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Hades

2021-10-12T23:28:06Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F: /* Inhabitants */

=Dungeons & Dragons=
[[File:Gray waste PoConflict.jpg|thumb]]
{{Topquote|Life's a bitch, then you die.|The Washington Post}}

'''The Gray Wastes of Hades''' is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] [[Planescape|plane]] in the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Great Wheel]] cosmology. It obviously takes much inspiration from the Greek afterlife, hence the name.

Its favorable location of equal "subjective" distance between the Abyss and Hell make it the most active battle-zone in the [[Blood War]], where Demons and Devils clash over who is the evilest. Unfortunately, this distracts from what Hades is all about.

It is the inverse of [[Elysium]], being the place of ultimate evil in all existence. Worse perhaps than the [[Abyss]] or [[Baator]] if only because it is not subject to the capricious whims of [[Chaotic Stupid|Chaos]] or the regulations of [[Lawful Stupid|Law]]. It's essentially the physical personification of clinical depression.

It is a bleak place of suffering and misery with no ulterior motive; cruelty without being sadistic and selfishness without ambition. Put simply, Hades represents [[Stupid Evil|evil for its own sake.]]

As the purest Neutral Evil plane of all in the Great Wheel, it is the center of the [[Lower Planes]].

==Layers==
Like and utterly unlike Elysium, Hades has an all-pervading aura that causes visitors to be ensnared by its nature. In this case the removal of anything joyous or worthwhile.

By merely stepping onto the plane, non-evil individuals will be subjected to harsh penalties to their mental faculties, which makes colors appear dull and sounds seem muted. Emotions seem more alien, and visitors find themselves less empathetic or caring than they used to be.

Not only that, but the plane is also home to a unique malady known as '''"The Grays"''', which affects all visitors, including evil ones and even if they are outsiders. This steadily causes those afflicted to lose their mental faculties for every day spent abroad in Hades as they become more detached from reality and hope. In rules terms this forces their wisdom score to drop for each failed attempt to resist the condition, bringing their ability to think ever downwards until they lose their sensibilities altogether and go mad. Of course, this is more dangerous for non-evil people since their senses have already been assaulted by the bleak nature of the plane, meaning they are more likely to be overcome unless they have wills of steel. The only immunity is offered to those who have high enough levels of spell resistance. However, the cure is simple: get them away from Hades and their melancholy clears itself naturally.

The last defense of the plane is its entrapping nature, with every week spent on the plane slowly bringing visitors down to its level. This is the plane exerting itself on the better natures of mortals (Outsiders such as Demons and Devils are immune), making them forget happy memories, or distorting their feelings into something twisted and spiteful. This of course is coupled with the influence the plane has on the senses ''and'' the affliction of the Grays, meaning the minds of people who come here will eventually crack. In time they forget what it means to have hope and joy as they become trapped in the plane, unwilling to leave and are more likely to descend further into madness if the Grays has not gripped them already.

As for the plane itself; it fits its nature quite well. Despite the fact that sounds and colours are already drained, there simply ''is'' no color, the sky is gray, the dirt is gray, and the inhabitants and structures tend to the gunmetal ranges.

There is no sun, moon, or stars; just an impenetrable grey sky that goes on forever.

===Oinos===
The first layer (also referred to as a "Gloom") is pretty much a wasteland. There is not much here other than craters, the occasional husk of a tree, the forgotten detritus of ancient wars and a whole bunch of rotting corpses. If you need more inspiration, the realm probably resembles no-mans-land in WWI with all the colour and depth of a black and white photograph.

Oinos is the stage of the Blood War and thus you don't want to roam here too often, otherwise, you'll find yourself running into Demons or Devils or worse.

But not only that, you'll have to look out for the [[Yugoloth]]s, the Neutral evil faction of outsiders much like Devils and Demons.
The seat of the Yugoloths' power in Hades rests in Oinos, where there is a tower, twenty miles high called the '''Khin-Oin'''. The tower is said to be the spinal column of a long-dead god that came to rest on the plane. At the top of the tower is a throne, called the ''Siege Malicious'' where the ruler of the tower may sit. It should be noted that the temporal ruler of the Yugoloths is the ''General of [[Gehenna]]'', though his power only extends as far as his ability to enforce it, and since he's on another plane the Yugoloths here pretty much serve themselves.

The throne of the ''Siege Malicious'' gives the user the ability to create or modify any disease with just a thought. It comes with its own price, as any ruler who sits on the throne is cursed to have their skin slough off and be disfigured. But this is nothing compared to usurpers who sit on the throne without the right to do so, who are inflicted with a particularly severe case of the '''[[AIDS|Gray Wasting]]''' which is ''yet another'' disease inherent to the plane, but unrelated to '''The Grays''' or the entrapment effect.

It is often said that Oinos is the [[Nurgle|original source of all disease]] in the multiverse. So you not only have to watch out for the Grays and the spiritual weakening that comes with Hades, but you'll also have to prepare for the smorgasbord of pestilence and corruption that exists on this layer as well.

===Niflheim===
This gloom is all the worst environmental features of Hades made claustrophobic.

The grey aura actually closes in on you like a fog, meaning your visibility is reduced significantly, as well as muffling sounds to near in-audible levels and the level of moisture in the air creates a sense of uncomfortable dampness.

The topography is of a thick forest filled with carnivorous creatures and roving monsters. So while you are less likely to walk into a battalion of devils or demons, you are more likely to be stalked by a predator that you cannot see.

However, the layer is probably more habitable than Oinos since it is not a perpetual battleground, and it is much easier to hide here; thus there are settlements here and there. Most notable is '''Death of Innocence''', which is a small town of mortals where the inhabitants at least attempt some semblance of decency. For some reason the Grays and the entrapping nature of the plane have no hold here, so the town ''could'' be likened to anywhere else in the prime material plane if not for the fact that the wood that the houses are built from ooze blood instead of sap, and the fact that anyone who ''actually wants'' to eke out a living in the plane of ultimate evil probably don't make for fantastic neighbours.

===Pluton===
The final gloom of Hades would appear the most peaceful. It is a realm of withered forests and dusty olive groves. It's not ''quite'' terrible, but the aura of the place is one of impending doom and of being on the brink of apocalypse. There actually is not a lot of activity here and you could probably cross the layer relatively unmolested.

Pluton is really the dumping ground for its entrapped mortals and petitioners. It is that "classical" afterlife of despair and self-pity. Unlike the more imaginative punishments of [[Baator|Hell]], those who end up here are generally left to wallow in their own suffering in the desolate landscape... At least until a third party comes along. Devils and Demons come here looking for souls to conscript for the Blood War, whilst Hags occasionally herd petitioners together for use as currency.

Pluton is also the bottom of Mount Olympus due to its connection with the Greek pantheon, therefore if you're clever, just find a hill and keep walking upwards. If you're fortunate you might eventually end up in [[Arborea]], but you're more likely to go mad while trying, as this place for all of its relatively quiet and peaceful nature still remains part of Hades and will still suck you dry of emotion and goodness.

==Inhabitants==
There are two types of petitioners in Hades. The first is the ethereal kind, who are disembodied souls who don't even get sensory bodies with which to suffer their eternal torment, thereby adding to that sense of loneliness and despair. These spirits tend to flock towards mortal visitors like desperate wastrels, hoping to leech off some of warmth and positive emotion, but they are harmless.

Then you get the larval kind of petitioner, who are common throughout the lower planes as giant man-sized maggots with mortal faces. Larva get used as currency, fiend-food, materials in spellcasting, or as raw recruits for promotion into the higher fiendish forms such as Demons and/or Devils.

Due to the differences of religion on different worlds in the cosmos, there is no hard guarantee of which form you take in the afterlife of Hades. Though as a rule of thumb, particularly wicked and evil people become Larvae, whilst those who "end up" in Hades through lack of faith or by committing sins are probably going to end up as spirits.

Hades is also the home realm of the '''[[Yugoloth]]s''' which are the Neutral Evil fiends. They never really get as much screen time as the Devils and Demons, if only because the other two are more easily contrasted with each other. These guys are just evil [[Stupid Evil|for the sake of being evil]]. Also despite this being their home plane, they are more common in [[Gehenna]] where they migrated en-masse because, in case you haven't been paying attention, this place is a shit hole ''even by hell-plane standards''.

As a result of the Yugoloth's disinterest, the primary planar power in Hades are the Night [[Hag]]s, a fiendish branch of the hag family who focus on herding and trading the larva, both as lone "shepherds" and as mercantile consortiums.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Hades MotP 1e.png
Hades 3e.png
</gallery>

{{Template:OuterPlanes}}

=Pathfinder=
In the [[Pathfinder]] setting, Hades ''(along with [[Gehenna]])'' is an alternate name for '''Abaddon''' and is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] plane of the [[Great Beyond]] cosmology. It is largely the same as its D&D incarnation; a bleak and blasted landscape populated by Night Hags, [[Daemon (Pathfinder)|Daemons]], [[Div|Divs]] and evil deities.

It encompasses the concept of oblivion of the mortal soul, even the petitioners rarely persist for longer than a few hours after their arrival; inevitably becoming swept up to be consumed by foul entities, or enslaved and sold to be utilised in wicked magic or transformed into other hidious guises.

What little light in the realm comes from a sun that exists under a perpetual eclipse and the landscape is peppered with dormant volcanoes, acidic seas and diseased forests. The '''River Styx''' bubbles up through the polluted soil like spring water and flows to locations on other planes.

==Inhabitants / Locations==
Petitioners of Abaddon are called ''"The Hunted"'' and are emaciated versions of their mortal forms. They are the lowest in the pecking order of the plane, and as mentioned; usually perish within a few hours of turning up on the plane. If they are lucky, they might survive long enough to start preying on each other and potentially becoming Daemons themselves.

