Gehenna (ge-HEN-na)

Unlike many Outer Planes, Gehenna lacks skies or celestial orbits. Heat, light, and life seep from the ground itself in choked breath—through bubbling lava vents, volcanic fissures, and occasional steam geysers. Quakes regularly convulse the surface, causing landslides, rifts, and sudden eruptions. Many ancient corridors descend into deeper realms, forming natural conduits between Gehenna’s layers. These often end in black, rune-scarred chasms, portals to the Astral Plane, Hades, the Nine Hells, or the Outlands. That is, if one can decipher the forgotten markings left by those long dead or long damned.   Gehenna consists of four infinite layers, known as the Four Furnaces, each more inhospitable than the last:  

• Khalas

  The uppermost layer, Khalas, is an endless expanse of volcanic slopes covered in layers of ash and soot. Here, precarious settlements cling to jagged cliffs, constantly threatened by fiery avalanches and toxic ash storms. Rivers of molten metal carve through the landscape, separating realms and demarcating territories ruled by daemonic tyrants.

• Chamada

  Chamada, the second layer of Gehenna, is a crucible of fire and fury—a land where the ground groans, melts, and remakes itself with ceaseless violence. If Khalas is a land of glowing ash and steam, then Chamada is the furnace from which such affliction is born. Seen from Khalas, it appears like a molten-red moon, suspended in the void, pulsing with light and dread.

• Mungoth

  Mungoth, the third furnace of Gehenna, stands as a chilling contradiction: a volcanic wasteland half-frozen beneath a pall of ash and snow. Less violently active than the blistering slopes of Khalas or the relentless eruptions of Chamada, Mungoth exudes an eerie stillness, a furnace grown cold, but not yet dead.

• Krangath

  Where the first three furnaces of Gehenna seethe with magma, ash, and flame, Krangath lies in utter desolation. Known as the Silent Furnace, it is a layer long since extinguished, a realm of dead rock and whispered dread. It is the graveyard of ambition and the final resting place of fires that no longer burn.

 

Governance and Inhabitants

Gehenna’s undisputed lords are the cunning and malevolent Mezzofiends, who thrive on corruption, despair, and mortal misery. Their dominance is subtle and manipulative; each daemon lords over sprawling territories from obsidian fortresses, extracting tribute, allegiance, and souls from those beneath them.   Their courts are dens of intrigue, betrayal, and ambition—where alliances shift like rivers of molten rock, and loyalty is measured in temporary conveniences.   In addition, there are the Devils, which Serve as subordinates and enforcers, devils form the secondary power within Gehenna. Skilled in contracts, law, and manipulation, devils use their positions under daemon overlords to broker deals with mortals and planar beings. Their disciplined armies, rigid bureaucracy, and ruthless tactics uphold the Mezzofiends' decrees, always plotting their own ascension.

Visitors soon feel overwhelmed by suspicion, greed, and paranoia. Trust fades rapidly, replaced by obsessive thoughts of betrayal and ambition. Prolonged stays risk permanent corruption.   Magical flames throughout Gehenna, particularly common on Chamada, feed upon spiritual essence. Souls and memories burn slowly in these fires, creating a valuable resource for mezzofiend lords and devilish bargainers.  

Interplanar connections

The River Styx is connecting Khalas directly to other Lower Planes, the Styx brings a steady flow of mortal souls and fiendish mercenaries.