The second citidel of Boccob, the Oerthly god of magic, is, like its mates, shaped like a pyramid with even sides. It is utterly black, with enormous ripples of chill, greedy energy coursing along its height from tip to base and back again.

There are no exits or entrances, and gaining admittance is a tricky endeavor. Occasionally, the possessor of something of interest or threat to the state of magic, like a powerful artifact or new school, will be invited in. In this case, safe transport will be provided from another plane.

It is thought that the citidel can also be accessed from the Land of Black Ice on the world of Oerth, and the two sites might be related in some manner.

The citidel is used as a base for the deployment of negative energies throughout the multiverse under Boccob's control. Specialized rilmani and stranger entities (mercane wizards, spellweavers, magitors, and elder negative quasielementals of each type) monitor the progress and conduct experiences under their god's authorization.

Several such citidels exist. The third one is in the Positive energy plane, the fourth in the Hinterlands, and the location of the first is unknown.

The Ring of Shadow

On some worlds, Darkness and Shadow are considered to be identical or are strongly associated with one another. The Ring of Shadow is a reason why.

The Ring of Shadow is an arm of the Demiplane of Shadow that entirely surrounds the Negative Energy Plane. Undead and worse inhabit this dark place, plotting the invasion and domination of one plane or another. The Ring of Shadow serves as the launching point for the hordes of darkness, the servants of Unlife.

The Ring of Shadow seems to be void, like the plane of negative energy itself, and indeed it has the minor negative energy trait. But the invisible ground is solid enough for good roads to be built. Also on the plane are twisted alternate versions of Deathheart, the Fortress of the Soul, and the towers of the Doomguard, as well as shadowy fortresses unique to the realm.

Those who walk far enough through the wild of Deep Shadow end up in the shadowy equivalents of other planes. Groups like the kalamein work to defeat those who would extend their roads this far, but as the shadowy legions gather it is unknown how long it can last.

Enoch, City of the Manus Nigrum

Many groups of refugees fled Baator in the aftermath of the Reckoning, when the entire hierarchy of the Hells was radically changed. The servants of those nobles who had been exiled occasionally managed to find positions in the new order, but often ended up fleeing to Gehenna, Acheron, and the wastes of Avernus with their masters. A group of former servants of Geryon and his nobles, calling itself the Tal'mahe'Ra, decided to leave the Outer Planes entirely and stake out a new existence elsewhere. They swore never to be scattered, as many of their spiritual kin from other circles of Hell had been, but to combine their strength to become a true power in the multiverse at large.

Yet they quarreled. Two leaders developed in the Tal'mahe'Ra; one, an amnizu named Tal'ah'tep, believed it was best for them to conquer a kingdom on the material plane and interbreed with the natives, using their half-fiend children to manipulate affairs from behind the scenes. The erinyes Nigrum (sterile, as all erinyes are) disagreed vehemently, telling her followers that they must remain pure to be strong. She pointed to the Ring of Shadow, saying that the undead could make up their legions. The crafting of wraiths and spectres from lemures was a time-honored tradition in Baator, but Nigrum observed that once they had been made, the undead could replicate themselves. If the only problem was controlling them, surely the osyluths and erinyes could master that. Nigrum herself was a potent necromancer already, having sacrificed her innate powers to advance far in the Black Art.

Tal'ah'tep was outraged. The path of Nigrum was foolish, he shouted before the gathered masses of osyluths and barbazu. The undead of the plane would rise and destroy them in order to set their brethren free. One need only look at the example of Heart of the Void, which had been conquered by those its creators sought to command. The protective shroud of Shadow would not be enough to save them, not in the Bottom of the Multiverse's very reflection.

In the end, the Tal'mahe'Ra was split. One sect, calling itself the Western Masters of Dusk or the Manus Nigrum, went to the Ring of Shadow and founded a city there. They were mainly made up of sterile baatezu, who had no hope of commanding through their genetic offspring. The other sect, continuing to call themselves the Tal'mahe'Ra (or, occasionally, the Eastern Masters of Morning), went to the material plane in disguise and began to infiltrate the guilds of merchants, mercenaries, wizards, and thieves.

