Layer the Fourteenth, called "A'Shad'Ifohg" (by Draegarius)

Even evil has its more tolerable sides. This layer while not being the most important, is perhaps still the second most traveled layer in the abyss (the plane of infinite portals is still "the" gateway to the abyss) and brings together an unlikely crowd of merchants, smugglers, yugoloth's (offering their services for the blood war or for any powerful lord rich enough to afford their prices), cutthroats and thugs, mercenaries, adventurers and others. This is the "Abyssal Bazaar", the greatest center of trade in the lower planes. Watch your back. The same merchant who sold you your dagger might get it back a moment later, or give it to you the fast way.

A full description of this layer and its burgs can be found in Draegarius' site: The Dustmen's Mortuary.

Layer the Fifteenth, called "The Courts of Mustering", discovered by Alex Hargrove, half-elven sage of the Fraternity of Order (by Chris Nichols)

The Courts of Mustering are a launch point for Blood War armies. This layer is filled with an endless series of tastefully appointed courtyards and gardens. A infinity of marble and tile courts, where in swarms of least and lesser tanar'ri ready for assaults on the stronghold of their enemies. The layer is filled with portals to many planes, mostly Lower Planes, but portals to others exist. Most of these portals are one-way, making missions launch from this layer suicide missions. The authority on this plane is the balor Gurtheoinr, who watches and directs the armies from his gem-studded tower, the single elevated structure on the layer.

Layer the Sixteenth, called "The Endless Graveyard", discovered by Taxider Mey, a Dustman working in conjunction with our Fraternity (by Chris Nichols)

An infinite ribbon of earth winding through a void, the Endless Graveyard is precisely that, an endless graveyard. A field of crypt, gravemarkers, mausoleums, pyres, and gallows, the strip of land the makes up the Endless Graveyard is surrounded by an endlessly raging storm. Those coming in contact with the storm a transported else where [50% chances of being sent to the Negative Energy Plane or being dropped over the spikes of Impalator].

Under the bloated, skull-faced full moon, in the centre of the layer, the Palace of Skulls can be found. Here the mysterious lady of this realm can be found. All manner of the living, restless dead populate this layer as well as a wide variety of undead animals and tanar'ri. Currently, some of the vampires and tanar'ri of this realm have betrayed the mistress of the Endless Graveyard to another Abyssal lord.

[With apologies to Chaos! Comics]

Layer the Seventeenth, called "The Whispering Lights",
discovered by Factor Benson the Scorzari. Interdicted (by Chris Nichols)

The layer known a "The Whispering Lights" was discovered when Benson the Scorzari, a factor in our Fraternity, mounted an expedition into the Plain of Infinite Portals. Falling under attack from tanar'ri mobs, the group was lost. Four months later, Benson reappeared in the Clerk's Ward, on a killing spree that ended in the death of thirty-one people before he was slain by Harmonium officers. Via speak with dead spells, Fraternity of Order aides took notes on Benson's journey on the layer he called "The Whispering Lights." This layer is a void filled with fog and corsecating coloured lights resembling the auroras of polar regions of certain prime worlds. This void is filled with thousands of voices whispering malicious suggestions on the wind. These voices twist into the minds of all visitors to the plane (excepting tanar'ri) driving them to homicidal schizophrenia [in game terms, a Madness Check at -1 or checks versus Intelligence and Wisdom at -2 for each hour spent on this layer; if any check fails, the character succumbs to the horrific suggestions of the whispers and falls into violent paranoid schizophrenia, becoming an NPC under the DM's control]

The only other feature of this layer is what Benson the Scorzari called "the obscene islands," floating masses of organic matter, black lumps of fiendish faces, organs, insectile limbs, skin and bones, all mashed and fused together. Here, a few fiendish inhabitants make their homes. Legend has it that every malicious whisper in the multiverse finds its way to this layer, echoing through the void for eternity.

Layer the Eighteenth, called "Carnaxius" (by Martin Bourassa)

The realm of Sekmeth, Goddess of War and Fire, occupies much of this blasted layer. At the centre of her realm lies the Pyramid of Destruction, a structure that is ravaged by an ever raging inferno, yet never destroyed. The Lady of Carnage herself is said to sit on her throne at the top of the pyramid. An ever raging battle surrounds it, filling the air with clash of steel and the battle cries of the petitioners. They fight each other with no goal, no armies, no organisations, forever and ever locked in a senseless frenzy of blood and slashing. This will have no end, since it this forever fuelled with arriving petitioners. When a new petitioner reform here, he must take a weapon on the corpses littering the soil and fight or be killed by the other crazed petitioners. Flaming spheres rolls from the inferno in the melee, blasting and scorching what stands before them. The petitioners fighting here are mostly flinds and humans worshippers. Further from the pyramid, the battle his less intense, ceasing on the borders. Since other chaotic war gods may have realms here this void is not large, but are filled with forest and ruins, and the chant goes, with treasure. Each turn spent near the crazed petitioners, travellers must save versus spell, or be filled with blazing fury themselves, fighting with a +2 on damage and attack roll but with -1 to armour class. The petitioners have the same bonus. They fight without pause, never eating, drinking or resting. Each hour, they may roll again versus spell to wrestle free of the fury (travellers with at least 13 of wisdom only). Frenzied traveller dragged in the void or out of the layer stop fighting. After three days of fighting, even the strongest mortal will die of exhaustion. This layer differ from Acheron because its chaotic, each for himself. Tanar'ri are not affected by the frenzy, but may, and often do, join the battle for fun.