Abaddon is the home of the Daemons in Pathfinder, and their leaders the [[Four Horsemen]], nominally led by '''Charon''': The Rider of Death, who holds his court in a mobile palace that drifts through the river Styx. '''Szuriel''', the Rider of War makes her realm in the ''Cinder Furnace'', a volcano forge that constantly churns out weapons of war, although the volcano no longer provides enough heat for forging, so captive souls are used as energy instead. '''Apollyon''' Rider of Pestilence claims ''Plaguemere'' and makes his castle in the hollowed out corpse of an ancient deity where he devises and spreads new diseases ''(much like Khin-Oin mentioned above)''. While '''Trelmarixian''': Rider of Famine holds his ''Withered Court'' in a tower made up of living flesh and bone.

'''[[Ahriman]]''', Lord of Divs also keeps his realm of Ahermanabad within a bastion made up of fallen monuments at the top of Mount Kef. The Divs exist in a state of cold war with the Daemons, occasionally skirmishing with daemonic forces, but typically retreating so to not draw the full ire of the Four Horsemen. Instead the Divs spare most of their attention and considerable hatred for the mortal realms.

{{Pathfinder-Planes}}

Hades

2021-10-12T23:19:10Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F: /* Oinos */

=Dungeons & Dragons=
[[File:Gray waste PoConflict.jpg|thumb]]
{{Topquote|Life's a bitch, then you die.|The Washington Post}}

'''The Gray Wastes of Hades''' is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] [[Planescape|plane]] in the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Great Wheel]] cosmology. It obviously takes much inspiration from the Greek afterlife, hence the name.

Its favorable location of equal "subjective" distance between the Abyss and Hell make it the most active battle-zone in the [[Blood War]], where Demons and Devils clash over who is the evilest. Unfortunately, this distracts from what Hades is all about.

It is the inverse of [[Elysium]], being the place of ultimate evil in all existence. Worse perhaps than the [[Abyss]] or [[Baator]] if only because it is not subject to the capricious whims of [[Chaotic Stupid|Chaos]] or the regulations of [[Lawful Stupid|Law]]. It's essentially the physical personification of clinical depression.

It is a bleak place of suffering and misery with no ulterior motive; cruelty without being sadistic and selfishness without ambition. Put simply, Hades represents [[Stupid Evil|evil for its own sake.]]

As the purest Neutral Evil plane of all in the Great Wheel, it is the center of the [[Lower Planes]].

==Layers==
Like and utterly unlike Elysium, Hades has an all-pervading aura that causes visitors to be ensnared by its nature. In this case the removal of anything joyous or worthwhile.

By merely stepping onto the plane, non-evil individuals will be subjected to harsh penalties to their mental faculties, which makes colors appear dull and sounds seem muted. Emotions seem more alien, and visitors find themselves less empathetic or caring than they used to be.

Not only that, but the plane is also home to a unique malady known as '''"The Grays"''', which affects all visitors, including evil ones and even if they are outsiders. This steadily causes those afflicted to lose their mental faculties for every day spent abroad in Hades as they become more detached from reality and hope. In rules terms this forces their wisdom score to drop for each failed attempt to resist the condition, bringing their ability to think ever downwards until they lose their sensibilities altogether and go mad. Of course, this is more dangerous for non-evil people since their senses have already been assaulted by the bleak nature of the plane, meaning they are more likely to be overcome unless they have wills of steel. The only immunity is offered to those who have high enough levels of spell resistance. However, the cure is simple: get them away from Hades and their melancholy clears itself naturally.

The last defense of the plane is its entrapping nature, with every week spent on the plane slowly bringing visitors down to its level. This is the plane exerting itself on the better natures of mortals (Outsiders such as Demons and Devils are immune), making them forget happy memories, or distorting their feelings into something twisted and spiteful. This of course is coupled with the influence the plane has on the senses ''and'' the affliction of the Grays, meaning the minds of people who come here will eventually crack. In time they forget what it means to have hope and joy as they become trapped in the plane, unwilling to leave and are more likely to descend further into madness if the Grays has not gripped them already.

As for the plane itself; it fits its nature quite well. Despite the fact that sounds and colours are already drained, there simply ''is'' no color, the sky is gray, the dirt is gray, and the inhabitants and structures tend to the gunmetal ranges.

There is no sun, moon, or stars; just an impenetrable grey sky that goes on forever.

===Oinos===
The first layer (also referred to as a "Gloom") is pretty much a wasteland. There is not much here other than craters, the occasional husk of a tree, the forgotten detritus of ancient wars and a whole bunch of rotting corpses. If you need more inspiration, the realm probably resembles no-mans-land in WWI with all the colour and depth of a black and white photograph.

Oinos is the stage of the Blood War and thus you don't want to roam here too often, otherwise, you'll find yourself running into Demons or Devils or worse.

But not only that, you'll have to look out for the [[Yugoloth]]s, the Neutral evil faction of outsiders much like Devils and Demons.
The seat of the Yugoloths' power in Hades rests in Oinos, where there is a tower, twenty miles high called the '''Khin-Oin'''. The tower is said to be the spinal column of a long-dead god that came to rest on the plane. At the top of the tower is a throne, called the ''Siege Malicious'' where the ruler of the tower may sit. It should be noted that the temporal ruler of the Yugoloths is the ''General of [[Gehenna]]'', though his power only extends as far as his ability to enforce it, and since he's on another plane the Yugoloths here pretty much serve themselves.

The throne of the ''Siege Malicious'' gives the user the ability to create or modify any disease with just a thought. It comes with its own price, as any ruler who sits on the throne is cursed to have their skin slough off and be disfigured. But this is nothing compared to usurpers who sit on the throne without the right to do so, who are inflicted with a particularly severe case of the '''[[AIDS|Gray Wasting]]''' which is ''yet another'' disease inherent to the plane, but unrelated to '''The Grays''' or the entrapment effect.

It is often said that Oinos is the [[Nurgle|original source of all disease]] in the multiverse. So you not only have to watch out for the Grays and the spiritual weakening that comes with Hades, but you'll also have to prepare for the smorgasbord of pestilence and corruption that exists on this layer as well.

===Niflheim===
This gloom is all the worst environmental features of Hades made claustrophobic.

The grey aura actually closes in on you like a fog, meaning your visibility is reduced significantly, as well as muffling sounds to near in-audible levels and the level of moisture in the air creates a sense of uncomfortable dampness.

The topography is of a thick forest filled with carnivorous creatures and roving monsters. So while you are less likely to walk into a battalion of devils or demons, you are more likely to be stalked by a predator that you cannot see.

However, the layer is probably more habitable than Oinos since it is not a perpetual battleground, and it is much easier to hide here; thus there are settlements here and there. Most notable is '''Death of Innocence''', which is a small town of mortals where the inhabitants at least attempt some semblance of decency. For some reason the Grays and the entrapping nature of the plane have no hold here, so the town ''could'' be likened to anywhere else in the prime material plane if not for the fact that the wood that the houses are built from ooze blood instead of sap, and the fact that anyone who ''actually wants'' to eke out a living in the plane of ultimate evil probably don't make for fantastic neighbours.

===Pluton===
The final gloom of Hades would appear the most peaceful. It is a realm of withered forests and dusty olive groves. It's not ''quite'' terrible, but the aura of the place is one of impending doom and of being on the brink of apocalypse. There actually is not a lot of activity here and you could probably cross the layer relatively unmolested.

Pluton is really the dumping ground for its entrapped mortals and petitioners. It is that "classical" afterlife of despair and self-pity. Unlike the more imaginative punishments of [[Baator|Hell]], those who end up here are generally left to wallow in their own suffering in the desolate landscape... At least until a third party comes along. Devils and Demons come here looking for souls to conscript for the Blood War, whilst Hags occasionally herd petitioners together for use as currency.

Pluton is also the bottom of Mount Olympus due to its connection with the Greek pantheon, therefore if you're clever, just find a hill and keep walking upwards. If you're fortunate you might eventually end up in [[Arborea]], but you're more likely to go mad while trying, as this place for all of its relatively quiet and peaceful nature still remains part of Hades and will still suck you dry of emotion and goodness.

==Inhabitants==
There are two types of petitioners in Hades: The ethereal kind, who are disembodied souls who don't even get sensory bodies with which to suffer their eternal torment, thereby adding to that sense of loneliness and despair. These spirits tend to flock towards mortal visitors like desperate wastrels, hoping to leech off some of warmth and positive emotion, but they are harmless.

Then you get the larval kind of petitioner, who are common throughout the lower planes as giant man-sized maggots with mortal faces. Larva get used as currency, fiend-food, materials in spellcasting, or as raw recruits for promotion into the higher fiendish forms such as Demons and/or Devils.

Due to the differences of religion on different worlds in the cosmos, there is no hard guarantee of which form you take in the afterlife of Hades. Though as a rule of thumb, particularly wicked and evil people become Larvae, whilst those who "end up" in Hades through lack of faith or by committing sins are probably going to end up as spirits.

Hades is also the home realm of the '''[[Yugoloth]]s''' which are the Neutral Evil fiends. They never really get as much screen time as the Devils and Demons, if only because the other two are more easily contrasted with each other. These guys are just evil [[Stupid Evil|for the sake of being evil]]. Also despite this being their home plane, they are more common in [[Gehenna]] where they migrated en-masse because, in case you haven't been paying attention, this place is a shit hole ''even by hell-plane standards''.

As a result of the Yugoloth's disinterest, the primary planar power in Hades are the Night [[Hag]]s, a fiendish branch of the hag family who focus on herding and trading the larva, both as lone "shepherds" and as mercantile consortiums.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Hades MotP 1e.png
Hades 3e.png
</gallery>

{{Template:OuterPlanes}}

=Pathfinder=
In the [[Pathfinder]] setting, Hades ''(along with [[Gehenna]])'' is an alternate name for '''Abaddon''' and is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] plane of the [[Great Beyond]] cosmology. It is largely the same as its D&D incarnation; a bleak and blasted landscape populated by Night Hags, [[Daemon (Pathfinder)|Daemons]], [[Div|Divs]] and evil deities.

It encompasses the concept of oblivion of the mortal soul, even the petitioners rarely persist for longer than a few hours after their arrival; inevitably becoming swept up to be consumed by foul entities, or enslaved and sold to be utilised in wicked magic or transformed into other hidious guises.

