Post by Stix on Jan 31, 2006 1:49:39 GMT -5
Here's the safest place for a cutter to go if he really wants to deal with the fiends of the Lower Planes - the iron-shod Acheron. It's a plane of enforced order, where conformity is more important than good. The Mercykillers will tell a berk that the fiends of Acheron aren't that evil - it's only their rigorous adherence to order that upsets those who lack such discipline. Other folks tell of the random cruelty that blind conformity brings - the crushed spirits, the broken hopes. This is the true face of Acheron.
The plane of Acheron is made of immense blocks, black and smooth, whose surfaces ring metallic underfoot. They drift endlessly through space, these cubes the size of cities and kingdoms. Sometimes they meet with a fearsome clang that crushes all between them and sends shudders through the plane.
The petitioners of Acheron, warriors lost to the joy of battle and saviors who forgot their cause, are consumed by the need for conformity. They cannot conceive of anyone refusing to obey the will of the group, as determined by their commanders. They are dedicated soldiers, forever lacking a cause.
Layer: Avalas. The battle plain of Acheron is filled with worlds where armies muster, drill, and wage war upon each other. The space echoes with the metallic clang of marching men, as vast legions hurl themselves at each other. The armies fight not to conquer territory, as some believe, but to force all others to conform. Fiends from Baator come here to recruit battalions for the endless Blood War. The ground is covered with the wreckage of war, scattered between iron citadels that dot the plains.
The power Lei Kung, Duke of Thunder, keeps his home on this plane, in a palace floating on a storm cloud amid the drifting sea of iron. One of the blocks is the continual battleground of Maglubiyet and Gruumsh, powers of the goblins and orcs, respectively. These two fling their humanoid legions at each other in futile battle, neither able to gain the upper hand.
Layer: Thuldanin. The blocks of this layer are pitted and hollow, and their insides are filled with the cast-off machinery of war. Flying ships, spelljammers, catapults, cannons, and things yet to be invented on a thousand prime-material worlds all lie in broken, tumbled heaps, slowly transforming into the ironlike stone of this plane. Patrols from Avalas forage for anything useful in their endless wars, and they skirmish with each other over the smallest scrap. There's a 1-in-1000 chance per day of finding anything useful.
Layer: Tintibulus. This layer is barren of life. The only things to be found are tumbling blocks of geometric solids of all types. Made of gritty stone, they collide and fracture along crystalline faults, spawning yet smaller solids to join in the planar dance. A few daring wizards can be found here, conducting researches possible only in this barren void.
Layer: Ocanthus. This layer is made up of razor-thin plates - some barely an inch across, others miles in width. Although the plates could support life, it's too dangerous here. The plates slice through the darkness, striking creatures like vorpal blades.
Special Physical Conditions. All layers drift in a void of air that supports life and flight. Gravity here conforms to the shape of the solid, always pointing toward the center. Thus, armies can range on all six sides of one of the immense cubes, or they can walk on both the top and bottom of Ocanthus's drifting plates. Travelers in Avalas and Thuldanin must be wary of collisions between the cubes, since everything between the two masses is crushed. Approaching cubes are seen a day or two in advance, depending on size, giving just enough warning to escape. (So pitched are some of the wars between legions that they fight until crushed, ignoring all other perils.)
Special Magical Conditions. Wild magic is diminished on Acheron.
The plane of Acheron is made of immense blocks, black and smooth, whose surfaces ring metallic underfoot. They drift endlessly through space, these cubes the size of cities and kingdoms. Sometimes they meet with a fearsome clang that crushes all between them and sends shudders through the plane.
The petitioners of Acheron, warriors lost to the joy of battle and saviors who forgot their cause, are consumed by the need for conformity. They cannot conceive of anyone refusing to obey the will of the group, as determined by their commanders. They are dedicated soldiers, forever lacking a cause.
Layer: Avalas. The battle plain of Acheron is filled with worlds where armies muster, drill, and wage war upon each other. The space echoes with the metallic clang of marching men, as vast legions hurl themselves at each other. The armies fight not to conquer territory, as some believe, but to force all others to conform. Fiends from Baator come here to recruit battalions for the endless Blood War. The ground is covered with the wreckage of war, scattered between iron citadels that dot the plains.
The power Lei Kung, Duke of Thunder, keeps his home on this plane, in a palace floating on a storm cloud amid the drifting sea of iron. One of the blocks is the continual battleground of Maglubiyet and Gruumsh, powers of the goblins and orcs, respectively. These two fling their humanoid legions at each other in futile battle, neither able to gain the upper hand.
Layer: Thuldanin. The blocks of this layer are pitted and hollow, and their insides are filled with the cast-off machinery of war. Flying ships, spelljammers, catapults, cannons, and things yet to be invented on a thousand prime-material worlds all lie in broken, tumbled heaps, slowly transforming into the ironlike stone of this plane. Patrols from Avalas forage for anything useful in their endless wars, and they skirmish with each other over the smallest scrap. There's a 1-in-1000 chance per day of finding anything useful.
Layer: Tintibulus. This layer is barren of life. The only things to be found are tumbling blocks of geometric solids of all types. Made of gritty stone, they collide and fracture along crystalline faults, spawning yet smaller solids to join in the planar dance. A few daring wizards can be found here, conducting researches possible only in this barren void.
Layer: Ocanthus. This layer is made up of razor-thin plates - some barely an inch across, others miles in width. Although the plates could support life, it's too dangerous here. The plates slice through the darkness, striking creatures like vorpal blades.
Special Physical Conditions. All layers drift in a void of air that supports life and flight. Gravity here conforms to the shape of the solid, always pointing toward the center. Thus, armies can range on all six sides of one of the immense cubes, or they can walk on both the top and bottom of Ocanthus's drifting plates. Travelers in Avalas and Thuldanin must be wary of collisions between the cubes, since everything between the two masses is crushed. Approaching cubes are seen a day or two in advance, depending on size, giving just enough warning to escape. (So pitched are some of the wars between legions that they fight until crushed, ignoring all other perils.)
Special Magical Conditions. Wild magic is diminished on Acheron.