The Netherworld

Realm of The Beasts

Supported entirely by Fel energies and magic, the Netherworld is home to a myriad of strange and outlandish creatures.
The Netherworld is a small dimension which contains only one small world, a broken planet called the Continent. The walls between the Netherworld and the Mortal Plane are sheer on the Nether side, causing a minuscule part of the empty sky above the Continent to be dotted with millions of tiny, far away stars. The Nether contains a giant tornado of Fel energy twisting around the Continent, occasionally tearing off chunks of the ground. This Fel Storm is held back only by Fae magic.
The Continent itself is a remnant of a time long passed, when the Nether contained a small solar system of planets. During the Cataclysm of the Nether, Fel energies corrupted every living thing within the Netherworld and tore apart the celestial bodies that supported those lives. As a result, only the Continent is left, a desolate half-planet kept in place and held together with the perfect balance of Fel energies and Fae magic.

The Netherworld, An Artist's Impression

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An artist's impression of a map of the Netherworld.

Geography

The Continent

The Continent has 9 regions, each with wildly different climates and environments, ranging from a volcanic rockland to a dense forest, from mould-infested marshlands to snow-covered wastelands. These regions are separated from each other by height differences and miles of dead, dried rock. These dead zones are rich in Fae magic, keeping them mostly glued together.

The Valley Plains

The Valley Plains are found in the centre of the Continent, a grassy land in the eye of the storm. It is the least affected by the Fel Vortex, a fertile land split in two by its deep valley. The land flattens as it moves toward the north of the Continent, the only pure water source of the Netherworld found in the form of a small lake in this flat land. Chunks of land, ripped from other regions during the Cataclysm, sit far above the Valley to form floating islands. The Valley Plains is the only region of the Continent whose sky is not taken up by the view of the Fel Vortex.

Venvil Swamp

Located to the southwest of the Valley, Venvil Swamp is a humid wetland, whose water is contaminated by both the Fel energy of the Netherworld and the Fel creatures who dwell in the marshlands.

The Broken Mountains

To the southwest of Venvil Swamp lies the Broken Mountains, a jagged and scarred land battered by violent winds from the Fel Vortex. It is near impossible for the known sapient species to traverse, as the angles of the mountain peaks hide the depth of the drop below. Furthermore, the mountains themselves are sharp enough to cut through Orc hide, worn thin by the winds that are channelled through this region.

Wenelm Fireplains

The scorching lands of Wenelm are found to the north of the Broken Mountains. The dry land is cracked by rivers of bizarre lava which flows from the looming volcano that dominates the south of Wenelm. The lava is a strange, murky green with streams of acidic yellow mixed in.

Darkwood

To the northeast of Wenelm, the mystic forest of Darkwood stretches across the land. With gnarled and twisted trees reaching toward the Vortex, light only filters to the floor of Darkwood in patches, making the forest all the harder to navigate.

The Corrupt Expanse

A barren, desolate stretch of dry rock, the ground of the Expanse is coloured a sickly purple with veins of pure Fel energy running through it, staining areas a dark green. To the east of the lush Darkwood, the Corrupt Expanse is a harsh environment, with only a select few lifeforms surviving in the wasteland.

Bretlin's Abyss

Found south of the Corrupt Expanse, Bretlin's Abyss is an equally harsh environment, a wide-open plain of ice. Snow whips across the flat land, sometimes even dragged into other regions by the wind, though it quickly melts elsewhere.

Stormisles

To the east of the Abyss, these broken islands float on the very edge of the Vortex, crushed and torn apart by the strength of the Cataclysm. Slowly, the islands of Stormisles are being sucked into the Vortex itself. Within a century or 2, Stormisles will be destroyed and the little life it supports will be destroyed with it.