What little light in the realm comes from a sun that exists under a perpetual eclipse and the landscape is peppered with dormant volcanoes, acidic seas and diseased forests. The '''River Styx''' bubbles up through the polluted soil like spring water and flows to locations on other planes.

==Inhabitants / Locations==
Petitioners of Abaddon are called ''"The Hunted"'' and are emaciated versions of their mortal forms. They are the lowest in the pecking order of the plane, and as mentioned; usually perish within a few hours of turning up on the plane. If they are lucky, they might survive long enough to start preying on each other and potentially becoming Daemons themselves.

Abaddon is the home of the Daemons in Pathfinder, and their leaders the [[Four Horsemen]], nominally led by '''Charon''': The Rider of Death, who holds his court in a mobile palace that drifts through the river Styx. '''Szuriel''', the Rider of War makes her realm in the ''Cinder Furnace'', a volcano forge that constantly churns out weapons of war, although the volcano no longer provides enough heat for forging, so captive souls are used as energy instead. '''Apollyon''' Rider of Pestilence claims ''Plaguemere'' and makes his castle in the hollowed out corpse of an ancient deity where he devises and spreads new diseases ''(much like Khin-Oin mentioned above)''. While '''Trelmarixian''': Rider of Famine holds his ''Withered Court'' in a tower made up of living flesh and bone.

'''[[Ahriman]]''', Lord of Divs also keeps his realm of Ahermanabad within a bastion made up of fallen monuments at the top of Mount Kef. The Divs exist in a state of cold war with the Daemons, occasionally skirmishing with daemonic forces, but typically retreating so to not draw the full ire of the Four Horsemen. Instead the Divs spare most of their attention and considerable hatred for the mortal realms.

{{Pathfinder-Planes}}

Hades

2021-10-12T23:16:20Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F: /* Oinos */

=Dungeons & Dragons=
[[File:Gray waste PoConflict.jpg|thumb]]
{{Topquote|Life's a bitch, then you die.|The Washington Post}}

'''The Gray Wastes of Hades''' is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] [[Planescape|plane]] in the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Great Wheel]] cosmology. It obviously takes much inspiration from the Greek afterlife, hence the name.

Its favorable location of equal "subjective" distance between the Abyss and Hell make it the most active battle-zone in the [[Blood War]], where Demons and Devils clash over who is the evilest. Unfortunately, this distracts from what Hades is all about.

It is the inverse of [[Elysium]], being the place of ultimate evil in all existence. Worse perhaps than the [[Abyss]] or [[Baator]] if only because it is not subject to the capricious whims of [[Chaotic Stupid|Chaos]] or the regulations of [[Lawful Stupid|Law]]. It's essentially the physical personification of clinical depression.

It is a bleak place of suffering and misery with no ulterior motive; cruelty without being sadistic and selfishness without ambition. Put simply, Hades represents [[Stupid Evil|evil for its own sake.]]

As the purest Neutral Evil plane of all in the Great Wheel, it is the center of the [[Lower Planes]].

==Layers==
Like and utterly unlike Elysium, Hades has an all-pervading aura that causes visitors to be ensnared by its nature. In this case the removal of anything joyous or worthwhile.

By merely stepping onto the plane, non-evil individuals will be subjected to harsh penalties to their mental faculties, which makes colors appear dull and sounds seem muted. Emotions seem more alien, and visitors find themselves less empathetic or caring than they used to be.

Not only that, but the plane is also home to a unique malady known as '''"The Grays"''', which affects all visitors, including evil ones and even if they are outsiders. This steadily causes those afflicted to lose their mental faculties for every day spent abroad in Hades as they become more detached from reality and hope. In rules terms this forces their wisdom score to drop for each failed attempt to resist the condition, bringing their ability to think ever downwards until they lose their sensibilities altogether and go mad. Of course, this is more dangerous for non-evil people since their senses have already been assaulted by the bleak nature of the plane, meaning they are more likely to be overcome unless they have wills of steel. The only immunity is offered to those who have high enough levels of spell resistance. However, the cure is simple: get them away from Hades and their melancholy clears itself naturally.

The last defense of the plane is its entrapping nature, with every week spent on the plane slowly bringing visitors down to its level. This is the plane exerting itself on the better natures of mortals (Outsiders such as Demons and Devils are immune), making them forget happy memories, or distorting their feelings into something twisted and spiteful. This of course is coupled with the influence the plane has on the senses ''and'' the affliction of the Grays, meaning the minds of people who come here will eventually crack. In time they forget what it means to have hope and joy as they become trapped in the plane, unwilling to leave and are more likely to descend further into madness if the Grays has not gripped them already.

As for the plane itself; it fits its nature quite well. Despite the fact that sounds and colours are already drained, there simply ''is'' no color, the sky is gray, the dirt is gray, and the inhabitants and structures tend to the gunmetal ranges.

There is no sun, moon, or stars; just an impenetrable grey sky that goes on forever.

===Oinos===
The first layer (also referred to as a "Gloom") is pretty much a wasteland. There is not much here other than craters, the occasional husk of a tree, the forgotten detritus of ancient wars and a whole bunch of rotting corpses. If you need more inspiration, the realm probably resembles no-mans-land in WWI with all the colour and depth of a black and white photograph.

Oinos is the stage of the Blood War and thus you don't want to roam here too often, otherwise, you'll find yourself running into Demons or Devils or worse.

But not only that, you'll have to look out for the [[Yugoloth]]s, the Neutral evil faction of outsiders much like Devils and Demons.
The seat of the Yugoloths' power in Hades rests in Oinos, where there is a tower, twenty miles high called the '''Khin-Oin'''. The tower is said to be the spinal column of a long-dead god that came to rest on the plane. At the top of the tower is a throne, called the ''Siege Malicious'' where the ruler of the tower may sit. It should be noted that the temporal ruler of the Yugoloths is the ''General of [[Gehenna]]'', though his power only extends as far as his ability to enforce it, and since he's on another plane the Yugoloths here pretty much serve themselves.

The throne of the ''Siege Malicious'' gives the user the ability to create or modify any disease with just a thought. It comes with its own price, as any ruler who sits on the throne is caused to have their skin slough off and disfiguring them. But this is nothing compared to usurpers who sit on the throne without the right to do so, who are inflicted with a particularly severe case of the '''[[AIDS|Gray Wasting]]''' which is ''yet another'' disease inherent to the plane, but unrelated to '''The Grays''' or the entrapment effect.

It is often said that Oinos is the [[Nurgle|origin source for all disease]] in the multiverse. So you don't only have to watch out for the Grays and the spiritual weakening that comes with Hades, but you'll also have to prepare for the smorgasbord of pestilence and corruption that exists on this layer as well.

===Niflheim===
This gloom is all the worst environmental features of Hades made claustrophobic.

The grey aura actually closes in on you like a fog, meaning your visibility is reduced significantly, as well as muffling sounds to near in-audible levels and the level of moisture in the air creates a sense of uncomfortable dampness.

The topography is of a thick forest filled with carnivorous creatures and roving monsters. So while you are less likely to walk into a battalion of devils or demons, you are more likely to be stalked by a predator that you cannot see.

However, the layer is probably more habitable than Oinos since it is not a perpetual battleground, and it is much easier to hide here; thus there are settlements here and there. Most notable is '''Death of Innocence''', which is a small town of mortals where the inhabitants at least attempt some semblance of decency. For some reason the Grays and the entrapping nature of the plane have no hold here, so the town ''could'' be likened to anywhere else in the prime material plane if not for the fact that the wood that the houses are built from ooze blood instead of sap, and the fact that anyone who ''actually wants'' to eke out a living in the plane of ultimate evil probably don't make for fantastic neighbours.

===Pluton===
The final gloom of Hades would appear the most peaceful. It is a realm of withered forests and dusty olive groves. It's not ''quite'' terrible, but the aura of the place is one of impending doom and of being on the brink of apocalypse. There actually is not a lot of activity here and you could probably cross the layer relatively unmolested.

Pluton is really the dumping ground for its entrapped mortals and petitioners. It is that "classical" afterlife of despair and self-pity. Unlike the more imaginative punishments of [[Baator|Hell]], those who end up here are generally left to wallow in their own suffering in the desolate landscape... At least until a third party comes along. Devils and Demons come here looking for souls to conscript for the Blood War, whilst Hags occasionally herd petitioners together for use as currency.

Pluton is also the bottom of Mount Olympus due to its connection with the Greek pantheon, therefore if you're clever, just find a hill and keep walking upwards. If you're fortunate you might eventually end up in [[Arborea]], but you're more likely to go mad while trying, as this place for all of its relatively quiet and peaceful nature still remains part of Hades and will still suck you dry of emotion and goodness.

==Inhabitants==
There are two types of petitioners in Hades: The ethereal kind, who are disembodied souls who don't even get sensory bodies with which to suffer their eternal torment, thereby adding to that sense of loneliness and despair. These spirits tend to flock towards mortal visitors like desperate wastrels, hoping to leech off some of warmth and positive emotion, but they are harmless.

Then you get the larval kind of petitioner, who are common throughout the lower planes as giant man-sized maggots with mortal faces. Larva get used as currency, fiend-food, materials in spellcasting, or as raw recruits for promotion into the higher fiendish forms such as Demons and/or Devils.

Due to the differences of religion on different worlds in the cosmos, there is no hard guarantee of which form you take in the afterlife of Hades. Though as a rule of thumb, particularly wicked and evil people become Larvae, whilst those who "end up" in Hades through lack of faith or by committing sins are probably going to end up as spirits.

Hades is also the home realm of the '''[[Yugoloth]]s''' which are the Neutral Evil fiends. They never really get as much screen time as the Devils and Demons, if only because the other two are more easily contrasted with each other. These guys are just evil [[Stupid Evil|for the sake of being evil]]. Also despite this being their home plane, they are more common in [[Gehenna]] where they migrated en-masse because, in case you haven't been paying attention, this place is a shit hole ''even by hell-plane standards''.

