Acheron
Acheron stands as the tumultuous realm where endless conflicts converge under the moon's shadow. It's the forsaken realm, an assemblage of countless failed uprisings, enforcing rigid order where conformity outweighs righteousness. The cacophony of warfare, an eternal anthem, greets newcomers and bids farewell to fleeing refugees; strife saturates every breath on Acheron, offering naught but ceaseless turmoil and battles without purpose. Amidst the multitude of armies, leadership remains scarce, fostering a landscape of rebels traversing Acheron's expanse—petitioners, mortals, fiends, and celestials alike, all seeking causes to champion.
Acheron's vast expanse comprises four layers, each housing colossal iron cubes adrift in an endless expanse. The clash of these titanic cubes echoes through the void, mirroring the resonance of past collisions amid the constant symphony of swords clashing upon their surfaces. Among its deific denizens are beings such as Wee Jas, the deity presiding over death and magic; Gruumsh, revered among orcs; Maglubiyet, the patron deity of goblins; and Hextor, an emblem of tyranny and self-proclaimed herald of malevolence.
Amidst Acheron's landscape, portals to alternate planes are a frequent occurrence, often emerging at the openings of the intricate network of tunnels that perforate the majority of the cubes within this realm.
Shetring: The fortress Shetring blends into the rest of the metal-carved structure of the cube. The great River Lorfang pierces the fortress, with five strong bridges providing access between the two sides. The river wells up from a spring, travels a few miles, then plunges into the cube again. Maglubiyet himself lives at the bottom of the plummeting waterfall in a magnificently carved steel cavern dripping with moisture. The goblins fling sacrifices from the top of the waterfall before mounting a great offensive (usually against Nishrek, home of the orc pantheon). Nishrek: This metallic cube houses the orc pantheon, the head of which is Gruumsh, the one-eyed deity of the orcs. The mildly law-aligned trait is negated on Nishrek. Like Clangor, Nishrek is heavily carved and tunneled and houses great legions of orc troops.
Unlike on Clangor, the barracks are chaotically arranged, and the tunnels meander. Where Clangor seems gridlike from a distance, Nishrek is swirled with winding streets and trenches, and blotchy with haphazardly arranged strongholds.
While the orcs under the command of lesser orc deities such as Bahgtru and Ilneval are content to marshal their forces against Clangor, Gruumsh pursues his long vendetta against a more distant foe: Corellon Larethian. In ages past, Corellon Larethian put out Gruumsh's left eye, a debt that Gruumsh always seeks to repay.
The fortress towns of Rotting Eye, White Hand, and Three Fang all lie under Gruumsh's direct dominion. He has residences in each, moving between them in a random fashion. Bahgtru and Ilneval control other, less fortified towns, while the hidden orc deity Luthic is content to send forth her plagues from deep within the heart of the cube, where her realm is said to lie. Scourgehold: Hextor's realm, Scourgehold, is found on a particularly large cube where battle always rages. Hextor's fortress is a many-walled edifice of iron and stone, bristling with watchtowers and roving siege engines. The innermost structure, The Great Coliseum, is a miles-wide, many-leveled arena of beaten bronze and glass. Here, legions constantly train in the arts of war.
Hextor himself (or his avatar), in his visage as a gray- skinned, horrible six-armed being, often walks the training coliseum, his various weapons awhirl. The mere sight of his symbol of hate and discord, six arrows facing downward in a fan, sends his worshipers into a blood-mad battle frenzy.
Broken scraps of a plethora of devices are everywhere. Great ships that have burst asunder, toppled siege towers, enormous weapons, steam-driven carriages, flying devices of every description, and contraptions with even more obscure sources of power and purpose can be found within these cubes. Most of the refuse is inoperative, petrified to stonelike immobility by the “preservative” quality of the layer.
Scavenging for intact weapons is an occupation for many a team of salvagers and opportunists, because many quality weapons and engines of war are scattered through the rubble on Thuldanin. Persistent searchers can uncover items of fantastic power and intriguing mechanisms, which they can use or at least copy. But wise salvagers don't spend too long on Thuldanin, because creatures can be petrified the same as objects.
The shards are black ice, frozen into thin layers. Their collisions break them into progressively smaller shards, and eventually into needles and then dust. The shards all originate from a single source: the night-black boundary of acanthus, a sheet of infinite, magically charged black ice. No one knows whether the ice sheet is a boundary or a barrier between acanthus and some deeper, more sinister layer. Some say that the ice is the source or destination of the River Styx, and that every memory stolen by the river still exists, frozen into the black ice. Whatever the truth, the truth, the ice sheet has objective directional gravity, and it is possible that it is simply a shard of black ice so large that it is mistaken for acanthus's boundary. Cabal Macabre: Wee Jas, the Witch Goddess of Death and Magic, keeps her realm on acanthus. Built on the surface of the boundary ice is a crystalline castle of delicate yet horrifying architecture. It gleams with a pale, heartless light all its own—the only point of light in this otherwise pitch-black layer. On closer examination, a visitor notes that the translucent outer walls of the ornate castle are crenellated with ice sculptures depicting skeletons of every race in the multiverse.