Layer the Nineteenth, called "Falserapture",
discovered by Athousea of the Athar. Interdicted (by Chris Nichols)

A place of corrupt religion, and evil and horror masquerading as that which should be holy, Falserapture is where the nalfeshnee send (when they feel like it) the screaming larva who once turned good religions toward evil and chaos and those who followed them. Here the larva return to their earthly forms. The darkest become head of religion in this new layer, while most become the blindly fanatic flock. All on this layer is religion, and all religion is controlled by the tanar'ri. The tanar'ri's Blood War strategists (under advisement from the yugoloths) have built this place to train their force to corrupt clerics and undermine religions, in order to drag more souls into the Abyss. The monasteries and nunneries of this layer are overrun with succubi and incubi. Church councils answer to glabrezu and mariliths. Balors are worshipped as heavenly heralds. Gangs of tanar'ri bear magical constructs resembling huge solars across the sky randomly destroying the worshipping flocks, and scooping up other to be delivered to a Blood War battlefield. Generally, the fiends find all of this amusing.

Layer the Twentieth, called "Candlesnuff" (by Ben Wray)

Candlesnuff if an empty layer filled with tiny wisps of smoke gently rising upwards into an infinite sky from an infinite pit. Tiny islands of rock float through the void, in addition to glowing sparks whizzing through at incredible speeds that provide this layer's light. Anyone hit by one will take one point of heat damage. The tanar'ri use this layer to hold prisoners, chaining them to floating rock islands, but there are no natives to speak of.

Layer the Twenty-Eighth, called "The Mountains of Murder", discovered by Fly-thee-from-All-Corruption Regham, a Mercykiller justicar on the trail of Wegis the Snail, murderer (by Chris Nichols)

A place of violence, the Mountains of Murder are a range of living mountains. The range spreads out in a tangle spires and deep valleys, with many of the peaks having the form of greats breaking from the earth, or thrusting arms, or serpents writhing in air. The fact is, that these twisted peaks are alive, living stone of malign intelligence. Travellers on this layer are warned that the peaks are always eager to eat, squash, or otherwise slay travellers.

Additionally, in the valleys where no peaks can reach, tanar'ri have built shelters, where they wage constant bitter warfare upon each other. This layer seems to promote fraction and murder. The valleys are lit with guttering torches, and dank winds blow along the cliffs and ledges of the layer.

Layer the Thirtieth, called "Slimeflow", discovered by Ignobly, an ooze mephit (by Chris Nichols)

This layer known as Slimeflow is a series of cliffs cover in waterfalls of slime. In certain sections of the cliff-face, the slimefalls empty into the Styx. The cliffs of Slimeflow have no true base or top, and are composed of a greasy brown stone which crumbles easily. Oddly, the stone is edible, but has no nutritious content. The cliffs slope upward at a 50 degree angle and are cover in tall stone spires. The cliffs of Slimeflow are pocked with holes and vents from which burps and bubbles a thick and sticky mucous-like slime. The slime is a translucent green and glows in the dark. It is, however, toxic, causing hallucinations and vomiting if ingested. As the slime seeps from the cliff-sides, it forms many rivers and falls of green noxiousness. The life of this layer includes undead fish that swim in the slime rivers and have a life-cycle similar to salmon, a variety of slimes and oozes, and tanar'ri, mainly yochlols and alkiliths. A tanar'ri lord makes this layer her home. She is said to reside in a lake of slime, from which grow a tower of organs and limbs, with a chamber of muscles and membranes at the top. No one is really certain of her form, but most say it is that of a alkilith with four bat-like wings or that of a succubus with knots of tentacles in place of arms. The lord's name is thought to be "Cligpha."

Layer the Thirty-First and Thirty-Second, called "The Dungeon Dimensions", (also the Deserts of Still Silver) discovered by Pterry of the Disc. Interdicted (by Chris Nichols)

The layers of the Abyss widely called the Dungeon Dimensions are nearly unique among the chaotic levels of the Plane of Infinite Horrors in than no tanar'ri are present on these two layers. Rather, malevolent creatures known simply as the Things dwell in the silvery desolation [treat as triple hit dice hordlings]. These creatures seek to escape the prison of these layers, tapping magical energies on the prime to rip open the fabric of the Abyss, creating gates to the Prime. The Things fill the air around them with a numbing saw-tooth buzz and can possess those who are tainted with evil. They do not seek conquest or power, but merely to destroy for destruction's sake.

The first layer of the Deserts of Still Silver is the thirty-first layer of the Abyss. A vast desert of metallic silver sand, the layer is always slightly chill and utterly still. No wind, little noise, save the muted buzzing of the Things. On the horizon, a encircling range of unreachable black mountains can been seen, never reached. Clusters of Things lurk near points where the fabric of reality has worn thin, waiting for the surge of mystic energies that will release them. A huge sickle moon arcs across the bulk of the starless sky, yet provides no light. Instead, the sands cast silvery light, cold and heartless, into the sky.

Layer thirty-two of the Abyss is the second layer of the Dungeon Dimensions. This layer is similar to the previous one, with its endless desert of silver sand (although here the sand does not glow). However, here there is only silence (not even the Things' buzzing breaks through) and it is far colder (frostbite sets into exposed flesh in 30 minutes). No mountains lurk on the horizons, no moon blots the sky. Rather tiny faint stars of pale blue can be seen, and clouds of luminous silver haze hang raggedly across the landscape. Things are less common here for some unknown reason. The layers of the Dungeon Dimensions shift and bleed into each other based on the mental state of those trapped here. The more hopelessness and despair one feels, the more likely one is to slide into the lower layer.