As a result of the Yugoloth's disinterest, the primary planar power in Hades are the Night [[Hag]]s, a fiendish branch of the hag family who focus on herding and trading the larva, both as lone "shepherds" and as mercantile consortiums.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Hades MotP 1e.png
Hades 3e.png
</gallery>

{{Template:OuterPlanes}}

=Pathfinder=
In the [[Pathfinder]] setting, Hades ''(along with [[Gehenna]])'' is an alternate name for '''Abaddon''' and is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] plane of the [[Great Beyond]] cosmology. It is largely the same as its D&D incarnation; a bleak and blasted landscape populated by Night Hags, [[Daemon (Pathfinder)|Daemons]], [[Div|Divs]] and evil deities.

It encompasses the concept of oblivion of the mortal soul, even the petitioners rarely persist for longer than a few hours after their arrival; inevitably becoming swept up to be consumed by foul entities, or enslaved and sold to be utilised in wicked magic or transformed into other hidious guises.

What little light in the realm comes from a sun that exists under a perpetual eclipse and the landscape is peppered with dormant volcanoes, acidic seas and diseased forests. The '''River Styx''' bubbles up through the polluted soil like spring water and flows to locations on other planes.

==Inhabitants / Locations==
Petitioners of Abaddon are called ''"The Hunted"'' and are emaciated versions of their mortal forms. They are the lowest in the pecking order of the plane, and as mentioned; usually perish within a few hours of turning up on the plane. If they are lucky, they might survive long enough to start preying on each other and potentially becoming Daemons themselves.

Abaddon is the home of the Daemons in Pathfinder, and their leaders the [[Four Horsemen]], nominally led by '''Charon''': The Rider of Death, who holds his court in a mobile palace that drifts through the river Styx. '''Szuriel''', the Rider of War makes her realm in the ''Cinder Furnace'', a volcano forge that constantly churns out weapons of war, although the volcano no longer provides enough heat for forging, so captive souls are used as energy instead. '''Apollyon''' Rider of Pestilence claims ''Plaguemere'' and makes his castle in the hollowed out corpse of an ancient deity where he devises and spreads new diseases ''(much like Khin-Oin mentioned above)''. While '''Trelmarixian''': Rider of Famine holds his ''Withered Court'' in a tower made up of living flesh and bone.

'''[[Ahriman]]''', Lord of Divs also keeps his realm of Ahermanabad within a bastion made up of fallen monuments at the top of Mount Kef. The Divs exist in a state of cold war with the Daemons, occasionally skirmishing with daemonic forces, but typically retreating so to not draw the full ire of the Four Horsemen. Instead the Divs spare most of their attention and considerable hatred for the mortal realms.

{{Pathfinder-Planes}}

Hades

2021-10-12T23:12:19Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F: /* Dungeons & Dragons */

=Dungeons & Dragons=
[[File:Gray waste PoConflict.jpg|thumb]]
{{Topquote|Life's a bitch, then you die.|The Washington Post}}

'''The Gray Wastes of Hades''' is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] [[Planescape|plane]] in the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Great Wheel]] cosmology. It obviously takes much inspiration from the Greek afterlife, hence the name.

Its favorable location of equal "subjective" distance between the Abyss and Hell make it the most active battle-zone in the [[Blood War]], where Demons and Devils clash over who is the evilest. Unfortunately, this distracts from what Hades is all about.

It is the inverse of [[Elysium]], being the place of ultimate evil in all existence. Worse perhaps than the [[Abyss]] or [[Baator]] if only because it is not subject to the capricious whims of [[Chaotic Stupid|Chaos]] or the regulations of [[Lawful Stupid|Law]]. It's essentially the physical personification of clinical depression.

It is a bleak place of suffering and misery with no ulterior motive; cruelty without being sadistic and selfishness without ambition. Put simply, Hades represents [[Stupid Evil|evil for its own sake.]]

As the purest Neutral Evil plane of all in the Great Wheel, it is the center of the [[Lower Planes]].

==Layers==
Like and utterly unlike Elysium, Hades has an all-pervading aura that causes visitors to be ensnared by its nature. In this case the removal of anything joyous or worthwhile.

By merely stepping onto the plane, non-evil individuals will be subjected to harsh penalties to their mental faculties, which makes colors appear dull and sounds seem muted. Emotions seem more alien, and visitors find themselves less empathetic or caring than they used to be.

Not only that, but the plane is also home to a unique malady known as '''"The Grays"''', which affects all visitors, including evil ones and even if they are outsiders. This steadily causes those afflicted to lose their mental faculties for every day spent abroad in Hades as they become more detached from reality and hope. In rules terms this forces their wisdom score to drop for each failed attempt to resist the condition, bringing their ability to think ever downwards until they lose their sensibilities altogether and go mad. Of course, this is more dangerous for non-evil people since their senses have already been assaulted by the bleak nature of the plane, meaning they are more likely to be overcome unless they have wills of steel. The only immunity is offered to those who have high enough levels of spell resistance. However, the cure is simple: get them away from Hades and their melancholy clears itself naturally.

The last defense of the plane is its entrapping nature, with every week spent on the plane slowly bringing visitors down to its level. This is the plane exerting itself on the better natures of mortals (Outsiders such as Demons and Devils are immune), making them forget happy memories, or distorting their feelings into something twisted and spiteful. This of course is coupled with the influence the plane has on the senses ''and'' the affliction of the Grays, meaning the minds of people who come here will eventually crack. In time they forget what it means to have hope and joy as they become trapped in the plane, unwilling to leave and are more likely to descend further into madness if the Grays has not gripped them already.

As for the plane itself; it fits its nature quite well. Despite the fact that sounds and colours are already drained, there simply ''is'' no color, the sky is gray, the dirt is gray, and the inhabitants and structures tend to the gunmetal ranges.

There is no sun, moon, or stars; just an impenetrable grey sky that goes on forever.

===Oinos===
The first layer (also referred to as a "Gloom") is pretty much a wasteland. There is not much here other than craters, the occasional husk of a tree, the forgotten detritus of ancient wars and a whole bunch of rotting corpses. If you need more inspiration, the realm probably resembles no-mans-land in WWI with all the colour and depth of a black and white photograph.

Oinos is the stage of the Blood War and thus you don't want to roam here too often, otherwise, you'll find yourself running into Demons or Devils or worse.

But not only that, you'll have to look out for the [[Yugoloth]]s, the Neutral evil faction of outsiders much like Devils and Demons.
The seat of the Yugoloths power in Hades rests in Oinos, where there is a tower, twenty miles high called the '''Khin-Oin'''. The tower is said to be the spinal column of a long-dead god that came to rest on the plane. At the top of the tower is a throne, called the ''Siege Malicious'' where the ruler of the tower may sit. It should be noted that the temporal ruler of the Yugoloths is the ''General of [[Gehenna]]'', though his power only extends as far as his ability to enforce it, and since he's on another plane the Yugoloths here pretty much serve themselves.

The throne of the ''Siege Malicious'' gives the user the ability to create or modify any disease with just a thought. It comes with its own price, as any ruler who sits on the throne is caused to have their skin slough off and disfiguring them. But this is nothing compared to usurpers who sit on the throne without the right to do so, who are inflicted with a particularly severe case of the '''[[AIDS|Gray Wasting]]''' which is ''yet another'' disease inherent to the plane, but unrelated to '''The Grays''' or the entrapment effect.

It is often said that Oinos is the [[Nurgle|origin source for all disease]] in the multiverse. So you don't only have to watch out for the Grays and the spiritual weakening that comes with Hades, but you'll also have to prepare for the smorgasbord of pestilence and corruption that exists on this layer as well.

===Niflheim===
This gloom is all the worst environmental features of Hades made claustrophobic.

The grey aura actually closes in on you like a fog, meaning your visibility is reduced significantly, as well as muffling sounds to near in-audible levels and the level of moisture in the air creates a sense of uncomfortable dampness.

The topography is of a thick forest filled with carnivorous creatures and roving monsters. So while you are less likely to walk into a battalion of devils or demons, you are more likely to be stalked by a predator that you cannot see.

However, the layer is probably more habitable than Oinos since it is not a perpetual battleground, and it is much easier to hide here; thus there are settlements here and there. Most notable is '''Death of Innocence''', which is a small town of mortals where the inhabitants at least attempt some semblance of decency. For some reason the Grays and the entrapping nature of the plane have no hold here, so the town ''could'' be likened to anywhere else in the prime material plane if not for the fact that the wood that the houses are built from ooze blood instead of sap, and the fact that anyone who ''actually wants'' to eke out a living in the plane of ultimate evil probably don't make for fantastic neighbours.

===Pluton===
The final gloom of Hades would appear the most peaceful. It is a realm of withered forests and dusty olive groves. It's not ''quite'' terrible, but the aura of the place is one of impending doom and of being on the brink of apocalypse. There actually is not a lot of activity here and you could probably cross the layer relatively unmolested.

Pluton is really the dumping ground for its entrapped mortals and petitioners. It is that "classical" afterlife of despair and self-pity. Unlike the more imaginative punishments of [[Baator|Hell]], those who end up here are generally left to wallow in their own suffering in the desolate landscape... At least until a third party comes along. Devils and Demons come here looking for souls to conscript for the Blood War, whilst Hags occasionally herd petitioners together for use as currency.

Pluton is also the bottom of Mount Olympus due to its connection with the Greek pantheon, therefore if you're clever, just find a hill and keep walking upwards. If you're fortunate you might eventually end up in [[Arborea]], but you're more likely to go mad while trying, as this place for all of its relatively quiet and peaceful nature still remains part of Hades and will still suck you dry of emotion and goodness.

==Inhabitants==
There are two types of petitioners in Hades: The ethereal kind, who are disembodied souls who don't even get sensory bodies with which to suffer their eternal torment, thereby adding to that sense of loneliness and despair. These spirits tend to flock towards mortal visitors like desperate wastrels, hoping to leech off some of warmth and positive emotion, but they are harmless.

Then you get the larval kind of petitioner, who are common throughout the lower planes as giant man-sized maggots with mortal faces. Larva get used as currency, fiend-food, materials in spellcasting, or as raw recruits for promotion into the higher fiendish forms such as Demons and/or Devils.

Due to the differences of religion on different worlds in the cosmos, there is no hard guarantee of which form you take in the afterlife of Hades. Though as a rule of thumb, particularly wicked and evil people become Larvae, whilst those who "end up" in Hades through lack of faith or by committing sins are probably going to end up as spirits.