Inside Cabal Macabre, Wee Jas tests spellcasters kid napped from across the planes, though none ever pass her exams. The penalty for failure is death at the Goddess's hands, though many of her worshipers consider this a great honor.
Wee Jas spends much of her time away from the castle, walking the boundary ice and mentally sifting it for memories of lost magic and the memories of death. Within a quarter-mile of where she walks, the continual bladestorm of acanthus is temporarily quelled.
Acheron Links
In Acheron's highest layer, Avalas, akin to other lower planes, the River Styx courses its way, traversing numerous cubes within this expanse. Originating from a crater on one cube, the Styx cascades across vast distances, spilling into another crater, only to emerge anew on a different cube. At times, the river alters its course across cube faces, leading to the dire consequence of entire cities being engulfed by an unforgiving torrent of oblivion and demise.Amidst Acheron's landscape, portals to alternate planes are a frequent occurrence, often emerging at the openings of the intricate network of tunnels that perforate the majority of the cubes within this realm.
Acheron Inhabitants
Renegade forces, comprising a myriad of creatures, traverse the terrain of Acheron in relentless pursuit of enemy opposition. However, the specter of mutiny or derangement often undermines even the most stalwart military commanders, leaving the majority of these armies devoid of a clear purpose beyond engaging in combat against fellow renegade forces. In contrast, armies comprised of undead or constructs often endure longer due to their ability to mechanically execute their final directives without faltering. Some factions among these armies, not wholly consumed by madness, may still cling to objectives such as defending a realm, securing resources, dethroning a false ruler, or advocating for various other causes. Unfortunately, as these objectives hold relevance in realms distant from Acheron, even the most resolute armies eventually lose their focus, descending into renegade disarray.Movement and Combat
Navigating the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron mirrors movement on the Material Plane in many aspects. Walking across cube faces might appear challenging to newcomers but is reasonably manageable. However, transitioning between cubes demands a form of flight capability. Travelers traversing Avalas and Thuldanin must exercise caution concerning cube collisions, for all matter caught between colliding cubes is obliterated. Colliding cubes become perceptible a day or two before impact, affording sufficient time for evacuation and preparation. Each layer of Acheron comprises cubes marked by pits, scars, cracks, and dents, evidence of countless collisions and battles. In the meticulously ordered realm of Acheron, cubes consistently corrode or break along precise lines and at perpendicular angles. While some cubes measure only a few hundred feet per side, others boast expansive sizes accommodating entire cities or kingdoms. Although rare, geometric shapes beyond cubes exist, primarily found on Tintibulus, the third layer. Normal vision prevails on Acheron, illuminated by a fluctuating gray light that oscillates between the intensity of bright moonlight and the dimness of a cloudy day. Auditory perception remains ordinary, accompanied by a constant background symphony of colliding cubes and the reverberation of ongoing battles.Avalas
The first layer of Acheron is also called the Battleplains, for it contains the most cubes—and enough armies and fortresses to populate them. The clash of distant cubes is indistinguishable from the closer clash of a nearby battlefield. The cubes vary from city-sized to continent- sized. The smallest cubes are usually the oldest, having been reduced to their present size by eons of collisions. Clangor: Clangor is a cube completely carved and tunneled to house a single great set of barracks for the goblin nations and their eternal war. It is also the seat of the goblin deity Maglubiyet. The towers and walls of Clangor are arranged with deadly precision to inflict the greatest damage on any attacking force. The air is cold and dry, and breath fogs the air. What regions are not given over to goblin barracks hold wolf warrens for elite goblin riders. Because most of the forces of Clangor are goblin and hobgoblin petitioners, no great store of food is necessary. However, some heavily guarded stores are available for mortals, wolves, and other creatures that also reside on Clangor, brought from offplane at a hefty price through heavily guarded portals.Shetring: The fortress Shetring blends into the rest of the metal-carved structure of the cube. The great River Lorfang pierces the fortress, with five strong bridges providing access between the two sides. The river wells up from a spring, travels a few miles, then plunges into the cube again. Maglubiyet himself lives at the bottom of the plummeting waterfall in a magnificently carved steel cavern dripping with moisture. The goblins fling sacrifices from the top of the waterfall before mounting a great offensive (usually against Nishrek, home of the orc pantheon). Nishrek: This metallic cube houses the orc pantheon, the head of which is Gruumsh, the one-eyed deity of the orcs. The mildly law-aligned trait is negated on Nishrek. Like Clangor, Nishrek is heavily carved and tunneled and houses great legions of orc troops.
Unlike on Clangor, the barracks are chaotically arranged, and the tunnels meander. Where Clangor seems gridlike from a distance, Nishrek is swirled with winding streets and trenches, and blotchy with haphazardly arranged strongholds.
While the orcs under the command of lesser orc deities such as Bahgtru and Ilneval are content to marshal their forces against Clangor, Gruumsh pursues his long vendetta against a more distant foe: Corellon Larethian. In ages past, Corellon Larethian put out Gruumsh's left eye, a debt that Gruumsh always seeks to repay.