Layer the Thirty-Third, called "Hollowshell", discovered by Oolus the Lightbringer, an aasimar explorer. Interdicted (by Chris Nichols)

The Layer called Hollowshell (pronounced either "hollow-shell" or "hollows-hell") is a place of egg-shell thin walls, floating clumps of fire and stone, and randomly shifting gravity. Basically, Hollowshell resembles and mass of giant bubbles made of extremely fragile pottery. The floors and walls of this are too thin to support any real weight, causing most objects to shatter the walls it rests on. Shattered walls release a spray of razor-like shards which slice those near-by. The shattered walls regenerate when broken, and the flying shards eventually crumble to dust.

Additionally, huge clumps of stone float through these chambers, plowing through shell-walls as they drift. Other shells are filled with flames. These chambers explode when they are broken, destroying many of the chambers around them. Oddly, tanar'ri on this layer do not shatter the walls and floors of this layer, unless they want to.

Also, gravity is inconstant on this layer, shifting randomly ever few hours, causing things to fall, sending them flying into surrounding shells. Tanar'ri are also immune to this effect, unless they want to be affected. For tanar'ri, every surface of the layer has gravity.

Finally, all creatures, even tanar'ri, who spend more than a few days on this layer change. They become hollow, filled with something reflecting their alignment or origin (aasimar might become shells filled with light, while a bladeling is filled with smoke and razor blades). The transformation is intensely painful to lawful or good creatures.

Layer the Thirty Seventh, called "The Feeding Reach", discovered by Thomas the Shadow. Interdicted (byChris Nichols)

The layer of the Feeding Reach is known only due to the fact that its discoverer was incorporeal. The Feeding Reach is a rolling plain of heaving flesh, continuously generating and absorbing gaping mouths of all sizes. The Reach feeds on any solid it encounters, including itself. Any visitor with that can be consumed by the maws of the Feeding Reach will be in a very few seconds. No creatures are native to this layer, no resources may be found here, and few tanar'ri care to come here. This realm of flesh and fang has no innate intellect and no ruler. Why it exists, other than to be a horrible place among other horrible places, is unknown.

Layer the Forty-Nineth, called "The Horrid Sea", discovered by Aqualzizan, a saunguin explorer (by Chris Nichols)

A layer formed by a murky brown sea, covered in mats of ropey sea-weed, under a gray sky, spread through-out with sea spires. This sea is called 'horrid' for several reasons. First, the seas are so matted with weeds that boats and other vessels are barely able to move. Additionally, the waters are far to murky to see through, being a soup of decaying plant and animal matter.

Similar visibility problem are had on the surface, where constant drizzle and fog obscure vision and the weather is always chillingly cold. Also, the sea teams with life: giant albino squids, phosphorescent pirana-like fish, strange parasitic fish, weird crustaceans and insects, and carnivorous sea plants. Finally, there are the sea spires, great crumbling towers of stone jutting from the ocean. Here enclaves of hostile natives, largely tanar'ri with a few others, threaten all who pass by. The most horrid of these is Sanspathos, the Lingering City, spoken of in the dread Codex of Infinite Planes.

Layer the Sixty-Second, called "Sting", (by Martin Bourassa)

The 62nd layer of the Abyss, is the realm of scorpions and poison. It's an underground layer consisting of sky-high cavern. Maybe there's a surface, and maybe it's even more hostile than inside, but all known life is under. The land itself is poisonous: in many place the walls and floor weep deadly contact poison and clouds of poisonous gas float through the air of the caverns. The petitioners are poison-using and even those who don't, like the drow, become poisonous themselves. Scorpions are everywhere, in all sizes and strengths. They're all intelligent, though, and pray the gods for the sod who think he can escape them with tricks. The space between caverns is all chasms and pits, and some of Lolth's webs can be seen in the deepest of these. Chask of the scythes has his realm in one cavern, as does the Abyssal lord Maughter. Malar of the claw is rumoured to hide there as well, but that's just that: rumours. Only berks who're try to impress tell that they've been to his realm, and it's current location is still a mystery.

Chask's realm is entered only by who he, or the guardian Cosktryst, wishes to. And who'd want to? The only entrance to the cavern is to cross the bridge that jumps over the greatest chasm of the layer. In the chasm is portals to deeper layer of the Abyss or to other planes, but if someone is pushed, he'll just fall for eternity or collide with the sides, for there is no bottom to this pit. Only if someone willingly jumps would he fall somewhere else. The pits apparently respect bravery...or madness.

Maughter's realm is more inhabited. You literally walk on scorpions (the smallest, that is). The home of Maughter is his tower on a hill. The tower is a rock with holes everywhere; doors for the scorpions to scuttle in and out. Maughter is seemingly in good term with Lolth, Blackdraken and Pazrael, but he constantly schemes behind their backs.

A character of note on the layer is Slycter, a powerful mantis of very large proportions with a blackened chiton armour. She travels all the planes but her kip is here. Chant goes her two claws act as vorpal blades.

