The Abyss
- It is a place of ineffable evil.
- It is where fiends are born.
- It is where weakness is death.
The Abyss of is the plane where all the evil on Krynn originates. It is a place of varied landscaes and terryingly amazing sights. Here the ground is blasted, every creature is struggling to survive, and noone can be trusted. Here there are grand halls where ghosts dance for the enjoyment of horrible masters and mad places where one can see themselves age and whither in the blink of an eye.
Each layer of the Abyss is unique. The majority of the layers share at least a few traits. The sky is dark, streaked with bolts of lightning that seem to originate from nowhere. No stars can be seen in the darkness. Sometimes clouds come, acrid yellow clouds that rain streams of sulfur down on the landscape. Usually, the ground is blasted rock, the reddish color of dried blood.
The Abyss is home to the Fiends. The Fiends are the exemplars of evil, born from the souls of dark creatures or even the essence of the plane itself. Three types of Fiends claim the titles of "True Fiends" though other evil outsiders are sldo called fiends. The Devils are the scheming and devious lawful fiends, the Demons are the destructive and brutal chaotic fiends, and the Daemons are the cunning and untrustworthy neutral fiends. Other types of fiends such as the Rakshasas, Howlers, and Night Hags also call the the Abyss home.
The layers of the Abyss are uncounted since so few visitors ever leave alive. Many say they are infinite, others say that thre must be 666 layers, still others attest that there can be no more than 13. The deepest layer of the Abyss documented by mortal eyes is the 12th layer, the endless Sea of Styx though evidence suggests that there must be at least one more layer.
Abyssal Traits
The Abyss has the following traits.
- Normal Gravity: The first layer of the Abyss, the Endless Plains, has the normal gravity trait as do most others, but some layers may have wildly different gravity traits.
- Normal Time: Time flows on most layers just as it does on Krynn, but rumors say that some realms or entire layers are affected by odd time traits.
- Infinite Size: The Abyss' layers may well go on forever, and each layer is in itself infinite. Some realms or portions of layers may be finite.
- Divinely Morphic: Entities at least as powerfl as deities can alter the Abyss. Less powerful creatures find most layers of the Abyss just as manipulatable as the Material Plane though the Endless Plains are Highly Morphic to the thoughts of mortals.
- No Elemental or Energy Traits: The Abyss as a whole has no specific elemental or energy traits, though specific layers may.
- Strongly-Evil Aligned: Good characters in the Abyss suffer a -2 penalty on all Charisma-, Wisdom-, and Intelligence-based checks.
- Normal Magic
Abyssal Links
There are few if any permanent portals to the Abyss. All are sealed so as to prevent powerful creatures such as deities from enterring. These seals are often broken when a mortal passes through into the Abyss. All mortal portals that reach the Abyss deposit the user onto the Abyss' first layer, the Endless Plain. Planar travel spells cast from the Prime with the destination of the Abyss deposit the caster on the first layer of the plane called Endless Plain. The Gate spell can call a creature from a different layer of the Abyss such as a Demon from Xaos, but anyone stepping into the Gate is transported to the Endless Plain.
Abyssal Inhabitants
The home of Fiends the Abyss also is where much of Krynn's evil beings originate. Besides the Demons, Devils, and Daemons which control a few layers and are dominant on others, the Abyss is home to a plethora of horrible creatures. Many red dragons dwell int he Abyss especially around the Citadel fo Takhisis on the Endless Plain. A plethora of undead dwell on Ciellnior since they are the children of Chemosh. Fallen Celestials, evil mortals of every stripe, and worse dwell here as well.
Abyssal Petitioners
Those souls of the Material Plane that are not absorbed into the essence of the Abyss may become one of three different varieties of petitioners. Manes are horrible animalistic creatures with long hair, claws, sharp teeth, and mad eyes. They are nearly animalistic in their outlook though they still remain some shreds of their individuality. Especially intelligent and cunning manes are promoted by the Devils into lesser Devils. Manes have the following special petitioner qualities.
- Additional Immunities: Electricity, Poison
- Resistances: Fire 20, Acid 20.
- Other Special Qualities: Acidic vapor, no planar commitment.
Acidic Vapor (Su): When a mane is slain it discorporiates into a cloud of noxious vapor. Anyone within 10' of a slain mane and fails a Reflex save (DC 20) takes 1d6 acid damage.
No Planar Commitment (Ex): Unlike other petitioners, manes may leave their plane of origin.
Other petitioners may become larva. Larva look like bloated, giant maggots with the faces of humans. They are a type of currency and many creatures trade and sell maggots. What the fiends use the maggots for is often unknown though fiends have been known to eat them, use them as magical batteries, or merely resell them. Larva sometimes spontaneously become lesser Devils. Larva have the following special petitioner qualities.
