him and imprisoned him for a while. His goal is to devour and destroy, he has spawned his own breed of demons, the turagathshee. The layer itself, like That Hellhole #10, tries to eat anyone that enters it that's not either Turaglas or one of his minions, with mouths and tongues popping up everywhere. Those minions number millions of insatiably hungry demons.

'''Azzagrat:''' 45th, 46th, and 47th Layers

Ruled by [[Graz'zt]], demon lord of depending on your source, A)tyrants, manipulation, and, unofficially, blatant nepotism, or B) [[Slaanesh| lust, hedonism, and incubi]]. There's a salt river that connects all three layers. [[Zelatar]] is a big, shiny, evil pastiche of the Emerald City of Oz that stretches across the three layers. Relatively well-behaved demons, not that it's saying much, as all of Graz'zt's minions know that Graz'zt torturing them to death for a minor screw up is the least he can do to them. Not a terrible place for a party, assuming it's [[Slaanesh|the right kind of party]].

'''Phage Breeding Ground:''' 53rd Layer

Ruled by Urae-Naas, a "female" [[slaad]] [[Demon Prince]]ss so bloated with eggs she can't walk anymore and has to drag herself along on her long arms and enormous tongue. Comprised from the interiors of the ever-rotting organs of her former boyfriend, the slain [[Archomental|Primordial]] Ramenos. Iconic local feature: screaming, insane humanoids sewn into the walls begging ceaselessly for help before she gets around to implanting her offspring in their bodies. Created in 4th edition, and probably lost with the change to 5th edition seeing as how Slaad are Chaotic Neutral in all non-4 editions.

'''Torturous Truth:''' 57th layer

Ruled by Alvarez the Purging Duke, the head of the demonic Inquisition. His forces investigate the tanar'ri for any signs of lawful behavior. His torture is notorious throughout the Abyss.

'''The Demonweb Pits:''' 66th layer usually

The place where [[Lolth]], the deity of the drow, and the rest of the drow pantheon, hangs out with her spiders. In [[Demonweb Pits|Jeff Grubb's entry]], the Demonweb was 65th and her actual abode on the 66th. In [[3e]] this was changed to be an entirely separate plane, though it's still connected to the Abyss.

'''Heavenly Hills:''' 67th layer

Swamps and hills, which swap places after (frequent) earthquakes. And varrangoin ruins.

'''Morgenta's Layer:''' 68th layer

Barren, "abandoned", and airless. No-one's named it but ''Planes of Chaos'' does have a name for the planewalker who survived to enter it into the list: Morgenta, the mage.

'''The Crushing Plain:''' 69th layer

A surface made up of chasme, manes, and lemures all "crawling over one another". ''Planes of Chaos'' claims they are avoiding suffocation but it's more likely they end up squished like bugs further down.

'''The Ice Floe:''' 70th layer

That ice would be ''thin'', over black running water. The cold acts as energy-drain. As to whence / whither the water flows, we're not told but we can guess probably the Styx.

'''Spirac:''' 71st layer

Tree-ferns and spiky mountains. A happy hunting ground like Molrat / #11. The demons might be friendlier, or maybe that's just because they got along better with the cutter who penned this entry.

'''Darklight:''' 72st layer

Visitors get a halo of darkness (if evil) or light (good). Either is a beacon for the demons here, who enslave the former and kill the latter.

'''[[Wells of Darkness]]:''' 73rd layer

A spa-cum-prison for some of the worst prisoners the plane could play host to. Jacuzzi tubs of black ink keep unspeakably powerful beings trapped beneath the surface, unable to get out, but perfectly conscious and able to communicate. The demons don't visit. It's amusing because the idea of an unbreakable prison on a chaotic plane constantly attracts ''break-in'' attempts by those who just want to prove otherwise.

'''Smargard:''' 74th layer

[[Merrshaulk]] rules here. He is the deity of the Yuan-ti snake men. Basically a nightmarish, evil, rainforest (one of several in the Abyss).

'''The Gates of Heaven:''' 77th layer

Actually not named ironically, it's apparently a gate to Celestia in the middle of a Chaotic Evil hell. Must be a really sturdy gate. Ruled by demon lords and brothers, Munkir and Nekir.

'''Abysm/The Gaping Maw:''' 88th layer

The realm of [[Demogorgon]]. Also known as "The Upside Down" thanks to ''Stranger Things''. Pretty much a tropical nightmare, with demon- and demonic-disease-infested jungles and a roiling ocean. [[Dagon]], his special friend and mentor, lives in his basement.

'''Shadowsea:''' 89th layer

Ruled by [[Dagon]] one of the few obyrith lords still part of the establishment. It's an underwater realm without a surface although it connects to the 88th. Filled with myriads of aquatic demons.

'''[[Demonwing]]:''' layer unknown

An entire layer of the Abysm transformed into a crazy demonic pirate ship by Demogorgon that can move freely about the planes.

'''The Guttering Grove:''' 90th layer

Ruled by Ilsidahur, the Howling King, who's a bootlicker to [[Demogorgon]]. He leads the bar-lgura, these orangutan looking demons, as well as these winged gorilla looking guys. The Guttering Grove was recently subsumed into Abysm by Demogorgon as punishment for Ilsidahur screwing up an invasion of [[Arcadia]], though Ilsidahur is apparently either too unaware, too uncaring or too stupid to notice.

'''Ulgurshek''': 92nd layer

Ruled by a being also named Ulgurshek who is older than the [[Great Wheel]]. Either that or the ruler ''is'' the layer.

'''The Realms:''' 99th layer

Plotted out by Rick Swan in the ''Tales of the Outer Planes'' anthology. The Abyssal chaos sometimes diverts visitors here when they're aiming for elsewhere, Kali's plane in this one. It's a network of sub-layers, attached to each other through portals:
* Gray Realm. Desert of black sand, infested with dretch.
* Lightning Realm. "Blank white" plain with pillars. Disputed between Orcus and Demogorgon. Yeah, this is oldschool.
* Swirling Realm. Connects to Juiblex's crib. It's a waterfall and ocean... made of puddings and slimes. Yecch!
* Yellow Realm. Primordial tropical forest. 50' blades of grass.
* Fog Realm. "Jellyfish" surface and it stinks. It's a colossal demon uterus.
* Silver Realm. A silvery ice glacier, where sound doesn't travel.
* Star Realm. Another black sand desert, but cratered. Kali's kitchen, preparing souls for her breakfast.
At a guess, only the Gray Realm is truly the 99th. The others look to be other Abyssal layers entirely, like #222 or, indeed, #500.

'''The Mind of Evil:''' 111st layer

Ruled by Prince Sch'theraqpasstt, the Serpent Reborn.

'''Thanatos:''' 113th layer

Its as much undead as demonic. [[Orcus|Orcus's]] crib. He spends most of his time chilling here not doing things.

'''Slugbed:''' 128th layer

Lupercio the Baron of Sloth rules here. It's a tropical, mostly overcast realm filled with lush forests and coral reefs filled with all manner of demon gastropods. Because Lupercio is too busy spending most of his time sleeping, where his perpetually darkness-shrouded form is perpetually parasitized by shadow demons, and too spending what precious little waking hours he has maniacally doing ''something,'' the demon gastropods of Slugbed do not recognize his authority, and, instead, do their own thing, i.e., eating the scenery, each other, and intruders too stupid to understand the threat posed by demon gastropods until they get eaten. An army of angels has secretly constructed fortresses in the clouds above Slugbed, and eventually intend to use their fortresses here to stage attacks on the demons of the Abyss.

'''Outcast's End:''' 137th layer

Ruled by the exiled and outcast Azazel, Prince of Scapegoats.

'''Lifebane:''' 142nd layer

Ruled by [[Chemosh]], the god of undeath in [[Dragonlance|Krynn]].

'''Hollow's Heart:''' 176th layer

Ruled by [[Fraz-Urb'luu]]. Fraz-Urb'luu pissed off virtually all of the other demon lords by learning how to summon them in order to humiliate them in front of his sniveling minions. This led to the demon lord being forced to take a sabbatical in the dungeons of [[Oerth]] while lesser Lords moved in, turning the place into a demonic continent of crazy shit, including a jungle of skin, where trees are hairs sprouting from the ground; a desert made of grains of clotted blood; and a city shrouded in powerful illusions to make petitioners think everything is happy and safe, so the demons can take it away piece by piece.

'''The Writhing Realm: ''' 177th layer

Little is known about this layer except that it is the place where Golothomas are most commonly found and it consists of lightless tunnels. Ruled by the [[Obyrith]] lord Ugudenk.

'''The Rotting Plain:''' 181st layer

Ruled by [[Laogzed]] the god of the [[troglodyte]]. Here they archive everyone's browsing history, purchases, and other personal information forever.

'''Vulgarea:''' 193th layer

Ruled by demon princess Eshebala the [[furry|foxwoman and wolfwere]] goddess.

'''Shedaklah, the Slime Pits:''' 222nd layer

[[Juiblex]], the Slime Lord, and [[Zuggtmoy]], the Lady of Fungi rule here. A fetid swamp of every variety of ooze, slime, fungus and filth; obviously a disgusting place. Sometimes the 528th layer.

'''The Dreaming Gulf:''' 230th layer

A phantasmal dark and wind-swept realm with no ruler. This is where the dreams of evil gods go when they die, slowly being given form by the Abyss, becoming the incorporeal demons known as [[Loumara]]s.

'''Palpitatia:''' 241st layer

Grankhul and Skiggaret, the [[bugbear]] gods, rule here.

'''The Scalding Sea:''' 245th layer

Another ocean of acid but this one at least has a surface; it might even be the route out for Burningwater. It also has islands... of black glass. Probably deserted, the one island town is empty, with its former occupants encrusting the town's walls while the town's fountain screams eternally and sprays yet more acid.

'''The Hidden Layer:''' 248th layer

A huge thunderstorm-ravaged wasteland. Was ruled by Demon Prince Eltab, until he was summoned into the [[Prime Material]] and bound there, also sucking small portions of his realm with him to [[Faerun]] in the form of demoncysts and leaving his subordinates to fight amongst themselves over control of the rest.

'''Durao:''' 274th layer

A ruler-less layer dotted by military encampments and demon barracks interconnected by iron roads that snake through the otherwise swampy environs along the River Styx. It was from here that most of the demon armies staged before departing to wage the [[Blood War]] in [[Gehenna]].

'''Feng-Tu:''' 300th layer

A citadel overlooking a tributary of the River Styx, it is ruled by Tou Mu, goddess of the North Star, and Lu Yueh, god of epidemics, both gods from the [[China|Chinese]] [[Mythology#Chinese Mythology|Mythology]].

'''The Sulfanorum:''' 303rd layer

As the [[Coenobites]] have taught us, what are demons to some are angels to others; so what's a hell to many could be a heaven to some. Here is the tobacconist's heaven, as ''Planes of Chaos'' wittily illustrated. Full of flames designed to light pipes, which the Abyssals smoke here.

'''The Broken Scale:''' 333rd layer

Ruled by [[Hiddukel]], the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' god of greed and treachery.

'''Fortress of Indifference:''' 348th layer

Rough terrain with fiery skies. An evil 200 foot tower is the main attraction, and is [[Hellbound: The Blood War|why we don't let Monte Cook listen to Nine Inch Nails anymore]]. Its the home of outcasts, half-fiends, [[tiefling]]s, etc. that turned their backs on the [[Blood War]]. Its particularly anarchic. Tapheon, a barely held together demon, tries to rule here but mostly goes around torturing random beings.

'''Arch of Eternity:''' 359th layer

Ruled by Eldanoth, the Prince of Crime. He once served under Orcus but left after Orcus was overthrown for a time, now his servants sabotage Orcus's plans. He's worshiped by criminals. The realm is, ironically, a huge, but finite plane of fire and snakes with a copper fortress at its center.

'''The Plains of Gallenshu:''' 377th layer

Dirt-storms, and "bat-winged creatures" forever fighting the tanar'ri slavers here.

'''Hungry Tarns:''' 380th layer

A bleak and poisonous realm of fens and black bottomless lakes that once was ruled by the [[Obyrith]] [[Sertrous]] but is now abandoned since Sertrous's death. As Sertrous returns to life, the layer becomes more infested with Golothomas and other serpentine monsters.

'''The Worm Realm:''' 399th layer

Urdlen's home, another plane of tunnels. Very diseased - possibly from a clash with Zuggtmoy.

'''The Woeful Escarand:''' 400th layer

Here, under a great mountain, is the court of judgement for chaotic-evils.

'''White Kingdom:''' 421st layer

Ruled by the King of Ghouls, who, depending on the author, is either a toady of Orcus, a hostage-turned-minion of Yeenoghu, or an undead god who's free to do his own shit.

'''Death Dells:''' 422nd layer

Also called the Seeping Woods in ''Planescape''. Ruled by [[Yeenoghu]], Demon Prince of [[Gnolls]].

'''Ahriman-abad:''' 452nd layer

Ruled by Ahrimanes, the Chief of the Cacodaemons.

'''Androlynne:''' 471st layer

Owned by [[Pale Night]]. This layer has become a battlefield where the forces of good fight to protect a group of [[Eladrin]] children who were trapped there by a deal with Pale Night. This may have backfired on Pale Night because the amount of people fighting for good on this layer is slowly causing the layer to change its appearance, and may eventually shift it out of the abyss to a higher plane.

'''Guttlevetch:''' 480th layer

A sea eternally swept by perpetual typhoons and hurricanes, its beaches of blood are littered with innumerable shipwrecks. Was ruled by Zuregurex, Lord of the Drowned, but he seriously fucked up when he tried to invade Demogorgon's layer. Zuregurex fled to the 245th layer to escape retribution.

'''Mansion of the Rake:''' 487th layer

An entire layer stylized as a perpetually shifting baroque-style palace. Ruled by Kanchelsis the god of [[vampire]]s, born of the blood of the elven gods. His primary servants are vampires, drow, and the occasional crazy birds in his aviaries. His live-in boarders-turned-sort-of-minions are a trio of crazed blood fiends, Memnul, Dagrobard, and Vonce, who are so unpleasant, they apparently scare even Kanchelsis shitless.

'''Noisome Vale:''' 489th layer

Tarnhem is the official ruler here, though he's left for a while to go and hike Mt. Everest to find himself or something (if playing ''Return to the Tomb of Horrors''', he's now his son [[Acererak]]'s guest). The layer itself is mostly volcanic, creating a poisoned and acidic atmosphere. However, a deep canyon carves its way through the layer which is infested with worms. These worms thrive in the acidic air, breathing it in and expelling breathable air as a waste byproduct. Tarnhem's estate is built along the ravine, and his servants still occupy it awaiting his return.