Hades is also the home realm of the '''[[Yugoloth]]s''' which are the Neutral Evil fiends. They never really get as much screen time as the Devils and Demons, if only because the other two are more easily contrasted with each other. These guys are just evil [[Stupid Evil|for the sake of being evil]]. Also despite this being their home plane, they are more common in [[Gehenna]] where they migrated en-masse because, in case you haven't been paying attention, this place is a shit hole ''even by hell-plane standards''.

As a result of the Yugoloth's disinterest, the primary planar power in Hades are the Night [[Hag]]s, a fiendish branch of the hag family who focus on herding and trading the larva, both as lone "shepherds" and as mercantile consortiums.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Hades MotP 1e.png
Hades 3e.png
</gallery>

{{Template:OuterPlanes}}

=Pathfinder=
In the [[Pathfinder]] setting, Hades ''(along with [[Gehenna]])'' is an alternate name for '''Abaddon''' and is the [[Alignment|Neutral Evil]] plane of the [[Great Beyond]] cosmology. It is largely the same as its D&D incarnation; a bleak and blasted landscape populated by Night Hags, [[Daemon (Pathfinder)|Daemons]], [[Div|Divs]] and evil deities.

It encompasses the concept of oblivion of the mortal soul, even the petitioners rarely persist for longer than a few hours after their arrival; inevitably becoming swept up to be consumed by foul entities, or enslaved and sold to be utilised in wicked magic or transformed into other hidious guises.

What little light in the realm comes from a sun that exists under a perpetual eclipse and the landscape is peppered with dormant volcanoes, acidic seas and diseased forests. The '''River Styx''' bubbles up through the polluted soil like spring water and flows to locations on other planes.

==Inhabitants / Locations==
Petitioners of Abaddon are called ''"The Hunted"'' and are emaciated versions of their mortal forms. They are the lowest in the pecking order of the plane, and as mentioned; usually perish within a few hours of turning up on the plane. If they are lucky, they might survive long enough to start preying on each other and potentially becoming Daemons themselves.

Abaddon is the home of the Daemons in Pathfinder, and their leaders the [[Four Horsemen]], nominally led by '''Charon''': The Rider of Death, who holds his court in a mobile palace that drifts through the river Styx. '''Szuriel''', the Rider of War makes her realm in the ''Cinder Furnace'', a volcano forge that constantly churns out weapons of war, although the volcano no longer provides enough heat for forging, so captive souls are used as energy instead. '''Apollyon''' Rider of Pestilence claims ''Plaguemere'' and makes his castle in the hollowed out corpse of an ancient deity where he devises and spreads new diseases ''(much like Khin-Oin mentioned above)''. While '''Trelmarixian''': Rider of Famine holds his ''Withered Court'' in a tower made up of living flesh and bone.

'''[[Ahriman]]''', Lord of Divs also keeps his realm of Ahermanabad within a bastion made up of fallen monuments at the top of Mount Kef. The Divs exist in a state of cold war with the Daemons, occasionally skirmishing with daemonic forces, but typically retreating so to not draw the full ire of the Four Horsemen. Instead the Divs spare most of their attention and considerable hatred for the mortal realms.

{{Pathfinder-Planes}}

Wells of Darkness

2021-10-12T23:05:45Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F: /* Known Prisoners */

The '''Wells of Darkness''' are the 73rd layer of the [[Abyss]] in the [[Great Wheel]] [[multiverse]] of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Having first appeared in the map of the Abyss included in the "Planes of Chaos" boxed set for [[Planescape]], it was expanded upon in [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]] for the [[splatbook]] "Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss", it was further developed in the article "Gazing Into the Abyss" in [[Dragon Magazine]] #357 and "The Wells of Darkness" in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #148, both written by Eric L. Boyd. In the former, rules are presented for using three prisoners of the Wells of Darkness - Ansitif, Astaroth and Cabiri - as [[Vestige|Vestiges]], whilst in the latter, as part of the [[Savage Tide]] adventure path, the players are forced to enter the Wells and release the [[Succubus]] [[Demon Prince|Queen]] Shami-Amoure for advice in their battle against [[Demogorgon]] - it also contains rules for Ahazu as a [[Vestige]].

The Wells of Darkness appear as a rocky plain interrupted by jagged tors underneath a steely blue sun that casts dim light. Pocked around the layer are pits seemingly filled with an inky black ichor; these pits are mystical prisons, which bind beings here in a manner that renders them virtually incapable of escape - and certainly impossible to do so without outside assistance. Beings so bound can communicate through a primitive form of telepathy with anyone in close proximity, although the magic rituals used by [[Binder]]s can also be used to commune with the prisoners here and to tap into their power in the same manner as [[Vestige]]s - this suggests that the pits may contain some small fragment of the same mysterious other-realm that other vestiges are known to inhabit.

The Wells are linked by a winding, 10ft wide pathway of marble, and overseen by "The Custodians"; 15ft tall [[bodak]]s of exceptional ferocity who never speak, but relentlessly patrol the layer. Atop a 300ft tall tor stands the semiruined stone fortress of Overlook, which allegedly feature a scale model of the entire layer, complete with inky pools marked with the demonic seals of their inhabitants. Many demons believe that the fortress protects some sort of controlling mechanism for the layer, but if so no one has yet figured out how to make it work. Overlook was once the seat of the [[Demon Prince]] Ahazu the Seizer, but he grew so obsessed with the binding powers of the Wells of Darkness that he voluntarily fed himself into a vacant well, and nobody has dared take control of the place ever since.

The Wells are a prison for fiends generally considered too useful - or powerful! - to be slain outright, and on rare occasions even non-demons have been forced to make use of the Well's powers to bind creatures or beings here that are too dangerous to allow to go free. Sometimes, as with Shami-Amoure, a creature that could be killed is instead imprisoned because it's far easier to cast ''true resurrection'' than free someone from the Wells. Very few beings bound have ever escaped, such as [[Shaktari]], [[Demon Prince|Demon Queen of]] [[Marilith]]s, and Shami-Amoure herself in the Savage Tide adventure path.

==Known Prisoners==
'''Ahazu:''' Original [[Demon Prince]] of the Wells of Darkness, voluntarily bound himself here. It's unclear if he's actually ''trapped'' however, as he seems to have an uncanny influence over the black void, referred to in demonologist lore as "Shattered Night".

'''Ansitif:''' A [[Demon Prince]] of Blasphemy who formed an alliance with six tanar'ri allies to hunt down and destroy an obyrith lord named Malgoth, only for them all to be slain or imprisoned after they had completed their quest.

'''Apep:''' A serpentine demigod whose native pantheon believes him to be the ultimate manifestation of evil; they bound him here to prevent the end of existence.

'''Areex:''' A forgotten [[Demon Prince]] who entered a mysterious pact with a being called Bolothamogg, who is now impatient for Areex to venture "beyond the stars" and pay the price of the deal. Nobody knows who Bolothamogg is or what that deal was. Which is worrying, because [[gibberling]]s have begun spontaneously chanting Areex's story and demanding he pay his debt, and the phenomena keeps on spreading... and furthermore, Bolothamogg was explained in [[Lords of Madness]] as being one of the [[Elder Evils]]!

'''Cabiri:''' A many-eyed [[Demon Prince]] stated as being imprisoned here by the Queen of Chaos for refusing to join her war against the Wind Dukes of Aaqa in the Fiendish Codex, and described as an obyrith lord that betrayed the Queen of Chaos and sought out the baernoloths only to be imprisoned by them in the Dragon article.

'''Ebulon:''' A [[Demon Prince]] who once served as a loyal general to [[Graz'zt]] before the Dark Prince managed to claim his own layer of Azzagrat; Ebulon ultimately fell in battle against [[Demogorgon]], who dumped his near-dead body in stasis in a Well but then forgot about it. Graz'zt actually does wish to resue Ebulon out of some strange sense of loyalty, but his long delay in doing anything has bred resentment in Ebulon.

'''Lazbral'thull:''' A [[Demon Prince]] of Torture and Bloodletting who went mad and began preying on other demons; he slew three other fiendish lords, including the demon tree Malgarius, before being humbled and bound here.

'''Ma Yuan:''' A colossal, yellow-scaled, four-armed [[lizardfolk]]-like creature with the head of a T-rex and a spiked fin, Ma Yuan is aptly known as the Killer of Gods for his power, his deicidal urges, and the fact that he was literally created "to prevent complacency among the gods." He slew at least ten gods before an alliance of gods and demonic lords (who had also fallen prey to his rampages) managed to seal him away.

'''Shami-Amourae:''' Whilst [[Malcanthet]] claims the crown of [[Demon Prince|Queen of the]] [[Succubus|Succubi]] now, that title lay in Shami-Amourae's hands two thousand years ago. She was imprisoned here when her relationship with [[Demogorgon]] went sour, as the Prince of Demons realized his lover had learned some of his greatest weaknesses and was using them to manipulate him.

'''Astaroth:''' A [[Demon Prince]] with the power of prophecy in life, famous for infiltrating the ranks of the [[Archdevil]]s as "Diabolus" to the extent he became Treasurer of Hell before he was found out and forced to flee, Astaroth was murdered and his identity stolen by an [[Archdevil]] named Gargauth, who ultimately went on to ascend to divinity. But, whether because of Astaroth's preemptive attempts to become a god (which, reputedly, Gargauth stole from him) or his pact with Ahazu for his body to be sealed within a Well of Darkness upon his death, Astaroth still clings to existence. Hellfire constantly blankets his pit, incinerating Astaroth's body as fast as it regenerates and keeping him from returning to true life.

'''Dahak:''' A malevolent god in the guise of a three-headed dragon, Dahak was imprisoned here by his own pantheon, who had grown angry with his constant attacks on them and their subjects.

'''Echidna:''' A goddess who was imprisoned here for her refusal to cease giving birth to terrible monsters, she somehow continues to impregnate herself and bear her nightmarish progeny within the Wells of Darkness. Every so often, Ahazu allows her children to escape their pit and enter the rest of the multiverse.

