Dis
Dis, the second layer of the Nine Hells, is a plane of iron and fire, a vast, oppressive hellscape dominated by the City of Dis—an immense, ever-shifting metropolis of infernal industry and surveillance. The entire layer is a labyrinthine nightmare of deep canyons and jagged mountains whose walls bleed iron, enclosing the city in a furnace of stone, metal, and smog.
Dis is a realm of paranoia, surveillance, and oppressive control. It embodies the devilish ideal of tyranny through order, where freedom is crushed beneath a boot of legalism and fear. Here, knowledge is currency, and secrecy is power. Every whisper might be overheard, and every step taken may be into a trap laid by a devil with a thousand years of planning.
To walk through Dis is to be watched, measured, and judged—often long before one realizes it.
Geography
The geography of Dis is stark and stifling. Sheer iron mountains rise like jagged teeth, their slopes slick with molten ore and black smoke. Between them stretch canyons and ravines, some miles deep, forming natural corridors and traps for the unwary. The ground is hot enough to blister skin, and the air carries a constant metallic tang, mingled with the acrid stench of sulfur and rust. The entire plane radiates heat, as if the rocks themselves were slowly smoldering.
The sky above Dis glows a dull, ember-red, often obscured by rolling clouds of ash and soot. Strange lights flicker in the air—sometimes surveillance spells, sometimes burning sparks from the forge-fires below.
At the heart of the layer sprawls the City of Dis, a colossal urban sprawl of iron towers, blackened streets, furnaces, prisons, and twisted avenues. The city seems to stretch endlessly, growing inward and upward as though alive. Its layout shifts subtly but constantly, confusing even frequent visitors and making escape or infiltration nearly impossible.
The architecture is brutal and imposing—gothic towers, razor-edged bridges, and infernal factories belching smoke. Chains hang from rooftops, iron gates scream open of their own accord, and watchful infernal eyes peer from every surface.
Fauna & Flora
Dis is ruled by Dispater, the Iron Duke, a master of caution, manipulation, and arcane metallurgy. He rules from Iron Tower, an impossibly tall spire at the center of the city that is said to be warded against all forms of divination and assault. His paranoia is legendary, and his spies and sentinels are everywhere—nothing happens in Dis without his notice.
Inhabitants and Dangers
- Chain devils, barbed devils, and erinyes serve as enforcers and jailers.
- Infernal bureaucrats and spy networks keep watch on visitors and residents alike.
- Mortal petitioners, often those who sold secrets or betrayed oaths in life, are bound into servitude or entombed in the walls of the city.
- Laws are absolute in Dis, but always written to favor devils and to entrap mortals in endless legal torment.
Even the land itself may shift to prevent escape or hide what Dis does not wish seen. Magical effects behave erratically unless sanctioned by infernal authority, and the city seems to bend reality to Dispater’s will.
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