Layer the Sixty-Fifth, called "Lolth's Web" (by Chris Nichols)

"Lolth controls a number of adjacent planes (sic) [layers] but is reached though a great web built in the midst of a primal maelstrom." -- Manual of the Planes, pg.102

"The Abyss and Its Conduits: Panzunia, 2nd Layer, 64th Layer, 65th Layer (Lolth's Web), 66th (Lolth's Domain), To the Prime, To Other Layers of the Abyss" -- Manual of the Planes, diagram, pg. 103

Lolth's Web is very similar to the drow goddess' other layer, the Demonweb Pits. While the Demonweb Pits house Lolth's iron spider fortress and consist of non-Euclidean web mazes, Lolth's Web holds her catchings strung across a maelstrom of chaos. Here vast webs, with each strand a full yard thick, connect to each other. Caught in these webs, great behemoths and fiendish giants lay cocooned, dead and drained or slowly dying. In between the planes of these great webs, vortexes of primal chaos swirl, disgorging and devouring twists and whorls of red, yellow, and black chaos stuff.

Unlike the Demonweb Pits, one can find a path through the webs, as the geography falls into the normal three-dimensions. The layer is populated by drow, petitioners, spider creatures, yochlol, and ettercap. All who come to this layer (tanar'ri included) have a 25% chance per day to develop a spider-like feature (compound eyes, mandibles, extra spider-like limbs, spinnerets. etc.). It is said by scholars of the Abyss that Lolth's Web reflects the chaos of Lolth's nature, while the Demonweb Pits reflect the evil; most explorers of the Abyss say that both realms are equally evil and chaotic.

Layer the Eighty-Nineth, called "Demozg" (by Chris Nichols)

"The realm of Demogorgon spans several layers, yet each is a jungle filled with dinosaurs, wild apes, and bird-like monsters in addition to the standard compliment of demonic life." -- Manual of the Planes, pg. 102

The layer called Demozg is the other realm of Demogorgon. Here is where is the worshippers of Demogorgon who are not ixixachitl dwell. A hot, humid jungle of skin-tearing plants, razor-edged rocks, disease-bearing insects, and insane predators, Demozg is an awful place . . . with awful inhabitants. Demonic dinosaurs, plague-bearing and blood-crazed apes, and a myriad of aerial horrors dwell along with murderous petitioners and tanar'ri hosts.

The major feature is the Temple of Insanity, Demogorgon's palace, an Escherian maze of altars, blood-drains, pits, pools, stairs, courtyards, and throne rooms. From the outside, it looks like a cross between an Incan pyramid and a statue of Demogorgon; the interior has no relation to the exterior, unfortunately.

Layer the Ninety Sixth, called "Nogard" (by an anonymous author...if this is yours, please tell me!)

No need to worry about Tanar'ri here, berk. Or any other critter for that matter. The air is breathable, and the ground is solid and flat. Nothing sneaks up on you, and a body can take a moment to rest.

Yeah, right.

What makes this level so horrible is just that. There is nothing here. NOTHING. No rocks, no trees, not even a sky. Just one infinite plane of flat grey nothing. There is no sound, either. You can make noise, but it doesn't echo as there isn't anything for the sound to bounce off of. The crushing boringness of this level is enough to drive a blood barmy, and quickly too.

Magic does not work on this level at all. That means most gates here are one way. The only way to leave a plane is to find a portal as it opens and dive in before some berk steps through. Given that the plane is infinite, the odds of finding such exits are as much chance as elemental ice has surviving on the elemental plane of fire.

Although there is nothing around, the quiet level itself "seems" to watch poor sods who end up here, increasing their paranoia. Everyone "feels" they are being watched, and know that any moment, something is going to happen. Companions quickly turn on each other. Sooner or later, thirst and starvation overcome most, as there is no food or water here, either. Whatever supplies are carried are the only supplies that exist here.

The chant is that truly evil fiends send people here with a kender as a companion.

Layer the One-Hundred and Thirteenth, called "Thanatos".(by Chris Nichols)

"The dwelling of Orcus is a great palace made of bones, rising out of ground bone meal...." -- Manual of the Planes, pg. 102

Site: The Calciferous Palace - A great palace built of bones of every description, ringed by bonfires built of burning bones. Formerly, all manner of tanar'ri and undead lived here, including a great undead balor. Few servants of dead (?) Orcus remain here.

Site: Bone Meal Desert - Far from the other settlements of this layer, the Bone Meal Desert can be found. Created by Orcus, the desert used to grow steadily. A troop of skeletal goristros bearing mortars and pestles were charged with capturing wanderers in the desert and grinding them into meal to add to the desert. In the exact centre of the desert, the Calciferous Palace.

Layer the One Hundred and Twenty First, called "Degrazatz" (by Chris Nichols)

"Graz'zt makes his domain in a great palace that fills an entire layer and dominates the nearby layers of lesser demon lords." -- Manual of the Planes, pg. 102

Many bashers think that the Argent Palace of the 46th layer of the Abyss is the Abyssal lord Graz'zt's fabled infinite palace. Sadly for them, they are only partly right. The Argent Palace is the site where the true palace of Graz'zt spills into the layers of Azzagrat. The infinite palace of Degrazatz is Graz'zt true retreat, a stately pleasure dome decreed to house the degrading infinities of an Abyssal lord's pleasure. The palace of Degrazatz is populated by a variety of least and lesser tanar'ri, as well as quasits, lamias, leucrotta, harpies, court visitors, and Graz'zt's many lovers. Degrazatz fills the entire layer, without rhyme or reason to its structure. Doors open into chasms, stairs crawl across the ceiling, pits of lava sit in the middle of libraries, making Degrazatz a supremely confusing place.

Looking from a window affords a view of miles of open space, covered top to bottom with towers, domes, chimneys, courtyards, gardens, and bridges. The open reaches are filled with smoke from the kitchens and fireplaces of the palace, limiting vision after a mile or so. Fortunately, gravity is uniform through out the layer.