'''Kizarvidexus:''' An obyrith lord who fought alongside the Queen of Chaos, who slew the Wind Duke Soziel only to be slain in turn by another, Icosiol. It is presumably Icosiol's powers that generate the perpetual tornado that rages in the bottom of the pit, sweeping up and scattering the chunks of demonic flesh that ooze from the darkness beneath in order to prevent the obyrith's regeneration and resurrection.

'''Rr'ikin'aka:''' A Demon Prince of very little intelligence who dared to challenge Tharzax the Chattering Prince ''and'' [[Obox-Ob]] the Prince of Vermin (who used to hold [[Demogorgon|Demogorgon's]] position as Prince of Demons), '''simultaneously''', to try and claim the niche of Demon Prince of Scorpions. Needless to say, they kicked his ass. His pool is buried beneath an endlessly replenished mountain of decaying scorpion corpses.

'''Ungulex:''' A tanar'ri who has been imprisoned for so long that none remember who he was or why he was sealed away. Some stories claim he may have been, if not the first prisoner to be sealed in the Wells of Darkness, then one of the first.

'''Arlgolchier:''' An ambitious demon who made a pact with Ahazu for power; when he was slain by an alliance of three [[wizard]]s on the [[Prime Material]], his contract came due and his dead body was transported to one of the Wells of Darkness. Though the Abyss attempts to regenerate him, the pit where he dwells is infested with multiple chasme and abyssal [[ghoul]]s, who feast constantly on his flesh, preventing it from building sufficient mass and coalescing together. A portal to the Wells of Darkness hidden in the Pit of Prisoners on Pazunia, the 1st layer of the Abyss, emerges here.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Planes]]

Haagenti

2021-10-12T08:42:58Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F:

{{NeedsImages}}
Haagenti is the Pathfinder demon lord of Alchemy, Invention and Transformation... and basically mad, steampunk science. Its titles are the "Whisper within" and the "Lord of transformation", and is credited as the creator of (or the one that inspired) artifacts such as the first Philosopher Stone and other helpful objects. Due to this, he's perceived as more beneficial demon lord than others. This is, however, just a ruse, since with each of these gifts, new paths are open that may lead, over the years, entire civilizations to their rapid collapse and violent destruction through "unforeseeable" consequences. Just as planned. Seriously, even one of the Pathfinder's creators has stated that, among the demon lords, Haagenti can be considerate a low key version of Tzeentch, albeit one that focuses exclusively on the domains of evil science.

While being a shapeshifter and not possessing a "true form", Haagenti presents himself often as a winged bull with golden horns - which takes from his goetia demon namesake - that can breath foul vapors which cause random mutations over those exposed, making them into "fleshwarped" creatures. Its divine realm in the abyss - the Cerebulim - is also described as a "clockwork labyrinth of endless laboratories", which sounds like a mixture of a forge world and the Planet of the Sorcerers.

Due to his speciality in physical mutation and fleshwarping, Haagenti is patron not only to all alchemists and mad scientists, but also to many natural shapeshifting creatures (except werewolves, who already got Jezelda). He's also fond of the rare awakened constructs and other creatures that "improve" upon themselves or others through the power of science.

A key aspect of Haagenti, which makes him different from your run of the mill demon lord, is that he tends to play the long game and employ subtle manipulations directed towards both followers and enemies alike. While other demonic cults may aim to control and disrupt cities and societies, the Whisper Within aims to corrupt the most brilliant thinkers and inventors to have them produce instruments of woe. For example, an alchemist could be inspired to invent a poison able to put down even an evil dragon, only to have this weapon used 50 years down the line to exterminate an entire line of good dragons in a war after they become wary of this weapon's very existence.

{{Pathfinder-DemonPrinces}}

Abyss

2021-10-12T08:41:01Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F:

[[File:Abyss layers 3e.webp|thumb|right|300px|It's <s>turtles</s> demons all the way down.]]
{{Topquote|1=During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called warre; and such a warre, as if of every man, against every man. Rarre Uwwue|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 '''<s>Plane</s> Plain of Infinite Portals''' and The Wasteland of Gates‚ 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.)
<gallery>
Pazunia PoC.jpg
Plane of infinite portals PoC.jpg
Pazunia 3e.jpg
World Axis Plain of 1000 Portals.png|A map of Pazunia's [[World Axis]] counterpart.
</gallery>

'''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.
<gallery>
Grand abyss 3e.jpg
Abyss PoC.jpg|The [[awesome]] [[METAL]] fold-out poster that came with the ''Planes of Chaos'' box.
</gallery>

'''Wormblood:''' 5th layer

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

Home of the [[Great Mother]], insane princess of the Beholders. They're a Lawful race so have no idea that their heaven is Abyssal - but then, tanar'ri don't visit much, so to nonAbyssals it's an easy mistake to make. Her realm is an infinite cavern of tunnels and chambers, populated by every kind of Beholder-kin many, perhaps, birthed right here. The walls, ceilings and floors of the realm are dotted with eyes, making attempts at concealment nearly impossible considering that you're being watched all of the time. The eyes are believed to be those of the Great Mother herself, meaning that she practically ''is'' the layer. If you're not supposed to be here, you're in trouble.

The realm was apparently first discovered by Illithids, who declared that it must be the source of all corruption and foulness in the multiverse and then attempted to destroy it. It says a lot when even Mind Flayers think a realm is too corrupt to let live.

'''The 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.
<gallery>
Twelvetrees 3e.jpg
Ship of chaos PoC.jpg|A Ship of Chaos
</gallery>

'''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]]. Overlapping with A'Shad'Ifogh. Overlapping with The Jagged Tor of Final Reckoning, ruled by Gamigin.

'''The Courts of Mustering''' 15th layer

'''The Endless Graveyard''' 16th layer

'''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. Overlapping with the Whispering Lights.

'''Carnaxius''' Sekhmeth's realm.

'''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. This city is populated by relatively well-behaved demons, not that that'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]].
<gallery>
Azzagrat PoC.jpg
Zrintor PoC.jpg|Zrintor, the Viper Forest
Forest of vipers 3e.jpg|also Zrintor
</gallery>

'''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-4th 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.
<gallery>
Demonweb pits PoC.jpg
Demonweb OHG.jpg
</gallery>

'''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.

'''Smaragd:''' 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).

<gallery>
Smaragd PoC.jpg
</gallery>

'''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.
<gallery>
Abysm.jpg|The brine flats
</gallery>

'''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 Abyss 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 barlgura, 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|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

It's as much undead as demonic. [[Orcus|Orcus's]] crib. He spends most of his time chilling here not doing things. When Orcus kicked the bucket in 2e, the minor drow goddess [[Kiaransalee]] took over the realm and kept his seat warm until he got back.
<gallery>
Thanatos PoC.jpg
Naratyr PoC.jpg|Naratyr, capital city of Thanatos.
</gallery>

'''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 busy 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.
<gallery>
Hollow's heart Dragon 333.png
Drooling jungle 3e.jpg|The Drooling Jungle
</gallery>

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

A lightless underground layer ruled by the [[Obyrith]] lord [[Ugudenk]] and also the place where Golothomas are most commonly found. Ugudenk is a massive worm so long that nobody has ever seen the rear end of his body, and some suspect that he is either infinitely long, or the part of him that has been seen is only a feeler appendage of an even larger creature that exists in (or even is) an unknown layer of the abyss. He is constantly digging through the layer creating new tunnels and sometimes poking his head out into other layers or even the material plane. [[Fraz-Urb'luu]] constantly tries and fails to bar Ugudenk from entering Hollow's Heart, but because the Writhing Realm is literally underneath, Fraz-Urb'luu's efforts to exterminate the Squirming King amount to nothing more than an infinitely protracted game of whackamole.

'''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.
<gallery>
Shedaklah 3e.jpg
</gallery>

'''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 worshipped 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.
<gallery>
Gallenshu PoC.jpg
</gallery>

'''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|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, ruled and staffed by the Nalfeshnees. If you want a legally binding agreement with a specific demon, ask a favor of the Abyss, or even make bail for an inmate of the Wells of Darkness, go to the Woeful Escarand and plead your case. If you can convince the Nalfeshnee judges, especially if you take the time to request a specific official, you can accomplish a great many wondrous and terrifying things. If you fail to successfully plead your case, or worse yet, convince everyone that you've wasted their time, getting eaten alive by the courtroom attendees will be the very least of your problems.

'''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.
<gallery>
Torremor PoC.jpg
</gallery>

'''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, it's filled with ruins and basins. Adimarchus fought a big fight against [[Graz'zt]] and lost; whereupon Graz'zt had him evicted. The whole ordeal caused him to develop 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.

'''Molor, The Stinking Realm:''' 528th Layer

[[Juiblex]]'s layer in 4th Edition. Filled with slime, filth and disease. The only settlement is a tiny collection of shacks built from mud and garbage called Thullgrime.

'''Vudra:''' 531st layer

Ruled by [[Shaktari]], the queen of [[Marilith]]s. An archipelago of tropical, snake-infested, snake-infected islands in a sea of poison, ruled by Shaktari's favored marilith generals and daughters. Anyone who comes to Vudra without Shaktari's permission quickly discovers that literally everything about Vudra, including the snakes, the food, the demons, the foliage, the poison, the air, is all deadly poisonous. Did I mention that everything in Vudra is poisonous?

'''Garavond:''' 548th layer

Ruled by Demon Prince [[Haagenti]], ''Lord of Alchemy''. "Garavond" can either refer to Haagenti's orb-shaped, metallic fortress, or the lightless, airless void in which the fortress sits. The Lord of Alchemy is generally described as being a clockwork being shaped either like a winged bull or a winged minotaur, though he can also change his shape as his whim or situation demands. His fortress is filled with laboratories where he conducts his experiments, and is inhabited by his golems and demonic constructs. He often sends his minions to Shedaklah to gather more reagents and components for his many alchemical projects, and has a very comfy relationship with Zuggmoty as a result; the two often collaborate together to create horrible diseases. As a part of his experiments, and to further discourage uninvited guests, Haagenti can fill the void around his fortress with dangerous elemental energies, like lava, electricity, or Fresca.

