Nine Hells

The Nine Hells of Baator

The Nine Hells of Baator, sometimes called Hell or Hells, also known as Baator (pronounced: /beɪˈɑːtɔːr/ bay-AH-tor) in Infernal, is the home of the devils. It is a plane of sinister evil and institutional cruelty organized in a strict caste system with a very rigid chain of command. Unlike the demons of the Abyss, the devils are highly organized in their quest for power and status—scheming and plotting power plays, coups, and assassinations. Each of the nine Hells has its own physical laws or properties of matter, but all are inhospitable or deadly to outsiders. This plane's place in the cosmology of the Forgotten Realms has shifted over time, but is always a bastion and incubator for those of the lawful evil persuasion.

Cosmology

The Great Wheel cosmology model placed the Nine Hells in the Outer Planes between Gehenna and Acheron, with additional connections to Concordant Opposition and the Astral Plane. Each Hell is a different infinite layer interconnected at barriers much like a nine-layered cake—the lowest points of one layer manifest barriers that exit high above the surface of the next lower layer. The river Styx flows through the first layer, Avernus, and also the fifth layer, Stygia, before crossing over into Gehenna.
When the Great Wheel model was overshadowed by the World Tree cosmology model, the river Styx was renamed the River of Blood and flowed through all the fiendish planes (except for the Supreme Throne and the Demonweb Pits) originating in the Abyss, passing through the Blood Rift - an unusual plane that connects the Abyss with the Nine Hells - bringing the devils even closer to their arch-enemies the demons, resulting in the Blood War. The layers are described as being infinite but with a central pit of finite size that opens to the next lower layer in a tiered fashion, with a drop of many miles between layers. Cosmologists have verified portals between the Nine Hells and the Barrens of Doom and Despair and Clangor and, by agreement with Kelemvor, to the Fugue Plane. The Astral plane connects all of the fiendish planes to the Prime Material Plane, but not directly to each other.
After the Spellplague, Asmodeus consumed the essence of the fallen Azuth, achieving (some say regaining) greater godhood and ended the Blood War by casting the Abyss to the furthest depths of the Elemental Chaos. The World Axis cosmology model describes the Nine Hells as an astral dominion floating in the Astral Sea, no longer of infinite size nor consisting of layers, ruled by Asmodeus and his eight archdevil vassals. Once again, the river Styx flows through the Nine Hells and the Abyss, but then empties its pollution into the Astral Sea.

Geography

Each of the nine Hells is unique and usually mirrors the malevolent characteristics of its ruler, or perhaps the archdevils have been shaped by the domains they schemed to control, no one can be certain. In earlier cosmologies, each Hell was a separate infinite layer rigidly joined to its neighbors by barriers at fixed locations. After the Spellplague, the domains of the archdevils were described as territories (large, but finite) or circles. The relationship between layers and circles is not fully known. What follows are descriptions of the nine Hells reported by various cosmologists working under different cosmological models, gathered, collated, and summarized.

Avernus

The first circle of Hell is also the "topmost" because Astral travelers emerge from color pools on this layer. Reaching the next circle requires 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 is 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
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 hue due to balls of flammable gas that floats about or streaks across the atmosphere, randomly exploding as a fireball. During the Blood War, Avernus echoed 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.

Dis

The second circle of Hell, when described as its own layer, is a flat barren plane containing little more than black, stagnant rivers, stretching for thousands of miles until it reaches some rolling hills. The sky is a cloudy dull green shot through with lightning. In the center of this plane rises the Iron City of Dis, several miles in height and hundreds of miles wide. The foul rivers radiate from a moat big enough to be called a lake surrounding the Iron City. The World Tree view of the Iron City was much the same but bigger, having been expanded by countless minions following Dispater's grand plan. The walls of the buildings and the stones of the streets glow the dull red of hot iron; anything more than brief skin contact results in severe burns. Prisoners of war, tormented underlings, criminals, and kidnap victims are kept in underground dungeons where their wails of woe can be heard filtering up through small vents in the iron walls. Above it all rises the Iron Tower where Dispater sits and schemes, untouchable. In the World Axis view, the city of Dis is enclosed in a huge cavern accessible from Avernus through a tremendous iron gate in the side of a mountain.

Minauros

Minauros as a layer is described as an endless bog of vile pollution, decaying bodies, and rotting marshes, repeatedly drenched by rain, sleet, and hail storms. The soggy, bone-strewn, disease-ridden swampland makes movement very difficult and is only broken occasionally by serpentine ridges of volcanic rock. Nameless creatures that even the devils fear inhabited the swamp. Minauros as a realm is depicted as a broad but low-vaulted cavern connected to Dis. An oily water percolates through the roof of the cave and rains down upon swamps, deserts of mud and oozing black soil, pockmarked by bubbling fumaroles and mud geysers.
Minauros is also the name of the city built of black stone by Mammon on the treacherous surface of this place. Only the ceaseless efforts of thousands of minions and slaves prevent the city from sinking and being consumed by the bog. The city of Jangling Hiter, also known as the City of Chains, hangs by massive links of chain above the noisome fen and is ruled by kytons.