The result was a terrible failure. Without the seductive abilities of the erinyes, the Masters of Morning were discovered and routed by human armies. Without the bulk of the infernal armies, the Masters of Dusk were unable to withstand the inevitable attack by the legions of Unlife. The survivors of both sects regrouped in the court of an elder vampire, and stated their case. The vampire, a former yuan-ti abomination who called himself the Nagaraja, informed the baatezu that if they were to have his aid, it would have to be under his supervision. He decreed that the plan must be in two steps: first they would gather undead legions in the Ring of Shadow, as Nigrum had suggested, and only when their power was sizeable there would the baatezu be permitted to create living servants on the material plane. That way those who could create offspring would only supplement the strength of the necromancers, and not replace it. Reluctantly, the Masters of Morning formally agreed to become but a part of the Manus Nigrum.

Since the time of the split of the Tal'mahe'Ra into the East and West sects, the fabled city of Enoch has been in the Ring of Shadow. This is the place that the Manus Nigrum bring their victims and those lost and uncertain souls that they recruit. They, and their shadows, dwell here in a hollow mockery of the infernal plane they left behind. The siege of Enoch by beasts and creatures from the Negative Energy Plane occurred hundreds of years ago, and part of the reason for the sects rejoining into the Manus Nigrum was to take Enoch back. Strangely, when a sizable and ancient group of vampires came to Enoch, they found it empty and devoid of any life or unlife.

Since then, the Nagaraja has been in charge of the recruitment and control of the vampire spawn, wraiths, and spectres that haunt the towers and citadels of Enoch. The successful defense of Enoch from a return of the creatures that occupied it depends on the cooperation of the undead that are native to the Ring of Shadow. The erinyes, who have taken to calling themselves the Black Hand to distinguish themselves from Enoch's other baatezu, get the first and best picks of the victims that make it through the rigorous training, for embrace into the Dark Trick and immortality as a spectre or wraith in the continued service of the defense of Enoch, or for the Black Hand's massive protection plots. Spinagons fly through the dark sky, bringing messages between the baatezu and undead.

Many of the undead that have chosen to assist the Hand in their goals have otherworldly reasons. Many important tokens of their former lives are in the trusted care of the Hand, and placed in regions where their enemies can not harm them. For the continued safety of worldly goods, former possessions, haunts and loved ones, the wraiths of the Black Hand guard the walls of Enoch as the sentinels of a new age.

With the city in safe, firm hands, the Tal'mahe'Ra have begun their game again at last. This time they have the aid of experienced erinyes and their undead servants in enforcing their whims, and with a base on another plane they are able to be much more cautious and subtle than before. Even if they do not succeed, and it looks as if they will, there is always Enoch.

children of darkness and light
In the Plane of Negative Energies, anubis the Eater lies eating. he stole this land from Set and Typhon and sleeps on a pile of corpses. He controls Negative Energy prevents all of the worlds from becoming overpopulated and covered in ickiness. Negative Energy is necessary, of course. The strings of Yin and Yang pull at one another in an eternal struggle.

Yin Chi
undead ecologies
I love the name "chatterlings"
on destruction
Yin Chi

on coolness
The Negative Plane isn't icily cold, but it is draining.

and femininity
night goddess
swallowing swallows

the Void and the next level
neg. energy and the salvation of worlds;

Xeg-Yi
A Chinese Portrait:

A Natural Phenomenon
Death

A Metal
Black adamantine.

An Animal
An owl.

A color
Dull black.

A mythological Being
The Grim Reaper

A famous Human Being
Dr. Jack Kevorkian

A human activity
Left-handed necromancy.

A work of Art
For it hath been shown unto thee in many other places how Death and Love be twins. Now art thou the hunter, and Death rideth beside thee with his horse and spear as thou chasest thy Will through the forests of Eternity, whose trees are the hair of Nuit thy mistress! -- Epistle of Baphomet.

A weapon
A vampiric touch.

An object
A noose.

Xeg-Yi
History: We simply don't know. The Xeg-yi and -ya are creatures of energy, but not personifications of it in the way an elemental is. They also don't seem to be as in love with or as even as aware of stories as a true spirit.
Spiritual correspondences: None (they aren't spirits)
Material correspondences: None
Attitude: Perfectly neutral, and perfectly dangerous.