Acheron
Acheron has four layers, each made of enormous iron cubes floating in an airy void. Sometimes the cubes collide. Echoes of past collisions linger throughout the plane, mingling with the sounds of armies colliding. That’s the nature of Acheron: strife and war, as the spirits of fallen soldiers join in endless battle against orcs devoted to Gruumsh, goblinoids loyal to Maglubiyet, and legions assembled by other warmongering gods.
Bloodlust- Acheron rewards a creature for harming other creatures by imbuing that creature with the strength to keep fighting. While on Acheron, a creature gains temporary hit points equal to half its hit point maximum whenever it reduces a hostile creature to 0 hit points. (Source: DMG D&D)
Avalas- Acheron was sometimes known as the "iron-shod battle planes of Acheron" due to the characteristics of the first layer, Avalas. The blocks of the top plane were black with a metallic hardness that allowed the sounds of battle and troop movements to reverberate loudly. Avalas had the most block-like worlds and the highest population as the armies of the Outer Planes spent their afterlife clashing in neutral territory over differences both subtle and gross. The landscape consisted of cone-shaped mountains and pits plus the iron fortresses of the various armies. The only other remarkable feature of this layer was the river Styx that would bubble up from one pit, meander across two or three sides of a block, and then disappear down another pit. The Styx did not visit all the blocks, but those it did could be reached by Shadite and his followers. One of the cubs is where Shadite and the souls that he looks after live, they are kept out of the ranging war as most weren't warriors, the rest of the souls didn't come here by choice so he can't help them.
Avalas touched the Astral Plane and had spherical portals to the three adjacent planes: Mechanus, the Nine Hells, and Sigil. The portals hung at fixed locations in space and would pass harmlessly through the blocks, becoming inactive while inside a block and reactivating when they reappeared. Anyone emerging from a portal would start to fall toward the nearest block and almost certainly required some form of flight to avoid a high velocity impact. The portals were activated by touch and the destination could be determined by the sound it made when activated. A harmonious chord indicated a portal to Mechanus, a dissonant chord meant the Nine Hells, and silence indicated Sigil.
Thuldanin- This layer was the Sargasso Sea, Elephants' graveyard, and scrap heap for countless contraptions, creations, weapons, armour, failed experiments, broken devices, fallen buildings, and shipwrecks of sea and air. The blocks of Thuldanin were hollow and pockmarked with pits that lead to the interior a few miles/kilometres down. There the flotsam and jetsam of the ages turned to stone in a matter of days or weeks due to the magic of this layer. Thuldanin had no inhabitants, only the occasional visitor from Avalas looking for some piece of magic or technology that might turn the tide of battle.
Tintibulus- The third layer of Acheron had blocks different than those of the other layers. Here the blocks were made of grey volcanic stone and the faces were six-sided, eight-sided, or even higher in number of edges. When the blocks of Tintibulus collided the surfaces would fracture along natural fault lines into hexagons great and small. This layer had no inhabitants but was attractive to magical researchers for its emptiness and isolation.
Ocanthus- The blocks of the fourth and final layer were square and so razor-thin as to be almost two-dimensional. They ranged in size from a few inches/centimetres to several miles/kilometres across. Both sides of the hard black squares had normal gravity pulling to the surface and could be walked upon. Being hit by the edge of one of these razor-sharp squares could be deadly.
Inhabitants- The main inhabitants of Acheron were the spirit legions occupying Avalas. They were 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 would congregate with others of similar beliefs or alignment and form nations on the surface of a block. They would fight to control a block and then join forces to conquer another block when it came within their reach. Legion members who were slain in battle would return with full strength within 24 hours, ready to fight again. The orc and goblinoid spirit legions shared the same large block in Avalas and besieged one another regularly.
Other creatures that could be found in Acheron were wandering imps, rust monsters, achaierai, and occasionally devils and modrons.
Alternative Name(s)
The Infinite Battlefield
Type
Dimensional plane
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
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