The Hells are the manifestation of tyranny become reality. Its nine wards all share the same oppressive air, the same pervasive oversight, and the same constant drive toward building a society in which the powerful rule, and rule absolutely. The Created deity
Jilkathstirei rules from Lared, the ninth ward of this infinite city, and nothing can happen in this plane without their express permission. Every action is recorded and cataloged in the vast libraries contained inside the capital of each ward.
Aside from Jilkathstirei, the Ascended deity
Apothus has their realm in the fourth ward of the plane. The remaining wards are each looked after by a different archdevils, and while they are not deities, they are very powerful in their own right, and have absolute power in their domain, so long as the ever-watchful Created eye remains appeased.
Travelers to The Hells, for reasons that should be obvious, rarely arrive in the plane by mistake. Various extraplanar beings and farwalkers can find the markets of the wards of this plane stocked to the brim with rare and illicit goods - in The Hells, every market is a black market. For this reason, those individuals with questionable morals may find their needs met by the offerings of this plane.
Each ward has its own unique look and purpose within the greater whole of the plane, but Jilkathstirei's ineffable plans are millennia in the making, and they are not the impatient type. As a warning for those new to the plane: woe unto the buyer that does not read the fine print, for they may find this plane their eternal, unwelcome home.
The Infernal Wards
Each of the nine infinite infernal wards of The Hells is based, loosely, around a central purpose, called a Cardinal. Further adding to the order of the ward, it has a capital, a ruler, and a main kind of devil that populates its streets and forms its guard corps. Visitors to The Hells that arrive via magic travel will always arrive in Eshed, the first of the districts.
Looking up from the septagonal ward Eshed will reveal seven wards on seven sides that bend up and away from it, only to curve back to converge at Lared, the septagonal ward from which Jilkathstirei rules the plane. Travel from Eshed's capital of Ironwrought is possible to any of the other wards via immense, well-guarded permanent gates. Lared is only accessible with the express permission of the ruler of an infernal ward, and such permission is rarely granted to outsiders.
If one were to look at the wards that form the sides of the immense cage that is The Hells, their eyes would first be drawn to Quav, the ward of pride. To its right appears Scrilath, the ward of wrath. To the right of Scrilath is Ank, the ward of sloth. Further right still is Antran, the ward of greed. Then comes Strech, the ward of sloth, followed by Chal, the ward of envy. Finally, one would see Grem, the ward of lust before their eyes were once again drawn to the splendor of Quav. The second through eighth wards; however, are ordered in terms of their cardinal's influence in the mortal world, with the rarest at the top of the list and the most common at the bottom.
The First - Eshed
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Archdevil |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Pain |
Ironwrought |
Saramentha |
Lemures, Merregons, Planar Travelers |
Description
The first sight visitors to The Hells see is the great Circle of Jilkathstirei, the largest teleportation circle array known in existence. This array sits inside of a massive cast iron spire that rises miles into the sky, laced with chains and razor-sharp blackened edges. The buildings in this ward are oppressive, squat things built mostly out of iron and blackened stone. The streets are paved with large iron pavers that are eternally glowing with a dim red light. The black markets here are the most numerous and sell the goods which do not fit the particular Cardinal of each of the other wards.
The Cardinal of this ward is pain, and the screams that float on the wind make that rather obvious. Devils sit at every street corner, pen and paper in hand, willing to sell travelers their greatest desire with deals that seem too good to be true, provided they'll sign on the dotted line. The pain one can experience here, they say, isn't always physical.
Eshed is comprised of the eternal borderlands of sulphur and brimstone-laden scorched deserts, and in its center sits its capital, Ironwrought.
The Capital of Ironwrought
A twisted amalgam of chain and iron that sprawls for miles in every direction, Ironwrought is the center of trade and travel for The Hells. Its Cardinal Directory, a massive library of gates to specific locations on each of the other Wards, also houses the Circle of Jilkathstirei, along with the only permanent portal to the Created god's ward.
The Archdevil Saramentha
Few know of how the marilith Saramentha, a demon by birth, came to rule in a place of law so far from her home plane. This twelve-armed woman with a snake-like body has made herself comfortable as the ward's caretaker in the millennia since arriving, and is one of Jilkathstirei's most trusted watchmen.
The Second - Grem
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Archdevil |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Lust |
Silkrazor |
Nocterines |
Cubi, Vampires |
Description
The second ward of The Hells is Grem, a place where pleasure is placed above all else. An omnipresent red light illuminates the external streets of this vast, maze-like city of towering, detailed architecture. In this ward, flesh is traded as currency, and sexual favors are given as commonly as greetings. The scent of Grem is unmistakable, and few mortals that visit are ever again satisfied after leaving. That is, of course, assuming they ever do.
The Cardinal of this ward is Lust, and the ecstatic cries that constantly permeate the eternal night of this ward serve as a constant reminder. A deal to give the ultimate night of pleasure can be made with most inhabitants of the ward, and many mortals that let down their guard found it is every bit as likely to end up drained of blood by the vampires that inhabit the ward as it is to be pleasured by the cubi that call this place home.
