Undern
Undern is a dark, dismal realm under the Earth where the souls of Men who died in their sins suffer for their wickedness. Its name is what the free peoples of Mirydain use to describe Hell, where the unrepentant reside in misery, awaiting the Great Judgment.
Geography
Undern is an abysmal realm where the sun never shines. The ground is as barren as a desert, and the only river in Undern is the river of blood.
Upon their death, the souls of the wicked plummet through the earth until they come to a cliff overlooking the Plains of Undern. Then they are led down a stairway like slaves being led to market and pass through the Door of Despair, an iron gate on which is inscribed, “Never will ye find joy here, nor will any hope again. Through me is the path of endless pain.” Then the souls are directed to one of the plains to receive their sentence.
The First Plain of Undern is where Men guilty of the sin of pride await the Great Judgment. The prideful are punished by having iron weights shackled to their ankles and are forced to carry boulders up a large mountain, only for the boulders combined with the weights to drag them back down and they must begin the tedious climb once more.
In the Second Plain, Men whose sin was greed await the Great Judgment. Hoarders and prodigals are punished by carrying enormous chests filled with their own greed in chains around their necks.
In the Third Plain, those whose sin was gluttony have their bellies ripped open by vultures who feed on their innards while mortals guilty of sloth are poured over with leeches while trying to wade through a pit of blood, sweat, and tears.
The Fourth Plain is where mortals whose sin was envy are punished by having their eyes gouged out as envy is a sin of the eyes. These souls wander aimlessly across the plain, constantly groveling over their lost sight and wanting to weep, but they are deprived of their ability to shed tears.
The Fifth Plain of Undern is the place of punishment for Men whose sin was lust. The souls punished here are forced to walk naked over splinters of glass while cold, violent winds blow around them. These souls groan in pain as their feet bleed, and their hands are cut by the glass if they stumble.
After it is the Sixth Plain of Undern, which is the place of punishment for the souls whose sin was wrath. Here, the wrathful are punished by standing in a mire of mud where they tear each other apart. Further in, Men whose sin was violence are punished according to the form of violence they committed. Men who were violent against others: murderers, tyrants, conquerors, and plunderers are immersed in a boiling river of blood. Those who committed violence against themselves are burned on piles of wood resembling funeral pyres. Lastly, the violent against the Eternal Father are forced to run through a desert where the sand burns.
The Seventh Plain is where those guilty of falsehood are punished; panderers and seducers are forced to drive one another by flogging each other, flatterers are forced to eat mud, usurpers have their skin set ablaze, and false prophets have their eyes and tongues ripped out. Barrators are covered in boiling tar, while hypocrites have hot lead poured over them. Heretics are turned to stone, false counselors have their tongues burned, while sowers of discord are torn apart by wild dogs. Falsifiers are the last in the Seventh Plain to be punished with painful sores, profuse bleeding, and burning throats.
The Eighth Plain, also known as the Pit of Undern, is where traitors are punished with whips and red-hot brands while standing in pits filled with rotting bones and putrid blood. In the middle of the pit is Czarnoth, the ruler of Undern, who grins with malicious glee at the various sinners and laughs with prideful scorn as they plead for mercy to ease their pain.
Fauna & Flora
There are no plants in Undern as it is entirely a wasteland. The inhabitants of Undern include Czarnoth and the Myrkniolr, as well as the souls of great sinners.
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