'''Kali:''' 500th layer

Kali makes her home in a big red India-themed jungle under a cloudless red sky, on the shore of the Screaming Sea; all described in Rick Swan's adventure. Or not. ''Planes of Chaos'' has her in layer #643 instead. But she's ''Kali''; she's probably got several layers.

'''Torremor:''' 503rd layer

An aerie, built out of bridges, buildings and junk, floating in a void, and inhabited by vrock, chasme and other flying demons. Officially ruled by [[Pazuzu]], though, he has, more or less, abandoned it to his ex-girlfriend, [[Lamashtu]]. For a while they were a disgustingly close couple, then Lamashtu betrayed him, and then they broke up when he ate out her eyes and impaled her on top of a tower at the very top of Torremor, where ever that is. He's more or less forgiven her, but still can not be assed to un-impale her.

'''Occipitus:''' 507th layer

Adimarchus, Prince of Madness, founded this plane and was its first prince. He is a fallen Celestial and thus this layer is actually a fragmented piece of Celestia (the Seven Heavens) that fell with him. Demons avoid this layer all together, its filled with ruins and basins. Adimarchus fought a big fight against [[Graz'zt]] and lost at one point. He has a split personality, one angelic, one demonic, which is why he's called "Prince of Madness." Now he's imprisoned in Skullrot in [[Pandemonium]], the Great Wheel's funny farm.

'''Shatterstone:''' 524th layer

Ruled by Vaprak the [[Troll]] and [[ogre]] deity.

'''Vudra:''' 531st layer

Ruled by [[Shaktari]], the queen of [[Marilith]]s.

'''Fleshforges:''' 558th layer

Ruled by Demon Prince Dwiergus, the Chrysalis Prince. He has control over the shaping of demonic races. Probably older than Pale Night. The Father of Demons in some ways. A mentor to Baphomet who taught him how to create new demons. Stats in Dragon #359.

'''Shendilavri:''' 570th layer

Islamic Paradise! ...for Malcanthet, Queen of the Succubi. Not so much for her visitors and guests.

'''Prison of the Mad God:''' 586th layer

A maelstorm of various gasses and orbiting rock. Imprisons Diinkarazan, one of the two gods of the [[derro]]. Space itself is warped.

'''Goranthis:''' 597th layer

A little demonic [[Magical Realm|slice of paradise]]. This pleasure-palace and the surrounding gardens are the realm of [[Socothbenoth|Socothbenoth, the Persuader]] who rules from atop his [[/d/|Palace of Quivering Flesh]].

'''Shubgottia, The Endless Maze:''' 600th layer

Ruled by [[Baphomet]], Prince of Beasts. He lets [[Pale Night]], a ghost looking entity, the mother of demons allegedly, have a castle here as well though she rarely does anything. Lyktion is his palace and at his ''Tower of '''Fucking''' Science'' he experiments and creates new demon breeds and such. He has vast armies of beastmen looking demons and is revered by the minotaurs. He is smart, savage, one of the top tier princes, and is not to be fucked with. He began as a mortal creature, either as a beast that lived as a man or a man that lived as a beast, and was cursed by the gods, though obviously he made the best of it.

'''Conflagratum:''' 601rst layer

Ruled by Alzrius, Lord of the Flowing Flame. He usually manifests himself as a pillar of fire and leads his legions to the burning of all [[bitches]].

'''Caverns of the Skull:''' 643rd layer

Kali again, ''Planescape'' edition. The authors decided that reading Sanskrit would be too hard so just watched ''Temple Of Doom'' for this one.

'''Zionyn:''' 663rd layer

Ruled by [[Obox-ob]], Prince of Vermin. As an obyrith and, perhaps, the last surviving aspect of the old Prince of Demons, he plots here to dethrone Demogorgon and to run all [[tanar'ri]] off the Abyss.

'''Unnamed Layer:''' 665th layer

A layer with gravity and atmosphere but nothing to stand on, spells that prevent or slow down falling do not work, and all portals connected to it go in but not out, so if you stumble into it and can't teleport out or have someone rescue you, you will endlessly fall until you die of dehydration or get ripped apart by the air friction.

'''Bottomless Pit:''' 666th layer

Ruled by the Demon Lord Abaddon, Prince of Apocalypse. The center of the layer is a literal black hole singularity that is slowly eating away at all of creation and the Abyss. Anything that enters the singularity, known as the Maelstrom, is lost forever. It is theorized by the [[Fraternity of Order]] in [[Sigil]] that a portion of the energy devoured by the Maelstrom is used to keep [[Tharizdun]] imprisoned, which is a bit ironic on a plane devoted to chaos and evil.

'''Abyssian Ocean:''' Many layers

The Abyssian Ocean is not really a layer of the abyss, but is a vast ocean that connects to all of the oceans that exist in the abyss and so spans across many layers, making it a useful way of traveling around the abyss. No demon lord rules over the Abyssian Ocean as it is protected by the extremely powerful myrmyxicuses, who rule it in floating citadels made of bone, shells, and coral.

=Inhabitants=
The main race in the Abyss are demons. There are four different categories of demons: The [[Tanar'ri]], the [[Obyrith]]s, the [[Loumara]]s, and everything else. The Tanar'ri are the only ones who ever get shit accomplished. They are also the "most numerous". This may owe to Georg Cantor's metamathematic: the number of rational numbers (aleph-null, the smallest possible infinity) is infinite but countable (You can count them using a pattern but can't finish) but the number of all real numbers including irrational numbers (possibly aleph-one) is infinite and uncountable (No pattern of counting them can include all of them) - so some infinities are greater than others. The demon ''princes'' are finite: most Tanar'ri, though there are some Obyriths.

The petitioners in the Abyss are called manes, and become a low caste of Tanar'ri. If they survive for a very long time, they can be promoted up into the ranks of the not-worthless, and even to demon lords if they're cunning enough. This is how [[Orcus]] got his start.

Most of the chaotic evil deities live in the Abyss as well, for obvious reasons, including the aforementioned Great Mother and Lolth (depending on edition). Deities here are also called demon lords, because that's generally just a title and not any kind of useful disambiguation. Also because there's plenty of layers to go around so if you've got the power you might as well rule one.

==Why You Really REALLY Shouldn't Come Here==
Whenever some berk (that's an idiot, in Sigil cant) drops by here, there's a chance she gets killed. It's often the case that said berk wasn't Chaotic Evil herself. In the Outer Planes, undead as such don't exist - yeah, we know, Orcus but here we're really dealing with the damned in the ''form'' of undead. So a decent person getting into the dead-book on the Abyss ''should'' have her soul end up in a final rest suited for her true alignment. Anywhere but here.

As one final barbed grind up the arse, that depends on ''how'' one dies here. Here are some chaotic energies so mighty and blasphemous that it twists a person's body and soul into a special, Abyssal sort of unlife. Such a wretch is a [[Bodak]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:World Axis Plain of 1000 Portals.png|A map of Pazunia's [[World Axis]] counterpart.
File:Pazunia 3e.jpg|Pazunia
File:Grand abyss 3e.jpg|The Grand Abyss
File:Twelvetrees 3e.jpg|Twelvetrees
File:Abysm.jpg|The brine flats in Abysm
File:Drooling jungle 3e.jpg|The Drooling Jungle in Hollow's Heart
File:Shedaklah 3e.jpg|A map of Shedaklah
</gallery>

{{OuterPlanes}}

Demon Prince

2020-08-12T06:12:01Z

2601:203:480:4C60:2D0D:20E2:7A6B:6002: /* Sertrous */

:''This is the [[D&D]] and [[Pathfinder]] creature, not to be confused with [[Warhammer]]'s [[Daemon Prince]]s''

'''Demon Princes''' are a specific breed of lesser (though how "lesser" varies from edition to edition, with them being literally equivalent to lesser deities in 1e, which meant they were at least as powerful as most deities) tier evil [[God]] in the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Pathfinder]]. As their name suggests, they are [[Tanar'ri]] who have managed to claw their way to a position of particular power and influence amongst their kind. They may even be worshipped by some evil races as patron gods, though usually they are not "full-tier" gods, thusly allowing [[adventurers]] to bust into their homes and beat the shit out of them.

Emphasis on ''usually'': some Demon Princes have managed to secure a position of such power that they are full-fledged gods, so fighting with them isn't a really good idea. The most traditional example in D&D is [[Lolth]], who is not only the Demon Queen of Spiders, but also the patron god of the [[Drow]], a position that saw her promoted to a "corebook deity" in 4th edition. Likewise, in Pathfinder, the Demon Queen of Monsters, Mutation and Miscarriages, [[Lamashtu]], is a full-fledged god and stands as a counterpoint to [[Asmodeus]] the [[Archdevil]]-turned-God.

==Tanar'ri==
The vast majority of Demon Princes are Tanar'ri and attained their position early on in their existence. Others rose to power over the course of eons, usurping another to take their place.

===[[Baphomet]]===
Baphomet, the lord of the [[minotaur]]s, is a massive bull-headed brute. He revels in combat, but prefers to put his powerful-looking opponents into a magical maze and trample the smaller ones before crushing the big ones. His most common followers include minotaurs, bulezau and goristro demons, fiendish or half-fiendish minotaurs and Awakened animals such as dire animals or [[dinosaur]]s. His ultimate goal is nothing less than the destruction of all civilization, and the descent of all life into violent, bestial savagery.

Baphomet's cult is on the rise, often finding worship in rural areas by evil [[druid]]s and [[ranger]]s, preaching the gospel of a nature deity of vengeance that will deliver the common folk from the evil machinations of city-dwellers, eventually swaying them to his cause. From there, armies of fanatical Luddites, many bearing [[Beastmen|physical manifestations of his influence]], swarm out to raze towns and slaughter those who live in them.

Baphomet lives in the Endless Maze, the 600th layer of the [[Abyss]]. He shares this layer with the [[Obyrith]] Pale Night, with whom he has some kind of understanding: neither of them encroach on each other's territories and they will help each other when one of them is invaded by one of their foes.

===[[Demogorgon]]===
The current Prince of Demons, a title largely contested only by Orcus and, to a much lesser extent, Graz'zt. He has the shape of a two-headed baboon with tentacles instead of arms and a theropod's legs and tail. His left head is called Aameul and has a silver tongue that can charm any creature, while the right head, Hethradiah, can cause insanity. They seek to dominate or kill one another, just as their combined self seeks to slay or overpower all life. Demogorgon is a fearsome foe in battle, capable of rotting flesh from bones with but a caress of its tentacles and draining the energy of anyone slapped by its tail.

Demogorgon has few followers amongst the humanoid races, but he has many amongst the more monstrous people. [[Yuan-ti]], troglodytes, ixitxachitl and hosts of demons worship Demogorgon as their lord. These cults are depraved and engage in all manner of horrific rituals and sacrifices to their lord. Humanoids rarely worship him as cults, but individuals dedicated to the Prince of Demons tend to be just as dangerous, given that they are quite often high-ranking members of society, and his influence is thought to be the source of many monstrous versions of natural creatures, like ettins and merrow.

Demogorgon's layer of The Gaping Maw is the 88th of the Abyss. While it's a tropical realm with plenty of water it is not a hospitable plane, with many different kinds of demons roving the surface and the ocean looking for things to devour. Demogorgon runs the great city of Lemoriax that is one of the premier slave markets in the Great Wheel. He frequently stalks through his city to whip his followers into a frenzy. His layer is linked to the next layer, Dagon's home of Shadowsea. The two are allied, which effectively means they stay off of each other's backs.

He was also a ''motherfucker'' of a bonus boss in ''[[Baldur's Gate|Throne of Bhaal]]'', even if actually fighting him was definitely not the smart move there.

===[[Fraz-Urb'luu]]===
The Prince of Deception, Fraz-Urb'luu is a great pale plue winged monster with surprising magical ability. He is the patron of evil illusionists and tricksters, so powerful that he can easily summon demons and even other demon lords, though he prefers to not do the latter all that much because does not want to piss Demogorgon off any more than he already does.

Fraz-Urb'luu was one of [[Zagig]]'s prisoners below Castle [[Greyhawk]], trapped in a bas-relief for more than two centuries. When he was finally freed by a bunch of [[adventurers]], whom he repaid by wrecking their gear and casting them into the Abyss. [[Eldrad|What a dick.]] Back in the 176th layer of the Abyss, Hollow's Heart, he spent time rebuilding his realm and searching for his magic staff. If he succeeds, his first order of business would be to visit terrible vengeance upon the world of man.

Cults of Deception pose as cults of exciting but obscure deities and try to convert people to their cause... only to be sacrificed to the Prince of Deception. His followers include large numbers of other deceptive demons, including [[Succubus|succubi]], lilitu and a group of Chaotic Evil [[Rakshasa]] called the Hollow Rajas.

===[[Graz'zt]]===
The Dark Prince Graz'zt is something of an anomaly amongst the princes of the Abyss. While the others all possess some degree of cleverness, at the end of the day they will use brute force to get what they want. Not so much in Graz'zt's case. He is skilled in the ways of seduction, guile, politics and plotting in ways that go beyond the abilities of even the most intelligent princes of hell. [[4e]] suggested that this is because Graz'zt is an exiled [[Baatezu|devil]], but this is the only version that posed this option. While by far the weakest of the three in terms of raw hitting power, Graz'zt's genius and cunning ensure that he remains a strong rival to both Demogorgon and Orcus.

He resembles a tall, handsome humanoid with goat legs, horns, six fingered hands and yellow eyes that betray him for what he really is. Graz'zt has a massive libido and counts many female priests, [[succubus|succubi]], [[harpy|harpies]], [[marilith]]s, [[lamia]], [[monstergirls|you name it]] amongst his followers, with the odd male equivalent here and there for variety's sake. The closest of these are called the Chosen (with the suggestion he chooses them to join him in his bed). He also has more offspring than any other demon lord, with many of the closest members of his court, including his chief general and personal assassin, being his own children.

While he is of great intelligence, he has met his match in a mortal, the witch-queen [[Iggwilv]]. She managed to trap him on the Material Plane to learn from the demon. The two of them eventually became lovers, culminating in the birth of a child. Said child turned out to be [[Iuz]], who became a major player in the world of [[Greyhawk]]. Graz'zt slowly figured out that Iggwilv did not want to let him go back to his home. So he waited and plotted, eventually breaking free in a battle that cost Iggwilv most of her resources. But she escaped and was lured into the Abyss by the Dark Prince. She in turn was used by Graz'zt to regain his lost powers and grow stronger before ''she'' escaped. The two of them are currently in a mutual love-hate relationship, each trying to exploit the other to increase their power even as, to the extent that either of them are capable of positive emotions, they genuinely enjoy one another's company.