'''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. Dwiergus lives in a vast fortress called the "Chitin Palace," which sits in the center of a lake of molten flesh. Visitors to the Chitin Palace note that it is an extension of Dwiergus' body.

'''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. Most of Zionyn is a blasted wasteland that abuts an ocean resin. The wasteland is teeming with demonic vermin, and on the shores of the ocean of resin is a city of ekolids who capture non-ekolid visitors and either dip them in the quick-hardening resin and then use them as grotesque building materials, or inject them full of eggs in order to entertain other ekolids with "performance hatchings," or both. Planar travelers are constantly warned to avoid Zionyn.

'''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.

'''Plains of Rust:''' Unknown layer

Used to be a swampy layer that no one really paid attention to, until [[Baatezu|devil]]s discovered three portals linking it to [[Baator]]. They secretly built several fortresses on the layer to use as forward bases in the [[Blood War]]. When the Demon Lords found out about it, [[Orcus]] and [[Juiblex]] used their powers to make the layer's atmosphere so toxic that no living being can survive and so corrosive that all metal rusts into dust in a matter of days. Now the only remaining inhabitants are wandering groups of undead and constructs. The portals to Baator are all buried and unusable.
<gallery>
plains of rust.jpg
</gallery>

'''Blood Sea:''' Unknown layer

A literal ocean of blood. Its most famous landmarks are the floating flesh islands above it. It is theorized that this blood and flesh are the remains of some long dead god or primordial. Its most common inhabitants are Blood Fiends.
<gallery>
Blood sea Draconomicon 1 4e.png
abyssal lair Draconomicon 1 4e.png
</gallery>

=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>
Abyss MotP 1e.png
</gallery>

{{OuterPlanes}}

Haagenti

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{{NeedsImages}}
Haagenti is the Pathfinder demon lord of Alchemy, Invention and Transformation... and basically mad, steampunk science. Its titles are the "Whisper within" and the "Lord of transformation", and is credited as the creator of (or the one that inspired) artifacts such as the first Philosopher Stone and other helpful objects. Due to this, he's perceived as more beneficial demon lord than others. This is, however, just a ruse, since with each of these gifts, new paths are open that may lead, over the years, entire civilizations to their rapid collapse and violent destruction through "unforeseeable" consequences. Just as planned. Seriously, even one of the Pathfinder's creators has stated that, among the demon lords, Haagenti can be considerate a low key version of Tzeentch, albeit one that focuses exclusively on the domains of evil science.

While being a shapeshifter and not possessing a "true form", Haagenti presents himself often as a winged bull with golden horns - which takes from his goetia demon namesake - that can breath foul vapors which cause random mutations over those exposed, making them into "fleshwarped" creatures. Its divine realm in the abyss - the Cerebulim - is also described as a "clockwork labyrinth of endless laboratories", which sounds like a mixture of a forge world and the Planet of the Sorcerers.

Due to his speciality in physical mutation and fleshwarping, Haagenti is patron not only to all alchemists and mad scientists, but also to many natural shapeshifting creatures (except werewolves, who already got Jezelda). He's also fond of the rare awakened constructs and other creature who "improve" themselves or others through the power of since.

A key aspect of Haagenti, which makes him different from your run of the mill demon lord, is that he tends to play the long game and employ subtle manipulations directed towards both followers and enemies alike. While other demonic cults may aim to control and disrupt cities and societies, the Whisper Within aims to corrupt the most brilliant thinkers and inventors to have them produce instruments of woe. For example, an alchemist could be inspired to invent a poison able to put down even an evil dragon, only to have this weapon used 50 years down the line to exterminate an entire line of good dragons in a war after they become wary of this weapon's very existence.

{{Pathfinder-DemonPrinces}}

Abyss

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[[File:Abyss layers 3e.webp|thumb|right|300px|It's <s>turtles</s> demons all the way down.]]
{{Topquote|1=During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called warre; and such a warre, as if of every man, against every man. Rarre Uwwue|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 '''<s>Plane</s> Plain of Infinite Portals''' and The Wasteland of Gates‚ 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.)
<gallery>
Pazunia PoC.jpg
Plane of infinite portals PoC.jpg
Pazunia 3e.jpg
World Axis Plain of 1000 Portals.png|A map of Pazunia's [[World Axis]] counterpart.
</gallery>

'''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.
<gallery>
Grand abyss 3e.jpg
Abyss PoC.jpg|The [[awesome]] [[METAL]] fold-out poster that came with the ''Planes of Chaos'' box.
</gallery>

'''Wormblood:''' 5th layer

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

Home of the [[Great Mother]], insane princess of the Beholders. They're a Lawful race so have no idea that their heaven is Abyssal - but then, tanar'ri don't visit much, so to nonAbyssals it's an easy mistake to make. Her realm is an infinite cavern of tunnels and chambers, populated by every kind of Beholder-kin many, perhaps, birthed right here. The walls, ceilings and floors of the realm are dotted with eyes, making attempts at concealment nearly impossible considering that you're being watched all of the time. The eyes are believed to be those of the Great Mother herself, meaning that she practically ''is'' the layer. If you're not supposed to be here, you're in trouble.

The realm was apparently first discovered by Illithids, who declared that it must be the source of all corruption and foulness in the multiverse and then attempted to destroy it. It says a lot when even Mind Flayers think a realm is too corrupt to let live.

'''The 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.
<gallery>
Twelvetrees 3e.jpg
Ship of chaos PoC.jpg|A Ship of Chaos
</gallery>

'''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]]. Overlapping with A'Shad'Ifogh. Overlapping with The Jagged Tor of Final Reckoning, ruled by Gamigin.

'''The Courts of Mustering''' 15th layer

'''The Endless Graveyard''' 16th layer

'''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. Overlapping with the Whispering Lights.

'''Carnaxius''' Sekhmeth's realm.

'''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. This city is populated by relatively well-behaved demons, not that that'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]].
<gallery>
Azzagrat PoC.jpg
Zrintor PoC.jpg|Zrintor, the Viper Forest
Forest of vipers 3e.jpg|also Zrintor
</gallery>

'''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-4th 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.
<gallery>
Demonweb pits PoC.jpg
Demonweb OHG.jpg
</gallery>

'''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.

'''Smaragd:''' 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).

<gallery>
Smaragd PoC.jpg
</gallery>

'''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.
<gallery>
Abysm.jpg|The brine flats
</gallery>

'''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 Abyss 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 barlgura, 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|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

It's as much undead as demonic. [[Orcus|Orcus's]] crib. He spends most of his time chilling here not doing things. When Orcus kicked the bucket in 2e, the minor drow goddess [[Kiaransalee]] took over the realm and kept his seat warm until he got back.
<gallery>
Thanatos PoC.jpg
Naratyr PoC.jpg|Naratyr, capital city of Thanatos.
</gallery>

'''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 busy 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.
<gallery>
Hollow's heart Dragon 333.png
Drooling jungle 3e.jpg|The Drooling Jungle
</gallery>

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

A lightless underground layer ruled by the [[Obyrith]] lord [[Ugudenk]] and also the place where Golothomas are most commonly found. Ugudenk is a massive worm so long that nobody has ever seen the rear end of his body, and some suspect that he is either infinitely long, or the part of him that has been seen is only a feeler appendage of an even larger creature that exists in (or even is) an unknown layer of the abyss. He is constantly digging through the layer creating new tunnels and sometimes poking his head out into other layers or even the material plane. [[Fraz-Urb'luu]] constantly tries and fails to bar Ugudenk from entering Hollow's Heart, but because the Writhing Realm is literally underneath, Fraz-Urb'luu's efforts to exterminate the Squirming King amount to nothing more than an infinitely protracted game of whackamole.

'''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.
<gallery>
Shedaklah 3e.jpg
</gallery>

'''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 worshipped 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.
<gallery>
Gallenshu PoC.jpg
</gallery>

'''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|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, ruled and staffed by the Nalfeshnees. If you want a legally binding agreement with a specific demon, ask a favor of the Abyss, or even make bail for an inmate of the Wells of Darkness, go to the Woeful Escarand and plead your case. If you can convince the Nalfeshnee judges, especially if you take the time to request a specific official, you can accomplish a great many wondrous and terrifying things. If you fail to successfully plead your case, or worse yet, convince everyone that you've wasted their time, getting eaten alive by the courtroom attendees will be the very least of your problems.

'''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.
<gallery>
Torremor PoC.jpg
</gallery>

'''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; whereupon Graz'zt had him evicted. The whole ordeal caused him to develop 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.

'''Molor, The Stinking Realm:''' 528th Layer

[[Juiblex]]'s layer in 4th Edition. Filled with slime, filth and disease. The only settlement is a tiny collection of shacks built from mud and garbage called Thullgrime.

'''Vudra:''' 531st layer

Ruled by [[Shaktari]], the queen of [[Marilith]]s. An archipelago of tropical, snake-infested, snake-infected islands in a sea of poison, ruled by Shaktari's favored marilith generals and daughters. Anyone who comes to Vudra without Shaktari's permission quickly discovers that literally everything about Vudra, including the snakes, the food, the demons, the foliage, the poison, the air, is all deadly poisonous. Did I mention that everything in Vudra is poisonous?

'''Garavond:''' 548th layer

Ruled by Demon Prince [[Haagenti]], ''Lord of Alchemy''. "Garavond" can either refer to Haagenti's orb-shaped, metallic fortress, or the lightless, airless void in which the fortress sits. The Lord of Alchemy is generally described as being a clockwork being shaped either like a winged bull or a winged minotaur, though he can also change his shape as his whim or situation demands. His fortress is filled with laboratories where he conducts his experiments, and is inhabited by his golems and demonic constructs. He often sends his minions to Shedaklah to gather more reagents and components for his many alchemical projects, and has a very comfy relationship with Zuggmoty as a result; the two often collaborate together to create horrible diseases. As a part of his experiments, and to further discourage uninvited guests, Haagenti can fill the void around his fortress with dangerous elemental energies, like lava, electricity, or Fresca.

