The Sites - Fire (TIP)

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Of all the Inner Planes, none are more changeable than Fire. As such, few sites endure for very long. Still, some resist the eternal burning and become places of which any visitor to this realm had best be aware.
==The City of Brass==
Perhaps the most well-known place in the plane of Fire is the legendary City of Brass, and rightly so. This magnificent fortress of towers, domes, spires, and minarets stands upon a great hemisphere of solid brass fully 40 miles across. The whole of the city glows hotly at all times, a constant reminder that only the power of the efreet keeps the place from being consumed. Rivers of magma and boiling, black ooze spread out like spider webs from the base of the city. All in all, the effect is rather like that of a river delta on a prime world, if one must make such a comparison. A shining brass wall surrounds the entire city, broken only for eight well-guarded gates.
Near the City of Brass lies the Obsidian Fields, where our slaves tend the crops that sustain us. Qamh, habbat, verdobba, umbellin, and tergamit, which I believe you call fire fruit, all grow here in abundance. (The first four are grasses, grains, tubers, and beans all native to the plane. Fire fruit is in fact deadly to nonnatives, something of which the narrator is no doubt aware.-the Editor) Near these fields lies the Sable Forest, where the serpent trees sustain themselves on nothing more than heat. Here, our nobles relax and experience the joys of the hunt with their hell hound packs and fiery mounts.
No one knows exactly how many efreet fill the City of Brass, except perhaps the Grand Sultan himself. At the very least, however, the place has a population twice that of any city known to exist on the Prime Material Plane. The huge number of elemental beings that live and work among us further increases this total. Not all of those that dwell within the city are even natives. Why, Jamina al-Mubarak al-Kamal is one of you (Pr/♀ human/Ele(F) 15/N). She serves as an ambassador for a prime group called the Brotherhood of the True Flame. And there are others-so feel welcome!
At the center of the City of Brass stands the Sultan's Charcoal Palace. This structure towers above the rest of the city, and from its uppermost spires the Grand Sultan of the Efreet can look down upon the whole of his domain. The palace's spires rise near a fountain of fire called the Breath of the Sultan, which can be seen from any quarter of the city.
Untold riches, the wealth of multiple worlds, lie below, cached deep within the heart of this magnificent palace. Few know for sure exactly how much treasure there is or what forms it might take. The only thing known for certain about the Sultan's hoard is that it must be very well guarded. In fact, the public executions of those who have tried to sneak into the palace are truly staggering in their brutality, even to me.
: (Although Riddel would never or could never relate such things, there're a few more things that a planewalker might need to know about the City of Brass-a few thousand, really, but there's only so much space between these covers. First of all, the efreet work hand-in-hand with the baatezu. Portals between the city and various spots in Baator abound. They trade servants and slaves as well as information. It's not all that uncommon to spy an osyluth or a cornugon roaming about in the company of efreet here-and some have even rattled their bone-boxes about seeing a pit fiend hobnobbing with the nobles. Second, a planewalker ought to know about the Wormhole. This is a secret section of the undercity that even the efreet haven't tumbled to. It's a hidey-hole for salamanders, but perhaps a diplomatic and silver-tongued soul could convince those within to allow him sanctuary-a word to the wise.-the Editor)
==The Crimson Pillar==
If one part of the plane can be said to be hotter than any other, it must certainly be the Crimson Pillar of Kossuth. This great orb, which is not less than 10 miles in diameter, hangs high above the fiery surface of the sea.
This blue-white sphere throws off so much heat that those who draw near to it, even creatures native to the plane of Fire, bum. The closer a body gets, the more dangerous the rays of the citadel become. The following chart indicates how much damage a traveler suffers at a given distance.
Distance FromThe Pillar	DamagePer Round
100 miles 	1d4
50 miles 	1d6
25 miles 	1d8
10 miles 	1d10
5 miles 	1dl2
1 mile 	1d20
The above numbers assume that the body is naturally immune to or otherwise protected from the normal heat of the plane of Fire. If this is not the case, then the damage indicated above is doubled and added to the normal injuries inflicted by the burning of the plane.
Within the Pillar of Kossuth the great power holds court, providing protection from the damaging heat to those he wishes to see (and taking it away if they displease him). A few (including some of those who revere him) see Kossuth as the neutralizing force between the warring archomentals of the plane, but that far oversimplifies the role of the Tyrant-King of Elementals. More accurately, he serves only his own needs as the master of Fire and those creatures associated with it. Surely, if he wished to destroy both Imix and Zaaman Rul, he would (and perhaps, such is his plan).
==The Crucible==
The largest of the azer towers is known as the Crucible. It rests on an island of obsidian ringed by a vast sea of molten, bubbling platinum. Whether this metal ocean is natural or was created by the azer is unknown. It may, in fact, serve as a vortex of some sort linking this place with the plane of Earth. The island itself is covered with a forest of treelike plants whose bark and leaves consist of pure metals. 
The master of the Crucible is named Shanmakeen (Pl/♂ azer/F16,W16/NG) and his skill with hammer and anvil is legendary. It is said that he can and will fashion any manner of magical weapon for those who meet his price.
==Plain of Burnt Dreams==
In the vast region of the Plain of Burnt Dreams, the solid fire that forms the base of this plane rises above the liquid flames of the Blazing Sea. The Plain is highly uneven in shape but looks as much like a great octagon as anything else.
The Plain is noted for two things. The first of these is the Temple of illtimate Consumption, from which Imix rules his legions of evil. Built in the shape of a great pyramid and fashioned from gleaming blocks of pure obsidian, it is a breathtaking sight. A legion of powerful fire elementals and similar beings constantly patrols the Plain of Burnt Dreams to protect the temple from unwanted visitors.
Second, and perhaps more important, is of course the great battle between Imix and Zaaman Rul which was recently fought here. There are those who say that a great artifact of untold good was supposed to be used to decide that battle. During this conflict, the story goes, the artifact was lost and vanished beneath the waves of the Blazing Sea before Zaaman Ru! could bring it into play. If this is true, anyone who procures the relic could name his own price, selling it to either of the Elemental Princes.