Access to Tiamat's Lair is blocked by the Maggot Pit. This is a huge crater easily a thousand feet across filled with ooze and writhing maggots. It is from this primordial soup that new lemures and nupperibos are born. The Maggot Pit is guarded by a red abishai named Arraka, who can gat in more devils in case of emergency. Arraka has been known to accept bribes in exchange for a sage flight over the Maggot Pit.
The Maggot Pit abuts a sheer rock wall that stretches across the plain and rises as far as the eye can see. A single cave mouth pierces the wall; this is the entrance to Tiamat's Lair. Here the Lady of Dragonkind guars the only gateway to the second layer of Hell. She is attended by her five consorts, the most powerful male great wyrms of each chromatic color (red, black, green, blue, and white). Those who make it to Tiamat's Lair have but three options: bargain, flee, or die.
2/18/2020
Heaven and Hell: Mount Celestia and the invertred mountain of Baator.
There're several ways to look at the Planes. Most people strongly believe in the concept of good vs. evil. Those tend to differenciate between the "good planes" and the "evil planes". When someone talks about the Upper (or "good") Planes, he's refering to the Planes of Arcadia, Mount Celestia, Bytopia, Elysium, the Beastlands, Arborea, and Ysgard. The Lower - or "evil" - Planes are Acheron, Baator, Gehena, the Gray Waste, Carceri, the Abyss, and Pandemonium.
After the Twin Serpents ouroborus had instituted the unity of rings and established the importance of rings in planar geography and philosophy, Jazirian and Ahriman's turned their attention to the other laws that would rule the planes. In honor of their triple aspects - Law, Good, and Evil - the serpents established the law of the threes, dereeing the importance of the number three in all spheres. After applying this law, the decided they needed another law to complete their triumvirate. Both agreed they should define the center of the universe, about which they would remain coiled. Despite the clear advantages of choosing the Outlands, a place already given over to neutrality, Jazirian pushed for Mount Celestia, while Ahriman agitated for the inverted mountain of Baator.
For the first time, the Twin Serpents disregarded the importance of law. Ahriman wanted the plan of law and evil to have pride of place, while Jazirian felt the same way about the home of law and good. The two Cosmic Serpents struggled back and forth, neiter willing to concede the point in the interest of law. The Great Ring shook as the two serpents rocked the foundation of the Outer Planes. With Jazirian pulling toward Heaven and Ahriman straining towad Hell, the two serpents tore themselves apart.
After the Twin Serpents ouroborus had instituted the unity of rings and established the importance of rings in planar geography and philosophy, Jazirian and Ahriman's turned their attention to the other laws that would rule the planes. In honor of their triple aspects - Law, Good, and Evil - the serpents established the law of the threes, dereeing the importance of the number three in all spheres. After applying this law, the decided they needed another law to complete their triumvirate. Both agreed they should define the center of the universe, about which they would remain coiled. Despite the clear advantages of choosing the Outlands, a place already given over to neutrality, Jazirian pushed for Mount Celestia, while Ahriman agitated for the inverted mountain of Baator.
For the first time, the Twin Serpents disregarded the importance of law. Ahriman wanted the plan of law and evil to have pride of place, while Jazirian felt the same way about the home of law and good. The two Cosmic Serpents struggled back and forth, neiter willing to concede the point in the interest of law. The Great Ring shook as the two serpents rocked the foundation of the Outer Planes. With Jazirian pulling toward Heaven and Ahriman straining towad Hell, the two serpents tore themselves apart.
2/15/2020
Birth of the Multiverse: Formation of the Outlands and the Outer Planes
The multiverse tends to form endless rings - whether physical or philosophical. Sigil, the Outlands, the Outer Planes, and even the Elemental Planes from rings without beginning or end.
The multiverse, at its birth, was little more than swirling chaos. A primordial soup of infinite possibilities, the cosmos was both everything and nothing. Through some unknown process, forms coalesced out of the chaos, including the planes themselves and those beings later known as gods. Some of these newborn powers reveled in the chaos, while others abhorred it.
