The Nine Hells
The Nine Hells of Baator, sometimes shortened to the Hells, or Baator in Infernal, are dedicated to Law, Ambition and Power. It is the home plane of the Devils and the Lord of the Nine Hells, Asmodeus.
The Hells are a plane of sinister wickedness and institutional cruelty, its denizens are organised into a strict caste system with a very rigid chain of command. Each of the Nine Hells has its own physical laws and properties of matter, and are all inhospitable and deadly to outsiders.
The Nine Hells has nine layers, the first eight are each ruled by archdevils that answer to Asmodeus, the Archduke of Nessus, the ninth layer. To reach the deepest layer of the Nine Hells, one must descend through all eight of the layers above it, in order. The most expeditious means of doing so is the River Styx, which plunges ever deeper as it flows from one layer to the next.
Capital: The Bronze Citadel No planar portals can connect to the lower layers of the Nine Hells, as such, the first layer of Avernus is the arrival point for all visitors to the plane. Avernus is a rocky wasteland with rivers of blood and clouds of biting flies. Fiery comets occasionally fall from the darkened sky and leave fuming impact craters behind. The lands are littered with weapons and bones, the battlefields of the Blood War, a never ending battle between the Devils of the Hells and the Demons of the Abyss.
Capital: The Iron City of Dis The second layer of the Nine Hells, is a labyrinth of canyons wedged between sheer mountains rich with iron ore. Iron roads span and wend through the canyons, watched over by the garrisons of iron fortresses perched atop jagged pinnacles. At the heart of Dis is the Iron City of Dis, a hideous metropolis that is the largest in the Nine Hells. Planar travellers come here to conspire with devils and to close deals with night hags, rakshasas, incubi, succubi, and other fiends. A piece of every deal made in the city is collected by Dis' ruler, the Archduke Dispater.
Capital: Minauros City The third layer of the Nine Hells is a stench-ridden bog. Acidic rain spills from the layer’s brown skies, thick layers of scum cover its putrid surface, and yawning pits lie in wait beneath the murk to engulf careless wanderers. Cyclopean cities of ornately carved stone rise up from the bog, including the great city of Minauros for which the layer is named.
Capital: Abriymoch The fourth layer, is a fiery landscape whose seas of molten magma brew hurricanes of hot wind, choking smoke, and pyroclastic ash. Not to be confused with Phlegethon, the Underworld river that also flows through Phlegethos. Within the fire-filled caldera of Phlegethos’s largest volcano rises Abriymoch, a fortress city cast of obsidian and dark glass. With rivers of molten lava pouring down its outer walls, the city resembles the sculpted centrepiece of a gigantic, hellish fountain.
Capital: Tantlin The fifth layer of the Nine Hells is a freezing realm of ice within which cold flames burn. A frozen sea surrounds the layer, and its gloomy sky crackles with lightning. Not to be confused with the Styx, the Underworld river that also flows through Stygia.
Capital: Ossiea The sixth layer, a seemingly endless slope, like the sides of an impossibly huge mountain. Parts of the layer break off from time to time, creating deadly and deafening avalanches of stone. The inhabitants of Malbolge live in crumbling fortresses and great caves carved into the mountainside.
Capital: Malagard The seventh layer is a ruin-covered wasteland. Dead cities form a desolate urban landscape, and between them lie empty quarries, crumbling roads, slag heaps, the hollow shells of empty fortresses, and swarms of hungry flies.
Capital: Mephistar The eighth layer of the Nine Hells, is an icy hellscape, whose ice storms can tear flesh from bone. Cities embedded in the ice provide shelter for guests and prisoners of Cania’s ruler, the brilliant and conniving Archdevil Mephistopheles.
Capital: Malsheem The lowest layer of the Nine Hells, Nessus is a realm of dark pits whose walls are set with fortresses. There, pit fiend generals loyal to Asmodeus garrison their diabolical legions and plot. At the centre of the layer stands a vast rift of unknown depth, out of which rises the great citadel-spire of Malsheem, home to Asmodeus and their infernal court. Malsheem resembles a gigantic hollowed-out stalagmite. The citadel is also a prison for souls that Asmodeus has locked away for safekeeping. Convincing them to release even one of those souls comes at a steep price, and it is rumoured that the Archduke of Nessus has claimed whole kingdoms in the past for such favours.
