The Three Realms of Evil
Among The Spiritual Realms, there are three (which are not the origins of evil) but realms that seek to produce from, perpetuate, and be strengthened by evil in the material plane. Not only are they dimensions that reflect forms of evil, they are also avenues are evil power for those mortals in the material plane. The three types of evil that manifest in this way are Monstrous, Abyssal, and Eldritch. These three on rare occasions can also blend together into unstable and temporary Demi-realms, but these do not naturally occur; requiring immense influence of some kind to exist at all.
Due to the nature of these divided powers in their source as well as intent, it is normally impossible for a mortal to acquire power from more than one realm. To attempt to do so would rend the mind, spirit, and/or body apart. The only exception in known history to this rule was Blackbeard, who had the monstrous power of hellfire from birth and gained control over abyssal darkness from the book of vile deeds, the results of such combination being devastating.
The Abyss, Realm of Darkness
Lawful Evil, Inhabited by Bane, God of Tyranny, Lilith, The Spider Queen, and The Witch of Many Hands
Shadowfallen: Spiritual Evil in search of Something
The Abyss manifests beings called Shadowfallen, born from the evil found in the mortal soul. Hatred, envy, despair, greed, trauma, shame, pride; these things and more manifest into these beings in search of something. Though most do not know what they seek, they all have the primal belief that they will acquire it through perpetuating those evils. Depending on the strength of negative emotions tied to an individual shadowfallen or where they came from, the strength, intelligence, and abilities of them will change.
(For example, a shadowfallen born from the despair of a family's home burning down will be pretty strong and have fire-based abilities.)
Puredark
Puredark Shadowfallen are naturally occurring beings in the Abyss which are born from the individual or collective negative emotions, desires, and actions from said desires. They have no ranking or chain of command towards any deity, acting independently in small groups of each other. For an average mortal with training/power in abyssal darkness but no ties to a betrayer god, they will only manage to control or summon Puredark shadowfallen.
Emblem
Unlike Puredarks which are naturally occurring, Emblem Shadowfallen are the result of negative emotions/intent mainly produced by an evil diety, their own emblem shadowfallen, or their followers' actions. They are capable of being led for more intricate goals/missions and will obey the commands of any mortal with approval of the deity that manufactured them. Some exceptions to this are Liches, which some are capable of producing their own Emblems, but risk of being overwhelmed by them and turned into one. While their strength and origin of negative emotions still shape their power and abilities, Emblem Shadowfallen are usually stronger and geared towards certain traits based on who manufactured it. Who they are aligned to can be easily seen on the uniform emblem that marks their bodies.
(For example: an emblem shadowfallen from a follower of Lilith burning a family's house down will still grant fire abilities as if it were a Puredark, but with Lilith's preference towards stealth, it may have additional features involving hiding in smoke or the like.)
A dark and bottomless reflection
The Abyss is an endless tower of darkness that reflects the material plane which perpetually grows darker and more abstract the further down you go, with only the topmost 4 being named and/or occupied by a deity. The most striking and immediate impression in the Abyss is the lack of color and light; no sun, moon, or stars adorned the vault of the inky black sky, and all things looked as if the color had leeched out, leaving nothing but black and white, which in the dimness were more like "dark black" and "light black" which grows more potent the further down you go. The exception to this in most cases being locations nearby a rift, in which color would begin to seep through, and fortresses of betrayer gods whose dominion reigns over the realm in the form of colors. A light source only illuminated half the distance it normally would, flames and fires put out less heat, and spells that dealt with light or fire were less predictable and prone to failure, whereas darkness spells were enhanced. On the other hand, although it would not illuminate as far, any light source on the plane could be spotted at a distance of up to ten times its normal range of illumination, standing out in the dreary dark. It drags out the negative emotions in your heart, leading to unbearable dread, rage, and etc.
