First Splinter: Ba'almot

Ba’almot is the most well-known splinter of the Dark Dimension. As its topmost level, Ba’almot provides a hostile welcome to any seeking passage though the Dark Dimension.

Visual Interest Board

Properties & Geographical Features

Ba'almot is filled with rivers of lava, barren hills, bubbling tar pits, and sucking quicksand. Clouds of red and black roil under the dark light of a permanently eclipsed sun. The organic hostility of this realm is second only to its manufactured malice: salt flats created by the tears of the lost and blood that flows so bountifully and thick that it forms gulch, stream, and pool. The sickening gore permeates everywhere in Ba’almot, a perpetual reminder of bloodshed and death.

The River Styx flows through all splinters of the Dark Dimension. It is said that the river was formed from the tears of the Behemoths, weeping at the boundless horrors spawned by their dreaming minds. Its waters are dangerous to all, even to native inhabitants. Its source is on this layer.

Central Ba’almot is the largest battlefield in the Dark Dimension. Its principal four inhabitants occupy the territories surrounding the battlefield in a rectangular pattern. Devilkin occupy two fronts. Moving outward from the Devils’ territory, the hills give way to blighted savannahs in one direction and to low, rocky mountains in the other. The open savannah is home to Yeenoghu’s nomadic host. Scaling the mountains in the other quadrant is unwise, as jutting minerals and crystals can kill the careless climber with thousands of small wounds. Descending beneath the mountains is even worse, as all entrances lead to Baphomet’s Endless Maze.

Why do the Lords of Ba’almot fight? Devils and demons have fundamentally incompatible perspectives on law and chaos. Violence is not the only way to resolve such disagreements, but the most powerful denizens of Ba’almot are manifestations of brutal violence. Additionally, Ba’almot is the splinter of doors. The vast majority of portals to the Dark Dimension lead here, and it affords the greatest access to other planes. It is of strategic importance to all parties in the endless struggle for cosmic dominance: For these reasons, battles of cyclic conquest have raged since time immemorial.

Yeenoghu's Hordes by Chris Campbell

Notable Inhabitants

Moloch

Epithets

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Moloch is the dread general of the devils' armies. She is fiercely loyal to Asmodeus and to devilkind. Not only does she marshal devils to her cause, but also lost souls, other denizens of the Dark Dimension, and interplanar mercenaries. Moloch brooks no insubordination or disobedience in martial matters, under threat of burning torments that are terrible even by fiendish standards.

To mortal petitioners, she is a generous patron. She exchanges her favor for gifts of provisions, supplies, and soldiers for the infernal armies. Moloch is a hulking giant of fire and steel, standing 24 feet tall and weighing 5 tons. What appears to be her armor is in truth her flesh. Only flames, ash, and the charred remains of defeated foes lie within. Despite her fiery appearance, she is a cool and professional tactician who has studied war for eons. She accepts counsel from the Archdevil Zariel, but rarely accepts it from her comrade, Bel.

Bel

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Bel is the incarnation of impulses that drive many mortals to battle. Fear, greed, hatred - these are seeds that the Sovereign’s Strategist sows in the hopes of producing a bloody harvest. Where Moloch favors physical prowess and tactics, Bel’s strategies favor magic, ambushes, double-crosses, feints and counter-feints, and backstabbing his enemies while anticipating the treacherous moves of his rivals. Analytical and realistic, Bel recognizes that demon hordes are effectively infinite. To him, the best possible outcome of the perpetual violence is containment with minimal casualties. Because Moloch seeks total victory, she and Bel fundamentally disagree on the best strategy for their endless war.

Bel could provide riches, information, letters of safe passage, or other forms of aid to allies - mortal or otherwise. Difficult to surprise or deceive, he is a shrewd negotiator and cares more about the letter of an agreement than its spirit. Although Bel is loyal to Asmodeus, he and Moloch are reluctant allies. Bel nominally works with Moloch but seeks to gain sole dominion over Ba'almot and its endless violence.

Bel resembles a common pit fiend, appearing as a 12‑foot (3.7‑meter) tall, crimson-scaled colossus with bat-like wings, clawed extremities, and fangs that dribble a green smoking venom. His visage is brutal and bestial, warped by innumerable years of willful wickedness and violence.

