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.
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