The palace Degrazatz is infinite meaning that none but Graz'zt knows the full extent of it, and possibly, not even he knows all of it. The palace's infinity spills over in to other layers. There always exists a portion of the palace on the layers Graz'zt rules (44, 45, & 46), as well as strategically important layers (1, 12, 49, 73, 80, 122, 263, 274, 303, 377, & 530).

Layer the One Hundred and Twenty Second, called "False Fallow" (by Chris Nichols)

"Fraz-Urb'Luu has only recently returned to his home realms. He is still in the process of removing those lesser creatures who usurped his domains during his absence. At its height, Fraz-Urb'Luu's realms rivalled the beauty of those of the Twin Paradises or Arvandor, but this is only a cruel deception, for beneath the illusion is decay and rotting flesh." -- Manual of the Planes, pg. 102

When Fraz Urblu, returned from his imprisonment on Oerth, he came to find his realm over-run by his enemies. Armies of Graz'zt, Orcus, Demogorgon, Juiblex, Yeenoghu, Poldarge, and other Abyssal lords and godlings had infested his lands. Though he tried mightily, his forces had been shattered by his imprisonment, and he could not reclaim his lands. So, he retreated to the Grey Wastes for a time to marshall his forces, before taking an unclaimed layer of the Abyss as own.

The realm usurped from Fraz Urblu is a place of false beauty, wondrous illusions covering rot and corruption. Orderly orchard of trees which bear gems as fruit are honestly liquacous corpses bound into columns. Crystal waterfalls are, under the illusions, flows of blood and internal fluids mixed with chunks of flesh. Gentle rains are truly maggots which fall from the skies, while grass is a carpet of smuts and rusts. The one thing that appears without a cloak of illusion is the ruins of Fraz Urblu's castle. The great stone castle once had the shape of its master, a two-mile high image of the bestial Fraz Urblu. Today, the castle has been seared in half at a half-mile up, as if a great blade had passed through it. The majority of the castle lies broken, piece littering the landscape for miles in all directions.

The castle is not the only thing that has been destroyed. The ground itself has been torn up. The tanar'ri warring on this layer have dug chains of trenches, hundreds of miles long, all across the layer. These fortifications are encampments and protection for the armies which strive to claim the layer. Since Fraz Urblu abandoned the layer, nearly ever petty lord in the Abyss has sent a contingent to stake their claim on this layer. Thus, False Fallow is a constant battlefield, hosting a hundred clashes at any given moment. No one army is able gain control of the layer, resulting in an endless, pointless war of chaos. The major players in the war currently are the armies of Alvarez, Graz'zt, Demogorgon, and Pazuzu. Finally, the entire layer is haunted by chimerai, gorgons, thessalamonsters, manticores, and other chimerical monsters.

Layer the Two Hundred and Sixty Sixth, called "Acid Indecision" (by KatClaw)

Acid Indecision is named after its two most notable traits: its great expanses of green, and yellow acid oceans, and its current ruler, the balor T'el'Quay, more commonly known as 'The Sire'. T'el'Quay, unlike most balor, hardly cares for the Blood War, choosing instead to roam around his realm and into other planes when possible, maintaining a large Blood War (a large proportion of which are cambion crack troops) army which he sends to be commanded by others of the cause. The layer is mostly run by T'el'Quay's advisor, the marilith, Rashule. She is really the one holding the layer together; always plotting to get T'el'Quay fully out of the loop and take his place, putting the 266th layer back on the planar map. T'el'Quay is obsessed with creating cambions for his private bodyguard enclave, taking his search for suitable mating stock into many planes, including most prime worlds. He is always surrounded by at least 12 of his cambionic sons, all impeccably loyal to their sire. There have only been two known sons that have rebelled: the barmy cambion Cynge (a favourite pawn of Rashule), and the weretiger/cambion KatClaw (part of Rashule's latest, and in her opinion, greatest plots)

[Note: All fiends spawned on this layer take half damage from acid, as opposed to the normal full damage.]

Layer the Three Hundredth, called "Feng-Tu" (by Chris Nichols)

"The Chinese Powers Tou Mu and and Lu Yueh make their home in a realm called Feng-Tu. Feng-Tu appears as a mighty citadel that rises up a forked branch of the Styx called How Nai-ho. This branch can be reached by Charon and the charonadaemons [marrenoloths]. The citadel of Feng-Tu is entered via Kuei-Men-Kuan, the gate of the demons, which is large enough to permit elephantine behemoths to pass through easily. The god of epidemics and the goddess of the northstar hold sway over a household of manes and demons." -- Manual of the Planes, pgs. 102-103

Feng-Tu is a surprisingly fertile layer of the Abyss. Fed on silt brought by the river How Nai-ho (still foul and deadly but not memory-draining), this layer provides a number of crops favoured by tanar'ri, as well as certain crops which are edible by the less fiendish races. Stench kine and thunderbeasts are also raised here. The land is an endless river valley surrounding the How Nai-ho, the flat region of rice paddies and muddy fields. Huge misshapen towers of stone draped in greenery rise from the land. The largest of these towers, shaped vaguely like a thrusting arm, rises near the river How Nai-ho. Here is found the citadel Feng-Tu, City of Disease and Madness.

A bridge of basalt crosses How Nai-ho, entering the city at the great gate Kuei-Men-Kuan, the Gate of the Demons. This gate is the sole entrance to the city. Within the walls, the city is a jumble of shifting streets, towering buildings, slums, madhouses, sewers, pagodas, and dens of iniquity, all in oriental styles. In the palm of the rock spire, sits the palace of Lu Yueh and Tou Mu.

