Cania

Cania is the eighth layer of the Outer Plane of The Nine Hells. It is a relentless realm of seemingly livid cold.

Geography

The layer is marked by moving glaciers and icebergs that drift as fast as a running person, constantly colliding with one another and with surrounding mountains of enormous sizes. Snow avalanches are common and violent. The weather is dominated by snow storms that howl with incessant winds. Thin layers of accumulated snow often hide deep crevasses that can engulf incautious explorers. The supernatural cold of Cania is substantially stronger than in Stygia, reaching temperatures of −60 ℉. It can quickly penetrate nonmagical clothing, freezing unprotected creatures within minutes and killing even those wearing gear designed to withstand cold temperatures in hours. Unsheltered creatures run a constant risk of freezing to death. Preserved corpses are frequently uncovered after collisions between glaciers, while other glaciers seem to hold unknown frozen creatures at their very centers. Some of the shapes within the ice suggest that they are archons or devas fighting unknown spined creatures, while others seem like entire alien cities. The layer also contains scattered laboratories and libraries within isolated citadels.

Government

The layer is ruled by the archdevil Mephistopheles, Lord of the Eighth. His rule consists of overseeing endless experiments with arcane magic and the nature of the planes, conducted throughout the wastes of the layers.

Notable Locations

Kintyre - an enormous uninhabited city of strange architecture buried deep under the ice. Mephistar - home of Mephistopheles. A heated citadel carved out of the ice and located atop the giant glacier Nargus, whose movement is controlled by the Lord of the Eighth himself. The Pit - a dark and windy shaft several hundred feet in diameter. It is heavily guarded by ice devils, and ended in a lake of frozen slush. At the bottom of the lake, at a depth of 1,001 fathoms lies a portal that is the primary access point to the ninth layer, Nessus.

Alternative Name(s)

The Eighth Hell

Type

Planar Sphere/Grouping

Location under

The Nine Hells