The Gray Waste

The Gray Waste is the Outer Plane home of the daemons. It is a plane of evil balanced between law and chaos.

Geography

The three layers of Hades are called glooms for good reason; they are realms devoid of emotion, hope, and peace. Gray land and gray sky throughout, with no sun, moon or seasons to break the monotony. Any color other than shades of gray stands out against the background, but fades to gray in a week or two. And like bright colors, beings fade also. At first they feel the drain of emotions, leaving only sadness, ennui, and defeatism. In a tenday or two they become trapped in Hades and their existence begins to fade until finally they become larvae.

Oinos

The first layer of Hades is named for the lord of the daemons (the Oinodaemon), Anthraxus the Decayed. Oinos is the land of disease, with stunted and withered plants amid gray rocky terrain. The river Styx flows through this layer and there are portals to Carceri and Gehenna that look like huge spinning metal coins, visible for miles, often guarded by iron fortresses. Anyone walking this land or floating on the river Styx has a chance of contracting a major disease. Many of the daemons and some of the other creatures from the lower middle planes who are immune to disease made their home here.

Niflheim

Compared to Oinos, the terrain in the second layer is rougher, like foothills, with cooler temperatures, healthier vegetation including pine trees, and no disease. Everything is cloaked in dreary fog and mist, limiting vision to about a hundred feet.

Pluton

The gray motif continues throughout this layer, but most of the vegetation is black willow trees and dry, dying poplars.

Inhabitants

The daemons are the presumed rulers of Hades, but are actually outnumbered by the bird-like diakk and the greater powers had no trouble carving out realms for themselves. Factions of demodands carry on a low-level insurgency, sniping at the daemons but generally avoiding large-scale conflict that might attract the attention of the resident deities. Also known to inhabit all layers of Hades are achaierai, nightmares, mephits, and night hags.

Notable Locations

Khin-Oin - The Wasting Tower. A twenty-mile-high citadel with dungeons that run just as deep underground. Anthraxus the Decayed is the most powerful daemon in the lower planes, and occupies this mighty fortress.

Alternative Name(s)

Hades

Type

Planar Sphere/Grouping

Location under

Outer Planes

Included Locations

• Niflheim
• Pluton