Malbolge
There is significant disagreement between cosmologies on the nature of the sixth circle of Hell. As a Great Wheel layer, Malbolge was a gargantuan tumble of angular black stone blocks, each block ranging in size from a small city to a large metropolis, that formed a pile hundreds of miles thick. The randomly tilted and ill-fitting blocks were honeycombed with angular passages and caverns causing non-flying travellers to frequently need mountaineering skills and risk avalanches. Stinking clouds of vapor rose up from the depths and lit the sky with the colour of blood, causing cosmologists to speculate that the blocks of Malbolge may have rested on an infinite sea of lava. Corroborating reports have been heard of flammable materials left on the ground spontaneously combusting. Most habitations in Malbolge were copper-clad fortresses built from black stone.
The World Tree view of this layer was similar to the Great Wheel plane of Gehenna: a steep, infinite craggy incline often subject to avalanches that crushed most anything that got in the way. The copper-shod redoubts were teardrop-shaped or otherwise engineered to deflect tumbling boulders, but even those could not long withstand a direct hit from a major avalanche.
In the World Axis cosmology view, Malbolge was another huge cavern connected to Stygia by icy canals that ran hundreds of miles before reaching their destination. A former godly inhabitant had shaped the realm into a vast garden with fountains, towers, reflecting pools, and all manner of landscaping delights. With the coming of the devils, Malbolge was still beautiful on the surface but creeping corruption permeated the realm, twisting the beauty, perverting the architecture, and poisoning the pools.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Nine_Hells
Glasya's realm of Malbolge, the smallest and least populated of the Hells, had gone through many rulers over several millennia, and had changed form several times with each change of office. In its original incarnation, Malbolge was a beautiful garden cherished by its ruler, and by repurposing the remains of the murdered Hag Countess, Glasya remade the realm into a dying parody of a verdant wilderness.
At a glance, Glasya's realm was a fair place of alien beauty, but despair, the faint stench of rot, and venomous threats could be found upon closer inspection. The water was poison, the oozing plants were bloated, trees were twisted or brown if not dead, the smell of flowers induced nightmares and the fruit bore by flowers sometimes exploded into caustic juice. The entire realm was trapped in a near-death state, teetering on the brink of relief but stuck in cancerous agony, and anyone that died on its putrid surface had their bodies and souls absorbed into the landscape to experience similar unspeakable torment.
Various devils could be found roaming Malbolge, including barbazus, osyluths, kytons, cambions and twisted castoffs transformed by a displeased Glasya. Massive, fiendish vermin such as wasps, scorpions, centipedes and spiders were also common on Malbolge. For example, giant lice were usually seen in the Forest of Sighs, a densely packed series greasy, black-grey trees thought to be the Countess's hair where Glasya abandoned those she was bored with to have their bodies pumped with nutrients while the trees drained their souls. Other "natural" features included ivory deposits made from her teeth, stony half-arches that loomed over most of Malbolge made from her ribs, lakes of various bilious poisons that formed when her organs burst and acid-spewing, labyrinthine tunnels formed from her intestines.