- Additional Immunities: Cold, Fire
- Resistances: Electrictiy 20, Acid 20.
- Other Special Qualities: Wounding, disease, no planar commitment.
Wounding (Ex): Every time a larva deals damage the wound continues to bleed for 1 damage each round until a heal check (DC 15) is performed or one point of magical damage is cured magically.
Disease (Ex): After a battle in which a larva did damage each opponent damaged by the larva must make a Fortitude save (DC 17) or contract Devil Chills.
No Planar Commitment (Ex): Unlike other petitioners, larva may leave their plane of origin.
The last type of petitioner of the Abyss is referred to as a wraith. Wraith's are unrelated to the undead creatures of the same name. They are incorporeal creatures that look like tortured and despair filled versions of their old selves. Wraiths spend their time bemoaning their lots in lives and plotting to free themselves from the plane. Larva have the following special petitioner qualities.
- Additional Immunities: Cold, Acid
- Resistances: Fire 20, Electricity 20.
- Other Special Qualities: Incorporeality
Incorporeality (Su): Wraiths are incorporeal and as such, have no way to affect the physical world.
Movement and Combat
In general, movement and combat on the Abyss is the same as on the Prime Material Plane. On the Endless Plain however, movement is controlled by thought, After one round of focusing on the destination to be achieved a character moves 30 ft., each round after that his speed doubles. A concentrating character that gets damaged must make concentration checks as if casting a spell to continue moving at the enhanced speeds.
Features of Carceri
The Abyss is the realm of the evil deities. For this reason the prominent features of many of the layers are the large citadels of the deities. The layers are not one atop the other in a planar sense. They are arranged in odd ways. For instance, the Endless Plain is above all of the other layers, but Xaos and Infernus are beside each other with the Scarred Land between them.
Many of the Abyss' layers are battle scarred due to incursions of warring fiends, but much of this eternal war is contained to the Scarred Lands.
Vision is normal in the Abyss since reddish light seems to emanate from the ground throwing horrid shadows high into the sky.
The Endless Plain is the first layer of the Abyss, the layer is often thought by mortal visitors to be the Abyss' only layer, but this is not so. It is a vast featureless plain of infinite size. Very little is visible to the naked eye on the Endless Plain, only reddish blasted rock and reddish sky. Wraiths surround visitors to PLain almost imediately, but on this layer they are invisible leaving the visitor with only a feeling of dread to note their presence.
The power of the mind is very important on the Endless Plain. Whatever one imagines is instantly created, but it is always perverted into a horrible form. Anyone who creates an item on the layer must make a Willpower Save (DC 20) or be Shaken by his own creation. Any item created is valueless and useless for combat or skill checks. Rope is too rotted to be used, swords are blood covered and dull, etc.
The Citadel of Takhisis
On the Plain of inifinite portals there lies a massive fortress built around a huge volcanic mountain. This night black edifice built of carved volcanic glass is a shining jewel. Its millions of halls all once contained devout worshippers of Takhsis who were given life in death and served as her attendants. Devils of every variety once dwelled in the Citadel pouring over the ancient tomes contained in that foul place's dark libraries. Abishai, the dragon-touched fiends, were especially common as they were Takhisis' children.
This was once the home of Takhisis. Here she kept her horde. In the center of the mountain was her chamberm, the main lava vent. There here huge draconic body would rest, giving mental orders to all of the creatures of the citadel. It was her power alone that protected the Citadel from constant demonic assault.
In recent times the abscence of Takhisis rocked the mountain. The volcano had grown dormant leaving many of the rooms freezingly cold. Fighting broke out, destroying large portions of the massive building. After a surprise assault by a massive contingent of demons the Citadel was abandoned. The demons attempted to get at the vast treasure of Her Dark Majesty, but could not break the deity born enchanments.
Now, since Takhisis' death, it is whispered that there is again someone within the Citadel. A beautiful female wraith they say wanders the halls fully visible bemoaning her fate at the top of her voice. Some say she is the soul of Takhisis though noone can even verify her existence. If she is Takhisis then they say the locks that held the treasure may be broken by her presence. The great treasure of the Citadel may once again be accessable to those who seek it, the only one there to stop them, the impotent soul of a dead goddess. These tales are obviously foolish fantasies, but that has not stopped many a wouldbe hoard stealer from vanishing in the hearts of the dark place.
So far there's:
1 - The Endless Plain
2 - ?
3 - Xaos, 4 - The Scarred Land, 5 - Infernus
6 -
7 - Cielnior
8 - ?
9 - ?
10 - ?
11 - ?
12 - The Sea of Styx
13 and onwards
In other words, shake off the Great Wheel a little more and you'll be in the ballpark.