Graz'zt's realm is the largest in all of the Abyss. Covering the 45th, 46th and 47th layers of the Abyss, Azzagrat's primary attraction is the city of Zelatar, which somehow exists on all three layers at the same time. Each layer hosts a different neighbourhood, and Graz'zt's citadel on the center layer. It is also one of the more popular destinations in the Abyss for travelers to visit, featuring markets full of rare goods and comparatively better-behaved demons, but those who think that that translates to "safe" are as foolish as those who think that Graz'zt's hedonism and hunger for pleasure over raw power makes him any less evil or dangerous than the likes of Orcus or Demogorgon, whom already have a large size advantage over him in a fight.

===[[Juiblex]]===
The Faceless Lord Juiblex lords over all oozes, slimes and jellies. This is not a paricularly difficult task given the mindless nature of these creatures and Juiblex' lack of tact regarding such issues. He resmbles a massive puddle of green slime filled with eyes swimming around in it and pseudopods drippingwith ooze. This apperance was later changed, and by that, literally photoshopped to a Shoggoth's colour scheme, because Pathfinder did it, so it must sell. His goals are simple: destroy everything that is not like him. He wants to kill and corrode everything in existence, destroying whatever it can touch with its oozing appendages, until all life, everywhere, is as formless and protean as he is. This makes him very unpopular with the other demon lords and all stay away from his layer as much as possible.

Juiblex has few cultists given that his charges are almost exclusively of low intelligence. When a deranged humanoid takes up the worship of the Faceless Lord it is quite possible that Juiblex doesn't really care about these worshippers, and even when an intelligent ooze such as Darkness Given Hunger, a Black Pudding possessed by a Hezrou, worships him, Juiblex cares little. The amusing fact that he doesn't give a shit means PCs who follow him are incredibly flexible (pun intended) because entry to his worship means the acidic dissolution of Any poor sap overseen by a number of slimes. His base nature, infact leaves most forms of organization to his cults, who if not insane or fanatic could easily build an interesting infrastructure to their lords benefit, if not moreso their own, I.E turn everyone into slimes and destroy everyone else, and have everlasting shapeshifting shoggoth sex, Praise Juiblex!

One Origin for the faceless lord had him as a deity that lost his face in retaliation from the other gods for sympathizing with Demons in the older times, being thrown into the abyss as a result, and becoming an ever-shifting protean mass as a result, his soul locked in a prison.

On that note, his PrC is great if Stacked with the OozeMaster PrC, polymorph into a Gibbering mouther and use size category increasing cheese to become a Shoggoth capable of multiple slime attacks, unlimited slime summonings and all sorts of fun, nevermind how this can extend to Ghaunadaur worship as Juiblex was once an Avatar for the nonsensical primordial deity of oozes and slimes.

Juiblex lives on the 222nd layer of the Abyss named Shedaklah. He contests for control of this plane with Zuggtmoy, the Queen of Fungi. While she had the upper hand for a while, since the events with [[Iuz]] getting his ass handed to him and the famous adventure in the Temple of Elemental Evil, Juiblex has gained a lot of territory, currently battling with the forces of the Queen of Fungi and slowly gaining ground.

===[[Kostchtchie]]===
Demon Prince of Frost, racial patron god of frost giants. Is additionally summable by chanting his name, which gets you a Hastur-tier death if you're not prepared for the consequences

===[[Lolth]]===
The Spider Queen is a former elven goddess, and is now the ruler of all [[drow]], spiders, poison, and other fluffy things.

===[[Malcanthet]]===
Malcanthet, the Queen of the Succubi is a being of unparalleled beauty and cruelty. Taking the shape of an alluring succubus she prefers to let others do the fighting for her, either summoned minions or enslaved attackers. Befitting her status of the Queen of the Succubi she really gets around: aside from her usual trysts, she has Pazuzu and Demogorgon as her most frequent lovers, having sired several powerful succubi with the former and and unspeakable abominations with the latter. She has had short affairs with most of the other demon lords at some point or another, but these were mainly flings for her private benefit. Yeenoghu is one of her enemies, the two of them still being embittered by the other foiling their plot to corrupt the same family of nobles, ending with the entire family being destroyed instead. Her relationship with Graz'zt is actually even worse: each claims that the other spurned their advances, and, deeply embittered, the two have been at war ever since. Her servants include, aside from succubi and lilitus, lamias, harpies, and fiendish nymphs.

Malcanthet lives on the 570th layer of the Abyss, a layer called Shendilavri. It is of unmatched beauty, surpassing even some of the heavens as a paradise. Here she lives in the city of Rivenheart, where all desires can be sated. Every imaginable perversion, debauchery and experience can be found here. Malcanthet's palace has no doors, and all are invited to enter and experience what lies within its forbidden halls. While thousands of people from all over the planes enter to find bliss within, few leave, and all ultimately realize that Shendilavri is a paradise only for Malcanthet herself.

===[[Miska the Wolf-Spider]]===
The right-hand man and lover of the Queen of Chaos, Miska the Wolf-Spider is one of the most dreaded demon lords in existence. Resembling a nightmarish [[Drider]] with a spiked and armored spider lower body, the upper body of a pale, handsome, four-armed human with long black hair and a pair of red-haired wolf heads sprouting from his shoulders. Once the foremost servant and lover of the Queen of Chaos, she appointed this Tanar'ri as the Prince of Demons, the first to bear that title. This, combined with Miska's skill as a general and a warrior and the victories he achieved massive numbers of demons flocked to his service. Eventually he was defeated at the Battle of Pesh, where one of the [[Wind Dukes of Aaqa]] pierced him with the [[Rod of Seven Parts]]. The Prince of Demons wailed in anguish as his blood covered the Rod, corrupted and shattered it. If it had not been for the Rod breaking Miska would have perished, and instead he went through a planar rift. Some of the Wind Dukes followed him, imprisoned Miska and the citadel he was in in a great cocoon of pure law and cast him into the depths of [[Pandemonium]], where he remains to this day.

In his prison Miska can do little harm, but only partially because of the prison itself. When he was injured by the Rod of Seven Parts his abilities were crippled, rendering him at only a shadow of his former self. On the other hand this made him next to indestructible: [[Perpetual|even if he were to be turned to ash he can simply rebuild himself.]] If he were to get his hands onto the fully restored Rod of Seven Parts he would be fully restored and become able to leave the cocoon of law to join his beloved Queen and continue on their bloody crusade. The plus side to this is that restoring Miska to his full powers will make him vulnerable again, and allows for him to be permanently destroyed.

Actually destroying him is a daunting task: his armored body is resistant to blunt weapons, and slashing and piercing weapons draw his acidic blood that is both dangerous to an attacker and their weapon. It is in fact so lethal that it might kill an attacking instantly and disintegrate a weapon coated in the Wolf-Spider's blood. Miska himself wields deadly weapons in is powerful arms: a scimitar that can disintegrate lawful opponents, one that strikes at blinding speeds and two magical morning stars, each of whom he wields with deadly precision.

Miska commands the respect or fear of the Spyder-Fiends, monstrous spiders with the heads of wolves and clawed humanoid arms in the more powerful cases. While some resent serving Miska, they do not dare anger him or his master, the Queen of Chaos.

===[[Orcus]]===
Looking and acting like the forbidden lovechild of [[Khorne]] and [[Nagash]], Orcus is the Prince of the Undead. Entry requirements to worship him involve contracting a Feat based STD from Necrophilia, and generally doing horrid things that probably earn their place in the Book of Vile Darkness. According to Gary Gygax, he is responsible for the creation of undead universally when he cast a dweomer that killed everyone on his native plane when he was alive, following this, he ended up in the Abyss and worked his way up the demonic ladder. Sources state he ended up in the Abyss for doing something horrible, but this isn't in the official post Gygax material

===[[Yeenoghu]]===
The King of the [[Gnoll]]s, Yeenoghu is a savage beast. Despite not being the most powerful of the demon lords, his savagery and that of his followers still makes him a powerful opponent. This became clear when he and his forces invaded the layer above his own, the White Kingdom. This layer was ruled by Doresain, the King of the Ghouls. When his armies were destroyed, Doresain swore fealty to Yeenoghu for the sake of self-preservation, forsaking his old master Orcus. Because of Orcus' recent plots his attention has been elsewhere, and it is as of yet unknown how he will reply to this treason.

Yeenoghu's greatest desire is to have the Material Plane inhabited by his chosen people, the gnolls. A world where his people are the dominant race, and all [[human]]s, [[elves]], [[dwarves]] and [[halfling]]s are either slaves or food. But he understands that gnolls alone are not numerous enough to achieve this goal, and as such he allows cults of other races to serve him. One of the most powerful of these cults, originating from the Maure family, was finally getting somewhere when Malcanthet ''also'' tried to corrupt them, resulting in a self-destructive downward spiral that wiped out all of the humans. They have resented each other ever since, with Yeenoghu sending frequent raids into Shendilavri to destroy it. These attacks have always been held at bay, but he hopes to one day destroy her and her realm. The King of the Gnolls also has a violent hatred for Baphomet, perhaps due to their similarity, against whom he frequently wages war to little result.

Yeenoghu's realm is called exactly that, Yeenoghu's Realm, perhaps reflecting its master's lack of imagination. Located on the 422th layer of the Abyss it is covered in a great savanna where packs of feral gnolls, other hyena-like creatures, and worse monsters make their home, preying on visitors, one another, and even the servants of Yeenoghu. The King of the Gnolls himself lives in a great palace drawn by thousands of slaves across the plane past various points of interest at a speed of about one year per round.

===[[Zuggtmoy]]===
Zuggtmoy, The Queen of Fungi is an ambitious but not very successful demon lord. Given her domain over fungi and mushrooms she has difficulty finding people to worship them. So she opts with having to disguise her influence, creating cover cults that her own followers kept in line so that they could stay in charge. The Temple of Elemental Evil was such an endeavor, and it worked pretty well for a while, only for everything to spectacularly backfire when the Circle of Eight destroyed the cult and imprisoned her. She managed to escape the Material Plane at the cost of a good deal of her essence, only to discover that her enemy Jubilex had conquered a good deal of her home layer in the meanwhile.

Aside from her rivalry with Jubilex, she has frequently been at odds with [[Lolth]] prior to her gaining significant power as a deity, putting her a class above the Queen of Fungi. On her home layer of Shedaklah she lives in a palace built from the largest fungi in the multiverse, rising more than four miles into the air. Here she conducts horrific experiments and plots to gain foothold on the Material Plane and to defeat the hated Jubilex.

==Obyrith==
While the Tanar'ri are created from the petitioners of the Abyss, they were not the first beings to live there. Those were the Obyrith, creatures of Chaos. When the first mortal souls entered the Abyss they did not know what to do with them and so began to experiment, slowly creating a servant race to fight for them against the forces of Law.

===[[Dagon]]===
Demon Prince of the Sea, an antediluvian aquatic horror who serves as Demogorgon's most loyal advisor ia also, pretty much H.P lovecraft's Dagon, with his servants the Kuoa-Toa being the effective replacement for Deep Ones though without the crossbreeding, his mortal thralls sort of just mutilate themselves into fish creatures in his service. He likes spellcasters of all sorts and wants to flood the earth, is allied with Demogogron

===[[Pale Night]]===
If there is one creature that is the mother of all demons (literally), then it would probably be her. Some texts say she is the mother of specific demon princes. Others say she is the mother of tanar'ri race. When asked about this by reporters, Pale Night has refused to comment on the claims. Pale Night's appearance is so horrific that reality itself refuses to accept it and hides her with a shroud. Seeing what she ''actually'' looks like prompts a high Fort save. If you succeed, then congratulations, you're still alive because your mind didn't process what your eyes saw. She literally does nothing but harrass Eldarin children on her Layer of he Abyss like a Saturday morning cartoon villain, and is responsible for the "pseudonatural template" which is uselessly used by the Alienist Prestige class.

===[[Pazuzu]]===
Demon Prince of Air, master of the skies of the Abyss, and a demon with a pretty chill attitude. In D&D, he's the "big shot", but in Pathfinder, he's been dethroned in importance by his ex-girlfriend Lamashtu. He's also Starfox Falco levels of furbait sexy, and can be summoned like Hastur, just say his name more than thrice and he'll appear for you to bargain off your alignment for power.

===[[The Queen of Chaos]]===
Even older than Pale Night. She once was the ruler of the Obyrith race. She created the Tanar'ri, but this backfired on her when her lover [[Miska the Wolf-Spider]] got imprisoned and the rest of the Tanar'ri rebelled.

===[[Sertrous]]===
Demon Prince of Heretics from the [[Elder Evils]] book. Was originally a demon prince of parasites who refused to serve the Queen of Chaos and as a result was personally killed by her, but his spirit escaped to material plane and possessed a snake and turned it into his new body. An angel named Avamerin was sent to kill Sertrous when he began sending armies of snakes to harass mortals, but just before Avamerin could kill Sertrous, he revealed the secret that clerics could gain their spells without needing to worship a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and decapitated him, and brought back his head. Avamerin shared the words Sertrous had said, which resulted in the appearance of godless clerics. Avamerin got punished for this and betrayed his masters to serve Sertrous. Sertrous still remains a powerless snake skull but he is slowly returning to life as he gains more worshipers. He is worshiped mainly by [[Yuan-ti]] who claim that he is their true creator.

{{D&D-DemonPrinces}}
{{D&D-Outsiders}}

==Pathfinder==
===[[Abraxus]]===
Demon Prince of Magic, Forbidden Lore and Snakes, known as the Master of the Final Incantation due to his arsenal of deadly and unique magical spells and formulas including the "Final Incantation", which can unmake magic with a single word.

===[[Aldinach]]===
Demon Princess of Sand, Scorpions and Thirst, whose cult is predominant in the desert regions. Most notable for her descent from Lamashtu and her bitter rivalry with her half-sister Areshkagal. Title: She of the Six Venoms.

===[[Andirifkhu]]===
Demon Queen of Illusions, Traps and Knives, the Razor Princess is a secretive and cunning killer particularly favored by sadists, torturers, trap-makers, assassins, murderers and evil illusionists.

===[[Angazhan]]===
Demon Prince of Apes, Jungles and Brutal Tyranny, the Ravenous King is one of the lesser Demon Princes, mostly restricted to worship by his savage [[Chara-kur]] ape-men creations.

===[[Areshkagal]]===
Demon Princess of Greed, Magical & Mundane Portals, and Riddles, the Faceless Sphinx fights a constant war against her half-sister Aldinach due to She of the Six Venoms having usurped the Faceless' Sphinx's original abyssal kingdom.

