Stagnant Librarium
Layer of Sloth
The lands of the philosopher king, the greatest kingdom of the lower layers...
If its inhabitants bothered to upkeep it.
Stagnant Librarium is the domain of the Aspect of Sloth. Residing at the lower layers of the Infernal Realm, it is home to a massive library of knowledge from across the realms. But it is also a place where things grew stagnant, where the perception of time ceases to be.
Realm of Knowledge & Decay
Sky-High Citadels
The inhabitable areas of the realm consist of ancient cities built upon massive pillars, hanging above a mist bank that spans the entire place’s lower regions. These megacities are big enough to support millions, packed together in such density one street can support thousands.
From afar, these cities appear like mountains that are the peak of civilisation, but up close, one sees their negligence. Cracks in the walls, vegetation taking over large sections and decay setting in on the wood. The beauty of a great city falling apart by its citizens refusing to maintain it.
Vast Libraries of Useless Knowledge
Within its walls lie shelves of books, scrolls, and other forms of documentation. Libraries packed high with knowledge gathered from across the Cosmic Hourglass.
Poetry, scholarly research, philosophy, historical records, forgotten arcana, a collection so vast and elaborate no mere mortal could ever read it all. Which might be true, as most of it is unreadable by being written in dead and forgotten languages.
Only a select few Demons of older generations know how to read and understand these tomes. If they are willing to share it with others is another question.
Network of Broken Bridges
Cities are connected through large stone bridges hanging above the mist banks. While some are only a few dozen feet, others span for miles from one city to another. Their lengths can be so massive some even produce their own settlements between.
Like with the cities, a lot of them have fallen into disrepair, with big chunks gone into the swamps below. It makes traversing them quite dangerous for the simple fear of them collapsing.
Swampy Depths
Below the dusty mist banks that cover the layer resides a swamp overgrown by vegetation. No living thing has set foot here in ages, leaving it a primitive landscape of flora and fauna.
The only part that’s visible from the cities are their gigantic foundations, smooth walls tangled in vines and growths. The rest is a maze of tangled trees and waist-deep swamp water, difficult to navigate and even more difficult to orient one selves in.
Tracking any semblance of time here is impossible, as plants grow slow and the fog blocks out the sky. And with the layer itself, long-term exposure may kill one’s perception of time. Days can feel like minutes, causing anyone unlucky enough to starve on the spot.
Stagnant Air
The layer’s air has a particular effect on anything not native to the realm. One’s perception of time accelerates to a rate where days can feel like minutes. Weeks pass by in what one thinks is an hour. The brain’s processing of stimuli slows down to a crawl, making one’s reaction time vanish.
Anything that spends too long in the realm ends up dead by starvation, forgetting to eat or drink in time. The only way to stay focused is by having a tool to measure time. And even then, it's difficult to not have the hours fly by if you are not looking.
Combined with the claustrophobic spaces of the big cities and foggy depths, it is difficult to not lose track of time. So make sure you keep a clock on you at all times, or else you might spend way longer here than intended.
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