'''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. Dwiergus lives in a vast fortress called the "Chitin Palace," which sits in the center of a lake of molten flesh. Visitors to the Chitin Palace note that it is an extension of Dwiergus' body.

'''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. Most of Zionyn is a blasted wasteland that abuts an ocean resin. The wasteland is teeming with demonic vermin, and on the shores of the ocean of resin is a city of ekolids who capture non-ekolid visitors and either dip them in the quick-hardening resin and then use them as grotesque building materials, or inject them full of eggs in order to entertain other ekolids with "performance hatchings," or both. Planar travelers are constantly warned to avoid Zionyn.

'''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.

'''Plains of Rust:''' Unknown layer

Used to be a swampy layer that no one really paid attention to, until [[Baatezu|devil]]s discovered three portals linking it to [[Baator]]. They secretly built several fortresses on the layer to use as forward bases in the [[Blood War]]. When the Demon Lords found out about it, [[Orcus]] and [[Juiblex]] used their powers to make the layer's atmosphere so toxic that no living being can survive and so corrosive that all metal rusts into dust in a matter of days. Now the only remaining inhabitants are wandering groups of undead and constructs. The portals to Baator are all buried and unusable.
<gallery>
plains of rust.jpg
</gallery>

'''Blood Sea:''' Unknown layer

A literal ocean of blood. Its most famous landmarks are the floating flesh islands above it. It is theorized that this blood and flesh are the remains of some long dead god or primordial. Its most common inhabitants are Blood Fiends.
<gallery>
Blood sea Draconomicon 1 4e.png
abyssal lair Draconomicon 1 4e.png
</gallery>

=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>
Abyss MotP 1e.png
</gallery>

{{OuterPlanes}}

Abyss

2021-10-12T08:26:02Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F: /* Notable Layers */

[[File:Abyss layers 3e.webp|thumb|right|300px|It's <s>turtles</s> demons all the way down.]]
{{Topquote|1=During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called warre; and such a warre, as if of every man, against every man. Rarre Uwwue|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 '''<s>Plane</s> Plain of Infinite Portals''' and The Wasteland of Gates‚ 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.)
<gallery>
Pazunia PoC.jpg
Plane of infinite portals PoC.jpg
Pazunia 3e.jpg
World Axis Plain of 1000 Portals.png|A map of Pazunia's [[World Axis]] counterpart.
</gallery>

'''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.
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Grand abyss 3e.jpg
Abyss PoC.jpg|The [[awesome]] [[METAL]] fold-out poster that came with the ''Planes of Chaos'' box.
</gallery>

'''Wormblood:''' 5th layer

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

Home of the [[Great Mother]], insane princess of the Beholders. They're a Lawful race so have no idea that their heaven is Abyssal - but then, tanar'ri don't visit much, so to nonAbyssals it's an easy mistake to make. Her realm is an infinite cavern of tunnels and chambers, populated by every kind of Beholder-kin many, perhaps, birthed right here. The walls, ceilings and floors of the realm are dotted with eyes, making attempts at concealment nearly impossible considering that you're being watched all of the time. The eyes are believed to be those of the Great Mother herself, meaning that she practically ''is'' the layer. If you're not supposed to be here, you're in trouble.

The realm was apparently first discovered by Illithids, who declared that it must be the source of all corruption and foulness in the multiverse and then attempted to destroy it. It says a lot when even Mind Flayers think a realm is too corrupt to let live.

'''The 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.
<gallery>
Twelvetrees 3e.jpg
Ship of chaos PoC.jpg|A Ship of Chaos
</gallery>

'''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]]. Overlapping with A'Shad'Ifogh. Overlapping with The Jagged Tor of Final Reckoning, ruled by Gamigin.

'''The Courts of Mustering''' 15th layer

'''The Endless Graveyard''' 16th layer

'''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. Overlapping with the Whispering Lights.

'''Carnaxius''' Sekhmeth's realm.

'''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. This city is populated by relatively well-behaved demons, not that that'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]].
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Azzagrat PoC.jpg
Zrintor PoC.jpg|Zrintor, the Viper Forest
Forest of vipers 3e.jpg|also Zrintor
</gallery>

'''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-4th 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.
<gallery>
Demonweb pits PoC.jpg
Demonweb OHG.jpg
</gallery>

'''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.

'''Smaragd:''' 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).

<gallery>
Smaragd PoC.jpg
</gallery>

'''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.
<gallery>
Abysm.jpg|The brine flats
</gallery>

'''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 Abyss 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 barlgura, 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|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

It's as much undead as demonic. [[Orcus|Orcus's]] crib. He spends most of his time chilling here not doing things. When Orcus kicked the bucket in 2e, the minor drow goddess [[Kiaransalee]] took over the realm and kept his seat warm until he got back.
<gallery>
Thanatos PoC.jpg
Naratyr PoC.jpg|Naratyr, capital city of Thanatos.
</gallery>

'''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 busy 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.
<gallery>
Hollow's heart Dragon 333.png
Drooling jungle 3e.jpg|The Drooling Jungle
</gallery>

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

A lightless underground layer ruled by the [[Obyrith]] lord [[Ugudenk]] and also the place where Golothomas are most commonly found. Ugudenk is a massive worm so long that nobody has ever seen the rear end of his body, and some suspect that he is either infinitely long, or the part of him that has been seen is only a feeler appendage of an even larger creature that exists in (or even is) an unknown layer of the abyss. He is constantly digging through the layer creating new tunnels and sometimes poking his head out into other layers or even the material plane. [[Fraz-Urb'luu]] constantly tries and fails to bar Ugudenk from entering Hollow's Heart, but because the Writhing Realm is literally underneath, Fraz-Urb'luu's efforts to exterminate the Squirming King amount to nothing more than an infinitely protracted game of whackamole.

'''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.
<gallery>
Shedaklah 3e.jpg
</gallery>

'''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 worshipped 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.
<gallery>
Gallenshu PoC.jpg
</gallery>

'''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|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, ruled and staffed by the Nalfeshnees. If you want a legally binding agreement with a specific demon, ask a favor of the Abyss, or even make bail for an inmate of the Wells of Darkness, go to the Woeful Escarand and plead your case. If you can convince the Nalfeshnee judges, especially if you take the time to request a specific official, you can accomplish a great many wondrous and terrifying things. If you fail to successfully plead your case, or worse yet, convince everyone that you've wasted their time, getting eaten alive by the courtroom attendees will be the very least of your problems.

'''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.
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'''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; whereupon Graz'zt had him evicted. The whole ordeal caused him to develop 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.

'''Molor, The Stinking Realm:''' 528th Layer

[[Juiblex]]'s layer in 4th Edition. Filled with slime, filth and disease. The only settlement is a tiny collection of shacks built from mud and garbage called Thullgrime.

'''Vudra:''' 531st layer

Ruled by [[Shaktari]], the queen of [[Marilith]]s. An archipelago of tropical, snake-infested, snake-infected islands in a sea of poison, ruled by Shaktari's favored marilith generals and daughters. Anyone who comes to Vudra without Shaktari's permission quickly discovers that literally everything about Vudra, including the snakes, the food, the demons, the foliage, the poison, the air, is all deadly poisonous. Did I mention that everything in Vudra is poisonous?

'''Garavond:''' 548th layer

Ruled by Demon Prince [[Haagenti]], ''Lord of Alchemy''. "Garavond" can either refer to Haagenti's orb-shaped, metallic fortress, or the lightless, airless void in which the fortress sits. The Lord of Alchemy is generally described as being a clockwork being shaped either like a winged bull or a winged minotaur, though he can also change his shape as his whim or situation demands. His fortress is filled with laboratories where he conducts his experiments, and is inhabited by his golems and demonic constructs. He often sends his minions to Shedaklah to gather more reagents and components for his many alchemical projects, and has a very comfy relationship with Zuggmoty as a result; the two often collaborate together to create horrible diseases. As a part of his experiments, and to further discourage uninvited guests, Haagenti can fill the void around his fortress with dangerous elemental energies, like lava, electricity, or Fresca.

'''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. Dwiergus lives in a vast fortress called the "Chitin Palace," which sits in the center of a lake of molten flesh. Visitors to the Chitin Palace note that it is an extension of Dwiergus' body.

'''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. Most of Zionyn is a blasted wasteland that abuts an ocean resin. The wasteland is teeming with demonic vermin, and on the shores of the ocean of resin is a city of ekolids who capture non-ekolid visitors and either dip them in the quick-hardening resin and then use them as grotesque building materials, or inject them full of eggs in order to entertain other ekolids with "performance hatchings," or both. Planar travelers are constantly warned to avoid Zionyn.

'''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.

'''Plains of Rust:''' Unknown layer

Used to be a swampy layer that no one really paid attention to, until [[Baatezu|devil]]s discovered three portals linking it to [[Baator]]. They secretly built several fortresses on the layer to use as forward bases in the [[Blood War]]. When the Demon Lords found out about it, [[Orcus]] and [[Juiblex]] used their powers to make the layer's atmosphere so toxic that no living being can survive and so corrosive that all metal rusts into dust in a matter of days. Now the only remaining inhabitants are wandering groups of undead and constructs. The portals to Baator are all buried and unusable.
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'''Blood Sea:''' Unknown layer

A literal ocean of blood. Its most famous landmarks are the floating flesh islands above it. It is theorized that this blood and flesh are the remains of some long dead god or primordial. Its most common inhabitants are Blood Fiends.
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=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==
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Abyss MotP 1e.png
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{{OuterPlanes}}

Eltab

2021-10-12T08:18:27Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:D13C:1C80:2511:CD9F:

{{dnd-stub}}
[[File:Eltab Dragon 355.jpg|thumb]]
'''Eltab''' is a more obscure demon lord who used to rule over the 248th layer of the [[Abyss]], also known as The Hidden Layer. He was summoned into the [[Forgotten Realms]] by the wizards of [[Thay]] to fight the enemy nation of Mulhorand. After helping them, he proved too powerful for the wizards to banish back to the Abyss, so they imprisoned him underneath the Thayan capital of Eltabbar.

==Gallery==
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{{D&D-DemonPrinces}}

[[Category:Forgotten Realms]]