Society-
Some white cities existed within Malbolge, but the seat of Glasya's power was Osseia, a dome-like palace fortress of lustrous white walls formed from the ballooned skull of the Hag Countess. The hollowed, 5-story cranium was partially constructed from the varnished bones of the Hag Countess and those of other victims that displeased Glasya. It was lavishly furnished with baroque decoration, filled with ominous music throughout its long passages and adorned inside and out with unnerving, provocative statues. Where the hag's eye sockets would be were oval, red glass windows capable of blasting lines of flame, and from which Glasya could be seen entertaining party guests. Near Osseia's center was the Garden of Delights, an expansive, breath-taking refuge filled with plants from across the multiverse. Unlike the facsimile of beauty found in the rest of Malbolge, the pristine garden was a refuge from horror and pain. No monsters lurked within, succubi soothed broken prisoners and the vivid flowers dispelled fears. After guests were brought here and put to ease, they were returned to their regimens of torture, the entire place existing only to cruelly mock the prisoners and tease them with hope. In a circle around Osseia were ten towers of ivory, the former fingers of the Hag Countess divided into three bone segment stories. The first was hollowed out and called the Tower of Pain, where her most dangerous enemies would be tormented for eons. The higher one went, the more excruciating the torture became, the lower levels being kept for minor foes such as adventurers and the top levels for survivors of Malagard's inner circle. The other towers became guard posts and roosts for erinyes devils. Return-
Though Glasya's dying domain covered most of Malbolge, that was what it was―a cover. Along the edges of the realm, Malbolge's former surface peered through, seemingly stable but nonetheless shifting monoliths of jagged obsidian. Boulders and crags still laid below the rotten soil of the Sixth Hell, slicing and dissecting those that fell into such areas. Even the rock of Glasya's terminal realm was crumbling, and it seemed Malbolge's decaying state didn't last forever. In more recent times, Malbolge had returned to the state it was in under the Hag Countess, an infinite slope plagued by rocky, deafening avalanches. Residents of Malbolge not dwelling in crumbling forts had to live in caves carved into the mountainside and travel through tunnels and roofed trenches to avoid being crushed by boulders. Devils found guilty at trial were condemned to Malbolge for years, sometimes trapped in cages lowered down to the level of the adamantine pillars the swaying structures were built on. When the rockslides hit, those above would be left unharmed while the prisoners were grievously battered but never killed. Glasya's citadel in this rocky realm was a stronghold supported by cracked pillars and buttresses that seemed ready to falter but remained sturdy, underneath which was a labyrinth filled with holding and torture cells for those who displeased her.
Some white cities existed within Malbolge, but the seat of Glasya's power was Osseia, a dome-like palace fortress of lustrous white walls formed from the ballooned skull of the Hag Countess. The hollowed, 5-story cranium was partially constructed from the varnished bones of the Hag Countess and those of other victims that displeased Glasya. It was lavishly furnished with baroque decoration, filled with ominous music throughout its long passages and adorned inside and out with unnerving, provocative statues. Where the hag's eye sockets would be were oval, red glass windows capable of blasting lines of flame, and from which Glasya could be seen entertaining party guests. Near Osseia's center was the Garden of Delights, an expansive, breath-taking refuge filled with plants from across the multiverse. Unlike the facsimile of beauty found in the rest of Malbolge, the pristine garden was a refuge from horror and pain. No monsters lurked within, succubi soothed broken prisoners and the vivid flowers dispelled fears. After guests were brought here and put to ease, they were returned to their regimens of torture, the entire place existing only to cruelly mock the prisoners and tease them with hope. In a circle around Osseia were ten towers of ivory, the former fingers of the Hag Countess divided into three bone segment stories. The first was hollowed out and called the Tower of Pain, where her most dangerous enemies would be tormented for eons. The higher one went, the more excruciating the torture became, the lower levels being kept for minor foes such as adventurers and the top levels for survivors of Malagard's inner circle. The other towers became guard posts and roosts for erinyes devils. Return-
Though Glasya's dying domain covered most of Malbolge, that was what it was―a cover. Along the edges of the realm, Malbolge's former surface peered through, seemingly stable but nonetheless shifting monoliths of jagged obsidian. Boulders and crags still laid below the rotten soil of the Sixth Hell, slicing and dissecting those that fell into such areas. Even the rock of Glasya's terminal realm was crumbling, and it seemed Malbolge's decaying state didn't last forever. In more recent times, Malbolge had returned to the state it was in under the Hag Countess, an infinite slope plagued by rocky, deafening avalanches. Residents of Malbolge not dwelling in crumbling forts had to live in caves carved into the mountainside and travel through tunnels and roofed trenches to avoid being crushed by boulders. Devils found guilty at trial were condemned to Malbolge for years, sometimes trapped in cages lowered down to the level of the adamantine pillars the swaying structures were built on. When the rockslides hit, those above would be left unharmed while the prisoners were grievously battered but never killed. Glasya's citadel in this rocky realm was a stronghold supported by cracked pillars and buttresses that seemed ready to falter but remained sturdy, underneath which was a labyrinth filled with holding and torture cells for those who displeased her.
Alternative Name(s)
The Six Layer
Type
Dimensional plane
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
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