Adenbane

Summary

Adenbane is a swirling vortex of water colder, deeper, and darker than can be conceived of on the material plane. It is a primordial place that was created by Thassa to eternally punish those who traveled through her domain without paying the proper respects. It exists below Spirix, separated by the barrier between life and death.
Divine law disallows Thassa from punishing a creature that dies outside of her domain, and so only those who meet their end within the boundaries of Spirix can be sentenced to an eternity in her watery underworld. But the great sea god’s spite is vast, and she has crafted many fearsome creatures to carry out her bidding in the mortal world. Many of these creatures occupy Spirixian mythology, like Arakaros, a giant scorpion with four stingers each large enough to hold aloft a merchant’s cart; or Tharn-Djara, a mountain sized beast that expels toxic sulphuric gas wherever it goes.
These creatures are sent by Thassa to punish those who commit unforgivable trespass. It is thought that scores of these beasts, and perhaps those even more dangerous, lurk in Adenbane, torturing the souls of those condemned to it for all eternity.

Historical Basis

Since the emergence of Des'dorakha and the return of Solanil’s devout to its traditional beliefs, Adenbane has become a widely used cautionary tale. Disobedient children are warned of a watery eternity surrounded by monsters and rot. A dozen years ago, only a few of the most elder and devout had ever even heard of Adenbane, much less know the details of its history. It is a shameful admission I make that my own knowledge of this tale was lacking until the Church of Solanil managed to resurface its old tales and stories.
My favorite of these stories is of Dhamara, an elvish priestess who lost her husband to disease. In her grief, she contacted every afterlife she knew of, but was unable to find the soul of her beloved. After many years, and with an amount of shock, she found that her husband had been damned to Adenbane because his body was not buried at sea according to custom. Dhamara, determined to rescue her husband from eternal torture, sought access to the waters below. In her search, she was led to Roseround, the first of Solanil's oases. Legends say Thassa put her bident Dikella through the earth to forever separate the realms of the living and the dead with her supernatural powers. 
Dhamara ventured into the oasis, receiving blessings from several high-ranking clerics of Thassa so that she may remain unharmed by the mystical waters. She swam down for days, unsure if she would ever pass the barrier between the living and dead planes, but sometime after the first week, she found herself in the dark, monster-filled waters of Adenbane. What she did next depends on the version of the story told. Dhamara either located her husband and, because of her undying love, passed her magical protections on to him and took his place; contacted Thassa so that she may bargain for her husband's soul, agreeing to return to the surface and practice the old ways with her church for the rest of time; or snuck her husband out of Adenbane by distracting the many dangerous creatures with never before seen sunlight.

Spread

Stories of Adenbane are only really important within Spirix. While travelers may hear of the story and take it with them to their destinations, the underwaters of Adenbane exist only for those who call the sands home, and those who disrespect Solanil and Thassa's will. Artistic renditions have been cropping up around Terisirae more and more in the past few years, but none outside of the glowing sands truly believe they could be sent to such a place.

Cultural Reception

To those who commit the most unforgivable blasphemy against the pantheon of the sands, Adenbane is the most severe and insulting punishment they can receive. Until very recently, much of life in Spirix revolved around the search for precious water, to be surrounded by it, drowning for eternity is perhaps the greatest disgrace that could be inflicted. Older legends of Adenbane even theorize that the water itself was so salty, it was painful to the skin and eyes, an even greater mockery of those who spent their lives thirsty.

This entry is narrated by Sishara Viyen

Date of Setting

4700s E.Y.