The palace's thirteen spires all connect to a great central shaft where in a void of rushing wind, starlight, and mind-warping insanity, Tou Mu holds court. While Lu Yueh does have a throne room in the palace, the god normally stalks the passages beneath the city instead. In these lightless tunnels of soft black stone, he hunts victims to subdue, infect, and slay. The aeons of his passing have left the tunnels with an inches-thick layer of deadly black bacteria and viruses.

The creatures native to the layer are the barmy and diseased petitioners of the terrible Chinese powers, in addition to tanar'ri, hellish chattel, spirit beings of evil intent, and undead. The nature of the plane warps mind and body. Each day there is a 50% chance of contracting some disease. If a disease is not contracted, then madness begins to set in. All creatures are affected.

Layer the Three Hundred and Forty-Fifth, called "Fyerwold", discovered by Hammas, a ranger of our Fraternity (by Chris Nichols)

A forest of black pines covering a an entire layer, Fyerwold burns eternally. This rocky forest is forever ravaged by an undying forest- fire. The fires never die, never truly destroying the foliage, but certainly destroying any animals trapped here. The woods are huge black pines, gnarled so that their trunks look as though tortured spirits were trapped within, as well having needles sharp as pins. The undergrowth is dry and scraggly razorvine, fuelling the unconsuming flames. Throughout the layer, the ground is dry and rocky, and few animals are found. Those that are are creature of living flame and some tanar'ri. Finally, the fire that rage across the layer appears to be alive and malignant. It can move independently, and does all it can to burn and destroy all living things. The flames may even draw themselves into a face, an arm, or and body, and confront those who venture into this layer.

Layer the Three Hundred and Sixty Sixth, called "Azgoroth". Interdicted (by Joshua Jarvis)

I'm sure you heard of the dreaded Abyssal layers and their awful tanar'ri. But have you heard of Azgoroth? It's a layer that is a tanar'ri. You see, Azgoroth is some kind of immense fiend. An endless expanse of viscous, clay like, flesh that forms mouths, eyes, tentacles, mouths on tentacles, mouths on eyes, eyes on tentacles, tentacles on eyes and mouths. This grotesque, overflowing sea of flesh is believed to be a tanar'ri who somehow devoured a layer.

Azgoroth is a smart basher who can send out "sendings" of himself. He divides out a part of his fluid flesh and sends it through a portal. He's on a mission to leave his plane. His sendings, they vary from spies to powerful minions. From snake-like tentacles with an eye and mouth to more complex starfish like things, and even miniature versions of Azgoroth himself. These sendings strive to place tomes written by Azgoroth himself where clueless mortals can find them. If a mortal knows his name and summons him he can move to another place (whether it be another Abyssal layer, another outer plane, or even the prime, he doesn't care). Azgoroth has an insatiable hunger and can eat anything, he ate an entire Abyssal layer. He eats mortals he cannot use as pawns to escape. He would probably devour whole worlds and planes if you give him half a chance.

Azgoroth the insatiable can form body parts at any place he chooses but also does it unconsciously (he is limited to eyes, mouths, and tentacles though they have no size limit), he can change the hardness of his flesh (from watery to stone-like), and even open portals (not an at will ability, he just knows a lot of keys.) This makes Azgoroth practically a power, how many other infinite fiends do you know of? And it also makes him the most grotesque Abyssal layer I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them, berk.

Layer the Four Hundred and Twenty First, called "Salted Wound" (by Chris Nichols)

"Yeenoghu's great mansion is the size of a city. Its rolls across the barren salt-waste of his layers, pulled by slaves and controlled by gnolls." -- Manual of the Planes, pg. 102

The Seeping Woods is not Yeenoghu's only realm. He also holds the previous layer, a waste of salt flats and badlands called the Salted Wound. The layer is continuously windy, so salt dust is a;ways in the air. Combined with the heat from a three bloated suns which hang in the sky, the layer is almost as inhospitable as Athas [use the rules on dehydration there]. At, night when the ghoul packs roam, the temperatures drop far below freezing. Yeenoghu's keep, the Juggernaut Encampment, is more a city of baked clay on wheels than a castle. Pulled by enslaved tanar'ri, mortals, and ghouls, all over seen by gnolls, the Encampment slowly works its way across the wastes.

Layer the Four Hundred and Twenty-Ninth, called "Anagon", (by Gothenem)

Anagon is a dark, shadowy plane, inhabited by very few tanar'ri, because this is where tanar'ri dump the bodies of their baatezu victims. There are two deities that reside here, Anaroggg, the god of Murder, the Dead, Death, Decay, Disease, and Dwarven Thieves -- from some obscure prime world. Anaroggg is a greater power (the prime world is Big and Obscure). His realm appears to be made of a pile of dead baatezu, and his petitioners are all transformed into various creatures, ie. retrievers, eyewings, hell hounds, tanar'ri, or even dragons.

The other resident deity is a demi-power tanar'ri lord known as Armon, Bringer of Destruction and Chaos. Armon has no real palace or realm, He wanders the plane, counting the dead baatezu bodies and planning attacks to Baator. Armon is usually followed by a host of tanar'ri slave-worshippers.