===[[Cyth-V'sug]]===
Demon Prince of Disease, Fungus and Parasites; despite certain similarities in appearance and portfolio, should not be confused with [[Xhamen-Dor]], the [[Cthulhu Mythos|Great Old One]] of Decay, Parasites and Transformation.

===[[Deskari]]===
Demon Prince of Chasms, Infestations and Locusts; known as the son of Pazuzu via some giant, monstrous demonic insect, the Lord of The Locust Host may potentially be a cousin to either Aldinach or Areshkagal. Is most notable for having created and maintained the Worldwound on [[Golarion]].

===[[Flauros]]===
Demon Prince of Fire, Salamanders and Volcanoes, the Burning Maw fights to defend his rulership over salamanders from an elemental lord named Ymeri, the Mistress of Fire.

===[[Gogunta]]===
Demon Queen of Amphibians, Boggards and Swamps, the Song of the Swamp actually claims rulership over a tiny part of Dagon's realm; because she has yet to be destroyed for this, her cult and Dagon's cult are often friendly towards each other.

===[[Haagenti]]===
Demon Prince of Alchemy, Invention and Transformation, not to be confused with the the [[Vestige]] connected to Frost Giants, Hill Giants and Minotaurs in the lore of the [[Binder]]s.

===[[Jezelda]]===
Demon Queen of Desolation, the Moon and Werewolves; ironically, despite the usual connections drawn to such powers, the Mistress of the Hungry Moon has never claimed to be the origin of all werewolves.

===[[Kabriri]]===
Demon Prince of [[Ghoul]]s, Graves and Secrets Kept By The Dead, the demon prince known as Him Who Gnaws is generally believed to be the damned soul of the first cannibal (and a fratricidal one at that), and the reason why ghouls cannot paralyze elves (and can mutate into elf-like forms) is because he was supposedly an elf in life.

===[[Lamashtu]]===
A Pathfinder-only Demon Queen and goddess, mother of all "manbeast" races such as [[minotaur]]s, [[harpy|harpies]], [[gnolls]] and [[medusa]]s. In fact, two of her most powerful daughters have become Demon Princesses in their own right; Aldinach and Areshkagal.

===[[Mazmezz]]===
Demon Queen of Binding, [[Drider]]s and Vermin, the grotesquely insectile Creeping Queen has the soul of a /d/eviant, using her powers of illusion to assume seductive guises in order to acquire more trophy-spouses for her hideous harem.

===[[Mestama]]===
Demon Queen of Cruelty, Deception and [[Hag]]s, the infamously misandric Mother of Witches bitterly hates the demi-goddess [[Gyronna]] for having stolen the position of Queen of All Hags from her.

===[[Nocticula]]===
Demon Queen of Assassins, Darkness and Lust, Our Lady In Shadow was actually the very first [[succubus]] to exist in Golarion, seducing and murdering her way into power. Sister and sometimes lover of Socothbenoth.

===[[Nurgal]]===
Demon Prince of Deserts, the Sun and Senseless Warfare, the Shining Scourge should not be confused with [[Nurgle]], as he has no plague-related powers. Former lover of Areshkagal, he may also be Socothbenoth's half-brother, but he hates the Demon Prince of Perversion.

===[[Shax]]===
Demon Prince of Envy, Lies and Violent Murder, the Blood Marquis is of course the favored patron of serial killers, and competes with Andirifikhu for worship by torturers.

===[[Shivaska]]===
Demon Queen of Aberrations, Clocks and Prisons, the Chained Maiden has a disturbing interest in scaring kids and bondage.

===[[Sifkesh]]===
Demon Queen of Hopeless Despair, Heresy and Suicide, the Sacred Whore loves to tempt devout worshippers and priestly types into heresy, eating their souls when they commit suicide out of grief upon realizing their betrayal.

===[[Socothbenoth]]===
Demon Prince of Pride, Perversion and Taboos, the Silken Prince is Nocticula's brother and occasional lover, as well as the demonic patron of [[/d/]].

===[[Urxhel]]===
Demon Prince of Natural Disasters, Storms and Trolls, unlike most "racial patron" demon lords, the Trollfather actually ''despises'' his children and so is worshipped only in an effort to stop him destroying them all.

===[[Xoveron]]===
Demon Prince of Gargoyles, Gluttony and Ruins, the four-headed Horned Prince seeks the emptying of all cities to create a world in which he and his children can feed.

===[[Yhidothrus]]===
Demon Prince of Age, Time and Worms, worshipped by those driven to desperation out of their hatred of time's encroach, the Ravager Worm is a patron of many [[lich]]es.

===[[Zevgavizeb]]===
Demon Prince of Vast Caverns, Reptiles and Troglodytes, an immensely gluttonous and lazy squamous horror who rules an Abyssal realm set up as a mad hollow earth.

===[[Zura]]===
Demon Queen of Blood, Cannibalism and Vampires, this uniquely powerful and depraved succubus has a complicated relationship with [[Urgathoa]], with the Vampire Queen being as likely to make common cause with the Pallid Princess as to fight for worshippers.

{{Pathfinder-Fiends}}
{{Pathfinder-DemonPrinces}}

Abyss

2020-08-12T05:59:37Z

2601:203:480:4C60:2D0D:20E2:7A6B:6002: /* Inhabitants */

[[File:Abyss layers 3e.webp|thumb|right|300px]]
{{Topquote|1=During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.|2= Thomas Hobbes}}
'''The Infinite Layers of the Abyss''' is the [[Alignment|Chaotic Evil]] [[plane]] in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'s'' [[Great Wheel]] cosmology. It's home to an infinite number of [[demon]]s, the Chaotic Evil fiends. Expect [[METAL]].

The plane is such a mess of chaos and upheaval that it doesn't even stay the same in basic state from time to time, which is another way of saying the writers can't keep it straight and [[retcon|change it]] whenever it's convenient. It's an infinite plane, like the others, but actually has an infinite number of different layers as well, meaning that the aforementioned changes might just be an examination of a different subset of layers. According to one faction in the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting it also specifically has 666 layers, [[Derp|because that's totally the same as infinite.]] Then again, it's one of the chaotic planes, so not making sense is probably [[Just As Planned|the whole idea]] (ignoring the fact that [[Arborea]] is just as consistent as any of the Lawful planes).

It's also a plane in the [[World Axis]] cosmology of D&D too, but here is a more modestly sized "universe-swallowing" vortex of corruption and evil that lies in the [[Elemental Chaos]], created when [[Tharizdun]] planted a crystallized shard of pure evil from the dying universe of the [[obyrith]]s in the Elemental Chaos.

In the [[World of Darkness]] games, the Abyss is a realm of cold blackness from which [[shade]]s and [[Demon#In_the_World_of_Darkness|demons]] and the [[Wyrm|god of Oblivion]] hail, and from which [[vampires]] wielding [[Obtenebration]] summon either a black ectoplasmic substance for various effects, such as the creation of tentacles, or a raw [[Entropy|Oblivionic]] energy for disintegrating targets. Thematically it is closer to [[D&D]]'s [[Negative Energy Plane]] or [[Shadowfell]] plane.

==Notable Layers==
Most of the layers are often described as containing wildly different inhospitable biomes, sometimes on the same layer side-by-side. All of them are full of the kind of [[Slaanesh|Chaoticy-Evilly fuckery you'd expect]], so none of them are great places for vacation homes. The named layers are also given numbers, but given that they are in no way consistently arranged in space, those numbers are meaningless and changed often (except for the first one). Officially, though, they are numbered in order of their discovery by mortals.

The descriptions are, naturally, weighted to the lower numbers.

A major source for the below is the Planescape box, ''Planes of Chaos''.

'''Pazunia:''' 1st layer

The Plane of Infinite Portals, and the way you get to any of the others. It's covered in giant sinkholes, each one a portal to another layer of the Abyss. This is also the layer that the [[River Styx]] flows through on its path from [[Pandemonium]] to [[Acheron]]. Iron fortresses on this layer are also where Demon Princes leave their bodies when they're busy roaming around the [[Astral Plane]]. Dozens of minor demon princes co-rule this layer, though, officially, [[Pazuzu]] is in charge. The Grand Abyss is sometimes the 4th layer and Pazunia is the Styx shorelines.

This is one of the great battlefields of the Blood War. Mostly, this is a staging ground for the various demon hordes being flung at the [[Baator|Nine Hells]], but that creates a whole set of problems by itself. As some of you may already know, beings that are inherent Chaotic and Evil are just as likely to start axe-murdering one another as anything else. So put a million such beings of pure Chaotic Evil side by side in one place, and count the seconds until they just start killing each other instead of doing what they were told. Now, complicate that problem with the fact that some demon princes may actually want such an outburst to occur to weaken the forces of a rival. Now throw in yugoloth mercenaries turning stag on a demon employer (devils, after all, are much better at keeping their words on contracts and payments and the like). Toss in a force of devils being sent for scouting and/or raiding duties to better prepare for said horde before it even gets to Avernus. And finally, sprinkle in the dozens of other planars - celestials, adventurers, etc. - who are visiting and know that the best way to deal with an ornery demon is basically to fucking destroy it.

Now, it's not all murderhobos and axes to the face. There's a few fiends that run some odd little fortified establishments out here. Some are mercenaries who can press-gang enough demons to make it worth someone's effort to pay for it. There's even a few mercantile or entertainment venues around. But mostly, if you run into a fiend out here, you murder the shit out of it and hope it didn't have any friends who really gave a shit about it. This is the first layer of an infinite amount of Chaotic Evil, by the way; it only gets more fun the further down the spiral you go.

It should be noted that oddly, this is the most stable layer of the Abyss. No, really: it hasn't actually changed all that much, fundamentally, in all of existence. The demons that inhabit it, and who's running what, that does change, and yes, the land itself has been ripped up, rebuilt, wash, rinse, repeat. But this is basically where the teeming, seething primordial chaos of the Abyss touches reality, and thus this connection is by necessity stable. (Since if the Abyss disconnected, even temporarily, it would probably be adrift in the Astral, or possibly it would fuck off from reality altogether for the Far Realm; it's hard to say what the metaphysics of that scenario would look like.)

'''Driller's Hives:''' 2nd layer

This horrible place is one of the most unpleasantly inhospitable layers in all of the Abyss. It's not so much because of the indigenous fiendish insects who try to kill anything on sight, but because of how all visitors who enter risk contracting a horrible disease that causes the sufferer to break out in hatching insect eggs until the afflicted dies and decomposes into a mass of rot and insect eggs over the course of '''minutes.''' The addition of the giant, intelligent fiendish insect thralls of the ruler, Tharzax ''the Chattering Prince'', help make the whole place a big, sentient shit-sprinkle-covered crapcake of '''NOPE'''.

'''The Forgotten Land:''' 3rd layer

This is an almost endless landscape of empty ruins that suggest a once bustling city. No demons, other than the layer's Lord, Zzyczesiya ''The Ungrasped'', master of malevolent ignorance and confusion, come here. The place was abandoned due to a catastrophe, for which Zzyczesiya has been traditionally blamed, and now, entering the layer causes any sentient being's mind, even those of demons and sapient undead, to fritter away like moist cotton candy, leaving visitors as catatonic and braindead. Constructs are immune to the effects, and persistent visitors often use golem stand-ins to explore this godawful place. Allegedly, Zzyczesiya destroyed all the original inhabitants by accident, 1st through 3rd edition claiming by changing the course of the [[River Styx]], and was punished by imprisonment in the Wells of Darkness. Zzyczesiya would escape, and return to the Forgotten Land in order to use the power of this layer to unremember something really, really, really horrible (possibly a first draft of the script for ''Gigli'').

'''The Grand Abyss:''' 4th layer

What starts as a gaping chasm on the first layer is an infinitely deep pit where the walls are dotted with portals which connect to all of the other layers in the plane. Navigation is tricky because the only dimensions of relevance are vertical, so you need to either fly or be a patient climber. This place was created by the now-dead Lord, Asima ''The Unanticipated'', who apparently died because she(?) didn't anticipate pissing off the Queen of Chaos enough to assassinate her. Now, Asima's corpse lies in her tomb, the Tumulus of Abhorrence, which is filled with treasure and secrets, and is guarded by her "seraph," a super-demon named "Guardian of the Gates" who pretty much super-kills anyone unlucky enough to encounter him. Guardian of the Gates periodically leaves his master's tomb to harass/super-kill schmucks in the Grand Abyss, as per his master's original orders: adventurers stupid enough to think that there are no other defenders of the Tumulus tend to die screaming.

'''Realm of a Million Eyes:''' 6th layer

Home of the [[Great Mother]], princess of the Beholders. Presumably not a great place to be for anyone else, because no one's ever bothered to describe it in detail.

'''Phantom Plane:''' 7th layer

Ruled by Sess'lnnek the other god of the [[lizardfolk]]. He grew bored with the Tanar'ri's Blood War, withdrew and officially closed the layer off so that no one can enter without his explicit permission.

'''Skin-shedder:''' 8th layer

Ruled by Volisupula the Flensed Marquesse, lord of ostentatious finery. The layer itself makes you more evil the longer you stay there. Tieflings are immune.

'''Burningwater:''' 9th layer

Acid ocean, so the crustaceans and fish have shells of silica.

'''That Hellhole:''' 10th layer

It's the body of an actual fiend. The dwarf who found this place got chewed up (through adamantite!) before beaming out of there.

'''Molrat:''' 11th layer

Dark tunnels, where the tanar'ri hunt by smell. Besides the demon horde the plane is more friendly to life than most.

'''Twelvetrees:''' 12th Layer

Definitely a place of horror, and a living example of why you can never, ever trust a demon.

Eons ago, some demons tricked some astral devas into having a meeting for the sake of peace. Basically, the powers from the Upper Planes saw the tanar'ri overthrow the obyriths, and thought maybe that the new fiends were "better" than the old ones. Big fucking mistake there: the demons turned on the angels, bound them to twelve of the biggest trees in the layer, and then performed a blasphemous arcane ritual that sacrificed them to the layer, allowing their eternal suffering to become fuel for all kinds of evil shit.

The angels can still be heard screaming, and a big altar now commemorates the site of the sacrifice, surrounded by twelve sickly pines that ooze some kind magically-infused slime. Evil-descriptor spells are Maximized and Extended automatically for free as a result of the power of the place. Demons make pilgrimages to the layer, to honor the screw job their kind put to the forces of good, and the overwhelming evil of the place is like a drug to the fiends, as they bask in a haze of quasi-religious ecstasy and basically don't give a shit what's happening around them, making it scarily easy for non-demons to wander around pretty freely (you only gotta dodge some chasmes that patrol the skies, maybe some kelvezus that look for intruders to murder).

