Acheron (ÆTCH-ur-un)

Acheron is an iron-shod plane that is known as the Infernal Battlefield or the Infinite Battlefield. The plane is home to the constant battles and wars without meaning, rebels without causes, soldiers who love to fight whether they have reason to, and the hordes of goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs warring between themselves. While most might point towards the devils and the Nine Hells as being the ultimate idea of what law and evilness should look like, Acheron is more lawful and not quite as evil. Acheron is the home of those who commit evil but only secondarily, their main aim being order and law enforced on those who don’t follow their set laws.

There are four layers in descending order Avalas, Thuldanin, Tintibulus, and Ocanthus; with the topmost layer being the most habitable and the bottom layer being the least habitable, which is a common trend among all Outer Planes as even Mount Celestia’s highest slopes aren’t fit for the normal adventurer. Each layer is composed of massive shapes floating around in the atmosphere, they crash into one another destroying anything on their surfaces and continue their endless drifting. Across every block are the massive armies waiting for their block to come in contact with another and they can continue their endless wars.

Ecosystem

The atmosphere of this plane is much like the Material Plane, though the light is never brighter than a dull, overcast day and gets as dim as a full moon. No one is sure where this light comes from, but its dim shining can be seen everywhere. When cubes pass in front of the light, it causes beams of light and shadow, making many think there is a cube out there who glows with intense light, but its an infinite distance away as no one has ever seen it.

The natural hazards of this plane come mostly from the floating geometric shapes that will routinely crash into one another, destroying anything that is unlucky enough to exist on the surface of the blocks. Most creatures and armies have made their homes inside of the iron blocks where they are protected from being smashed into oblivion, though cave-ins still pose a threat. The most dangerous layer due to its atmosphere is the last layer, Ocanthus, as it is filled with flat shards of black ice that are a few inches to a few miles across. They shoot forward with great speed at all sorts of angles, causing any creature who arrives on the bottom layer to become punctured with hundreds of wounds in a matter of minutes or have their head sliced off if they are truly unfortunate.

The weather on this plane is aptly known as brooding, with its gray light and cold winds that howl through the plane. Blizzards and ice storms fed by the River Styx on the first layer can cause horrible problems for the armies during their battles, and the iron cubes that make up every layer suck all the warmth out of those who live here.

Fauna & Flora

The main inhabitants of Acheron are the spirit legions occupying Avalas. They are made up of the spirits of humans, dwarves, halflings, ogres, and many other mindless soldiers who died in wars after forgetting their purpose; those for whom war became an end in itself. The spirits congregate with others of similar beliefs or alignment and form nations on the surface of a block. They fight to control a block and then join forces to conquer another block when it comes within their reach. Legion members who are slain in battle return with full strength within 24 hours, ready to fight again. The orc and goblinoid spirit legions share the same large block in Avalas and besiege one another regularly. Other creatures that can be found in Acheron are wandering imps, rust monsters, achaierai, and occasionally devils and modrons.

Tourism

Travel to the Plane

Arriving on this plane is can be done through portals from the Outlands or Utopia, though many of these portals are free-floating and thus when a creature appears, they appear in the middle of nothing and begin falling to whatever surface is closest to them. There are a handful of portals that are locked to specific cubes, though they are heavily guarded by armies and any trespassers, which is everyone not part of that group, is either enslaved or killed if they dare resist. Of course, you could also journey to this plane by paying the ferrymen to take you along the River Styx as it moves across the top layer of the plane and is even said that it ends at the bottom of this plane, though no one has been able to prove it.

If you are able to locate a portal on this plane, they appear to be spherical and when you touch them they emit a chord of music. A harmonious sound means the portal will take you to Utopia, while a discordant sound means the portal leads to The Outlands. If the sphere makes no noise when you touch it, it will take you to the Astral Plane. These portals exist free of any cube, though they are locked into a specific space in the plane and must typically be reached by a creature who has the ability to fly. Of course, sometimes these cubes will pass through the space of the portal, in which case you can access the portals quickly, though they do not work as they are passing through a cube.

Traversing the Plane

Traveling through this plane is simple, so long as you pay attention to where the other geometric shapes are located across the plane. Many armies, so focused on battle, will find themselves smashed to oblivion as another cube slams into the one they are fighting over. While these two cubes are knocked into each other, a quick traveler can cross on to the next cube by simply stepping over to the other cube, gravity always pulls a creature to the center of the cube, making it easy to walk along the sides of the cubes.

Each cube is large enough to hold a city or large enough to hold kingdoms, many say that the smaller the cube, the older it is as it slams into the others, slowly breaking itself up into smaller geometric shapes. There are several massive cubes that show little damage or cracks, and many assume those cubes are new and to be avoided as no one has mined through the iron cube and made tunnels to protect yourself from collisions. Most cities exist on the inside of cubes, though gods have the power of pushing other cubes away from theirs.

The top layer cubes are made of solid iron and you must mine your way into the cube in order to start up a settlement. The second layer, Thuldanin, is made up of hollow cubes and following pits into the cube you can find mountains of old machinery that have been turned into stone. The third layer, Tintibulus, is made up of hundreds of different geometric shapes all floating through the void, the more they crash into each other, the more they form smaller, more complex geometric shapes. Finally, the fourth layer is made up of flat shards of black ice that range in size from a few inches to a few miles wide and long. Due to their impossible thin thickness, they are dangerous and capable of slicing through metal as if it weren’t even there.

Shape and size

Infinite void, four layers shaped like floating blocks

Gravity

Objective Directional: toward the surface of each floating block

Time

Normal

Morphic

Divinely

Alignment

Lawful Neutral Passive [Evil-inclined]

Magic

Normal with special cases

Layers

• Avalas
• Thuldanin
• Tintibulus
• Ocanthus

Type

Dimensional plane

Included Locations

• Avalas
• Ocanthus
• Thuldanin
• Tintibulus