Carceri is the Outer Plane representing alignments between chaotic evil and neutral evil. Situated between The Grey Waste and The Abyss, Carceri is a plane of contention between the warring demons and devils, but few of either would challenge the Carceri-native demodands.
The Six layers of Carceri have a seemingly infinite number of worlds arranged like a string of peals stretching into the air-filled void. In the top layer, Othrys, each orb is about the size of a Prime Material world and averaged about 100 miles apart. In each successive lower layer, the planetoids grow smaller and further apart. There is no sun, but the soil of each orb gives off heat and a dull reddish glow, similar to the phosphorescence of fire beetles. The planets do not rotate and there is no day or night unless a greater deity wishes it so in their realm. Seasons and weather occur randomly and what little plant life exists rapidly matures after rainfall and then withers hours later.
The barriers between layers are always located at the deepest points on each planetoid and always lead to the same sphere in the next layer, so the worlds of Carceri can be imagined as spheres nested like Matryoshka dolls and each layer contains a string of orbs of a particular size.
The layers of Carceri are Othrys, Cathrys, Minethys, Colothys, Porphatys, and Agathys.
Othrys
The first layer of Tarterus is named for Mount Othrys which is really two mountains on two adjacent orbs (both also called Othrys) each about 50 miles high joined together at the peaks in a massive citadel. The worlds of Othrys are so close together that a traveler can easily fly from one to the next. For those who do not wish to fly, the river Styx flows through all the worlds of this level in the usual mystical fashion. Many other rivers feed the Styx, and the surfaces of this layer are mostly marsh, bogs, and quicksand. Othrys is the brightest (due to the proximity of equal-sized worlds on either side) and warmest layer; no worse than a hot summer day on the Prime Material Plane. Other than the mountains, the ground is soft, like peat, and cut by deep chasms. Othrys can be reached via the Astral Plane and has portals to the Abyss and The Grey Waste.
Cathrys
The planets of the second layer are smaller than those of Othrys and about 500 miles apart. Plant life in this layer is both abundant and deadly. The flora in the overgrown jungles and grasslands secrete acid that can eat through metal in a minute or less.
Minethys
The third layer of Carceri has planetoids smaller than those of Cathrys, which hover about 5,000 miles apart. The air between orbs is torn by harsh winds which carried poisonous dust storms from world to world, making most surfaces a barren desert. Huge tornadoes periodically swept through, carrying anything in its path to distant locations or even an adjacent orb.
Colothys
The worlds of the fourth layer are spiked with colossal mountains rising above deep chasms. Hundreds of miles from base to peak, the terrain of this layer makes the orbs more asymmetrical than in other layers. Adjacent orbs were 500,000 miles apart, so they appeared to be small spiky red moons in the utterly black sky. Legions of demons and daemons made their lairs in the canyon walls.
Porphatys
Black, acidic rain and snow assail the many worldlets of the fifth layer from giant black coulds that move between them. On individual worlds, islands barely higher than sandbars rise up over the waves of shallow, cold oceans. The snow only sticks to the peaks of any mountains, melting to cover the rest of the surfaces with 1-6 ft of a weak acid that does not affect metal or stone but can eat away cloth in a minute or less. All barriers between this layer and the next are located underwater. The orbs of Porphatys are millions of miles apart and barely discernible even when not blocked by demonic clouds. A pilotless vessel called the Ship of One Hundred endlessly sails the seas of Porphatys.
Agathys
The smallest, coldest planetoid occupies the sixth layer. Whether more than one orb exists on this layer remains unknown, as the distance between them would be nigh-unfathomable. Every surface is covered in dark ice that shows streaks of red and the air is so cold it makes breathing difficult. If any layer exists beyond Agathys, the barriers are buried under miles of nearly-impenetrable ice.
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