But that's not all. See, someone figured out how to harness all that deliciously evil energy to create a new weapon of war: the ''ship of chaos''. This horrible thing is basically made of flesh, bone, and spirit; it's hull seems to be comprised of some kind of twisted, thick, ropelike fibers, woven into an organic mass of mottled white and yellow, with translucent blue blisters along the flanks. They are powered by the annihilation of soul larvae... meaning that the ship itself absolutely destroys souls beyond recovery in order to operate. It can generate an "entropy field" almost the length of 5 football fields that either drives beings insane or simply repulses them, and shoots waves of force out of the mouths at the front and back. It can warp itself to travel through small portals, but this causes magic stuff onboard to possibly break unless it is made from the Abyss, and tanar'ri and their kin aren't particularly messed up by the warping.

The scaffolds for these ships dot the area around Twelvetrees. Six have been completed for sure. There was a seventh ship in the 2nd edition Planescape adventure In The Abyss, but it's highly likely that it was destroyed. The 3rd edition supplement FC2: Hordes of the Abyss notes another seventh ship is being built, which seems likely. In theory, these ships will not only be awesome weapons to use against the devils, but will mean the demons don't need the yugoloths to help them travel to Baator anymore.

And all this time, the angels keep screaming.

'''Blood Tor:''' 13th Layer

Ruled by the Goddesses [[Beshaba]] and [[Umberlee]], from the [[Forgotten Realms]]. A plane of bad luck - including for tanar'ri, because the baatezu did a successful raid here early in the Blood War.

'''Steaming Fen:''' 14th Layer

Ruled by [[The Queen of Chaos]], the old Lord of Obyriths and creator of [[Demogorgon]].

'''Pleroma/Death's Reward:''' 17th layer

Ruled by demon prince Abraxas ''the Unfathomable''. He has a roosters head and a bunch of snakes for a lower body. He's big on magic and the occult. Diovengia is his city which houses some of the best libraries in the entire Abyss.

'''The Sixth Pyre:''' 21st layer

Ruled by Prince Kardum, the lord of Balors.

'''Ice Wastes:''' 23rd layer

[[Kostchtchie]] is the resident [[Demon Prince]]. An infinite expanse of jagged mountains, glaciers and frozen tundras. Kostchtchie commands a big army of frost giants which he used to further "conquer" his layer, when he isn't siccing them on other demon lords for laughing at him, or conquering other tribes of frost giants on the Prime Material Plane.

'''Sholo-Tovoth/ Fields of Consumption:''' 32rd layer

Ruled by [[Demon Prince]] [[Turaglas]], ''The Ebon Maw'', who was spawned directly from the Abyss. A 100% pure demon and therefore envied by [[Orcus]] and [[Demogorgon]] for this (Demogorgon was a creation of the Obyriths, while Orcus was a former mortal) who joined against him and imprisoned him for a while. His goal is to devour and destroy, he has spawned his own breed of demons, the turagathshee. The layer itself, like That Hellhole #10, tries to eat anyone that enters it that's not either Turaglas or one of his minions, with mouths and tongues popping up everywhere. Those minions number millions of insatiably hungry demons.

'''Azzagrat:''' 45th, 46th, and 47th Layers

Ruled by [[Graz'zt]], demon lord of depending on your source, A)tyrants, manipulation, and, unofficially, blatant nepotism, or B) [[Slaanesh| lust, hedonism, and incubi]]. There's a salt river that connects all three layers. [[Zelatar]] is a big, shiny, evil pastiche of the Emerald City of Oz that stretches across the three layers. Relatively well-behaved demons, not that it's saying much, as all of Graz'zt's minions know that Graz'zt torturing them to death for a minor screw up is the least he can do to them. Not a terrible place for a party, assuming it's [[Slaanesh|the right kind of party]].

'''Phage Breeding Ground:''' 53rd Layer

Ruled by Urae-Naas, a "female" [[slaad]] [[Demon Prince]]ss so bloated with eggs she can't walk anymore and has to drag herself along on her long arms and enormous tongue. Comprised from the interiors of the ever-rotting organs of her former boyfriend, the slain [[Archomental|Primordial]] Ramenos. Iconic local feature: screaming, insane humanoids sewn into the walls begging ceaselessly for help before she gets around to implanting her offspring in their bodies. Created in 4th edition, and probably lost with the change to 5th edition seeing as how Slaad are Chaotic Neutral in all non-4 editions.

'''Torturous Truth:''' 57th layer

Ruled by Alvarez the Purging Duke, the head of the demonic Inquisition. His forces investigate the tanar'ri for any signs of lawful behavior. His torture is notorious throughout the Abyss.

'''The Demonweb Pits:''' 66th layer usually

The place where [[Lolth]], the deity of the drow, and the rest of the drow pantheon, hangs out with her spiders. In [[Demonweb Pits|Jeff Grubb's entry]], the Demonweb was 65th and her actual abode on the 66th. In [[3e]] this was changed to be an entirely separate plane, though it's still connected to the Abyss.

'''Heavenly Hills:''' 67th layer

Swamps and hills, which swap places after (frequent) earthquakes. And varrangoin ruins.

'''Morgenta's Layer:''' 68th layer

Barren, "abandoned", and airless. No-one's named it but ''Planes of Chaos'' does have a name for the planewalker who survived to enter it into the list: Morgenta, the mage.

'''The Crushing Plain:''' 69th layer

A surface made up of chasme, manes, and lemures all "crawling over one another". ''Planes of Chaos'' claims they are avoiding suffocation but it's more likely they end up squished like bugs further down.

'''The Ice Floe:''' 70th layer

That ice would be ''thin'', over black running water. The cold acts as energy-drain. As to whence / whither the water flows, we're not told but we can guess probably the Styx.

'''Spirac:''' 71st layer

Tree-ferns and spiky mountains. A happy hunting ground like Molrat / #11. The demons might be friendlier, or maybe that's just because they got along better with the cutter who penned this entry.

'''Darklight:''' 72st layer

Visitors get a halo of darkness (if evil) or light (good). Either is a beacon for the demons here, who enslave the former and kill the latter.

'''[[Wells of Darkness]]:''' 73rd layer

A spa-cum-prison for some of the worst prisoners the plane could play host to. Jacuzzi tubs of black ink keep unspeakably powerful beings trapped beneath the surface, unable to get out, but perfectly conscious and able to communicate. The demons don't visit. It's amusing because the idea of an unbreakable prison on a chaotic plane constantly attracts ''break-in'' attempts by those who just want to prove otherwise.

'''Smargard:''' 74th layer

[[Merrshaulk]] rules here. He is the deity of the Yuan-ti snake men. Basically a nightmarish, evil, rainforest (one of several in the Abyss).

'''The Gates of Heaven:''' 77th layer

Actually not named ironically, it's apparently a gate to Celestia in the middle of a Chaotic Evil hell. Must be a really sturdy gate. Ruled by demon lords and brothers, Munkir and Nekir.

'''Abysm/The Gaping Maw:''' 88th layer

The realm of [[Demogorgon]]. Also known as "The Upside Down" thanks to ''Stranger Things''. Pretty much a tropical nightmare, with demon- and demonic-disease-infested jungles and a roiling ocean. [[Dagon]], his special friend and mentor, lives in his basement.

'''Shadowsea:''' 89th layer

Ruled by [[Dagon]] one of the few obyrith lords still part of the establishment. It's an underwater realm without a surface although it connects to the 88th. Filled with myriads of aquatic demons.

'''[[Demonwing]]:''' layer unknown

An entire layer of the Abysm transformed into a crazy demonic pirate ship by Demogorgon that can move freely about the planes.

'''The Guttering Grove:''' 90th layer

Ruled by Ilsidahur, the Howling King, who's a bootlicker to [[Demogorgon]]. He leads the bar-lgura, these orangutan looking demons, as well as these winged gorilla looking guys. The Guttering Grove was recently subsumed into Abysm by Demogorgon as punishment for Ilsidahur screwing up an invasion of [[Arcadia]], though Ilsidahur is apparently either too unaware, too uncaring or too stupid to notice.

'''Ulgurshek''': 92nd layer

Ruled by a being also named Ulgurshek who is older than the [[Great Wheel]]. Either that or the ruler ''is'' the layer.

'''The Realms:''' 99th layer

Plotted out by Rick Swan in the ''Tales of the Outer Planes'' anthology. The Abyssal chaos sometimes diverts visitors here when they're aiming for elsewhere, Kali's plane in this one. It's a network of sub-layers, attached to each other through portals:
* Gray Realm. Desert of black sand, infested with dretch.
* Lightning Realm. "Blank white" plain with pillars. Disputed between Orcus and Demogorgon. Yeah, this is oldschool.
* Swirling Realm. Connects to Juiblex's crib. It's a waterfall and ocean... made of puddings and slimes. Yecch!
* Yellow Realm. Primordial tropical forest. 50' blades of grass.
* Fog Realm. "Jellyfish" surface and it stinks. It's a colossal demon uterus.
* Silver Realm. A silvery ice glacier, where sound doesn't travel.
* Star Realm. Another black sand desert, but cratered. Kali's kitchen, preparing souls for her breakfast.
At a guess, only the Gray Realm is truly the 99th. The others look to be other Abyssal layers entirely, like #222 or, indeed, #500.

'''The Mind of Evil:''' 111st layer

Ruled by Prince Sch'theraqpasstt, the Serpent Reborn.

'''Thanatos:''' 113th layer

Its as much undead as demonic. [[Orcus|Orcus's]] crib. He spends most of his time chilling here not doing things.

'''Slugbed:''' 128th layer

Lupercio the Baron of Sloth rules here. It's a tropical, mostly overcast realm filled with lush forests and coral reefs filled with all manner of demon gastropods. Because Lupercio is too busy spending most of his time sleeping, where his perpetually darkness-shrouded form is perpetually parasitized by shadow demons, and too spending what precious little waking hours he has maniacally doing ''something,'' the demon gastropods of Slugbed do not recognize his authority, and, instead, do their own thing, i.e., eating the scenery, each other, and intruders too stupid to understand the threat posed by demon gastropods until they get eaten. An army of angels has secretly constructed fortresses in the clouds above Slugbed, and eventually intend to use their fortresses here to stage attacks on the demons of the Abyss.

'''Outcast's End:''' 137th layer

Ruled by the exiled and outcast Azazel, Prince of Scapegoats.

'''Lifebane:''' 142nd layer

Ruled by [[Chemosh]], the god of undeath in [[Dragonlance|Krynn]].

'''Hollow's Heart:''' 176th layer

Ruled by [[Fraz-Urb'luu]]. Fraz-Urb'luu pissed off virtually all of the other demon lords by learning how to summon them in order to humiliate them in front of his sniveling minions. This led to the demon lord being forced to take a sabbatical in the dungeons of [[Oerth]] while lesser Lords moved in, turning the place into a demonic continent of crazy shit, including a jungle of skin, where trees are hairs sprouting from the ground; a desert made of grains of clotted blood; and a city shrouded in powerful illusions to make petitioners think everything is happy and safe, so the demons can take it away piece by piece.

'''Writhing Realm of Ugudenk: ''' 177th layer

Little is known about this layer except that it is the place where Golothomas are most commonly found and it consists of lightless tunnels.

'''The Rotting Plain:''' 181st layer

Ruled by [[Laogzed]] the god of the [[troglodyte]]. Here they archive everyone's browsing history, purchases, and other personal information forever.

'''Vulgarea:''' 193th layer

Ruled by demon princess Eshebala the [[furry|foxwoman and wolfwere]] goddess.

'''Shedaklah, the Slime Pits:''' 222nd layer

[[Juiblex]], the Slime Lord, and [[Zuggtmoy]], the Lady of Fungi rule here. A fetid swamp of every variety of ooze, slime, fungus and filth; obviously a disgusting place. Sometimes the 528th layer.

'''The Dreaming Gulf:''' 230th layer

A phantasmal dark and wind-swept realm with no ruler. This is where the dreams of evil gods go when they die, slowly being given form by the Abyss, becoming the incorporeal demons known as [[Loumara]]s.

'''Palpitatia:''' 241st layer

Grankhul and Skiggaret, the [[bugbear]] gods, rule here.

'''The Scalding Sea:''' 245th layer

Another ocean of acid but this one at least has a surface; it might even be the route out for Burningwater. It also has islands... of black glass. Probably deserted, the one island town is empty, with its former occupants encrusting the town's walls while the town's fountain screams eternally and sprays yet more acid.

'''The Hidden Layer:''' 248th layer

A huge thunderstorm-ravaged wasteland. Was ruled by Demon Prince Eltab, until he was summoned into the [[Prime Material]] and bound there, also sucking small portions of his realm with him to [[Faerun]] in the form of demoncysts and leaving his subordinates to fight amongst themselves over control of the rest.

'''Durao:''' 274th layer

A ruler-less layer dotted by military encampments and demon barracks interconnected by iron roads that snake through the otherwise swampy environs along the River Styx. It was from here that most of the demon armies staged before departing to wage the [[Blood War]] in [[Gehenna]].

'''Feng-Tu:''' 300th layer

A citadel overlooking a tributary of the River Styx, it is ruled by Tou Mu, goddess of the North Star, and Lu Yueh, god of epidemics, both gods from the [[China|Chinese]] [[Mythology#Chinese Mythology|Mythology]].

'''The Sulfanorum:''' 303rd layer

As the [[Coenobites]] have taught us, what are demons to some are angels to others; so what's a hell to many could be a heaven to some. Here is the tobacconist's heaven, as ''Planes of Chaos'' wittily illustrated. Full of flames designed to light pipes, which the Abyssals smoke here.

'''The Broken Scale:''' 333rd layer

Ruled by [[Hiddukel]], the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' god of greed and treachery.

'''Fortress of Indifference:''' 348th layer

Rough terrain with fiery skies. An evil 200 foot tower is the main attraction, and is [[Hellbound: The Blood War|why we don't let Monte Cook listen to Nine Inch Nails anymore]]. Its the home of outcasts, half-fiends, [[tiefling]]s, etc. that turned their backs on the [[Blood War]]. Its particularly anarchic. Tapheon, a barely held together demon, tries to rule here but mostly goes around torturing random beings.

'''Arch of Eternity:''' 359th layer

Ruled by Eldanoth, the Prince of Crime. He once served under Orcus but left after Orcus was overthrown for a time, now his servants sabotage Orcus's plans. He's worshiped by criminals. The realm is, ironically, a huge, but finite plane of fire and snakes with a copper fortress at its center.

'''The Plains of Gallenshu:''' 377th layer

Dirt-storms, and "bat-winged creatures" forever fighting the tanar'ri slavers here.

'''Hungry Tarns:''' 380th layer

A bleak and poisonous realm of fens and black bottomless lakes that once was ruled by the [[Obyrith]] [[Sertrous]] but is now abandoned since Sertrous's death. As Sertrous returns to life, the layer becomes more infested with Golothomas and other serpentine monsters.