The fortress towns of Rotting Eye, White Hand, and Three Fang all lie under Gruumsh's direct dominion. He has residences in each, moving between them in a random fashion. Bahgtru and Ilneval control other, less fortified towns, while the hidden orc deity Luthic is content to send forth her plagues from deep within the heart of the cube, where her realm is said to lie. Scourgehold: Hextor's realm, Scourgehold, is found on a particularly large cube where battle always rages. Hextor's fortress is a many-walled edifice of iron and stone, bristling with watchtowers and roving siege engines. The innermost structure, The Great Coliseum, is a miles-wide, many-leveled arena of beaten bronze and glass. Here, legions constantly train in the arts of war.
Hextor himself (or his avatar), in his visage as a gray- skinned, horrible six-armed being, often walks the training coliseum, his various weapons awhirl. The mere sight of his symbol of hate and discord, six arrows facing downward in a fan, sends his worshipers into a blood-mad battle frenzy.
Thuldanin
The second layer of Acheron appears much like the first. However, Thuldanin's population is quite small. The cubes of this layer are riddled with pockets and hollows. Surface pits lead down into labyrinthine spaces cluttered with the refuse of every war that was ever fought.Broken scraps of a plethora of devices are everywhere. Great ships that have burst asunder, toppled siege towers, enormous weapons, steam-driven carriages, flying devices of every description, and contraptions with even more obscure sources of power and purpose can be found within these cubes. Most of the refuse is inoperative, petrified to stonelike immobility by the “preservative” quality of the layer.
Scavenging for intact weapons is an occupation for many a team of salvagers and opportunists, because many quality weapons and engines of war are scattered through the rubble on Thuldanin. Persistent searchers can uncover items of fantastic power and intriguing mechanisms, which they can use or at least copy. But wise salvagers don't spend too long on Thuldanin, because creatures can be petrified the same as objects.
Tintibulus
Unlike the other layers of Acheron, four-sided, five-sided, eight-sided, nine-sided, twelve-sided, and other odd-sided solids outnumber six-sided cubes on TintibuIus. The solids are made of gray volcanic stone, each coated with a layer of ashen dust to a depth of several inches (and in some places several feet or more). When collisions occur, the geometric solid fractures along its natural fault lines, splitting into two smaller solids. The constant collisions create a ringing, bell-like roar throughout the layer at all times. Few creatures live here, petitioners or otherwise. The constant ringing on Tintibulus causes characters to suffer a -4 circumstance penalty on Listen checks.Ocanthus
The fourth layer of Acheron is lightless but filled with fast- flying, razor-thin shards. Some shards are little more than needles, while others are miles wide. The largest shards have their own objective gravity like the cubes of the upper layers, as well as a breathable if icy cold atmosphere. The constant blizzard of bladelike shards makes acanthus inimical to creatures and objects alike.The shards are black ice, frozen into thin layers. Their collisions break them into progressively smaller shards, and eventually into needles and then dust. The shards all originate from a single source: the night-black boundary of acanthus, a sheet of infinite, magically charged black ice. No one knows whether the ice sheet is a boundary or a barrier between acanthus and some deeper, more sinister layer. Some say that the ice is the source or destination of the River Styx, and that every memory stolen by the river still exists, frozen into the black ice. Whatever the truth, the truth, the ice sheet has objective directional gravity, and it is possible that it is simply a shard of black ice so large that it is mistaken for acanthus's boundary. Cabal Macabre: Wee Jas, the Witch Goddess of Death and Magic, keeps her realm on acanthus. Built on the surface of the boundary ice is a crystalline castle of delicate yet horrifying architecture. It gleams with a pale, heartless light all its own—the only point of light in this otherwise pitch-black layer. On closer examination, a visitor notes that the translucent outer walls of the ornate castle are crenellated with ice sculptures depicting skeletons of every race in the multiverse.
Inside Cabal Macabre, Wee Jas tests spellcasters kid napped from across the planes, though none ever pass her exams. The penalty for failure is death at the Goddess's hands, though many of her worshipers consider this a great honor.
Wee Jas spends much of her time away from the castle, walking the boundary ice and mentally sifting it for memories of lost magic and the memories of death. Within a quarter-mile of where she walks, the continual bladestorm of acanthus is temporarily quelled.
Objective Directional Gravity: The strength of gravity
is the same as on the Material Plane, but which way is
down depends on which face of the cube you're on.
Walking across edges between faces can be dizzying for the inexperienced.
Normal Time.
Infinite Size: Each cube is finite, but the void the cubes hang in is infinite.
Divinely Morphic: Acheron changes at the whim of its deities. Ordinary creatures must use spells and physical effort to change the infernal battlefield.
No Elemental or Energy Traits.
Mildly Law-Aligned: Chaotic characters suffer a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based
Walking across edges between faces can be dizzying for the inexperienced.
Normal Time.
Infinite Size: Each cube is finite, but the void the cubes hang in is infinite.
Divinely Morphic: Acheron changes at the whim of its deities. Ordinary creatures must use spells and physical effort to change the infernal battlefield.
No Elemental or Energy Traits.
Mildly Law-Aligned: Chaotic characters suffer a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based
Type
Dimensional plane
