The Nine Hells of Baator (Bay-atorr)

The Nine Hells of Baator are the domain of devils; lawful fiends bound by codes and contracts to server their wicked masters. The hells were once thought to be the afterlife destination of all mortal creatures who did not earn a place in another outer plane during life.
But beyond being an afterlife of punishment for mortals, the hells were home to devils. Each layer (or circle) of hell was a sprawling society that possessed government, trade, and overall community.

History

Supposedly, the hells were once stacked together as they should be, and the eight archdevils of the upper layers swore fealty to the Lord of the Nine, Asmodeus. Asmodeus kept order within Baator, and kept the demons of the Abyss at bay.

However, our knowledge of hell comes from scriptures and journals of planeswalkers from the Time Before. The most intact of which is "Siberen's Descent", Written by the titular planeswalker of the Dhucose. Siberen journeyed through the infinite corridors of Pandemonium, finding his way to Baator, where he discovered the nine hells lying sundered, drifting freely through Tartarus. And yet, despite the destruction of Hell's order, the nine layers appeared to be functioning just fine. The only thing missing was Asmodeus. There was no sign of a greater power holding the now free-floating realms together.

Geography

The nine hells were each their own domain, connected in descending layers, and each ruled over by an archdevil. Mortals who fell into hell would be placed in a layer befitting their deeds and live out eternal punishment. Or, perhaps, earn their brutal way up the ladder of hell and become a devil themselves.
According to Siberen's writings, the nine layers (or circles) were as follows:

Avernus

The topmost circle of hell, in addition to being a battleground for the endless blood war between demons and devils, was the entry point for all travelers to Baator. It is described in the Descent as "a desolate wasteland of rocky terrain, sparse, warped vegetation, concealed snake pits, caves and warrens, volcanoes, and rivers of magma. The smoky, starless sky reflected the crimson wasteland below, littered with the detritus of countless battles.

Dis

In contrast to the crimson wasteland of Avernus, the Iron City of Dis seemed as a vacuum, sucking the life and color out of the air around it. The cries of tortured souls within the infinite prison dissuaded Siberen from exploring further.

Minauros

The swamps of Minauros are twisted reflections of the Slugwill Marsh of Arxios. It was described as an endless bog of vile pollution, decaying bodies, and rotting marsh, repeatedly drenched by rain, sleet, and hail storms. A city of the same name, constructed of black stone, rests upon the treacherous surface, only staying afloat through the ceaseless efforts of thousands of slaves.

Phlegethos*

The fourth circle was the Hell that most resembled the stereotype of a fiery world of eternal damnation, filled with active volcanoes, rivers of liquid fire, molten rock, ash hills, smoking pits, unbearable heat, all wracked by tremors and earthquakes. Even the air seemed aflame, all thanks to the river Phlegethon*.

Stygia

The complete opposite of Phlegethos, Stygia was a bottomless ocean covered by a thick sheet of ice, punctuated with great towering icebergs. According to Siberen, the river Lethe cut through the sprawling sheet. Souls that did not qualify for Elysium or punishment would be sent to Stygia, to bathe in the Lethe and be cleansed of their mortal identities, left to wander the ice fields of Asphodel forever.

Malbolge

The sixth Hell was filled with ruins of old cities, stagnant rivers, exhausted and abandoned quarries and strip mines, stone aqueducts and lava canals, decaying fortresses, swarms of biting flies, and black pools of ichor that erupted from the ground. Its ruler, the archdevil Baal, was obsessed with perfection. He repeatedly ordered the construction of cities of increasing beauty and magnificence to serve as his seat of power. Invariably, he then grew unsatisfied with it and ordered that the latest city be abandoned and for a new one to be built. Rivers were completely covered in sludge, and some areas contained sentient pieces of polluted matter that reached and grasped before dying from the toxic air, and so Siberen was never able to identify which river of hell flowed through the layer.

Maladomini

The seventh circle of hell was a place of confusion for Siberen. While they had once thought that the iron city of Dis was the prison layer of the hells, it seemed that the city was but the tip of the iceberg, a place of torture for war prisoners from the abyss, and kidnapped mortals. Maladomini was Hell's prison, for devils who broke its rules. A former divine inhabitant had shaped the realm into a vast garden with fountains, towers, reflecting pools, and all manner of landscaping delights. With the coming of the devils, Maladomini was still beautiful on the surface but creeping corruption permeated the realm, twisting the beauty, perverting the architecture, and poisoning the pools. Devils who broke the rules of law found themselves wandering the infinite landscape. There was no pain, no torture, no order. It seemed the only thing that could make a devil go insane was to have nothing to do.

Cania

When they first arrived, Siberen noted they were convinced they had somehow looped back around to Stygia, for the bitter frozen mountains of Cania bore quite the resemblence. However, the titanic and fast-moving glaciers, ceaseless snowfall, and howling winds of the Cocytus made Stygia seem balmy by comparison.

Nessus

The greatest of the nine circles was said to be an extreme mixture of all the previous circles' environments. With the exception that rather than sprawling out, a progression of rifts, pits, and chasms lead down and down, forming a vertical maze hundreds of miles deep that contained great cities, fiendish armies, and the mighty fortress of the Overlord Asmodeus.

Localized Phenomena

The Rivers of Hell

There are five rivers that flow through the elemental dominions of Tartarus. Their origin or purpose is not entirely known, only that they flow through the lower planes and gather at the heart of Tartarus.

Styx
The river of blood. Though its headwaters were in Pandesmos, the uppermost layer of Pandemonium; the river Styx flowed through parts of Avernus, and then flowing into the Abyss. The Styx is sometimes called the river of boundaries, as it is ritualistically crossed by souls entering Avernus as the first step into the afterlife.

Phlegethon
Also known as the river of fire, flowed from the third layer of Pandemonium of the same name, into Phlegethos, the fourth circle of Baator. The devils of Phlegethos believe the river to be native to their plane, and so named it for the river that gave Phlegethos its fiery nature.

Lethe
The river Lethe is known as the river of oblivion. Mortal souls that do not qualify for punishment, nor wish to become devils, are sent across the lethe into the fields of Asphodel, within the fifth circle, Stygia. They cross through the lethe, washing away their very identities and all memories from their past life, and cross into the frozen fields to drift aimlessly forever.

Cocytus
The river of lamentation. Though only one layer of Pandemonium is named for the river, the Cocytus supposedly runs through the entirety of the infinite corridors. It is not a fluid river, but rather an endless stream of wind that carries with it the shrill screams of all the tortured souls within the hells. The Cocytus passes through the iron city of Dis, both sharing in and collecting the agonized screams of its prisoners

Acheron
The river of pain is one of the worst punishments the hells have to offer. To bathe in the river is pain without equal, and the cursed waters keep a victim conscious, unable to pass out from shock. It flows only through Nessus before converging with the other rivers at the heart of Tartarus, and is thought to be the lifeblood of Asmodeus himself, pouring out of his ever-seeping wounds.

*Not to be confused for Phlegethon, the 3rd layer of Pandemonium

Alternative Name(s)

The Nine Hells, Hell, Baator

Type

Plane of Existence

Location under

Tartarus

Additional Rulers/Owners

• Baalzebul
• Dispater
• Fierna
• Ilio
• Levistus
• Mephistopheles
• Moloch
• Zariel