Pandemonium's Inhabitants

Obviously, Pandemonium’s not the holiday spot of the Outer Planes. Not many cutters want to spend their time in dark, wet tunnels howling with supernaturally perilous winds sure to eventually drive them mad. Consequently, this plane’s not terribly well populated compared to others. As a matter of fact, it's probably the loneliest of them all. Sure, there are spots on other planes that are virtually uninhabited, but no other plane is as desolate and deserted overall as Pandemonium. The beings that dwell here are usually here just because of that desolation. There are few powers here — mainly sneaky ones looking for a place to hide out from their enemies. (For example, Loki has a bolt-hole here for when the other Norse gods are breathing down his neck about something or the other)   Then there's the spirit of those primes who worship one or another of these low-lying powers. But there aren't really any native races here to speak of, not like the tanar'ri of the Abyss or the slaadi of Limbo - or even, Limbo’s githzerai, who took up residence there only recently (in terms of centuries). On the other hand, the Bleak Cabal has sort of adopted this plane as its own, so many of its members can be found here at any particular time. Also, there's a number of beings here who were banished to the plane at some time in the past and who have never left, or who — like Pandemonium's powers — have found it a convenient place to hide out for a while. In a few cases, the descendants of such beings still dwell here in their own strange civilizations.   The plane also sees a fair bit of trafic from it's neighboring planes, such as tanar'ri raiders from the Abyss, the odd slaad or githzerai traveling from Limbo, and, of course, adventurers from just about anywhere.  

The Powers

To everyone but the Clueless, it goes without saying that a cutter’s chance of meeting one of the powers on Pandemonium is just about null. Of course, no one but one of the Clueless would really want to meet a power anyway. Powers tend to step all over a berk’s free will. Nevertheless, because powers tend to snatch up a lot of land to call their own, there's always a chance of a berk stumbling onto a realm and meeting a power's groundskeeper or warden. So naturally, any guidebook to a plane has to at least mention the powers there.   Powers that maintain realms on Pandemonium include Loki of the Norse pantheon, the wandering gnoll deity Gorellik, Hruggek of the bugbears, Diirinka of the derro, Ho Masubi of Japan, the faerie Queen of Air and Darkness, and Auril the Frostmaiden and Talos the Destroyer of the forgotten realms.

The Proxies

The powers of Pandemonium tend to be less involved with the outside multiverse and more involved in their own plots, plans, and intrigues. It’s not likely a berk’ll meet one of their proxies, unless she’s unlucky enough to stumble into the path of one going about its master's commands.   Loki’s proxies are the giants of his realm, and quick and clever thieves. Hruggtek has his bugbears, and Gorellik doesn’t bother with proxies (he has no interest in anything except his next meal). Auril uses frost giants and winter wolves to deliver her cold commands, and Talos prefers to grant (temporary) power to his human petitioners.   The Queen of Air and Darkness’s proxies are the undead who have fallen under her control, and evil Faerie creatures (quicklings and spriggans). They're driven by the commands of the Queen and aren't really free-willed, they'll only be encountered on some mission that involves the corruption and destruction of Seelie Court.  

The Petitioners

Despite the fact that most of the petitioners on this plane follow different powers, they all share a few common characteristics. Knowing these things can sometimes mean the difference between life or death for outsiders who travel through Pandemonium.   Two of these generalizations have already been mentioned. First, Pandemonium’s petitioners all show some sign of madness from the plane's infernal howling. It’s almost never something serious enough to keep them from conducting business, but it's almost always distracting and inconvenient to anyone dealing with them.   Second, Pandemonium’s petitioners are all invisible to darkvision. To normal vision, they look perfectly Concrete, and they're solid enough to touch. But they don't give off any body heat, so they blend right in against the walls of the plane. Some sages claim this is “protective coloration,” to make them safe from tanar'ri raiders, or otherwise they'd be captured and pressed into service in the Blood War. Whatever the reason, it can be ineredibly inconvenient for travelers relying upon darkvision.   Apparently, the petitioners can see just fine in the dark on their plane. They seem to have some sense akin to a bat’s radar, so hey can travel about perfectly well without light. (With this sense, they can "see” up to 120 feet even in pitch blackness.) They do have regular eyes, of course, and can see in normal light as well, if it's available. This doesn't seem to prevent them from using their radar sense at the same time. But the windiest places limit their radar a bit, cutting down the range (to a minimum of 30 feet).   In addition to the previous two generalizations, Pandemonium's pelitioners share another thing in common: They’re physically adapted to the wind. They're all thin and bony — almost skeletal, in fact — with sharp, angular features and smooth, hairless skin, and they wear next to no clothing at all. This all means that the wind slides over them without finding much purchase, so they aren't blown about as much as “foreigners” are. Also, their feet are overly large, with long, vclawed toes and a heel claws, and their fingers are unnaturally long and clawed as well, allowing them good grip on the plane’s rocky walls, Consequently, while other beings are being lifted and tossed about by a sudden gale, Pandemonium’s petitioners are able to clutch at a rock outcropping and let the wind wash over them.   Because the petitioners on this plane are used to dealing with a maddening environment, they are immune to spells that cause any sort of madness or insanity (such as Tasha's Hideous Laughter, confusion, feeblemind or Otto's Irresistable Dance). They also have advantage on all saving throws against psionic abilities and can roll a saving throw against them even if they usually cannot.

The Disposessed

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The Dispossessed

Organization | Nov 26, 2021

There's another class of denizens on Pandemonium that few primes have ever heard of (but what can a cutter expect from a prime, except ignorance). Sigil's scholars call this class the Banished. Despite the name, however, these dwellers aren't really a unified group, any more than a city’s impoverished beggars are. Rather, “the Banished” is just a convenient term for jumping together all of Pandemonium’s diverse little clumps of habitation that don't fit one of the classifications above. The term was chosen because so many of the berks on the plane are here because they (or an ancestor of theirs) offended somebody with the power to transport them to Pandemonium and leave them here.   Most of the Banished are goblinoid clans of one sort or another, because these races are prolific and at least somewhat used to underground living. But there are clans of other races, as well, including many drow and duergar, and even a few gnomes and halflings. There's a few ragged bands of humans, as well. But there are also scattered examples of just about all other intelligent races dwelling in one niche or another on the plane, as well as a number of dispossessed tanar'ri, undead lords, and other foul creatures.

The Bleak Cabal

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The Bleak Cabal

Organization | Dec 9, 2021

There's usually quite a few members of the Bleak Cabal hanging about Pandemonium at any particular time. The Bleakers say they feel a real affinity for Pandemonium. That's reason enough for most cutters to assume they’re deranged. But the Cabal claims that the madness Pandemonium brings is the path to understanding. Existence is madness, the Bleakers say; there's no meaning to it other than what a soul finds inside himself. Pandemonium’s noise makes a basher face that fact. Once its work is done, a berk has been touched by madness, comes out the other side, and realizes that here are stil things he wants to accomplish. And those, individual desires to accomplish something are the only meaning there is to existence.

Other Encounters

There's lots of other things that a careless berk can encounter on this plane. They include such beings as tanar'ri who are passing through, rutterkin, slaadi on their way someplace else, gehreleths, yugoloth mercenaries, baatezu straying far from home (probably on a sabotage mission), larvae who've stumbled through a portal from the Abyss (and like it here), night hags, githzerai merchants from Limbo, nightmares, galltrits and gremlins, and perhaps even a maelephant or two guarding some tanar'ri lord’s secret arsenal, just to name a few.