Avernus:
Ruler: Archduke ZarielCapital: The Bronze Citadel No planar portals can connect to the lower layers of the Nine Hells, as such, the first layer of Avernus is the arrival point for all visitors to the plane. Avernus is a rocky wasteland with rivers of blood and clouds of biting flies. Fiery comets occasionally fall from the darkened sky and leave fuming impact craters behind. The lands are littered with weapons and bones, the battlefields of the Blood War, a never ending battle between the Devils of the Hells and the Demons of the Abyss.
Dis:
Ruler: Archduke DispaterCapital: The Iron City of Dis The second layer of the Nine Hells, is a labyrinth of canyons wedged between sheer mountains rich with iron ore. Iron roads span and wend through the canyons, watched over by the garrisons of iron fortresses perched atop jagged pinnacles. At the heart of Dis is the Iron City of Dis, a hideous metropolis that is the largest in the Nine Hells. Planar travellers come here to conspire with devils and to close deals with night hags, rakshasas, incubi, succubi, and other fiends. A piece of every deal made in the city is collected by Dis' ruler, the Archduke Dispater.
Minauros:
Ruler: Archduke MammonCapital: Minauros City The third layer of the Nine Hells is a stench-ridden bog. Acidic rain spills from the layer’s brown skies, thick layers of scum cover its putrid surface, and yawning pits lie in wait beneath the murk to engulf careless wanderers. Cyclopean cities of ornately carved stone rise up from the bog, including the great city of Minauros for which the layer is named.
Phlegethos:
Ruler: Archdukes Belial & FiernaCapital: Abriymoch The fourth layer, is a fiery landscape whose seas of molten magma brew hurricanes of hot wind, choking smoke, and pyroclastic ash. Not to be confused with Phlegethon, the Underworld river that also flows through Phlegethos. Within the fire-filled caldera of Phlegethos’s largest volcano rises Abriymoch, a fortress city cast of obsidian and dark glass. With rivers of molten lava pouring down its outer walls, the city resembles the sculpted centrepiece of a gigantic, hellish fountain.
Stygia:
Ruler: Archduke LevistusCapital: Tantlin The fifth layer of the Nine Hells is a freezing realm of ice within which cold flames burn. A frozen sea surrounds the layer, and its gloomy sky crackles with lightning. Not to be confused with the Styx, the Underworld river that also flows through Stygia.
Malbolge:
Ruler: Archduke GlasyaCapital: Ossiea The sixth layer, a seemingly endless slope, like the sides of an impossibly huge mountain. Parts of the layer break off from time to time, creating deadly and deafening avalanches of stone. The inhabitants of Malbolge live in crumbling fortresses and great caves carved into the mountainside.
Maladomini:
Ruler: Archduke BaalzebulCapital: Malagard The seventh layer is a ruin-covered wasteland. Dead cities form a desolate urban landscape, and between them lie empty quarries, crumbling roads, slag heaps, the hollow shells of empty fortresses, and swarms of hungry flies.
Cania:
Ruler: Archduke MephistophelesCapital: Mephistar The eighth layer of the Nine Hells, is an icy hellscape, whose ice storms can tear flesh from bone. Cities embedded in the ice provide shelter for guests and prisoners of Cania’s ruler, the brilliant and conniving Archdevil Mephistopheles.
Nessus:
Leader: Archduke AsmodeusCapital: Malsheem The lowest layer of the Nine Hells, Nessus is a realm of dark pits whose walls are set with fortresses. There, pit fiend generals loyal to Asmodeus garrison their diabolical legions and plot. At the centre of the layer stands a vast rift of unknown depth, out of which rises the great citadel-spire of Malsheem, home to Asmodeus and their infernal court. Malsheem resembles a gigantic hollowed-out stalagmite. The citadel is also a prison for souls that Asmodeus has locked away for safekeeping. Convincing them to release even one of those souls comes at a steep price, and it is rumoured that the Archduke of Nessus has claimed whole kingdoms in the past for such favours.
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