Hel's Badlands

South of Bretlin's Abyss and southeast of Venvil Swamp, Hel's Badlands is the largest region of the Continent. It is a barren and dry wasteland, almost uninhabitable. Lakes of Voidmatter rest in the east, acting as the beating heart of the land to send Voidmatter through cracks in the bedrock of the Badlands, like veins carrying lifeforce through the land as they snake toward the mountains. The Voidmatter falls into the pores of the mountains, spilling over to fall down the other side of the mountains, running into the west.

Table of Contents

Geography:

The Valley Plains

Venvil Swamp

The Broken Mountains

Wenelm Fireplains

Darkwood

The Corrupt Expanse

Bretlin's Abyss

Stormisles

Hel's Badlands

Alternative Name(s)

The Nether

Type

Dimensional, Pocket

Inhabiting Species

• Ancubus (Pl. Ancubi)
• Devil Wolves
• Nether Wheat
• Spitfire Mushrooms

Related Materials

• Voidmatter Crystals

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The Fel Vortex

The Continent is surrounded by a Storm of Fel and Nether energies, the wild tornado a natural phenomenon left over from the events of the Cataclysm. It is held at bay only by an intricate web of Fae magic, the most complicated and extensive use of magic in known history. Despite this powerful magic, however, the Vortex is continuously battling against its holdings and is slowly pulling the Continent into its destructive grasp.

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The Cataclysm's Effect

Before the Cataclysm of the Nether, the Continent was originally 10 separate continents of the 2 planets which originally inhabited the Netherworld. During the events of the Cataclysm, the planets were torn apart. Yelrulia, the planet which Ancubi spawned on, was the least affected and 9 of the 10 continents came from this world. The final chunk of land came from the neighbouring planet of Rolua and collided with a landmass from Yelrulia, forming the Broken Mountains.

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Fauna & Flora

The Valley Plains

This region is full of lush and fertile fields, painted gold from the wheat which was native to the Continent pre-Cataclysm. Other flora includes bluebell-like flowers and a few small trees. The local fauna is categorised as Uncanny Valley fauna, reminiscent of many animals from Earth, but appearing slightly wrong thanks to the low Fel energy levels.

Venvil Swamp

Huge structures of fungus stretch toward the sky in clumps around the largest pools of water. Smaller, more deadly mushrooms grow on the trees in Venvil Swamp, exploding every 2 years in order to spread their spores and reproduce.

The Broken Mountains

One of the least biodiverse regions, these Mountains only support Fel moss in the shadows of the mountain peaks and 1 species of animal, the vicious reptilian creature known as a tarassig. Any creatures which stray into this region are quickly consumed by the deadly tarassigs.

Wenelm Fireplains

Fireplants contaminated by Fel magic are a common flora of this region. Others include the carnivorous red nemweed plants and the vicious crawling lava vines. The fauna is restricted to Fel Elementals and Lava Elementals, as well as a few small rodents.

Darkwood

Aside from the Valley, Darkwood is the region that is most full of life. The most common lifeforms here are the giant trees, whose thick grey trunks are twisted and whose leaves are so dark they appear black. Any fauna found here is either unnaturally thin or a great hulking beast capable of destroying anything in its way.

The Corrupt Expanse

The only creatures capable of living here are lifeforms which survive by feeding off Fel energy. Dark Creatures such as the giant bloodbourne bat and hydras thrive here. Demons like Imps and the Beholder are very common in this region. It is thought that Warlocks who summon such creatures call them from the Expanse.

Bretlin's Abyss

No flora is found in this region. A surprising amount of fauna claims the snowland as their home, most notably the screaming jagunau, which are the apex predators here, and the voidstalkers who live near the south border of this region.

Stormisles

Some of these islands play host to dense patches of Fel weeds which seem to thrive off the power which the Vortex exudes. Interestingly, Stormisles is the only known location to house a rare species of giant butterfly. Devil wolves, the other native fauna of Stormisles, are the prey of darktail butterflies.

Hel's Badlands

There are no plants found in this region and very little fauna. The lifeform most commonly found here are Void Creatures, beings classified as Elementals. They appear to be made from pure Voidmatter but are far less toxic to other beings. There is some debate over whether they are sapient or not.