Nine Hells
The Nine Hells of Baator are the ultimate expression of lawful evil in the multiverse—a vast, descending staircase of damnation where tyranny, cruelty, and infernal hierarchy reign supreme. This plane is a place of rigid order fused with unrelenting malevolence, where every layer is a crucible of sin, punishment, and diabolical ambition, ruled by a mighty archdevil who answers to the supreme overlord, Asmodeus, Duke of the Ninth.
The Nine Hells are not a realm of chaotic torment like the Abyss, but of methodical damnation. Every evil act is accounted for, every punishment exacted with cruel efficiency, every soul bargained for with infernal precision. The layers descend like a spiral, each one more oppressive, treacherous, and dangerous than the last.
Souls damned to the Hells do not scream in madness—they sign contracts, plead bargains, or submit to chains. This is a place of deals over daggers, where fiends scheme, empires crumble, and mortals trade eternity for fleeting power.
The Nine Hells are the machinery of damnation, where cruelty is bureaucratic, and evil is wrapped in contracts, etiquette, and eloquence. Here, power is earned by manipulation, secured through obedience, and lost through failure. And in the end, all roads of ambition and corruption lead downward, into the darkness where Asmodeus waits, smiling behind his laws.
Geography
Each layer is distinct in geography, torment, and rulership, yet all are bound by infernal law and hierarchy:
- Avernus – A blasted war-torn wasteland, the frontline of the Blood War, where devils clash with demons.
- Dis – A vast city of iron, whose towers burn from within and are watched over by the cold, calculating Dispater.
- Minauros – A fetid swamp of sinking cities and ceaseless acid rain, home to Mammon, the coiled serpent of greed.
- Phlegethos – A realm of fire and lava, but also decadent temptation, ruled by Belial and Fierna in uneasy alliance.
- Stygia – A frozen, black sea under stormy skies, where treachery lies deep beneath the ice and the fallen lord Levistus plots from his prison.
- Malbolge – A constantly shifting slope of stone and flesh, an endless descent of suffering under the iron grip of Glasya, daughter of Asmodeus.
- Maladomini – A crumbling realm of ruined cities, unfinished projects, and oppressive despair, ruled by Baalzebul, the Slug Archduke.
- Cania – A frigid hell of glacial cliffs and storming ice, where the archdevil Mephistopheles schemes with dangerous arcane might.
- Nessus – The final layer, a jagged chasm of unfathomable depth and ancient evil, where Asmodeus sits enthroned at the bottom of all sin.
Fauna & Flora
The devils of Baator embody corruption through control. They do not devour souls—they buy them, with contracts forged in blood and bound by infernal law. They are lawful to a fault, twisting words, finding loopholes, and enforcing consequences with malicious delight.
Every layer serves both a strategic purpose in the cosmic Blood War and a symbolic role in the punishment of evil souls. Mortals, especially the ambitious and power-hungry, may willingly enter into pacts with devils, trading service or souls for spells, influence, or eternal torment thinly veiled as reward.
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