Cheers,
Cam
The Islas Malicious is a layer comprised an infinite sea dotted with large islands. It almost looks like some areas on the Prime, though the blank featureless sky dispels this thought. The layer is dominated by minotaur petitioners. The sea is a vicious and treacherous body. Storms spring from nowhere, causing waves large enough to swallow entire cities. Creatures like Sahuagin, Brine Dragons and Merrow hunt the depths overturning ships and consuming their passengers.
Islas Malicious petitioners are similar to wraiths except that they lack Incorporeality. The petitioners dwell on the great sea and sail as a means of travel. The minotaurs are divided into large clans which constantly war against other clans. Raiding and harrying are the main tactics though full scale battle is not uncommon.
Sargonnas makes his home here and his presence gives the layer the Mildly-Law aligned trait. Sometimes the Devils and Demons spill onto this layer, but they are quickly rebuffed by the Minotaurs who have no love for those servants of the other gods. Marraenoloth daemons dwell on the Islas and act as ferrymen from island to island. The minotaurs distrust them (as it is intelligent to do) but begrudge their superior sailing talent and leave them in relative peace.
Sargas' Great Ship
Sargas dwells on a massive ship. Hundreds of minotaur petitioners dwell on the ship manning the oars and carrying out the deities will. Sargonnas himself sits on a massive chair on the ship's deck at all times. The ship is unsinkable and moves smoothly even in the fiercest of the Islas' gales. Sometimes Sargas commands te ship to land and then the warriors disembark and attack. The petitioners that are slain in these battles are reborn at its completion and any enemy who Sargas sees as deserving is brought onboard. While the Great Ship is the scourge of the area, all minotaurs hail tales of its coming for they wish to gain the honor to fight for Sargas.
The Tower of the Marraenoloths
On a small island there stands a tall blackened edifice that rises high into the heavens. It is a construction of the Daemons that sail the seas, but its purpose completely unknown. Few non-Daemons are allowed to enter the tower and any that do enter only allowed to see only what the Daemons allow them to see. The tower is made of black ice which some say was drawn all the way from the Ocean of Styx. Frozen faces can sometimes be seen in the ice though anyone found just lollygagging around the tower is promptly shooed away by the Daemons. Within the Tower dwells the Marraenoloth Lord Charon. Charon is the leader of all of the Daemons of Islas Malicious and, it is said, is the advisor of Daemon Lord Goraxius.
If we just say teh Abyss is whatever evil wants it to be, or whatever the viewer wants to see about Evil. well, what do we get?
We get Outsiders that have no purpose but to be. I summon a devil. The devil does what I want. It goes home, but since home is just evil in conceptual form that Devil just fuses back into the essence of evil and is gone. That makes all Outsiders mindless "monsters" with no backstory, personality, etc. The Planes exist for a reason. So that players can go there and do stuff. That's why the planes exist. if there's really nothing to do there, if we appear and move about with our minds and then a god takes a shine to us and sends us away, then it doesn't matter. The planes needn't exist, the gods may as well just live "somewhere" and outsiders also come from "somewhere".
I hope that was almost clear.
"petitioner"? Thanks
Originally posted by Primus, the One and Prime
I hope that was almost clear.
Sure. I understand your reasonings, but I suppose I'm challenging the impulse you might have to configure the DL planes according to the typical manner in which they're configured with the Great Wheel. That planar model is ideal in many ways, but it only barely touches on the vast number of alternate models that exist in fantasy and mythic literature. It's so mechanical and ordered, even mundane in some respects. The planes become "weird nations" the heroes can visit on occasion and come home with souvenirs, and the assumption exists that mortal life is reflected more or less among the planes with cities, communities, families of extraplanar beings, and political systems.
Dragonlance is highly focused on Krynn. The planes are there to summon things from, for the most part, which doesn't require a lot of backstory on the part of the DM. There's room for more than that of course, and indeed I am firmly in the camp of each god having their own realm within the Abyss, Hidden Vale, or Dome of Heaven. However, I don't think they're on stacked layers Planescape-style, but rather exist within a heartbeat of each other, divided by attunement or alignment or conceptual pathways alien to mortals. The reason most people arriving in the Abyss see a featureless plain is because they're not directed, focused, or influenced to perceive a specific planar reality. Once that occurs, however, the mighty Bronze Tower of Morgion, or the vast sepulchural halls of Chemosh, or the seedy backstreets of demon-infested Hiddukel's labyrinth of lies soon pass into being for the luckless visitor.
See, I'd rather do it half-dream and half-nightmare, boundless and shifting realms within realms overlapping and co-existing. It's a more organic and mythic way of looking at it, and considering Krynn's material-centric point of view, the more different and bizarre the planes are the better.
Cheers,
Cam
Originally posted by Primus, the One and Prime
But then you have a problem, dimensional travel is so simple in 3e that such a shifting view becomes just so much mind goo. When your players start travelling to the Abyss on a regular basis and expect to know what's going on there, its hard to use that model to keep them interested.
