Dis

The second circle of Hell, when described as its own layer, was a flat barren plane containing little more than black, stagnant rivers, stretching for thousands of miles until it reached some rolling hills. The Sky was a cloudy dull green shot through with lightning. In the center of this plane rose the Iron City of Dis, several miles in height and hundreds of miles wide. The foul rivers radiated from a moat big enough to be called a lake surrounding the Iron City. The walls of the buildings and the stones of the streets glowed the dull red of hot iron; more than brief skin contact resulted in severe burns.   Prisoners of war, tormented underlings, criminals, and kidnap victims were kept in underground dungeons where their wails of woe could be heard filtering up through small vents in the iron walls. Above it all rose the Iron Tower where Dispater sat and schemed, untouchable. In the World Axis view, the city of Dis was enclosed in a huge cavern accessible from Avernus through a tremendous iron gate in the side of a mountain.  

Geographical Features

Someone who managed to leave the city could walk away from it, leaving it behind as its valley lay hidden by a ring of mountains. However, very few accounts of the city's exterior were known.   On the other hand, approaching Dis felt like a break from reality. A traveler could only arrive at the city by following a road paved with skulls. As the walls approached, one was, without noticing a transition, suddenly inside the city, with no edge or outer wall in sight.