The conflict between these two groups, between Law and Chaos, definied the planes and the laws that they would obey.
The mightiest of Law's champions were the Twin Serpents. These Cosmic Serpents expressed the duality of Law, and were unstoppable when the worked together. Jazirian, winged and feathered, dedicated herself to the cause of good, while Ahriman, scaled and forked of tongue, embraced the darker path of evil. Despite their differences, they were first and formost agents of Law.
Sending teir coils out into the endless chaos, Jazirian and Ahriman created the first ring, so establishing a fundamental principle of the planes. When Ahriman toook Jazirian's tail in his mouth and shw did the same with his, they demarcated the plan now known as the Outlands. Since this plane was created by the interaction of Law and Chaos, and was bordered by both, Good and Evil, it became the plane of true neutrality. With the Outlands defined, the other planes fell in around it, creating what became known als the Great Ring. This construction - a central plane of neutrality with sixteen other planes of all alignments arrayed around it - is popularly known as the Outher Planes.
The multiverse, at its birth, was little more than swirling chaos. A primordial soup of infinite possibilities, the cosmos was both everything and nothing. Through some unknown process, forms coalesced out of the chaos, including the planes themselves and those beings later known as gods. Some of these newborn powers reveled in the chaos, while others abhorred it.
The conflict between these two groups, between Law and Chaos, definied the planes and the laws that they would obey.
The mightiest of Law's champions were the Twin Serpents. These Cosmic Serpents expressed the duality of Law, and were unstoppable when the worked together. Jazirian, winged and feathered, dedicated herself to the cause of good, while Ahriman, scaled and forked of tongue, embraced the darker path of evil. Despite their differences, they were first and formost agents of Law.
Sending teir coils out into the endless chaos, Jazirian and Ahriman created the first ring, so establishing a fundamental principle of the planes. When Ahriman toook Jazirian's tail in his mouth and shw did the same with his, they demarcated the plan now known as the Outlands. Since this plane was created by the interaction of Law and Chaos, and was bordered by both, Good and Evil, it became the plane of true neutrality. With the Outlands defined, the other planes fell in around it, creating what became known als the Great Ring. This construction - a central plane of neutrality with sixteen other planes of all alignments arrayed around it - is popularly known as the Outher Planes.
2/14/2020
Two rivers, a mountain, and a really big tree
Though plenty of gates allow for travel between the Outer Planes, most planewalkers know a few other ways to get around. In particular, four major planar connections link several planes:
- the magical River Oceanus (running through a few of the Upper Planes),
- the River Styx (blood-red, dirty, and oily waters, running through all the Lower Planes in a twisted, aimless path),
- Mount Olympus (a mountain realm on the Plane of Arborea with a good number of planar pathways), and
- Yggdrasil, the World Ash (a gigantic plane-spanning tree, with its source in Ysgard, but with branches and roots spread throughout may planes, layers, and realms).
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| The Great Ring of the Outer Planes |
2/13/2020
The Blood War
There is one thing to talk about, before we explore the individual planes: a bit of a hullabaloo on the Lower Planes that most folks refere to as the Blood War. The principal inhabitants of the Abyss, the tanar'ri, battle the baatezu of Baator for nothing less than controll of all of the dark planes. This eternal struggle is best characterized by the following excerpt from an interview with Verrith, a human observer of the war:
Tanar'ri die, Baatezu die. The war rages on with an infernal intensity. Each side leads legions of troops, mercenaries, conscripts, slaves, and servant monsters into the horrendous battle for control of the Lower Planes. Most think that it's a never changing, futile stalemate, but each side has come close to defarting the other on numerous occasions. This war is a real threat to all the planes.
The Blood War creates a great need for supplies, weapons, troops, and leaders. Many adventurers capitalize on these needs to earn some jink of their own. Some brave planewalkers deal in weapons or mercenaries with either or both sides. Those who don't end up in the dead-book often come out of it very rich. The yugoloths, natives of the Gray Waste and Gehenna, devote a great deal of time and energy in helping both sides - but only so they can earn a fair profit.
