Gehenna

Summary

Gehenna is a plane that consists of four layers, each the home to a volcano of staggering size, where it is said that mercy goes to die on the volcanic slopes within the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna. Gehenna is believed to be the smallest of the Outer Planes. It is a realm that tests visitors and natives alike, with no flat surface existing naturally, and everything sitting on the slope of the layer’s volcano.

The Fourfold Furnaces

Khalas is the first layer of Gehenna, characterized by its rugged, savage beauty and the frequent strikes of floating earthmotes. The layer is dominated by yugoloths, but demons and devils also make incursions. Numerous rivers rush down the sides of Khalas, including the River Styx, which careens down numerous waterfalls before passing into the neighboring layers of the Outer Planes. There is no known bottom to Khalas, and skirmishes in the Blood War are not uncommon.

Chamada is the most active layer of Gehenna, with rivers and geysers of lava constantly flowing and a deep crimson radiance bathing the mountainside. The layer is home to the Engine of Wrath, an enormous forge site run by yugoloth slaves that produces weapons and armor for fiends and devils across the Cosmos. Beneath Chamada's surface, lava tunnels are populated with various creatures that flourish in such inhospitable conditions, including magma elementals, lava sharks, and inferno wurms.

Mungoth is a layer of Gehenna characterized by its frigid climate. The volcanic heat at the heart of Mungoth has long gone cold, and now a deep chill settles over the rugged mountainous terrain. Acidic snow falls regularly on the slopes of Mungoth, and the only light on the layer comes from vents of sluggish ice-cold blue lava. Loviatar, goddess of pain and suffering, holds court in her sprawling Frigid Fortress, and her minions, the painstalkers, breed powerful hunting panthers in the slopes above the fortress.

Krangath is a dead layer of Gehenna, with a deathly silence hanging over its slopes. The only activity on Krangath is found beneath the surface, where Shargaas the Night Lord, an orc god of stealth and darkness, lives within a vast network of caves known as the Night Below. The servants of Shargaas include legions of orc assassins and unnatural creatures that lurk in the shadows. Exploring the Night Below is a harrowing exercise in frustration, paranoia, and the crushing weight of ice-cold nihilism.

No Mercy

To survive in the Fourfold Furnaces of Gehenna, a person must be willing to push themselves to meet and exceed regular challenges, and to do so requires them to be better than their fellows, with no mercy or charity allowed. This perverted sense of empowerment emanates from each volcano’s heart.

Gehenna lacks the raw evil chaos of The Abyss or the militant ordered evil of Baator and relies more on the advancement of the self at the expense of other or lesser creatures.

Dangers

Gehenna is a difficult realm, where falling is a real hazard, and rockslides, earthquakes, and poisonous gases, along with volcanic eruptions from the more volatile layers, are common dangers.

Treachery, skullduggery, and backstabbing are common on Gehenna, but the difference is in the will of the inhabitants. Helping others out of charity is a high crime on Gehenna.

Inhabitants

Yugoloths are the dominant masters of Gehenna, from the macabre horror of the Crawling City to the countless fortresses, towers, and fortifications built by the mercenary fiends to satiate their personal lust for power.

In Gehenna, thieves and assassins are common, and there are notable creatures, such as the immortal kobold Gaknulak the Trickster, the serpent-eyed hag diviner Laughing Jane, and the painwalkers, servants of Loviatar who rules from the Frigid Fortress on Mungoth, the third mount.

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