Phlegethos

The fourth circle is the Hell that most resembles the stereotype of a fiery world of eternal damnation, filled with active volcanoes, rivers of liquid fire, molten rock, ash hills, smoking pits, and unbearable heat, all wracked by tremors and earthquakes. Even the air seems aflame and thus Phlegethos is considered to be fire-dominant. In the World Axis view, Phlegethos was a cavern several miles below Minauros, where burning lava poured out of fissures in the ceiling. The city of Abriymoch is the seat of power in this realm, built of hardened magma, obsidian, and crystal in the caldera of an extinct volcano which provided visitors some protection from the elemental environment found throughout the rest of the plane.

Stygia

The complete opposite of Phlegethos, Stygia is either a bottomless ocean covered by an ice sheet up to 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) thick, or a frozen sea salted with huge icebergs buried in a cavern several miles below Dis and hundreds of miles away from fiery Phlegethos depending on which cosmological model is in vogue at the time. According to the Great Wheel and World Tree models, the river Styx cut across the ice forming a channel. The older model also suggested the Styx supported small but hardy plants and mosses which, after millennia of decay of this vegetation, resulted in swampy areas along the banks of the river. A few floating islands were the only non-frozen ground in Stygia, their peaks wreathed in lightning arcing from the coal-black sky. Where lightning struck, a strange phenomenon called "cold fire" erupted: white flames of extreme cold that "burned" for a short time and then disappeared without a trace. The great city of Tantlin is built upon one of these islands, in the curve of the swampy Styx, or perhaps on a giant ice floe. Due to the proximity of the Styx, Tantlin is a cross-planar trading post for those brave enough to attempt navigating the treacherous river.

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 travelers to frequently need mountaineering skills and risk avalanches. Stinking clouds of vapor rose up from the depths and lit the sky with the color 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 is another huge cavern connected to Stygia by icy canals that run hundreds of miles before reaching their destination. A former godly inhabitant has 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.

Maladomini

The Great Wheel cosmology view of the seventh circle of Hell described it as having vapor-polluted skies similar to Malbolge but the surface was solid. The post-Spellplague view describes Maladomini as a colossal maze of passages each several miles across that eventually lead to Cania, Malbolge, and Nessus. All three models agree that the seventh Hell is filled with ruins of old cities, stagnant rivers, exhausted and abandoned quarries and strip mines, stone aqueducts and lava canals, decaying fortresses, swarms of biting flies, and black pools of ichor that erupt from the ground. The Lord of the Seventh is never satisfied with the construction of his capitol and repeatedly builds, and then abandons, city after city. The largest and most beautiful is Malagard, a sprawling metropolis/palace/fortress/arcology with myriad black towers linked by a tangled web of bridges and walkways. Malagard is rumored to contain a million rooms and to cap an equally complex dungeon labyrinth.

Cania

Both pre- and post-Spellplague cosmologies agree that Cania is a bitterly cold-dominant realm of solid ice mountains, titanic, unnaturally fast-moving glaciers, and nearly continuous snowfall that makes Stygia seem balmy by comparison. Unprotected travelers are exposed to temperatures of −60 ℉ (−51 ℃), but on the positive side there are few creatures that hunt in the icy wastes. Earlier lore described the great citadel Mephistar as being constructed of iron, but later reports say the Lord of the Eighth's fortress/palace is made of ice. All accounts seem to agree the tower has a heated, luxurious interior and sits atop a gargantuan glacier called Nargus, whose speed and movement are under the control of Mephistopheles himself.

Nessus

The ninth and deepest Hell is a land of extremes in the Great Wheel view: regions cold as Cania, volcanoes like Phlegethos, a lake of ice, a flaming forest, sheer cliffs, firewinds, and a citadel even larger than Khin-Oin in Hades (later, the Khin-Oin became part of the Abyss). The World Tree view did not contradict this description of Nessus, but focused more on the blasted and torn landscape out of which rose Malsheem, the Citadel of Hell. It was said that Malsheem could hold millions of devils within its mountainous edifice, from the lowest warrens deep in the trench to the soaring spires miles above the tortured plane. The World Axis model agrees that a progression of rifts, pits, and chasms lead down and down, forming a vertical maze hundreds of miles deep that contains great cities, fiendish armies, and the mighty fortress of the Overlord Asmodeus.

Inhabitants

The principal inhabitants of the Nine Hells/Baator are the devils, and their offspring in varieties too numerous to catalog here. In addition to the devils, this plane is home to bonespears, gathra, haraknin, hell hounds, imps, night hags, nightmares, and maelephants. Also occasionally encountered are achaierai, barghests, hellcats, mephits, rakshasa, and stench kows.

Afterlife

Beliefs about the journey of souls to the afterlife have changed with the shifting cosmologies and the crystal sphere in which one resides. In some worlds, lawful evil souls are automatically destined for the Hells and arrive as mindless nupperibos or, if they are worthy, as semi-intelligent lemures. For mortals of Realmspace, however, souls first travel to the Fugue Plane where they await escort to their final rest on the plane of their primary deity. While waiting, devils are allowed to bargain with the souls, playing on their fears and doubts to get them to agree that becoming a lemure with a chance for promotion is a better option than their suspected fate. Strong or crafty souls might negotiate a deal that reduces their time as a lemure or bestows a boon or punishment on those they leave behind. After the Spellplague, Shar reshaped the Plane of Shadow and folded in what death energy did not get absorbed into the Elemental Chaos and created the Shadowfell. According to the World Axis view, souls on their way to the afterlife start their journey in the Shadowfell. Most make it to the Fugue Plane to await judgment, but a few remain behind or are lost.

