Carceri
Carceri, also known as the Tarterian Depths, is the Outer Plane of entrapment, betrayal, and malevolent isolation. It is a realm where freedom is a lie, trust is a weakness, and the only law is survival through manipulation and cruelty. Aligned with chaotic evil and neutral evil, Carceri is the dark mirror of incarceration, the cosmic prison that holds those too dangerous, cunning, or treacherous even for the other Lower Planes.
Carceri is the prison without bars, a realm where hope rots, trust decays, and every path to freedom is a snare. It is not only a place for the wicked, but also for the betrayed and the forgotten—those who fell through the cracks of cosmic justice. In Carceri, the punishment is not death, but the endless knowledge that you can never truly be free.
Geography
Carceri consists of six nested layers, each composed of an endless string of immense spheres suspended in a void of red-black sky. These spheres are self-contained worlds, floating like islands in space, yet bound tightly by gravity. Travel between them is nearly impossible without powerful magic or divine intervention. Despite their variety in terrain—ranging from swamps, deserts, and wastelands to toxic jungles and storm-lashed seas—all are united by one theme: despair.
Each layer becomes progressively more hostile and confining, culminating in the deepest and most hopeless realms. The first layer, Othrys, is the most accessible, where many exiled powers and warlords are trapped. Deeper layers grow more twisted, each one more spiritually suffocating than the last.
Carceri is defined by imprisonment without chains. The plane entices captives with the illusion of escape—a mountain pass that loops in on itself, a tunnel that crumbles behind you, or a portal that always opens a heartbeat too late. Magic that allows planar travel often fails or misfires in Carceri. Even powerful beings, including gods cast out of the Outer Planes, find themselves unable to leave without extraordinary help or betrayal.
The plane itself feeds on betrayal, growing stronger with every treasonous act. Friendships fracture, alliances crumble, and even the closest companions turn on each other under the weight of Carceri’s influence. It is the plane of backstabbing tyrants, oathbreakers, and conniving monsters, all trapped in the prisons they deserve—and sometimes helped build.
Localized Phenomena
No two spheres are identical, but all are hostile to life. The air may be foul, the weather murderous, the terrain treacherous. Rivers run with poison, winds cut like blades, and storms lash the land with thunder and fire. Yet despite these horrors, Carceri does not kill outright—it lingers, forcing its prisoners to suffer and scheme.
Travel between spheres, and between layers, is blocked by the plane’s will to confine. Even teleportation and planar portals may twist to leave travelers in different spheres of the same prison, making escape tantalizing but ever out of reach.
Fauna & Flora
Carceri teems with the souls of the damned, especially those who used others for gain or ruled through lies. Demodands (gehreleths) are its native fiends, born of the plane itself, and they act as jailers, tormentors, and parasites, reveling in the suffering and futility that saturate the realm.
Many exiled gods, fallen titans, and cast-off demon lords are bound within Carceri, their power muted by the plane’s oppressive nature. Some maintain ruined fortresses and mock kingdoms, ruling over desperate souls with promises they never keep. Others sulk in isolation, consumed by hatred and memory.
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