Layer the Five Hundred and Thirty-First, called "The Endless Torture", (by Gothenem)

"This plane is the old home of the Abyssal Lord Graz'zt. Graz'zt left the plane for his current layers a few millenia ago. Now this plane is the home of bar-Igura. Literally, millions of the ape-like fiends live here. Graz'zt's old palace however, has not been entered, the protective magics he put up are still working. The bar-lgura kill any non-tanar'ri who enter the plane; if I weren't half-tanar'ri myself, I would've been killed. There is also one other feature on this layer, the worst feature of all: The Plains of Pain. There also appears to be a structure here, however the fifty miles of empty grassland has the unique ability to cause unimaginable pain. [Game terms, save vs. paralyzation with a -8 penalty or writhe in pain. This save must be made every round within the Plains of Pain!] I think the main problem with the Plains of Pain, is that the tanar'ri don't know who made it. I think the berks in the fortress will eventually be taken over, and the darks of the pain field will be revealed to the tanar'ri. I shudder to think what use they'll make of them then..."

-- Krainius Talfar, Tiefling Mercenary

Layer the Five Hundred and Seventy-Fifth, called "Awash", discovered by Fian Gemshine, halfling namer of the Fraternity of Order. Interdicted (by Chris Nichols)

Awash is a vile place, a plain of sucking mud covered in a calf-deep wash of blood. This blood is polluted with mud and filth, as well as being contaminated with a multitude of blood diseases. The foulness of the blood causes it to be unnourishing to any creatures partaking of it, save the plant life of the layer. [Anyone on this layer has a 75% chance per 12 hours of contracting a blood disease. Most disease contracted on this layer will be fatal within a week. Tanar'ri are immune to this effect.]

Occasionally, a small mound of bloody mud will raise from the ocean of blood. Horrible shrubs grow from these mounds. These Abyssal plants have no leaves and roots which terminate in fanged mouths. The roots suck and lap at the bloody covering of the layer, although they prefer to lash out at living things to feed. Occasionally, these scrub plants give forth seed pods. The pods burst open when living creatures pass near, releasing 1d6 seedlings, loathsome red and brown insect-like creatures resembling a cross of a spider and a shrimp. These seedlings will attack the nearest source of blood, be it a living things or the blood that the layer is awash with.

The only known settlement on this layer is the Veinous Keep. A tower three-hundred and thirty three stories tall made of bricks of compressed blood, the Vienous Keep gets its name from the masses of pulsating veins and arteries that crawl over its walls like ivy. The keep is the home of the balor Trrerguon, who musters his armies here, forcing them to slog into battle on these blood-soaked plains. Whirlpools, far larger than they should be open randomly here, forming portals to other Abyssal layers and lower planes. This way, the hosts of this plane are sent to Blood War battles. Finally, the Styx crawls its way through this plain. For miles a around, the blood soaks in the draining qualities of that accursed river, snapping the memories of the unsuspecting. This can be detected as the waters of the Styx turn the ever-present blood-sea a distressing black colour.

Layer the Five Hundred and Ninety Third, called "Parch" (by Martin Bourassa)

All around is hate of goodness and no water... Parch is the realm of Mot, an archaic Draegonestinian god of drought and utter evil. There is no water to be found here, only the black crackled earth. It pulses with the malevolent energy of Mot the bloated one. Here Mot sees all, there is no escaping his notice. In the sky float dark clouds, full of a rain that will never come. Sometimes something fall from them: ice spikes. As soon as they it the ground they they melt into gas...no hope of drinking it, berk. The land is vast, infinitely vast. Now plains, then hills. Along with a huge number of tanar'ri, there is a impressive number of tanagr're. A balor general, Bakbarr, also called the ogre king, was given control of the hordes by Mot the bloated. But there is hope. Somewhere there is a fountain of springing, clear water. Its called Mot's Wound. The water possesses legendary healing powers. Along the sides, Mot's energy flickers and dies and anything in the waters escapes Mot's awareness. This is an act of a greater good in a place of darkness.

According to the chant, Mot has some liking for Sekmet but despises Blibdoolpoop. Mot hates Blackdraken the usurper, and the latter has many times threatened to invade the layer. But Mot laughed. Now sages are filled with fright as two great gods of evil, the old and the new, might soon clash into a battle that would shake the foundations of the Abyss, and perhaps spread to the planes at large.

Layer the Five Hundred and Ninety-Fourth, called "the Mistlands" or "Erotica" (by Shizumaru Meioh)

This layer is probably the most disgusting layer to the Tanar'ri, but it may be considered the most beautiful layer to other primes, especially clueless berks. The grounds of Mistlands is solid but a cutter ain't gonna see much of his feet (those who have feet at least) cause vaporous glowing clouds hung just above their knees. The planes basically empty and "hospitable" but if a berk wanders far enough he will see a huge golden glowing castle. And pity the berk who finds it.

Mistlands is also known as erotica, the reason being lies within the castle, in fact extremely foolish berks might think that they have gotten into one of the Upper Planes especially Mount Celestia. Why they never take notice of the golden ugly gargoyles statues and an open skull as a gate entrance no one knows. This castle is home to the scores of incubus and succubus, and their charms work redoubled on this terrible layer. Each day spent here requires a saving throw vs. paralysation, fail it and the poor sod will fight to the fullest of his abilities to remain on this plane forever, however no magical force prevents the cutter from leaving the plane even by force, a weeks time spent outside this plane will cure the sod. Once a berk fails his/her save he/she can leave this plane but they are extremely unwilling to leave it. The interior decor of the castle is that of a mediaeval castle, complete with an orchestra, who hide their faces behind a white(!) silk mask, of beautiful but eerie music complete with a slow ball room dance. The ruling and only power here is Bale, currently the most powerful Incubus on the layer.