First Layer, The Black Sea:
Closest to the material plane, it is so close that it is past the boundaries of the divine gate in which Deities are able to reside in unlike any other spiritual realm. This causes this layer to be the most "natural" among the four and what is found is solely a result of the realm itself. it is an uncanny reflection of the material plane with an incredibly vast (and black) ocean, islands, settlements, and everything else (aside from actual people). Unlike the rest of the layers, some color makes it through in certain places; though it does not remove the eeriness it carries. While it is a reflection, it is a constantly shifting one, with certain islands shifting away after certain points in time, some landmarks being swapped with others and more; making mapping and navigation almost impossible. Where Abyssal magic/rituals are consistently used or rifts to the material plane are made, the reflection of that location in the Abyss will stay the same until sealed. Some emblem-shadowfallen may be sent to this layer on behalf of a betrayer further down, majority of the shadowfallen that reside here are puredark.
Second Layer, The Dark Dunes, Castle Oblivion:
Right off the gate, the reflection of the material plane begins to quickly abstract as the ocean seems to be mistaken for dunes of black sands which tower like waves of the sea and islands appear as twisted mountains, which are only outposts for Shadowfallen. These shadowfallen are led by Bane, who resides in this layer within the throne of Castle Oblivion . A violent castle of abyssal steel, it is a fortress of pain and slavery, fueled and maintained by the deserving souls that were exiled to this place. If anyone living is there for any sane reason, it is to acquire from his vault of ruin; containing an endless number of tools that can lead to a specific person, group, or kingdom's quick destruction in any conflict; though the cost to borrow from his hand is seldom worth it. The shadowfallen here are predominantly emblems of Bane and are geared as knights, war-casters, and beasts-of-war. The puredark that are born here are average in strength but usually in huge in numbers.
Third Layer: The Shadow Solids, Demonweb:
The reflection grows even further demented as the sands that blew from the dunes appear to be locked in place, like the shadows that saturate this place have become solid matter. Traversing through the open expanse of The Solids is disorienting and very difficult. When walking in what is the shadows of dust frozen in space, to find good footing is near impossible, and you can easily get stuck in the darkness if you stay out in place for too long. If you are able to find where an island should be, you'll instead find a jagged crater in the shape of a spider's maw, an entrance to Lilith's Demonweb Labyrinth beneath the ground. Though the influence of solid darkness is not an issue beneath the earth, to be within demonweb is no better in difficulty, with incredibly vast passageways covered in webs and echoing with the chitter of spiders. As with everything else within the Abyss, the passageway of demonweb is constantly changing, leaving those who lost their way to be trapped within demonweb labyrinth until they meet their demise if not of use or interest to Lilith. If you manage to go further down, you will end up in true Demonweb, a huge chasm with a floating citadel held aloft by huge webs, constantly maintained by millions of spiders. Within the dungeon of demonweb lies Lilith's most valued possession and prisoner, The Witch of Many Hands. The Puredark within this layer only exist within the labyrinthian layer of demonweb, often being in pacts of two or three that are incredibly tough and usually have means of avoiding the webs within it. The Emblem Shadowfallen of Lilith, if they are not spider-oriented already, often have abilities geared towards, infiltration, poisons, charms, and overall back handed kinds of fighting.
Fourth Layer: The Beginning:
It is called the Beginning because that's all this and the other three layers are when compared to the infinite layers below it, that are so dark and so inhospitable that no being mortal or divine is eager to venture beyond it. It is still a reflection, but it is so badly departed that it is wrong to act as it is such, with spiraling beams of curving black spires and an empty landscape so black that the horizon can't be seen. Only puredark shadowfallen reside here and the layers bellow it, and their strength and sheer size is colossal.
Control of Dark Power
Pandemonium, Realm of Monsters
Chaotic Evil, Dominated by Malice, God of Pandemonium
Aberrations: Physical Evil without Purpose
Pandemonium is a den of completely physical aberrations, or simply monsters, with no soul. With a lack of emotion/desire, they fervently inflict pain and consume anything without purpose; leaving the never-ending destruction they cause on the mortal plain inexplainable nor something to reason with. The monsters that fill this realm are not created nor manifested, rather they have always existed in an infinite number in every imaginable form. There is no hierarchy among them other than animalistic strength, and there is no means of controlling them as soldiers; just as feral beasts on a tight leash at most.