'''The Worm Realm:''' 399th layer

Urdlen's home, another plane of tunnels. Very diseased - possibly from a clash with Zuggtmoy.

'''The Woeful Escarand:''' 400th layer

Here, under a great mountain, is the court of judgement for chaotic-evils.

'''White Kingdom:''' 421st layer

Ruled by the King of Ghouls, who, depending on the author, is either a toady of Orcus, a hostage-turned-minion of Yeenoghu, or an undead god who's free to do his own shit.

'''Death Dells:''' 422nd layer

Also called the Seeping Woods in ''Planescape''. Ruled by [[Yeenoghu]], Demon Prince of [[Gnolls]].

'''Ahriman-abad:''' 452nd layer

Ruled by Ahrimanes, the Chief of the Cacodaemons.

'''Androlynne:''' 471st layer

Owned by [[Pale Night]]. This layer has become a battlefield where the forces of good fight to protect a group of [[Eladrin]] children who were trapped there by a deal with Pale Night. This may have backfired on Pale Night because the amount of people fighting for good on this layer is slowly causing the layer to change its appearance, and may eventually shift it out of the abyss to a higher plane.

'''Guttlevetch:''' 480th layer

A sea eternally swept by perpetual typhoons and hurricanes, its beaches of blood are littered with innumerable shipwrecks. Was ruled by Zuregurex, Lord of the Drowned, but he seriously fucked up when he tried to invade Demogorgon's layer. Zuregurex fled to the 245th layer to escape retribution.

'''Mansion of the Rake:''' 487th layer

An entire layer stylized as a perpetually shifting baroque-style palace. Ruled by Kanchelsis the god of [[vampire]]s, born of the blood of the elven gods. His primary servants are vampires, drow, and the occasional crazy birds in his aviaries. His live-in boarders-turned-sort-of-minions are a trio of crazed blood fiends, Memnul, Dagrobard, and Vonce, who are so unpleasant, they apparently scare even Kanchelsis shitless.

'''Noisome Vale:''' 489th layer

Tarnhem is the official ruler here, though he's left for a while to go and hike Mt. Everest to find himself or something (if playing ''Return to the Tomb of Horrors''', he's now his son [[Acererak]]'s guest). The layer itself is mostly volcanic, creating a poisoned and acidic atmosphere. However, a deep canyon carves its way through the layer which is infested with worms. These worms thrive in the acidic air, breathing it in and expelling breathable air as a waste byproduct. Tarnhem's estate is built along the ravine, and his servants still occupy it awaiting his return.

'''Kali:''' 500th layer

Kali makes her home in a big red India-themed jungle under a cloudless red sky, on the shore of the Screaming Sea; all described in Rick Swan's adventure. Or not. ''Planes of Chaos'' has her in layer #643 instead. But she's ''Kali''; she's probably got several layers.

'''Torremor:''' 503rd layer

An aerie, built out of bridges, buildings and junk, floating in a void, and inhabited by vrock, chasme and other flying demons. Officially ruled by [[Pazuzu]], though, he has, more or less, abandoned it to his ex-girlfriend, [[Lamashtu]]. For a while they were a disgustingly close couple, then Lamashtu betrayed him, and then they broke up when he ate out her eyes and impaled her on top of a tower at the very top of Torremor, where ever that is. He's more or less forgiven her, but still can not be assed to un-impale her.

'''Occipitus:''' 507th layer

Adimarchus, Prince of Madness, founded this plane and was its first prince. He is a fallen Celestial and thus this layer is actually a fragmented piece of Celestia (the Seven Heavens) that fell with him. Demons avoid this layer all together, its filled with ruins and basins. Adimarchus fought a big fight against [[Graz'zt]] and lost at one point. He has a split personality, one angelic, one demonic, which is why he's called "Prince of Madness." Now he's imprisoned in Skullrot in [[Pandemonium]], the Great Wheel's funny farm.

'''Shatterstone:''' 524th layer

Ruled by Vaprak the [[Troll]] and [[ogre]] deity.

'''Vudra:''' 531st layer

Ruled by [[Shaktari]], the queen of [[Marilith]]s.

'''Fleshforges:''' 558th layer

Ruled by Demon Prince Dwiergus, the Chrysalis Prince. He has control over the shaping of demonic races. Probably older than Pale Night. The Father of Demons in some ways. A mentor to Baphomet who taught him how to create new demons. Stats in Dragon #359.

'''Shendilavri:''' 570th layer

Islamic Paradise! ...for Malcanthet, Queen of the Succubi. Not so much for her visitors and guests.

'''Prison of the Mad God:''' 586th layer

A maelstorm of various gasses and orbiting rock. Imprisons Diinkarazan, one of the two gods of the [[derro]]. Space itself is warped.

'''Goranthis:''' 597th layer

A little demonic [[Magical Realm|slice of paradise]]. This pleasure-palace and the surrounding gardens are the realm of [[Socothbenoth|Socothbenoth, the Persuader]] who rules from atop his [[/d/|Palace of Quivering Flesh]].

'''Shubgottia, The Endless Maze:''' 600th layer

Ruled by [[Baphomet]], Prince of Beasts. He lets [[Pale Night]], a ghost looking entity, the mother of demons allegedly, have a castle here as well though she rarely does anything. Lyktion is his palace and at his ''Tower of '''Fucking''' Science'' he experiments and creates new demon breeds and such. He has vast armies of beastmen looking demons and is revered by the minotaurs. He is smart, savage, one of the top tier princes, and is not to be fucked with. He began as a mortal creature, either as a beast that lived as a man or a man that lived as a beast, and was cursed by the gods, though obviously he made the best of it.

'''Conflagratum:''' 601rst layer

Ruled by Alzrius, Lord of the Flowing Flame. He usually manifests himself as a pillar of fire and leads his legions to the burning of all [[bitches]].

'''Caverns of the Skull:''' 643rd layer

Kali again, ''Planescape'' edition. The authors decided that reading Sanskrit would be too hard so just watched ''Temple Of Doom'' for this one.

'''Zionyn:''' 663rd layer

Ruled by [[Obox-ob]], Prince of Vermin. As an obyrith and, perhaps, the last surviving aspect of the old Prince of Demons, he plots here to dethrone Demogorgon and to run all [[tanar'ri]] off the Abyss.

'''Unnamed Layer:''' 665th layer

A layer with gravity and atmosphere but nothing to stand on, spells that prevent or slow down falling do not work, and all portals connected to it go in but not out, so if you stumble into it and can't teleport out or have someone rescue you, you will endlessly fall until you die of dehydration or get ripped apart by the air friction.

'''Bottomless Pit:''' 666th layer

Ruled by the Demon Lord Abaddon, Prince of Apocalypse. The center of the layer is a literal black hole singularity that is slowly eating away at all of creation and the Abyss. Anything that enters the singularity, known as the Maelstrom, is lost forever. It is theorized by the [[Fraternity of Order]] in [[Sigil]] that a portion of the energy devoured by the Maelstrom is used to keep [[Tharizdun]] imprisoned, which is a bit ironic on a plane devoted to chaos and evil.

'''Abyssian Ocean:''' Many layers

The Abyssian Ocean is not really a layer of the abyss, but is a vast ocean that connects to all of the oceans that exist in the abyss and so spans across many layers, making it a useful way of traveling around the abyss. No demon lord rules over the Abyssian Ocean as it is protected by the extremely powerful myrmyxicuses, who rule it in floating citadels made of bone, shells, and coral.

=Inhabitants=
The main race in the Abyss are demons. There are four different categories of demons: The [[Tanar'ri]], the [[Obyrith]]s, the [[Loumara]]s, and everything else. The Tanar'ri are the only ones who ever get shit accomplished. They are also the "most numerous". This may owe to Georg Cantor's metamathematic: the number of rational numbers (aleph-null, the smallest possible infinity) is infinite but countable (You can count them using a pattern but can't finish) but the number of all real numbers including irrational numbers (possibly aleph-one) is infinite and uncountable (No pattern of counting them can include all of them) - so some infinities are greater than others. The demon ''princes'' are finite: most Tanar'ri, though there are some Obyriths.

The petitioners in the Abyss are called manes, and become a low caste of Tanar'ri. If they survive for a very long time, they can be promoted up into the ranks of the not-worthless, and even to demon lords if they're cunning enough. This is how [[Orcus]] got his start.

Most of the chaotic evil deities live in the Abyss as well, for obvious reasons, including the aforementioned Great Mother and Lolth (depending on edition). Deities here are also called demon lords, because that's generally just a title and not any kind of useful disambiguation. Also because there's plenty of layers to go around so if you've got the power you might as well rule one.

==Why You Really REALLY Shouldn't Come Here==
Whenever some berk (that's an idiot, in Sigil cant) drops by here, there's a chance she gets killed. It's often the case that said berk wasn't Chaotic Evil herself. In the Outer Planes, undead as such don't exist - yeah, we know, Orcus but here we're really dealing with the damned in the ''form'' of undead. So a decent person getting into the dead-book on the Abyss ''should'' have her soul end up in a final rest suited for her true alignment. Anywhere but here.

As one final barbed grind up the arse, that depends on ''how'' one dies here. Here are some chaotic energies so mighty and blasphemous that it twists a person's body and soul into a special, Abyssal sort of unlife. Such a wretch is a [[Bodak]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:World Axis Plain of 1000 Portals.png|A map of Pazunia's [[World Axis]] counterpart.
File:Pazunia 3e.jpg|Pazunia
File:Grand abyss 3e.jpg|The Grand Abyss
File:Twelvetrees 3e.jpg|Twelvetrees
File:Abysm.jpg|The brine flats in Abysm
File:Drooling jungle 3e.jpg|The Drooling Jungle in Hollow's Heart
File:Shedaklah 3e.jpg|A map of Shedaklah
</gallery>

{{OuterPlanes}}

Abyss

2020-08-12T05:42:21Z

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[[File:Abyss layers 3e.webp|thumb|right|300px]]
{{Topquote|1=During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.|2= Thomas Hobbes}}
'''The Infinite Layers of the Abyss''' is the [[Alignment|Chaotic Evil]] [[plane]] in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'s'' [[Great Wheel]] cosmology. It's home to an infinite number of [[demon]]s, the Chaotic Evil fiends. Expect [[METAL]].

The plane is such a mess of chaos and upheaval that it doesn't even stay the same in basic state from time to time, which is another way of saying the writers can't keep it straight and [[retcon|change it]] whenever it's convenient. It's an infinite plane, like the others, but actually has an infinite number of different layers as well, meaning that the aforementioned changes might just be an examination of a different subset of layers. According to one faction in the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting it also specifically has 666 layers, [[Derp|because that's totally the same as infinite.]] Then again, it's one of the chaotic planes, so not making sense is probably [[Just As Planned|the whole idea]] (ignoring the fact that [[Arborea]] is just as consistent as any of the Lawful planes).

It's also a plane in the [[World Axis]] cosmology of D&D too, but here is a more modestly sized "universe-swallowing" vortex of corruption and evil that lies in the [[Elemental Chaos]], created when [[Tharizdun]] planted a crystallized shard of pure evil from the dying universe of the [[obyrith]]s in the Elemental Chaos.

In the [[World of Darkness]] games, the Abyss is a realm of cold blackness from which [[shade]]s and [[Demon#In_the_World_of_Darkness|demons]] and the [[Wyrm|god of Oblivion]] hail, and from which [[vampires]] wielding [[Obtenebration]] summon either a black ectoplasmic substance for various effects, such as the creation of tentacles, or a raw [[Entropy|Oblivionic]] energy for disintegrating targets. Thematically it is closer to [[D&D]]'s [[Negative Energy Plane]] or [[Shadowfell]] plane.

==Notable Layers==
Most of the layers are often described as containing wildly different inhospitable biomes, sometimes on the same layer side-by-side. All of them are full of the kind of [[Slaanesh|Chaoticy-Evilly fuckery you'd expect]], so none of them are great places for vacation homes. The named layers are also given numbers, but given that they are in no way consistently arranged in space, those numbers are meaningless and changed often (except for the first one). Officially, though, they are numbered in order of their discovery by mortals.

The descriptions are, naturally, weighted to the lower numbers.

A major source for the below is the Planescape box, ''Planes of Chaos''.

'''Pazunia:''' 1st layer

The Plane of Infinite Portals, and the way you get to any of the others. It's covered in giant sinkholes, each one a portal to another layer of the Abyss. This is also the layer that the [[River Styx]] flows through on its path from [[Pandemonium]] to [[Acheron]]. Iron fortresses on this layer are also where Demon Princes leave their bodies when they're busy roaming around the [[Astral Plane]]. Dozens of minor demon princes co-rule this layer, though, officially, [[Pazuzu]] is in charge. The Grand Abyss is sometimes the 4th layer and Pazunia is the Styx shorelines.

This is one of the great battlefields of the Blood War. Mostly, this is a staging ground for the various demon hordes being flung at the [[Baator|Nine Hells]], but that creates a whole set of problems by itself. As some of you may already know, beings that are inherent Chaotic and Evil are just as likely to start axe-murdering one another as anything else. So put a million such beings of pure Chaotic Evil side by side in one place, and count the seconds until they just start killing each other instead of doing what they were told. Now, complicate that problem with the fact that some demon princes may actually want such an outburst to occur to weaken the forces of a rival. Now throw in yugoloth mercenaries turning stag on a demon employer (devils, after all, are much better at keeping their words on contracts and payments and the like). Toss in a force of devils being sent for scouting and/or raiding duties to better prepare for said horde before it even gets to Avernus. And finally, sprinkle in the dozens of other planars - celestials, adventurers, etc. - who are visiting and know that the best way to deal with an ornery demon is basically to fucking destroy it.

Now, it's not all murderhobos and axes to the face. There's a few fiends that run some odd little fortified establishments out here. Some are mercenaries who can press-gang enough demons to make it worth someone's effort to pay for it. There's even a few mercantile or entertainment venues around. But mostly, if you run into a fiend out here, you murder the shit out of it and hope it didn't have any friends who really gave a shit about it. This is the first layer of an infinite amount of Chaotic Evil, by the way; it only gets more fun the further down the spiral you go.

It should be noted that oddly, this is the most stable layer of the Abyss. No, really: it hasn't actually changed all that much, fundamentally, in all of existence. The demons that inhabit it, and who's running what, that does change, and yes, the land itself has been ripped up, rebuilt, wash, rinse, repeat. But this is basically where the teeming, seething primordial chaos of the Abyss touches reality, and thus this connection is by necessity stable. (Since if the Abyss disconnected, even temporarily, it would probably be adrift in the Astral, or possibly it would fuck off from reality altogether for the Far Realm; it's hard to say what the metaphysics of that scenario would look like.)