And how, pray tell, do they even manage to get the ability to travel to the Abyss so freely? Seeing as, it took a possibly 30th level wizard working in conjunction with a cleric of similar power to get there the last time. Palin and Caramon Majere were only able to go to the Abyss because the Portal was either opened from the inside or opened to begin with. To my knowledge, no living mortal has even set foot in the Hidden Vale nor the Domes of Creation.
To me, and quite possibly a large portion of the people who traverse these boards frequently, the three plains of the gods should be off-limits.
Originally posted by Primus, the One and Prime
But then you have a problem, dimensional travel is so simple in 3e that such a shifting view becomes just so much mind goo. When your players start travelling to the Abyss on a regular basis and expect to know what's going on there, its hard to use that model to keep them interested.
Understandably, that's where you have to consider whether this is a planar campaign and thus non-traditional, or if it's a sideline affair to a primarily mundane/material campaign. Dimensional travel's only as simple as the DM and the circumstances of the campaign make it - in the last two campaigns I ran, planar travel was exclusively in the realm of plot device and DM fiat.
I come from many years of experience running freeform games like Amber Diceless Roleplay and Nobilis, which has colored my perceptions a fair deal. So, if that's not your kettle of outsider fish, fair enough.
Cheers,
Cam
I'm a DL lover in fact, I'm well versed in all of the books and love the setting, but now I'm looking at this from the pragmatism of a DM and I see a problem.
Originally posted by Primus, the One and Prime
Sigh, I know they should. But what about all of the 3e planar travel spells? Sure, you can house rule them away, but its just a house rule! There is no mention anywhere of Plane Shift, Gate, nor any other planar magic not working.
I'm a DL lover in fact, I'm well versed in all of the books and love the setting, but now I'm looking at this from the pragmatism of a DM and I see a problem.
DLCS p 117 does fairly explicitly state that the only way to get to the so-called immortal realms of the Abyss, Hidden Vale and Dome of Creation is through the Gate of Souls, which is guarded by Paladine (and now Gilean, assuming it is guarded at all, which I strongly expect is the case). This means they're off-limits, yes.
However, there are many demiplanes and minor realms floating about at the periphery of the mortal realm and which border mundane reality in various places, and it is to these places that spells such as Gate and Plane Shift most likely take higher-level spellcasters. They're likely to be inhabited by demons, angels, elemental hybrids, aberrations, and other bizarre creatures (including a good percentage of fey).
Cheers,
Cam
At the very least, a high-level DL campaign could certainly end up with a finale in one of the realms of the gods. I think more detail on them is a great thing. It would help to clarify a lot of the planar stuff that happens in the novels.
I think a DL manual of the planes sourcebook would be fantastic, and would even be a great supplement to go along with an epic-level series of DL modules.
Originally posted by Cam Banks
DLCS p 117 does fairly explicitly state that the only way to get to the so-called immortal realms of the Abyss, Hidden Vale and Dome of Creation is through the Gate of Souls, which is guarded by Paladine (and now Gilean, assuming it is guarded at all, which I strongly expect is the case). This means they're off-limits, yes.
Cam
I’ve been running my DL campaign for years!! Two years ago one of my players’s found an object he had desire for many years, the Amulet of the Planes. Now granted I put some limitations on the White Robe that now posses this artifact in the form of puzzles he needs to solve to open up a Gate to the plane he desires to travel to.
Now, bare in mind that I’ve used the planes in the past, myself being a Planescape lover as well, but since I bought the DL Campaign when it first came out I have yet to tell this player that his Amulet of the Planes is now "officially" a very pretty rock on a leather tong.
What do you suggest Cam?
I've already made up my mind on what to do but I really am curious as how you would handle this.
Personally, I feel that closing up the planes to Krynn wizards is just another “grand limitation” Dragonlance is so famous for.
Originally posted by Baron the Curse
What do you suggest Cam?
I'd make the "normal" use of the item grant the wielder the power to travel to plane shift to any number of demiplanes, border realms, "soft places" (to use a phrase coined by Neil Gaiman) or pocket realities such as the one in which the Lost Citadel is located. It would also permit travel into one of the elemental planes, the plane of Shadow, the Astral Plane, etc.
However, I'm all for long, involved and singular quests which are conducted by petitioners to the divine realms and which require the amulet, lost rituals, etc as you suggest. I just wouldn't make them something the wizard could do every day - more of a plot device than something on the character sheet.
Cheers,
Cam
The Amulet of the Plane still works in my campaign, with a few modifications and a good number of planes off the list, such as the Nine Hells, etc. Of course, I replaced these with the new Dragonlance relevant planes, such as the Hidden Vale and so on.