Layer the Six Hundred and Thirteenth, called "Morgonaugh", domain of BlackDraken the Usurper (by Martin Bourassa)

An unlucky traveller might stumble upon a portal to the scorched range of black sand and ash of that layer filled with deadly fiends and blasted trees. A very unlucky traveller might find one of its craggy valleys where the Styx flows. An really unlucky sod might walk trough the big one, the valley of Morgon, the dreaded fortress of lord Horlas BlackDraken, unrightful ruler of a god's power. The hellbound palace sit in the centre of a forest of ironmaws (see MC appendix II). The fortress doesn't look that big from the outside, but from the inside, it seems it could fill half the layer. On closer inspection, one might find the statues and decorations are holy ones, because the palace is the displaced domain of Tashk, the god he overthrown long ago and from whom he got all his power from. There are a few disorganised burgs on this layer cause the petitioners find this place a relative "haven" because the fiends don't have time to torture them: they've all been gathered near Morgon for some special task. There are unique native tanar'ri on this layer, the Drakenbh'orgs, that BlackDraken as created specially to serve him.

Layer the Six Hundred and Twenty-Third, called "The Realm of Chaos" (by Heregul)

It is said that deep within the bowels of the Abyss lies the realm of the Abyssal Lord Chaos. Her unholy Cathedral of the Damned lies in the middle of the Lake of Blood, surrounded to the north, south, east, and west by the Spires of the Arachnos, the eight-armed Nobles of Chaos. Open warfare is common between these nobles, and woe be it to the clueless sod that steps in the middle of their great and terrible conflict. None of the "normal" tanar'ri that a planewalker might be familiar with reside on this layer rather, they are all the Sons and Daughters of Chaos or the Arachnos, with the amount of tanar'ric blood in them determining the weakness of their powers. Oddly enough, the most powerful types of the offspring of Chaos actually look more human than the lesser types. Any mortal that enters this realm is most likely to be corrupted into a Son or Daughter of Chaos (the Daughters of Chaos are the chosen few handmaidens of their mistress) or sold into slavery to any one of four battling armies battling with each other for control of the layer. However, all four of them submit before the infinite wrath of Chaos.

Layer the Six Hundred and Fourty-Second, called "The Red Jungle" (by Chris Nichols)

"The lesser god[dess] Kali controls her entire layer, a realm of jagged peaks and blood-red tropical vegetation. The black earth mother maintains a number of abodes in this realm, decaying temples overgrown with scarlet vines and crimson flowers. Her servants are demons and chaotic evil rakshasas." -- Manual of the Planes, pg. 103

This layer blends into Kali's other layer, the Caverns of the Skull. Here, Kali's realm takes the shape of a red rain forest--red plants, red soil, red sky, red rain, red rage, red blood. Filled with carnivores and killer plants, the jungles covers the peaks and valleys of an unending range of jagged black mountains. Caves and fissures into these peaks all lead to the next layer, the Caverns of the Skull. Above, eternally over-cast by red storm-clouds, the jungles fulfil the "kill or be killed" ideal of the black earth mother. Tiny villages of Kali worshippers work their sacrifices on crumbling blood-soaked altars deep in the jungle. In fact, whole sections of the red jungles seem to be long over-grown cities and temples, all devoted to Kali. The life here are Kali's petitioners and worshippers, tanar'ri (especially, oddly, succubi and incubi), carnivorous plants, jungle predators, and chaotic rakshasas.

Layer the Six Hundred and Fiftieth, called "The Timepiece Infernal" (by Ben Wray)

This is a layer that is somewhat like an endless desert, with large pieces of glass and wood jutting out of the fine sands. One this unique layer, time slows right down, so that each day a traveller spends on it a year passes in the outside world. This makes it slightly hard to accurately explore, but not impossible. Each week spent on the plane (in the plane's own time) a living thing will age one year. This doesn't bother some tanar'ri, however, (they are immortal, remember?) and they still live here. Using the sands along with the material components for a chronomancy spell is rumoured to increase its effectiveness. At the centre of the layer is a gigantic timepiece, constantly changing, from hourglass to sundial to mechanical clock and other machines or devices to tell time. It is rumoured that staying here will prevent the accelerated ageing, although time still passes outside the layer at its usual rate.

Layer the Six Hundred and Eighty-Third, called "Tutiolth" (by John Kastronis)

Tutiolth is the 683rd layer of the Abyss. At first glance, it seems to be an ordinary layer. The landscape is broken and blast-marked from old battles. Plants and animals struggle to live there. But the thing that makes this layer different from the rest of the Abyssal layers is that it turns a cutter lawful. See, before there were mortals, and when the Blood War was just starting, chant goes there was a tenth layer of Baator! Through an extremely rare magical surge, Tutiolth slid into the Abyss, but it retained its Lawful Evilness. The layer slowly turns a blood from chaotic to lawful, even the tanar'ri who live here. Of course, the tanar'ri don't know, nor will they acknowledge, this. Or so the chat goes...

A complete description of this layer can be found on John Kastronis's Tutiolth page.

Been In the Abyss recently? Come across a new layer?
Learned more chant on a layer I do have listed here?
Want to annoy the tanar'ri by sharing it with the masses?
You've come to the right place...

Please Tell Me Your Name:
Your Email Address:
What's the name and number of the layer you're submitting? Please note: Any layer of the Abyss greater than 683 will probably be changed...I'd like to to fill in the miussing layers before we add to the sodding plane!
What's unique about the character of the layer, and how is its name appropriate to the philosophy of the inhabitants?
If this layer is described more fully on one of your web pages, please give me the URL here so I can link to it...

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