'''Driller's Hives:''' 2nd layer

This horrible place is one of the most unpleasantly inhospitable layers in all of the Abyss. It's not so much because of the indigenous fiendish insects who try to kill anything on sight, but because of how all visitors who enter risk contracting a horrible disease that causes the sufferer to break out in hatching insect eggs until the afflicted dies and decomposes into a mass of rot and insect eggs over the course of '''minutes.''' The addition of the giant, intelligent fiendish insect thralls of the ruler, Tharzax ''the Chattering Prince'', help make the whole place a big, sentient shit-sprinkle-covered crapcake of '''NOPE'''.

'''The Forgotten Land:''' 3rd layer

This is an almost endless landscape of empty ruins that suggest a once bustling city. No demons, other than the layer's Lord, Zzyczesiya ''The Ungrasped'', master of malevolent ignorance and confusion, come here. The place was abandoned due to a catastrophe, for which Zzyczesiya has been traditionally blamed, and now, entering the layer causes any sentient being's mind, even those of demons and sapient undead, to fritter away like moist cotton candy, leaving visitors as catatonic and braindead. Constructs are immune to the effects, and persistent visitors often use golem stand-ins to explore this godawful place. Allegedly, Zzyczesiya destroyed all the original inhabitants by accident, 1st through 3rd edition claiming by changing the course of the [[River Styx]], and was punished by imprisonment in the Wells of Darkness. Zzyczesiya would escape, and return to the Forgotten Land in order to use the power of this layer to unremember something really, really, really horrible (possibly a first draft of the script for ''Gigli'').

'''The Grand Abyss:''' 4th layer

What starts as a gaping chasm on the first layer is an infinitely deep pit where the walls are dotted with portals which connect to all of the other layers in the plane. Navigation is tricky because the only dimensions of relevance are vertical, so you need to either fly or be a patient climber. This place was created by the now-dead Lord, Asima ''The Unanticipated'', who apparently died because she(?) didn't anticipate pissing off the Queen of Chaos enough to assassinate her. Now, Asima's corpse lies in her tomb, the Tumulus of Abhorrence, which is filled with treasure and secrets, and is guarded by her "seraph," a super-demon named "Guardian of the Gates" who pretty much super-kills anyone unlucky enough to encounter him. Guardian of the Gates periodically leaves his master's tomb to harass/super-kill schmucks in the Grand Abyss, as per his master's original orders: adventurers stupid enough to think that there are no other defenders of the Tumulus tend to die screaming.

'''Realm of a Million Eyes:''' 6th layer

Home of the [[Great Mother]], princess of the Beholders. Presumably not a great place to be for anyone else, because no one's ever bothered to describe it in detail.

'''Phantom Plane:''' 7th layer

Ruled by Sess'lnnek the other god of the [[lizardfolk]]. He grew bored with the Tanar'ri's Blood War, withdrew and officially closed the layer off so that no one can enter without his explicit permission.

'''Skin-shedder:''' 8th layer

Ruled by Volisupula the Flensed Marquesse, lord of ostentatious finery. The layer itself makes you more evil the longer you stay there. Tieflings are immune.

'''Burningwater:''' 9th layer

Acid ocean, so the crustaceans and fish have shells of silica.

'''That Hellhole:''' 10th layer

It's the body of an actual fiend. The dwarf who found this place got chewed up (through adamantite!) before beaming out of there.

'''Molrat:''' 11th layer

Dark tunnels, where the tanar'ri hunt by smell. Besides the demon horde the plane is more friendly to life than most.

'''Twelvetrees:''' 12th Layer

Definitely a place of horror, and a living example of why you can never, ever trust a demon.

Eons ago, some demons tricked some astral devas into having a meeting for the sake of peace. Basically, the powers from the Upper Planes saw the tanar'ri overthrow the obyriths, and thought maybe that the new fiends were "better" than the old ones. Big fucking mistake there: the demons turned on the angels, bound them to twelve of the biggest trees in the layer, and then performed a blasphemous arcane ritual that sacrificed them to the layer, allowing their eternal suffering to become fuel for all kinds of evil shit.

The angels can still be heard screaming, and a big altar now commemorates the site of the sacrifice, surrounded by twelve sickly pines that ooze some kind magically-infused slime. Evil-descriptor spells are Maximized and Extended automatically for free as a result of the power of the place. Demons make pilgrimages to the layer, to honor the screw job their kind put to the forces of good, and the overwhelming evil of the place is like a drug to the fiends, as they bask in a haze of quasi-religious ecstasy and basically don't give a shit what's happening around them, making it scarily easy for non-demons to wander around pretty freely (you only gotta dodge some chasmes that patrol the skies, maybe some kelvezus that look for intruders to murder).

But that's not all. See, someone figured out how to harness all that deliciously evil energy to create a new weapon of war: the ''ship of chaos''. This horrible thing is basically made of flesh, bone, and spirit; it's hull seems to be comprised of some kind of twisted, thick, ropelike fibers, woven into an organic mass of mottled white and yellow, with translucent blue blisters along the flanks. They are powered by the annihilation of soul larvae... meaning that the ship itself absolutely destroys souls beyond recovery in order to operate. It can generate an "entropy field" almost the length of 5 football fields that either drives beings insane or simply repulses them, and shoots waves of force out of the mouths at the front and back. It can warp itself to travel through small portals, but this causes magic stuff onboard to possibly break unless it is made from the Abyss, and tanar'ri and their kin aren't particularly messed up by the warping.

The scaffolds for these ships dot the area around Twelvetrees. Six have been completed for sure. There was a seventh ship in the 2nd edition Planescape adventure In The Abyss, but it's highly likely that it was destroyed. The 3rd edition supplement FC2: Hordes of the Abyss notes another seventh ship is being built, which seems likely. In theory, these ships will not only be awesome weapons to use against the devils, but will mean the demons don't need the yugoloths to help them travel to Baator anymore.

And all this time, the angels keep screaming.

'''Blood Tor:''' 13th Layer

Ruled by the Goddesses [[Beshaba]] and [[Umberlee]], from the [[Forgotten Realms]]. A plane of bad luck - including for tanar'ri, because the baatezu did a successful raid here early in the Blood War.

'''Steaming Fen:''' 14th Layer

Ruled by [[The Queen of Chaos]], the old Lord of Obyriths and creator of [[Demogorgon]].

'''Pleroma/Death's Reward:''' 17th layer

Ruled by demon prince Abraxas ''the Unfathomable''. He has a roosters head and a bunch of snakes for a lower body. He's big on magic and the occult. Diovengia is his city which houses some of the best libraries in the entire Abyss.

'''The Sixth Pyre:''' 21st layer

Ruled by Prince Kardum, the lord of Balors.

'''Ice Wastes:''' 23rd layer

[[Kostchtchie]] is the resident [[Demon Prince]]. An infinite expanse of jagged mountains, glaciers and frozen tundras. Kostchtchie commands a big army of frost giants which he used to further "conquer" his layer, when he isn't siccing them on other demon lords for laughing at him, or conquering other tribes of frost giants on the Prime Material Plane.

'''Sholo-Tovoth/ Fields of Consumption:''' 32rd layer

Ruled by [[Demon Prince]] [[Turaglas]], ''The Ebon Maw'', who was spawned directly from the Abyss. A 100% pure demon and therefore envied by [[Orcus]] and [[Demogorgon]] for this (Demogorgon was a creation of the Obyriths, while Orcus was a former mortal) who joined against him and imprisoned him for a while. His goal is to devour and destroy, he has spawned his own breed of demons, the turagathshee. The layer itself, like That Hellhole #10, tries to eat anyone that enters it that's not either Turaglas or one of his minions, with mouths and tongues popping up everywhere. Those minions number millions of insatiably hungry demons.

'''Azzagrat:''' 45th, 46th, and 47th Layers

Ruled by [[Graz'zt]], demon lord of depending on your source, A)tyrants, manipulation, and, unofficially, blatant nepotism, or B) [[Slaanesh| lust, hedonism, and incubi]]. There's a salt river that connects all three layers. [[Zelatar]] is a big, shiny, evil pastiche of the Emerald City of Oz that stretches across the three layers. Relatively well-behaved demons, not that it's saying much, as all of Graz'zt's minions know that Graz'zt torturing them to death for a minor screw up is the least he can do to them. Not a terrible place for a party, assuming it's [[Slaanesh|the right kind of party]].

'''Phage Breeding Ground:''' 53rd Layer

Ruled by Urae-Naas, a "female" [[slaad]] [[Demon Prince]]ss so bloated with eggs she can't walk anymore and has to drag herself along on her long arms and enormous tongue. Comprised from the interiors of the ever-rotting organs of her former boyfriend, the slain [[Archomental|Primordial]] Ramenos. Iconic local feature: screaming, insane humanoids sewn into the walls begging ceaselessly for help before she gets around to implanting her offspring in their bodies. Created in 4th edition, and probably lost with the change to 5th edition seeing as how Slaad are Chaotic Neutral in all non-4 editions.

'''Torturous Truth:''' 57th layer

Ruled by Alvarez the Purging Duke, the head of the demonic Inquisition. His forces investigate the tanar'ri for any signs of lawful behavior. His torture is notorious throughout the Abyss.

'''The Demonweb Pits:''' 66th layer usually

The place where [[Lolth]], the deity of the drow, and the rest of the drow pantheon, hangs out with her spiders. In [[Demonweb Pits|Jeff Grubb's entry]], the Demonweb was 65th and her actual abode on the 66th. In [[3e]] this was changed to be an entirely separate plane, though it's still connected to the Abyss.

'''Heavenly Hills:''' 67th layer

Swamps and hills, which swap places after (frequent) earthquakes. And varrangoin ruins.

'''Morgenta's Layer:''' 68th layer

Barren, "abandoned", and airless. No-one's named it but ''Planes of Chaos'' does have a name for the planewalker who survived to enter it into the list: Morgenta, the mage.

'''The Crushing Plain:''' 69th layer

A surface made up of chasme, manes, and lemures all "crawling over one another". ''Planes of Chaos'' claims they are avoiding suffocation but it's more likely they end up squished like bugs further down.

'''The Ice Floe:''' 70th layer

That ice would be ''thin'', over black running water. The cold acts as energy-drain. As to whence / whither the water flows, we're not told but we can guess probably the Styx.

'''Spirac:''' 71st layer

Tree-ferns and spiky mountains. A happy hunting ground like Molrat / #11. The demons might be friendlier, or maybe that's just because they got along better with the cutter who penned this entry.

'''Darklight:''' 72st layer

Visitors get a halo of darkness (if evil) or light (good). Either is a beacon for the demons here, who enslave the former and kill the latter.

'''[[Wells of Darkness]]:''' 73rd layer

A spa-cum-prison for some of the worst prisoners the plane could play host to. Jacuzzi tubs of black ink keep unspeakably powerful beings trapped beneath the surface, unable to get out, but perfectly conscious and able to communicate. The demons don't visit. It's amusing because the idea of an unbreakable prison on a chaotic plane constantly attracts ''break-in'' attempts by those who just want to prove otherwise.

'''Smargard:''' 74th layer

[[Merrshaulk]] rules here. He is the deity of the Yuan-ti snake men. Basically a nightmarish, evil, rainforest (one of several in the Abyss).

'''The Gates of Heaven:''' 77th layer

Actually not named ironically, it's apparently a gate to Celestia in the middle of a Chaotic Evil hell. Must be a really sturdy gate. Ruled by demon lords and brothers, Munkir and Nekir.

'''Abysm/The Gaping Maw:''' 88th layer

The realm of [[Demogorgon]]. Also known as "The Upside Down" thanks to ''Stranger Things''. Pretty much a tropical nightmare, with demon- and demonic-disease-infested jungles and a roiling ocean. [[Dagon]], his special friend and mentor, lives in his basement.

'''Shadowsea:''' 89th layer

Ruled by [[Dagon]] one of the few obyrith lords still part of the establishment. It's an underwater realm without a surface although it connects to the 88th. Filled with myriads of aquatic demons.

'''[[Demonwing]]:''' layer unknown

An entire layer of the Abysm transformed into a crazy demonic pirate ship by Demogorgon that can move freely about the planes.

'''The Guttering Grove:''' 90th layer

Ruled by Ilsidahur, the Howling King, who's a bootlicker to [[Demogorgon]]. He leads the bar-lgura, these orangutan looking demons, as well as these winged gorilla looking guys. The Guttering Grove was recently subsumed into Abysm by Demogorgon as punishment for Ilsidahur screwing up an invasion of [[Arcadia]], though Ilsidahur is apparently either too unaware, too uncaring or too stupid to notice.

'''Ulgurshek''': 92nd layer

Ruled by a being also named Ulgurshek who is older than the [[Great Wheel]]. Either that or the ruler ''is'' the layer.

'''The Realms:''' 99th layer

Plotted out by Rick Swan in the ''Tales of the Outer Planes'' anthology. The Abyssal chaos sometimes diverts visitors here when they're aiming for elsewhere, Kali's plane in this one. It's a network of sub-layers, attached to each other through portals:
* Gray Realm. Desert of black sand, infested with dretch.
* Lightning Realm. "Blank white" plain with pillars. Disputed between Orcus and Demogorgon. Yeah, this is oldschool.
* Swirling Realm. Connects to Juiblex's crib. It's a waterfall and ocean... made of puddings and slimes. Yecch!
* Yellow Realm. Primordial tropical forest. 50' blades of grass.
* Fog Realm. "Jellyfish" surface and it stinks. It's a colossal demon uterus.
* Silver Realm. A silvery ice glacier, where sound doesn't travel.
* Star Realm. Another black sand desert, but cratered. Kali's kitchen, preparing souls for her breakfast.
At a guess, only the Gray Realm is truly the 99th. The others look to be other Abyssal layers entirely, like #222 or, indeed, #500.

'''The Mind of Evil:''' 111st layer

Ruled by Prince Sch'theraqpasstt, the Serpent Reborn.

'''Thanatos:''' 113th layer

Its as much undead as demonic. [[Orcus|Orcus's]] crib. He spends most of his time chilling here not doing things.

'''Slugbed:''' 128th layer

Lupercio the Baron of Sloth rules here. It's a tropical, mostly overcast realm filled with lush forests and coral reefs filled with all manner of demon gastropods. Because Lupercio is too busy spending most of his time sleeping, where his perpetually darkness-shrouded form is perpetually parasitized by shadow demons, and too spending what precious little waking hours he has maniacally doing ''something,'' the demon gastropods of Slugbed do not recognize his authority, and, instead, do their own thing, i.e., eating the scenery, each other, and intruders too stupid to understand the threat posed by demon gastropods until they get eaten. An army of angels has secretly constructed fortresses in the clouds above Slugbed, and eventually intend to use their fortresses here to stage attacks on the demons of the Abyss.