Baphomet

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The Minotaur Lord appears as a 20‑foot-tall black-furred minotaur with six iron horns that are adorned with severed heads. A fiendish light burns in his red eyes. He embodies savagery and exults in uninhibited carnage, embracing unchecked brutality for its own sake. Creatures that appease his whims are permitted to continue their meager existences while those who disappoint him are trampled beneath his bloody hooves. He enjoys battle but revels in the hunt. He delights in the psychological horror of a weakened foe, of breaking down his prey until they are nothing more than impulses of fear and adrenaline. Baphomet desires to see the omniverse lost in a truly endless maze, where he is the Beast that hunts, frightens, and destroys all things.

Yeenoghu

Epithets

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Wholly dedicated to destruction, the Ruler of Ruin lives only to kill and to inspire others to do the same. So desperate is he to sate his inexhaustible appetite for carnage that he devotes every shred of his considerable intellect to slaughter. Many infernal schemes have been undone because his march of death strayed too close. Other Demon Lords both revile and admire Yeenoghu for this narrow-minded focus.

Yeenoghu’s desires are simple: he wants to spill blood, snap bone, and brutally butcher all in his path. When he is the last creature standing in the Omniverse, the only sound will be his echoing cackle. Yeenoghu appears as a gnoll-like creature around 12 feet tall with a grinning, skull-like face. Apart from a prominent crest of fur down the skull and back, his sallow hide is covered in scabby patches of fur.

Places of Interest

The Death Dells (Demon Territory)

The Demon Prince Yeenoghu’s bastion lies in the blood-soaked savannah. His seat of power is a massive, mobile construction forged from the weapons and bones of his victims. Yeenoghu’s conquered foes and disgraced fighters drag it through Ba’almot, towing it after the chaotic hunts of their demonic master.

The Endless Maze (Demon Territory)

The corridors of the Endless Maze are wide and comfortable, seeming to offer reprieve to the weary traveler. This is an illusion. The Endless Maze defies geometry and thwarts all conventional means of navigation. No natural light penetrates here, but magical light illuminates all important passages. Baphomet wants lost souls to see the faces of their pursuers - hordes of monsters, trapped demons, or even Baphomet himself - before they die. Baphomet’s palace, The Lyktion, is located at the heart of his labyrinthine domain. Ever the consummate hunter, his palace is home to bizarre relics and trophies of his hunts - including still-living prey.

Hell’s Gate (Devil Territory)

Moloch’s base of operations is mobile: she commands a flying warship. Hell’s Gate is a satellite base where she resupplies and makes repairs. Here, she receives deliveries of souls, fresh troops, arms and armaments, and more. The Pit of Resupply at Hell’s Gate is infamous. It is a chasm into which broken gear and bodies are thrown, only for them to be remade or reanimated. It's both a recycling center and a warning: in Moloch’s quest for total victory, nothing is wasted.

The Rage Road (Neutral Territory)

A massive road from Zephon Citadel to strategic locations throughout Ba’almot. Portions of it are paved with infernal iron. These sheets are stamped with the wishes and hopes of mortals who accepted infernal contracts. There are two prominent landmarks along this road. The first is Fort Knucklebone, a junkyard stronghold of wasteland marauders and war machine mechanics led by Mad Maggie. The second, The Grinning Tower, a pillar of skulls of those consumed in the eternal cycle of violence

The Wandering Emporium (Neutral Territory)

A nomadic bazaar of merchants, creatives, and miscreants run by the Rakshasa Mahadi. The emporium provides a place of true welcome and respite for the weary and wounded of Ba’almot. For the canny traveler, his market offers hellish arms and armaments; yugoloth larvae; a courier service; hirelings; currency exchange for soul coins; and even a spa and restaurant. Although the Emporium is neutral, the marketplace’s master quietly serves Asmodeus, gathering souls and soul coins from the guileless.

Zephon Citadel (Devil Territory)

This fortress city is ringed by five increasingly fortified walls and serves as Bel’s operating theater. It houses hundreds of thousands of lesser devil troops and war machines and is on the shore of the River Styx. It is known for its towering command post, which is manned by a quartermaster who keeps meticulous (and brutal) order over supply chains. Inside, infernal logistics are mapped with resources that are never in short supply: blood and bone. The Zephon Citadel also guards the devil’s portal linking Ba’almot to Aethodia.