The Capital of Silkrazor
At the center of Grem sits Silkrazor, an erection of stone framed with stained glass windows, pointed arches, flying buttresses, ornate tracings, and extravagant murals depicting wildly-inventive scenes of eroticism. It is said that a fountain in the center of this tower contains a liquid that has the power to fertilize any species of creature and produce the most perfect example of their kind.
The Archdevil Nocterines
The archcubi Nocterines is a blackened six-tailed archdevil with four sets of sinfully-soft, blade-sharp white wings. Their voice is said to tempt any creature, and their touch can bring all to their knees. They spend their days observing and feeding from the constant flurry of activity, and are known for their incredible ability to read the desires of any living thing, lust or otherwise.
The Third - Ank
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Archdevil |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Gluttony |
Charnalis |
Aneblex |
Amnizu, Imps |
Description
The third ward of Ank is filled with excess of all kinds, all meant to fill the insatiable hunger that the air itself here breeds. Long troughs of
gula, a sticky-sweet liquid that is somehow delicious and never quite filling enough, fill the streets of the ward, and contracts to increase the satisfaction of its imbibers are everywhere. Outside the capital, rivers run with white-hot
gula that gives the entire ward a smell of a sweets shop in the middle of a batch of candies. Those that mistake the lands of Ank as anything less than threatening soon find themselves part of those rivers and consumed by the land itself.
The Capital of Charnalis
In Charnalis, the capital of Ank, there is little of the usual verve that a city of its size tends to have. There is little activity on the streets, save for the moans and slurping sounds of its many overfed citizens that litter the streets near the troughs that sustain them. The planar travelers that come here often only wish to deal with one of the many powerful amnizu bosses that run sections of the city, as their connections are some of the most established among all the denizens of The Hells.
The Archdevil Aneblex
A massive imp that has only grown in power, Aneblex is a rare example of an immutatio, or a devil that does not change forms as it grows in power. Measuring nearly fifty feet and best measured as a sphere, the archdevil's body is teeming with other devils and creatures that hang from its thousand teets, which dispense
gula so potent it is better classified as a poison. Its vestigial wings look pitiful atop its massive, sticky frame, but its power cannot be understated. Aneblex, though practically immovable, numbers among the best necromantic savants on all the planes, and favors from them often involve the exchange of the one thing they still consider a delicacy - the entire soul.
The Fourth - Antran
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Ascended God |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Greed |
Gildscale |
Apothus |
Barbed Devils, Dragons |
Description
Antran is thought to be made entirely from land ripped from what is now The Rending Scar in the west of
The Fraisian Grand Alliance. Though as infinite as any other ward, Antran teems with draconic life that lives, hunts, and flies above an infernal approximation of
Enos during the Age of Kings. The skies are dark and sunless and the landscape is dying, but biomes change from swamp to grassland to forest as they do on the Prime Material. The barbed devils that live here make poor prey for the dragons, but the many poor souls that are cast here for their greed in life are hunted every day, only to be resurrected the next morning to do it all again. Some tribes of non-draconic creatures make it years without incident by selling other tribes out and making frequent tributes to their draconic masters, but all are consumed eventually.
The Capital of Gildscale
Gildscale forms the capital of Antran, and is every bit as garish as one would expect the home of the god of dragons to be. Citadels of impossible metals are dotted with gems of undefined colors in patterns that seem to move and shift in elaborate patterns. The streets are paved with bones of long-extinct creatures and tribes, and each bone is inlaid with gold and platinum in intricate designs meant to channel the will of the ward's ruler. Vast vaults contain riches beyond the wildest dreams of any dragon, and those who dare even fathom theft find themselves paving material in short order.
The Ascended Apothus
Main Article: Apothus
The Fifth - Strech
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Archdevil |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Sloth |
Slumbrex |
Ornigog |
Horned Devils |
Description
Strech is little more than a swampy morass of ever-sinking ground rich in materials that will never be extracted. Proto-creatures in the early stages of development are trapped in this place, forever doomed to their unchanging state. The few that live outside this ward's capital stride atop its swamps on long stilts or naturally-adapted stilt-like legs, hunting for the treasures of those that came before.
The Capital of Slumbrex
To call Slumbrex a capital is to overstate the importance of the one patch of stable ground in the ward. No structures are built here, save for a massive mount of living, immortal creatures of all sorts stacked together as writhing bricks and mortar known as the Writhing Warren. Inside this vast structure lies rooms filled with the sort of vice that immobilizes and disassociates its users, yet so potent as to often be permanent.
The Archdevil Ornigog
At the center of his Writhing Warren lives Ornigog, a horned archdevil so old his dozens of horns have long grown from his head into the living structure, giving him command over all those souls trapped as its walls. He can conjure anything for a price, and is said to be one of the few beings capable of transporting creatures and objects to any plane. He deals with all who come before him, though the deals often take weeks or months to work out, and those that die during the process are added to the warren's ever-growing chambers.