Realms

The nine circles of Hell are each ruled by an archdevil of great power, but the Nine Hells have also been the home of other powerful beings at various points in the history of the Realms. Listed here in alphabetical order are those that directly or indirectly influence(d) the course of events in Faerûn, Toril, and beyond.

• Asmodeus - the Overlord of the Nine Hells, exercises his power from a gargantuan citadel in the lowest rift of Nessus, named Malsheem.
• Azharul's Dragonspawn Pits are located in Avernus.
• Baalzebul ruled the seventh circle of Hell, Maladomini, from his huge fortress Malagard. Early source material credits Baalzebul as controlling the sixth circle (Malbolge) through his viceroy Moloch.
• Bahgtru - The strong but dim-witted son of Gruumsh, once resided in the Nine Hells before moving to the astral dominion of Nishrek as described by the World Tree and World Axis cosmology models.
• Belial - The ruler of Phlegethos, the fourth circle of Hell, based in the basalt palace Abriymoch the "Mount of Leaping Flames", nestled in the caldera of an extinct volcano. Sometime before the Spellplague, he set his daughter Fierna up as the ostensible ruler while he directed from the wings.
• Dispater - Dominated the second circle of Hell, Dis, from his high stone (later iron) tower in the city of the same name, also called the Iron City.
• Fierna - Daughter of Belial, is the archduchess of the fourth circle, fiery Phlegethos, as much as her father allows.
• Gargauth - Thought to have been an archdevil cast out of the Hells long ago for betrayal. He eventually achieved godhood corrupting souls on the Prime Material Plane.
• Geryon - Once ruled Stygia, the fifth circle of Hell, from a castle/city called Tantlin. At some point he was replaced or deposed by Levistus before that archdevil was imprisoned in the ice.
• Glasya - Daughter of Asmodeus and former consort of Mammon is the ruler of the sixth circle, Malbolge, after her father removed the Hag Countess.
• Gruumsh - God of slaughter, and chief god of the orcs, once had a realm in the Nine Hells and other Lower planes (see Acheron) before relocating his family to the Iron Fortress in the astral dominion of Nishrek.
• The Hag Countess - Held sway over Malbolge, the sixth Hell, after giving unwise council to Moloch causing him to rebel against Asmodeus and be defeated. Asmodeus eventually got rid of her and installed his daughter Glasya as Lord of the Sixth.
• Ilneval - Master of strategy and chief lieutenant to Gruumsh, once lived in the Nine Hells before moving to Nishrek as described by the World Tree cosmology model.
• Inanna - An Untheric goddess of love and war, once had a realm in the fourth circle, Phlegethos.
• Kurtulmak - God of the kobolds, once lived in the caverns of Avernus named Draukari where he maintained the appearance of friend and ally to whichever archduke was trying to lure him to their faction at the time. He eventually moved his realm to Clangor, according to the World Tree cosmology model, but maintains a portal to the Nine Hells.
• Levistus - The ruler of Stygia before (and perhaps even while) he was imprisoned in an iceberg floating on the frozen sea.
• Luthic - Mate of Gruumsh and orcish goddess of caverns, female orc fertility, and primitive medicine, shared a realm with Gruumsh in the Nine Hells before moving with him and her son to Nishrek.
• Maglubiyet the Mighty One - Lord of Depths and Darkness, once had a realm in the Nine Hells as well as other Lower planes as part of his wandering (see Acheron). Later, he moved his realm to Clangor, but he maintains a portal to the Nine Hells.
• Mammon - One time ruler of Minauros, the swampy third circle of Hell, in a city of the same name built on many huge pillars of black stone that were constantly sinking slowly into the sludge.
• Mephistopheles - Presides over the frigid eighth circle of hell, Cania, from his mighty citadel Mephistar, overlooking the Nargus glacier.
• Moloch - Ruled the sixth circle of Hell, Malbolge, as the viceroy of Baalzebul before it was taken over by the Hag Countess and later Glasya.
• Sekolah - The god of the sahuagin, once swam in the deep waters beneath the ice of Stygia in a realm called Sheyruushk.
• Set - The jackal-headed Mulhorandi Lord of Evil, once controlled a huge realm in Avernus that he turned into a desert under a blazing sun. He called this realm Ankhwugaht. Later it was moved to Stygia.
• Tiamat - Once ruled the first circle of Hell, Avernus, from her cavernous lair Azharul, "The Dragonspawn Pits", attended by evil dragons both spiritual and incarnate, and a host of abishai. At some point she was demoted to guarding the barrier between Avernus and Dis before moving to her Cave of Greed in Dragon Eyrie. After the Spellplague, she became a servant of Bane in Banehold.

Type

Dimensional plane