Stygia
The Fifth Layer of the Nine Hells
The fifth layer, Stygia, is a vast ocean. Floating aloft within this ocean are clusters of city sized meteors. These clusters are easy to spot since their motion generates electricity that is released consistently as bolts of lightning that arc from one meteor to the next or off into the dark until it fizzles out. Where the lightning strikes the meteors, cold flame erupts ignorant of the fact that it is underwater. Devils and Mortals alike are quickly consumed by this flame if they come in contact with it. Tantlin, the City of Ice, is built within a hollowed nation-sized meteor, and is ruled over by a huge pit fiend. The lack of any kind of law enforcement leads itself to gangs controlling similar hollowed meteor strongholds. The pit fiend wields these gangs against each other in order to keep them from joining forces against his dominion. Prince Levistus rules over this layer, frozen in a giant iceberg floating randomly through the ocean as punishment for betraying Asmodeus. For many centuries, his realm was given over to the fiend Geryon. Geryon was recently deposed, and Levistus was reinstated, though he remains in his iceberg.
Levistus, Lord of the Fifth
Relationships
Levistus has few friends among the devils. His rivalry with Asmodeus is likely a great cause of this, but hardly the only. Asmodeus and Bensozia's daughter Glasya (now Lord of the Sixth) bears him a grudge for killing her mother, and Asmodeus's constable Martinet is the last survivor of the assault that killed Glasya's mother. Belial and Fierna (and Fierna's consort Gazra) also dislike the ice prince, though he has tried to win Gazra over to his side. Levistus's only powerful ally seems to be the strange and distant archoelemental Cryonax, who seems to believe Levistus would be good for his agenda of an eternal winter.Personality
Charming, bold, and ruthelessly ambitious, Levistus remains confident and courageous, despite his imprisonment in ice. He is a rake and a bounder, espousing the eternal truth of betrayal, of how it is inevitable that all creatures violate whatever trust is put in them.
Levistus, Lord of the Fifth, is the imprisoned devil prince who rules Stygia, in the Nine Hells. He works through influence and avatars, unable to move in his possibly-eternal ice prison.
History
Shortly after Asmodeus's ascent to the throne of Hell, Levistus was promoted to rulership over Stygia. Shortly thereafter, however, he attempted to betray Asmodeus. According to one account, he attempted to seduce the Queen of Hell, Bensozia, in an effort to learn Asmodeus's weaknesses. She rebuffed his advances, and so he killed her and her bodyguards; only Martinet, Constable of Hell, survived to report what happened to Asmodeus. Another account says that Levistus had affairs with both Bensozia and her daughter, Glasya, without either of them knowing about the other. When Glasya attempted to become his acknowledged consort, however, she found her mother in his arms. She waited until her mother was alone on her way back to Asmodeus, then murdered her. Martinet found out what happened, but fearing that Asmodeus would be weakened should the truth be known he killed the other bodyguards and blamed it on Levistus. Whatever the truth was, the insult could not go unpunished. Asmodeus encased Levistus in his prison of ice, and stripped rulership from him, appointing it to the devil known as Geryon instead. In the aftermath of the Reckoning of Hell, Geryon was deposed for unknown reasons. Asmodeus restored Levistus's rulership over Stygia, but left him encased in ice, unable to act. Well, not entirely unable. Through magical abilities, through loyal subjects, through telepathy, and through his aspects, Levistus remains an active Lord of the Nine. He encourages cults amongst mortal realms as well. During all this, he remains defiant of Asmodeus.Sekolah
The Great Shark Sekolah is the patron of the sahuagin, although he is not their creator. The Plunderer represents the base drive to hunt and unleash savage brutality on anything in his path, and he has instilled these virtues into nearly every element of sahuagin society. His many wanderings have spread the sea devil across the many worlds of the Prime Material Plane. He demands strict obedience from his worshipers and in return promises them the viciousness, strength, and fertility to dominate the undersea lands.
Sekolah now roams the waters of Stygia taking refuge from the massing might of the Triton. Levistus Agreed to let Sekolah within his waters in return for Sekolah's might.
Other Layers of Hell
Cold Fire
Cold fire is the icy form of magma. Plasmic in nature, those that touch cold fire rarely escape alive. Within the waters of Stygia, this is especially true as the currents of water created by movement pull the fire towards those unfortunate enough to have strayed too close.Electrical Storms
Electrical Storms ravage the asteroid fields of Stygia. While frequent lightning strikes are common and welcomed by the inhabitants of Stygia, true electrical storms create chaos and hardships. Electrical storms may last days or weeks and bring trade and raiding to a complete halt. Even after the storms have subsided, the fields of cold fire left behind lock everyone in place. Those that raided enough and/or stored enough food are able to weather the storm. Due to the unpredictability of electrical storms, it is not uncommon for entire raiding parties to be demolished while heading toward their target.Styx Current
The River Styx connects with Stygia and flows through the layer as a waterway of black death. The waters of Styx don't dissipate into the surroundings as one would think, almost as if the river had a will of its own.The Way Out
Show spoiler
Located on the floor of Stygia is a colossal stone statue stooped over what appear to be two of the asteroid rocks, holding them as if it is admiring the one ring that rules them all. Each asteroid has a massive whirlpool feeding into it, one of the blue waters of Stygia, the other of the black waters of Styx. following the Styx whirlpool up you swing the spiraling body of the Styx Channel.
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