An endless expanse of screams
Pandemonium is made entirely of rock pierced by infinite tunnels and caverns so large it appears like an empty plain until smaller caverns were found. All open space was filled with howling winds that carried the sound of every word, shout, or scream uttered in the place. Without adequate protection, beings with hearing are rendered temporarily deaf in a matter of seconds and permanently deaf in a few minutes. Normal fires can not survive and there is no natural light. Conversation can only be accomplished by shouting at close range. there is no layers of increasing peril or ranking, just a single infinite plane where beasts as unstoppable as terrasques can be stumbled upon as easily as mere imps.
Monstrous Power
Carceri, Realm of the Eldritch
Neutral Evil, Controlled by The Witch of Many Hands
A Prison of Beings Incomprehensible
Unlike the other Realms in which it and the gods residing within in it encourage leaving, it is an inescapable prison for beings that reside in it. What was originally the "entrance" to the material plane and all the realms that surround it; The Witch of Many Hands who took over this realm essentially turned it into a trap for cosmic beings that would attempt to enter the Material Ring. Nothing is known of the nature of this realm nor the beings that inhabit it; for the fact they are unknown is what impossibly binds them to this prison and what empowers The Witch in the first place. Without the Witch acting as the warden, the power of the beings unleashed would dwarf all the realms and consume the material plain in a heartbeat. As a testament to that, the fact that this Realm is known at all is enough to make its danger in the material plane on par with the other 2 realms; speaking volumes on what true horrors are kept at bay.
Power within forbidden knowledge
The Demi-realms of Intertwining Evil
The Realm That Never Was
Neutral Evil, Monstrous and Abyssal, Created by The Witch of Many Hands
This Realm was created by The Witch of Many Hands as a mortal during The Divine War in an attempt to kill the betrayer gods and forever fend off the shadowfallen without expense. Once she was forced into her role as a Goddess and made prisoner, she was unable to maintain the Demi-realm and the betrayers of The Abyss sought to destroy it while Malice twisted the realm to create nobodies in the mortal plane out of the bodies of mortals to merely cause chaos.
Nobodies: Husks Lacking Humanity
A combination of the Monstrous and Abyssal, This realm created beings from the physical bodies left behind by those whose souls were completely transformed into shadowfallen directly in the material plane. More common nobodies appear monstrous and alien, often being opaque white humanoids that can morph and stretch their bodies to move unpredictably. Greater Nobodies made from bodies with memories of incredible strength of will and/or high mental abilities are incredibly powerful and even resemble mortals, with the greatest appearing as uncanny replicas of those who they were made from.
They do not seek to simply kill or acquire something they don't understand; they have a genuine want to acquire souls/emotions of their own as they remember them. Though they are physical entities without souls, they are created from the bodies of mortals that did; granting "muscle memories" of what it is like to have one. This allows humanoid nobodies to act and respond to others as though they have a soul/emotions to either fool others or even fool themselves. Though magics exist that transfer souls from and into bodies, their semi-monstrous nature makes it impossible for an actual soul to remain within them without it being ejected.
The truth of the matter is unsure, but when the Realm That Never Was still existed, there was a belief that if the realm grew strong enough to stand as a permanent plane of existence that it would have the power to create souls for the nobodies as well, something none of the realms can do. Due to the souless nature of nobodies, they are ultimately apathetic towards everything and their methods in achieving their goals are harshly pragmatic and uninhibited by acts of evil or intentional harm. Seeking aid from The Witch in this goal is extremely rare due to the domain of mistrust. She never intended for them to have souls at all; simply to be puppets that would fight off the abyss for eternity.
The Sought Castle of No-One
Though The Realm That Never Was no longer exists, it once took the form of a colossal white castle of cold glass-like material. It stood in between the 1st and 2nd layer of the Abyss, and was capable of moving across the two layers at will. Since this realm was made in the Division Wars, its architecture reflects the kingdoms of advanced magocracies with designs and lights that reflect a forgotten era. It may be gone now, but it is sought after by all nobodies, as it appears to be the only practical option they have toward their goals. If it were to return, there is no clue what form it will take, but it is not impossible to retain certain features of how it once was if it did.
Power From An Empty Vessel
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