Tanar'ri die, Baatezu die. The war rages on with an infernal intensity. Each side leads legions of troops, mercenaries, conscripts, slaves, and servant monsters into the horrendous battle for control of the Lower Planes. Most think that it's a never changing, futile stalemate, but each side has come close to defarting the other on numerous occasions. This war is a real threat to all the planes.
The Blood War creates a great need for supplies, weapons, troops, and leaders. Many adventurers capitalize on these needs to earn some jink of their own. Some brave planewalkers deal in weapons or mercenaries with either or both sides. Those who don't end up in the dead-book often come out of it very rich. The yugoloths, natives of the Gray Waste and Gehenna, devote a great deal of time and energy in helping both sides - but only so they can earn a fair profit.
2/09/2020
House Vandree upgrades barracks
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| Barracks of House Vandree |
2/06/2020
Fast Facts and Concepts: Avernus
Lord: Bel
Resident Devils: Abishai, lemures, nupperibos, spinagons
Other Denizens: Goblins, kobolds, dragons, imps
Important Locations: The Bronze Citadel; Darkspine; The Maggot Pit; Tiamat's Lair
Realms: Draukari (Kurtulmak), Tiamat's Lair (Tiamat), the Peaceable Lands (Bargrivyek)
Avernus, the first layer of Hell, is the most frequently visited and a blasted plain with a red sky and explosive energies coursing through it. Here, the mighty armies of the baatezu muster and train for the Blood War. A host of baatezu fills this layer, lead be the pit fiend Bel. Because the focus of this layer is the waging of war, Avernus is a dangerous place to visit. Many a traveler has plane shifted into the midst of a baatezu army and been torn to shreds in moments.
First-time visitors are sure to be impressed. Avernus certainly looks like Hell, with neither stars nor sun shining overhead. Instead, the entire layer is suffused with bloodred light that never wavers or dims. Blood, in fact, is the leitmotif of Avernus. Consider that the Lake of Blood spills from Stigmaris Mountains into the River of Blood, and thence through a series of streams and gulches into the River Styx. There are those who say that every scum-covered river, from trickle to torrent, is naught but blood of Avernus's victims. In any other place, such poetic exaggeration would be cause for a smile. Here, it is grim reality.
Tiamat, dragon-queen of darkness, guards the passage to the next layer. Planewalkers would do well to avoid her, and rumor has it that a conduit to the scond layer can also be found near a monstrous landmark known as the Pillar of Skulls - but considerin that Bel's troops have an iron grip on the layer, it's probably guarded.
Resident Devils: Abishai, lemures, nupperibos, spinagons
Other Denizens: Goblins, kobolds, dragons, imps
Important Locations: The Bronze Citadel; Darkspine; The Maggot Pit; Tiamat's Lair
Realms: Draukari (Kurtulmak), Tiamat's Lair (Tiamat), the Peaceable Lands (Bargrivyek)
Avernus, the first layer of Hell, is the most frequently visited and a blasted plain with a red sky and explosive energies coursing through it. Here, the mighty armies of the baatezu muster and train for the Blood War. A host of baatezu fills this layer, lead be the pit fiend Bel. Because the focus of this layer is the waging of war, Avernus is a dangerous place to visit. Many a traveler has plane shifted into the midst of a baatezu army and been torn to shreds in moments.
First-time visitors are sure to be impressed. Avernus certainly looks like Hell, with neither stars nor sun shining overhead. Instead, the entire layer is suffused with bloodred light that never wavers or dims. Blood, in fact, is the leitmotif of Avernus. Consider that the Lake of Blood spills from Stigmaris Mountains into the River of Blood, and thence through a series of streams and gulches into the River Styx. There are those who say that every scum-covered river, from trickle to torrent, is naught but blood of Avernus's victims. In any other place, such poetic exaggeration would be cause for a smile. Here, it is grim reality.
Tiamat, dragon-queen of darkness, guards the passage to the next layer. Planewalkers would do well to avoid her, and rumor has it that a conduit to the scond layer can also be found near a monstrous landmark known as the Pillar of Skulls - but considerin that Bel's troops have an iron grip on the layer, it's probably guarded.
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