'''Outcast's End:''' 137th layer

Ruled by the exiled and outcast Azazel, Prince of Scapegoats.

'''Lifebane:''' 142nd layer

Ruled by [[Chemosh]], the god of undeath in [[Dragonlance|Krynn]].

'''Hollow's Heart:''' 176th layer

Ruled by [[Fraz-Urb'luu]]. Fraz-Urb'luu pissed off virtually all of the other demon lords by learning how to summon them in order to humiliate them in front of his sniveling minions. This led to the demon lord being forced to take a sabbatical in the dungeons of [[Oerth]] while lesser Lords moved in, turning the place into a demonic continent of crazy shit, including a jungle of skin, where trees are hairs sprouting from the ground; a desert made of grains of clotted blood; and a city shrouded in powerful illusions to make petitioners think everything is happy and safe, so the demons can take it away piece by piece.

'''Writhing Realm of Ugudenk: ''' 177th layer

Little is known about this layer except that it is the place where Golothomas are most commonly found and it consists of lightless tunnels.

'''The Rotting Plain:''' 181st layer

Ruled by [[Laogzed]] the god of the [[troglodyte]]. Here they archive everyone's browsing history, purchases, and other personal information forever.

'''Vulgarea:''' 193th layer

Ruled by demon princess Eshebala the [[furry|foxwoman and wolfwere]] goddess.

'''Shedaklah, the Slime Pits:''' 222nd layer

[[Juiblex]], the Slime Lord, and [[Zuggtmoy]], the Lady of Fungi rule here. A fetid swamp of every variety of ooze, slime, fungus and filth; obviously a disgusting place. Sometimes the 528th layer.

'''The Dreaming Gulf:''' 230th layer

A phantasmal dark and wind-swept realm with no ruler. This is where the dreams of evil gods go when they die, slowly being given form by the Abyss, becoming the incorporeal demons known as [[Loumara]]s.

'''Palpitatia:''' 241st layer

Grankhul and Skiggaret, the [[bugbear]] gods, rule here.

'''The Scalding Sea:''' 245th layer

Another ocean of acid but this one at least has a surface; it might even be the route out for Burningwater. It also has islands... of black glass. Probably deserted, the one island town is empty, with its former occupants encrusting the town's walls while the town's fountain screams eternally and sprays yet more acid.

'''The Hidden Layer:''' 248th layer

A huge thunderstorm-ravaged wasteland. Was ruled by Demon Prince Eltab, until he was summoned into the [[Prime Material]] and bound there, also sucking small portions of his realm with him to [[Faerun]] in the form of demoncysts and leaving his subordinates to fight amongst themselves over control of the rest.

'''Durao:''' 274th layer

A ruler-less layer dotted by military encampments and demon barracks interconnected by iron roads that snake through the otherwise swampy environs along the River Styx. It was from here that most of the demon armies staged before departing to wage the [[Blood War]] in [[Gehenna]].

'''Feng-Tu:''' 300th layer

A citadel overlooking a tributary of the River Styx, it is ruled by Tou Mu, goddess of the North Star, and Lu Yueh, god of epidemics, both gods from the [[China|Chinese]] [[Mythology#Chinese Mythology|Mythology]].

'''The Sulfanorum:''' 303rd layer

As the [[Coenobites]] have taught us, what are demons to some are angels to others; so what's a hell to many could be a heaven to some. Here is the tobacconist's heaven, as ''Planes of Chaos'' wittily illustrated. Full of flames designed to light pipes, which the Abyssals smoke here.

'''The Broken Scale:''' 333rd layer

Ruled by [[Hiddukel]], the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' god of greed and treachery.

'''Fortress of Indifference:''' 348th layer

Rough terrain with fiery skies. An evil 200 foot tower is the main attraction, and is [[Hellbound: The Blood War|why we don't let Monte Cook listen to Nine Inch Nails anymore]]. Its the home of outcasts, half-fiends, [[tiefling]]s, etc. that turned their backs on the [[Blood War]]. Its particularly anarchic. Tapheon, a barely held together demon, tries to rule here but mostly goes around torturing random beings.

'''Arch of Eternity:''' 359th layer

Ruled by Eldanoth, the Prince of Crime. He once served under Orcus but left after Orcus was overthrown for a time, now his servants sabotage Orcus's plans. He's worshiped by criminals. The realm is, ironically, a huge, but finite plane of fire and snakes with a copper fortress at its center.

'''The Plains of Gallenshu:''' 377th layer

Dirt-storms, and "bat-winged creatures" forever fighting the tanar'ri slavers here.

'''Hungry Tarns:''' 380th layer

A bleak and poisonous realm of fens and black bottomless lakes that once was ruled by the [[Obyrith]] [[Sertrous]] but is now abandoned since Sertrous's death. As Sertrous returns to life, the layer becomes more infested with Golothomas and other serpentine monsters.

'''The Worm Realm:''' 399th layer

Urdlen's home, another plane of tunnels. Very diseased - possibly from a clash with Zuggtmoy.

'''The Woeful Escarand:''' 400th layer

Here, under a great mountain, is the court of judgement for chaotic-evils.

'''White Kingdom:''' 421st layer

Ruled by the King of Ghouls, who, depending on the author, is either a toady of Orcus, a hostage-turned-minion of Yeenoghu, or an undead god who's free to do his own shit.

'''Death Dells:''' 422nd layer

Also called the Seeping Woods in ''Planescape''. Ruled by [[Yeenoghu]], Demon Prince of [[Gnolls]].

'''Ahriman-abad:''' 452nd layer

Ruled by Ahrimanes, the Chief of the Cacodaemons.

'''Androlynne:''' 471st layer

Owned by [[Pale Night]]. This layer has become a battlefield where the forces of good fight to protect a group of [[Eladrin]] children who were trapped there by a deal with Pale Night. This may have backfired on Pale Night because the amount of people fighting for good on this layer is slowly causing the layer to change its appearance, and may eventually shift it out of the abyss to a higher plane.

'''Guttlevetch:''' 480th layer

A sea eternally swept by perpetual typhoons and hurricanes, its beaches of blood are littered with innumerable shipwrecks. Was ruled by Zuregurex, Lord of the Drowned, but he seriously fucked up when he tried to invade Demogorgon's layer. Zuregurex fled to the 245th layer to escape retribution.

'''Mansion of the Rake:''' 487th layer

An entire layer stylized as a perpetually shifting baroque-style palace. Ruled by Kanchelsis the god of [[vampire]]s, born of the blood of the elven gods. His primary servants are vampires, drow, and the occasional crazy birds in his aviaries. His live-in boarders-turned-sort-of-minions are a trio of crazed blood fiends, Memnul, Dagrobard, and Vonce, who are so unpleasant, they apparently scare even Kanchelsis shitless.

'''Noisome Vale:''' 489th layer

Tarnhem is the official ruler here, though he's left for a while to go and hike Mt. Everest to find himself or something (if playing ''Return to the Tomb of Horrors''', he's now his son [[Acererak]]'s guest). The layer itself is mostly volcanic, creating a poisoned and acidic atmosphere. However, a deep canyon carves its way through the layer which is infested with worms. These worms thrive in the acidic air, breathing it in and expelling breathable air as a waste byproduct. Tarnhem's estate is built along the ravine, and his servants still occupy it awaiting his return.

'''Kali:''' 500th layer

Kali makes her home in a big red India-themed jungle under a cloudless red sky, on the shore of the Screaming Sea; all described in Rick Swan's adventure. Or not. ''Planes of Chaos'' has her in layer #643 instead. But she's ''Kali''; she's probably got several layers.

'''Torremor:''' 503rd layer

An aerie, built out of bridges, buildings and junk, floating in a void, and inhabited by vrock, chasme and other flying demons. Officially ruled by [[Pazuzu]], though, he has, more or less, abandoned it to his ex-girlfriend, [[Lamashtu]]. For a while they were a disgustingly close couple, then Lamashtu betrayed him, and then they broke up when he ate out her eyes and impaled her on top of a tower at the very top of Torremor, where ever that is. He's more or less forgiven her, but still can not be assed to un-impale her.

'''Occipitus:''' 507th layer

Adimarchus, Prince of Madness, founded this plane and was its first prince. He is a fallen Celestial and thus this layer is actually a fragmented piece of Celestia (the Seven Heavens) that fell with him. Demons avoid this layer all together, its filled with ruins and basins. Adimarchus fought a big fight against [[Graz'zt]] and lost at one point. He has a split personality, one angelic, one demonic, which is why he's called "Prince of Madness." Now he's imprisoned in Skullrot in [[Pandemonium]], the Great Wheel's funny farm.

'''Shatterstone:''' 524th layer

Ruled by Vaprak the [[Troll]] and [[ogre]] deity.

'''Vudra:''' 531st layer

Ruled by [[Shaktari]], the queen of [[Marilith]]s.

'''Fleshforges:''' 558th layer

Ruled by Demon Prince Dwiergus, the Chrysalis Prince. He has control over the shaping of demonic races. Probably older than Pale Night. The Father of Demons in some ways. A mentor to Baphomet who taught him how to create new demons. Stats in Dragon #359.

'''Shendilavri:''' 570th layer

Islamic Paradise! ...for Malcanthet, Queen of the Succubi. Not so much for her visitors and guests.

'''Prison of the Mad God:''' 586th layer

A maelstorm of various gasses and orbiting rock. Imprisons Diinkarazan, one of the two gods of the [[derro]]. Space itself is warped.

'''Goranthis:''' 597th layer

A little demonic [[Magical Realm|slice of paradise]]. This pleasure-palace and the surrounding gardens are the realm of [[Socothbenoth|Socothbenoth, the Persuader]] who rules from atop his [[/d/|Palace of Quivering Flesh]].

'''Shubgottia, The Endless Maze:''' 600th layer

Ruled by [[Baphomet]], Prince of Beasts. He lets [[Pale Night]], a ghost looking entity, the mother of demons allegedly, have a castle here as well though she rarely does anything. Lyktion is his palace and at his ''Tower of '''Fucking''' Science'' he experiments and creates new demon breeds and such. He has vast armies of beastmen looking demons and is revered by the minotaurs. He is smart, savage, one of the top tier princes, and is not to be fucked with. He began as a mortal creature, either as a beast that lived as a man or a man that lived as a beast, and was cursed by the gods, though obviously he made the best of it.

'''Conflagratum:''' 601rst layer

Ruled by Alzrius, Lord of the Flowing Flame. He usually manifests himself as a pillar of fire and leads his legions to the burning of all [[bitches]].

'''Caverns of the Skull:''' 643rd layer

Kali again, ''Planescape'' edition. The authors decided that reading Sanskrit would be too hard so just watched ''Temple Of Doom'' for this one.

'''Zionyn:''' 663rd layer

Ruled by [[Obox-ob]], Prince of Vermin. As an obyrith and, perhaps, the last surviving aspect of the old Prince of Demons, he plots here to dethrone Demogorgon and to run all [[tanar'ri]] off the Abyss.

'''Unnamed Layer:''' 665th layer

A layer with gravity and atmosphere but nothing to stand on, spells that prevent or slow down falling do not work, and all portals connected to it go in but not out, so if you stumble into it and can't teleport out or have someone rescue you, you will endlessly fall until you die of dehydration or get ripped apart by the air friction.

'''Bottomless Pit:''' 666th layer

Ruled by the Demon Lord Abaddon, Prince of Apocalypse. The center of the layer is a literal black hole singularity that is slowly eating away at all of creation and the Abyss. Anything that enters the singularity, known as the Maelstrom, is lost forever. It is theorized by the [[Fraternity of Order]] in [[Sigil]] that a portion of the energy devoured by the Maelstrom is used to keep [[Tharizdun]] imprisoned, which is a bit ironic on a plane devoted to chaos and evil.

'''Abyssian Ocean:''' Many layers

The Abyssian Ocean is not really a layer of the abyss, but is a vast ocean that connects to all of the oceans that exist in the abyss and so spans across many layers, making it a useful way of traveling around the abyss. No demon lord rules over the Abyssian Ocean as it is protected by the extremely powerful myrmyxicuses, who rule it in floating citadels made of bone, shells, and coral.

=Inhabitants=
The main race in the Abyss are demons. There are four different categories of demons: The [[Tanar'ri]], the [[Obyrith]]s, the [[Loumara]]s, and everything else. The Tanar'ri are the only ones who ever get shit accomplished. They are also the "most numerous". This may owe to Georg Cantor's metamathematic: the number of rational numbers is infinite but countable (you just can't finish counting them) but the number of all real numbers including irrational numbers is infinite and uncountable (No pattern of counting them can include them all) - so some infinities are greater than others. The demon ''princes'' are finite: most Tanar'ri, though there are some Obyriths.

The petitioners in the Abyss are called manes, and become a low caste of Tanar'ri. If they survive for a very long time, they can be promoted up into the ranks of the not-worthless, and even to demon lords if they're cunning enough. This is how [[Orcus]] got his start.

Most of the chaotic evil deities live in the Abyss as well, for obvious reasons, including the aforementioned Great Mother and Lolth (depending on edition). Deities here are also called demon lords, because that's generally just a title and not any kind of useful disambiguation. Also because there's plenty of layers to go around so if you've got the power you might as well rule one.

==Why You Really REALLY Shouldn't Come Here==
Whenever some berk (that's an idiot, in Sigil cant) drops by here, there's a chance she gets killed. It's often the case that said berk wasn't Chaotic Evil herself. In the Outer Planes, undead as such don't exist - yeah, we know, Orcus but here we're really dealing with the damned in the ''form'' of undead. So a decent person getting into the dead-book on the Abyss ''should'' have her soul end up in a final rest suited for her true alignment. Anywhere but here.

As one final barbed grind up the arse, that depends on ''how'' one dies here. Here are some chaotic energies so mighty and blasphemous that it twists a person's body and soul into a special, Abyssal sort of unlife. Such a wretch is a [[Bodak]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:World Axis Plain of 1000 Portals.png|A map of Pazunia's [[World Axis]] counterpart.
File:Pazunia 3e.jpg|Pazunia
File:Grand abyss 3e.jpg|The Grand Abyss
File:Twelvetrees 3e.jpg|Twelvetrees
File:Abysm.jpg|The brine flats in Abysm
File:Drooling jungle 3e.jpg|The Drooling Jungle in Hollow's Heart
File:Shedaklah 3e.jpg|A map of Shedaklah
</gallery>

{{OuterPlanes}}