The Sixth - Scrilath
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Archdevil |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Wrath |
Incendia |
Alunne |
Chain Devils |
Description
When children are warned of the dangers of The Hells, it is often Scrilath that is used as the example. The cinder-blasted badlands outside its capital teem with life in a struggle to gain an edge to survive. War machines made of cold iron powered by the souls of the damned roll atop the sea of bones of those not fit for survival, and fortresses belonging to the most cunning and powerful devils dot the never-ending landscape, promising power to those that would aid them and are savvy enough to read the fine print of any agreement to join.
The Capital of Incendia
Incendia is a city marked with constant conflict. No neighborhood is safe, and half or more of the city usually blazes with fires from the eternal wars for control. Its citizens live in ruined buildings that are pointless to rebuild, and the crumbling structures are tightly packed against and atop each other in a way that makes this city climb from the surrounding landscape in a vast multidimensional arena of chaos and carnage.
The Archdevil Alunne
The once-celestial archdevil Alunne lives atop her ever-growing tangle of anger and rage. Her six blood-soaked wings mark her as a fallen solar angel, and her four arms wield wicked weapons and tools of terror. She deals with few mortals, and even fewer of those that deal with her come out alive. Alunne seeks only to feed on the wrath of those below her, savoring its taste at the tips of her many tongues.
The Seventh - Chal
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Archdevil |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Envy |
Edvilette |
Merethid |
Bone Devils, Ice Devils |
Description
Chal is a frozen oblivion of the particular misery that only the biting cold can bring. Its lands outside Edvilette are home to the fiercest blizzards in all the planes, and are powerful enough at times to pick tons of stone from the ground and pulverize them in the gale. Travel atop the snow drifts is suicide even for the ice devils that call this layer their home, but the vast network of tunnels and caves carved into the unfathomably deep packed ice are far more hospitable.
The Capital of Edvilette
Edvilette is the eye of the eternal storm that whips about Chal, and serves as the one place in which the vast ice spires and frozen construction can stay firmly attached to the ground. Its citizens scramble constantly to have the grandest and most elaborate living quarters, and this competition has resulted in Edvilette being among the most stunning wonders of all the planes. The inventiveness and skill of the craftsman that have been conscripted or consigned to life here over the ages has produced a city of ice and stone that seems one endless structure. The abjurative wards that protect the city are second to none, and disallow anything as base as vandalism, and afford citizens of this city a measure of security that has made the power struggles here far more political than that of most other wards.
The Archdevil Merethid
Known as They of Many, Merethid is a shapechanger with the power to change not only how they look and dress, but also the structures and others around them. They do not live in any particular part of their city, always taking forms to stand apart and above anyone they meet, and make their residence in whatever part of Edvilette that currently strikes them as the most 'in.'
The Eighth - Quav
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Archdevil |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Pride |
Alastair |
Sheppard |
Erinyes, Beholders |
Description
Nothing is as it seems in Quav, as illusion reigns as the one constant of this ward. Landscapes shift seemingly at will, structures vanish and reappear more grand than they were before, and creatures converse as readily with projections and psychic constructs as they do with one another. Its lands outside its capital are grand and each over the top, as if some corruption of
The Heavens. The skies above Quav are littered with the infernal host of erinyes, and its labyrinthine cave systems are home to the majority of the beholders thought to exist anywhere.
The Capital of Alastair
There is no accurate description for Alastair, other than a planar traveler will know when they see it. When the surreal landscapes of Quav finally give way to a city too grand for words and the jaw slackens in disbelief, Alastair must be in plain view. Its denizens number the most insufferable, and would all sooner be stabbed than insulted.
The Archdevil Sheppard
At the center of Alastair is the archdevil most responsible for the ills associated with the greasy salesmen of Enos. Always appearing as some form of humanoid with well-coifed hair and a perfectly tailored suit, Sheppard takes particular fulfillment and satisfaction in being on top of the other archdevils. They run the Council of Soot, which is the body comprised of each ward's leaders, and are the only being in all of the plane to speak with Apothus directly.
The Ninth - Lared
| Cardinal |
Capital |
Created God |
Primary Inhabitants |
| Tyranny |
Spire |
Jilkathstirei |
Orthons, Narzugons, Pit Fiends |
Description
Lared is only accessible with the express permission of an archdevil ruler of another ward, so few scholars have visited this place and returned able to tell of it. The few accountings describe it as ordered and neat, with its teeming hordes of devils constantly drilling in never-ending military exercises in an endless sea of training yards.
The Capital of Spire
Spire is visible from every other plane, and its gleaming form is made entirely of a white light that is often mistaken for a bright star by newcomers to the plane that look from below. The only inhabitant of this massive tower city is The Sootbringer themself, and none but their most ordained have ever entered. There are no records of its halls, which are speculated to contain perfect records of every contract ever signed, infernal or otherwise.
The Created Jilkathstirei
Main Article: Jilkathstirei
