Kurnugia
Lamashtu’s realm is the largest layer of The Abyss, as befits her power as one of the most powerful demons in The Abyss. This realm is known as Kurnugia, a vast region capable of swallowing dozens of worlds—and according to certain texts kept closely guarded by her faithful, the Demon Queen has done precisely that at times in the past. Her faithful vehemently deny that this realm was once ruled by the demon lord Areshkagal, and that Lamashtu stole the realm from that deity long before she came into her power—certainly Areshkagal denies this claim, but that could simply be an act of self-preservation against the wrath of the Demon Queen.
Kurnugia’s vast size allows it to include all known terrestrial terrains—steaming jungles, parched deserts, ice-caked mountains, vast seas, and immense swamps being the most common. Other decidedly nonterrestrial terrains exist here as well, violent and insane regions that only The Abyss could host. All of these realms are infested with demons, ruled by nations of warring fiendish gnolls, or otherwise inimical to non-demonic life.
Several of the more infamous or notorious regions within Kurnugia are summarized below.
Birthing Hills: These strangely rounded hills are where sinful souls gestate within the realm. The pregnant hills periodically burst to release hordes of demons, fiendish gnolls, and other monsters to maintain Kurnugia’s population in the light of the constant wars fought by its natives.
Goblin Tunnels: Nestled in a valley in the Xorian Mountains, a field of strange, blue stones creates a complex pattern when viewed from the towering peaks above. By walking a spiral path among these stones, one can travel from Kurnugia to the Abyssal Realm of Basalfeyst, a realm ruled by the barghest gods of the goblin races, and one of Lamashtu’s greatest allied realms on The Abyss.
Nightmare Fields: It is said that Lamashtu retains “copies” of every nightmare imagined by mortals within regions where her worship is strong, and that these nightmares function as a sort of fertilizer for strange flowers that grow within the socalled Nightmare Fields. Capable of releasing these nightmares as vivid, realistic hallucinations, this region is a favorite place for the Demon Queen to strand victims she’s captured.
Tharsekti: The largest gnoll nation on Kurnugia, this realm consists of a central region of forested hills surrounded by a churning sea. The gnolls here are led by a towering monster named Vandaku. The brackish sea that surrounds Tharsekti is the domain of the nascent demon lord Kalvakus—the shark-infested depths and shipwreck-lined shores are often braved by Tharsekti’s gnolls when they mount vast armadas to cross the sea and raid gnoll nations on the far shores.
Xorian Mountains: This immense mountain range runs along one side of Kurnugia—it is said that the highest peaks actually open out upon the Outer Sphere itself. These mountains are infested with all manner of scavengers—particularly fiendish vultures the size of rocs, hyena-like monstrosities, and scaly behemoths the size and shape of the largest dinosaurs. All of these scavengers are ruled by the nascent demon lord Daclau-Sar, a six-legged, two headed hyena with vulture wings believed by many to have been created from the corpse of a solar.
Yanaron: An impossibly vast mesa protrudes from the heart of Kurnugia. A towering palace of strange spires and towers, itself the size of a world, looms at the center—this is Yanaron, Lamashtu’s palace-city. The diamond-shaped city that surrounds the central palace is populated by demons, fiendish gnolls, and other creatures handpicked by the Demon Queen for their loyalty or unique deformities—the gnolls of Tharsekti and the lesser nations of Kurnugia fight their wars for positions in this legendary city. Several nascent demon lords dwell here as well—powerful minions of Lamashtu that may soon become demon lords and rulers of Abyssal realms of their own, including shadowy Nightripper, many-bodied Izyagna, and sulking and filthy Murnath.
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