Avernus, the First Hell

The first circle of Hell was also the "topmost" because Astral travelers would emerge from color pools on this layer and reaching the next circle required descending to the lower depths to breach a barrier to Dis. According to the Great Wheel cosmology model, this layer was also connected by portals to Acheron, Gehenna, and Concordant Opposition. By the World Tree cosmology model, portals connected Avernus to Clangor, the Barrens of Doom and Despair and the Blood Rift via the River of Blood. It was believed at the time that some of the archdukes maintained portals to the realms of Bane, Loviatar, and Talona, but the ownership and location of those portals was unknown. The World Axis cosmology model posits the Nine Hells were isolated with no direct connections except via the river Styx to the Abyss. Travelers on the Astral Sea who did not follow the Styx likely found themselves falling out of the sky above Avernus to a fiery death.

Description

By all accounts, Avernus is a desolate wasteland with rocky terrain, sparse twisted vegetation, concealed snake pits, caves and warrens, volcanoes, and rivers of magma. The sky is starless, full of choking smoke, and glows a dark red due to balls of flammable gas that float about or streak across the atmosphere, randomly exploding as fireballs. During the Blood War, Avernus echoes with the marching of legions of devil troops preparing for the next campaign against the demons of the Abyss. The ground is littered with the detritus of countless battles, and blood trickles out of the ground in vein-like streams eventually flowing into the river Styx.

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