Cabochon [Major Spoilers]

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers about Cabochon and is not intended for player use. Read at your own discretion.

Show spoiler

Cabochon is a near perfect arcology created from arcane crystalmancy. It serves as its own demiplane and a bastion in the 336th Layer of the Abyss. Cabochon originally served as a forward operating base against the Demons forged in a pact between Devils, Angels, and Humans during the Blood War. Grown from highly complex crystalmancy, its structure was able to stay hidden and masked in one of the abandoned, uncontested layers comprised of ashen seas of sand and soot. To maintain itself, Cabochon is tethered primarily to the Elemental Planes both creating and maintaining its ecosystem. These tethers remain hidden from Cabochon proper, instead requiring gating to its nexus know as Epitome. These tethers require a willing host to focus its elemental power into Cabochon. After a long and draining conception, its architects utilized this opportunity to create a self-sufficient population to help mask Cabochon's true purpose. These resulting races were given cycles of extinction known as Providence and used a system to recycle souls known as Arcadia to keep souls from leaving the Layer and being detected by outsiders.
Tens of millennia or longer have weathered Cabochon's magic making it more susceptible to incursion than ever before. Few Providence races have roughly replicated crystalmancy producing facsimiles of diminished power.
Over the eons, those privy to Cabochon's purpose fall in several different philosophies. Most simply accept its structure seeking to harness its power or protect it. Others despise the concept of its broad control vowing to destroy Cabochon and free its inhabitants from this unyielding cycle of rebirth and false paradise. Those of this opinion are few; many comprising the Unfettered including angels, devils, and various races within Cabochon.
But memory falters with time and the scorch-like nature of time erode nearly all recordings these truths. Instead, heavily misinterpreted retellings inform token ceremony throughout the plane if anything at all.

Geography

Show spoiler

Cabochon's name derives from its shape view from within the Abyss. Inside Cabochon, landscapes emulate those expected within the Material Plane. At its edge, this plane normally gates to hidden places in other planes. During the Blood War, these portals were used to reinforce on the rare occasions demon forces discovered Cabochon. These skirmishes have left hidden scars and ruins buried deep within Cabochon's layers.
Attached though crystalomantic omphalos, several demiplanes serve as simulacrum of larger planes, such as the High Heavens and the Blue Blazes. The angels and devils there, respectfully, also have slowly lost knowledge of what lies beyond Cabochon. Other demiplanes, notably the Epitome, serve as nexus for planar travelers inside Cabochon.

Fauna & Flora

Show spoiler

Creatures typically found within the Material Plane are also found in Cabochon. One major exception is the presences of Providence species, sentient species whose reign cycles until their final extinction leaving only their crossbred progeny behind. Once deceased, souls are recycled through a complicated rebirth in Arcadia or confinement to the High Heavens or Blue Blazes. The native arcadian Berylfolk have occupied portions of Cabochon since its human conception. Extraplanar races and species are less prevalent but have small enclaves throughout the planes' surface.

Alternative Name(s)

Blue Star of the Abyss, Diamond in the Scorch, Scorch Lighthouse

Type

Dimensional plane

Included Locations

• The Scorch

Show spoiler

Location:
336th Layer of the Abyss

Size:
~3500 miles

An old elven map of Cabochon

Open full size

One of the more widely distributed maps of the world, this map of a few hundred years shows the extent of what the Elven Empire was aware of toward the end of their long reign. Gnomish scholars indicate that the map does not scale perfectly and disrespectfully renames conquered locations.