Gehenna
Gehenna — The Fourfold Furnaces of Selfishness and Ruin
“Trust no cliff, no companion, no promise but your own.… and even then, keep a knife ready.”
Gehenna, also called the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, the Fourfold Furnaces, or the Fires of Perdition, is an Outer Plane embodying neutral evil with lawful tendencies — a realm where ambition, greed, and survival instinct reign supreme, and mercy is a weakness few can afford. Unlike the unstructured chaos of the Abyss or the calculated tyranny of the Nine Hells, Gehenna is the crucible where the will to survive becomes both virtue and vice.
It sits adjacent to the Gray Waste of Hades and the Nine Hells of Baator, and its slopes are infamous in multiversal lore for testing the steel of any spirit that sets foot upon them.
Nature of the Plane
Gehenna is not a flat world, forest, nor sea — it is a void of yawning emptiness punctuated by four colossal volcanic mountains and myriad drifting earthbergs, each hundreds of thousands of miles tall, with gravity holding at a perpetual 45° slope. This means there is no level ground anywhere: every surface feels like a mountainside without base or peak.
The plane’s light and heat emanate not from a sun, but from molten rock, steam vents, lava flows, and fumaroles. The slopes constantly shift through earthquakes, eruptions, and rockfalls, tearing terrain apart and making the very land itself a threat.
This environment encourages relentless self‑preservation: those who hesitate fall forever into the void, crushed by rock, or incinerated by volcanic fury.
The Four Layers of Gehenna
Gehenna is made up of four distinct volcanic “mounts” or layers, each a mountain‑sized sloping world floating in the void. Though similar in basic structure, each reflects a different stage of the plane’s fiery soul — from blistering heat to frozen deadness.
1. Khalas — The First Mount
The topmost and most geologically active layer. Rivers and waterfalls cascade down its slopes — most notably the River Styx — before vanishing into underground chasms. Lava, steam, and sulfurous fumes make the air thick and suffocating. Khalas has the most portals to other planes (including Hades, Baator, and the Astral Plane), though their destinations are seldom predictable.
This layer still supports carved ledges and switchback paths built by Gehenna’s denizens, but even these can break away, sending the unwary sliding toward oblivion.
2. Chamada — The Furnace of Frenzy
Even more volatile than Khalas, the slopes of Chamada are dominated by city‑sized volcanoes and rivers of molten rock. The air is acrid and blinding, thick with smoke and burning fumes. Travel here demands tough hides and iron lungs — and even then, the terrain itself pursues the careless.
This layer hosts numerous yugoloth‑controlled realms, insidious outposts of power amidst the flame.
3. Mungoth — The Ash‑Fallen Plain
Mungoth is cooler, but hardly safe. Lava vents are fewer here, and dark snow and ash accumulate in the shadows. Avalanche and volcanic rockfall are constant, and the mix of fire and cold creates unpredictable hazards.
Despite the relative drop in heat, the slopes remain deadly — each ledge can shatter without warning, and fewer safe havens exist for travelers.
4. Krangath — The Dead Slope
This final mount is a realm of darkness and death. Volcanic activity has ceased, leaving a cold, ice‑crusted mountainside with brittle slopes and treacherous fractures. No warmth, no refuge — only the keenest wills survive the endless night and biting cold.
Inhabitants
Gehenna is dominated by fiends and those who thrive on selfish ruthlessness:
- Yugoloths — The primary natives and overlords here, mercenary fiends who profit from conflict and survive by cunning as much as strength.
- Barghests, Phiuhl, and Vaporighu — Various neutral/evil fiends adapted to this harsh world.
- Lesser Devils, Daemons, Mephits, and Pyroclastic Dragons — Drawn or exiled here, each carving niches of dominance or survival.
- Petitioners and Souls — Rare mortal spirits here are often those who embraced selfishness or pursued power at all costs; in Gehenna they wander or bargain, always weighing gain against betrayal.
The General of Gehenna — a powerful yugoloth ruler — commands the plane’s infamous Crawling City, a massive moving metropolis that scuttles up and down the slopes on thousands of fire‑proof legs, shifting its location at its master’s whim.
Souls and the Plane’s Essence
Gehenna is more than just deadly terrain; its very nature shapes the spirits within. Souls here learn that self‑interest often outweighs trust, and survival instinct becomes instinctive. Many Petitioners become schemers, manipulators, or desperate loners — always plotting, always watching — because every ally is a potential rival.
Unlike realms of redemption or punishment, Gehenna does not judge souls on cruelty or compassion alone — only on will and cunning. Weak souls are ground between the merciless slopes, stronger ones find strange allegiances, and the greatest survivors become players in Gehenna’s intricate dance of power.
Travel and Danger
Reaching Gehenna is perilous:
- Planar portals often lie deep underground or in bottomless chasms, and their destinations are unpredictable.
- Interlayer travel is possible but dangerous; passages often lead through lava tubes, volcanic tunnels, or sheer cliff faces.
- The slopes themselves are hazards — falling, lava flows, poisonous fumes, and collapsing earthbergs are constant threats.
Only those prepared to fight for every inch — politically or physically — stand a chance against Gehenna’s unforgiving nature.
Role in the Multiverse
Within the Great Wheel, Gehenna represents selfishness as survival, and greed as a philosophy. It sits between the despairing stagnation of Hades and the strict tyranny of Baator, embodying a realm where individual will shapes fate — whether through power or destruction.
To enter Gehenna is to confront your own survival instincts — and possibly to discover that the greatest enemy isn’t the active volcano beneath your feet, but the ambition burning in your own heart.
Map of Gehenna:
Gehenna environment:
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