Iron Tower

The Iron Tower, also called Dispater's Tower, was the massive tower-fortress of Dispater, the archdevil of Dis. Located in the hellish Iron City, the infernally grand Tower served as Dispater's headquarters and residence in the Nine Hells. It was known by many names, but titled the Iron Tower possibly because of the metalwork of its doors and windows or because it reflected Dispater's iron-fisted dominion.
==Location==
The Iron Tower was located in the very center of the Iron City. The island on which the city was built rose sharply in elevation toward the center, and at the top of the rocky hill sat the fortress.
The Iron Tower was a strange structure whose spatial location seemed to exist as a paradox. It could be seen from any point within the city at all times, but that wasn't a result of its enormous size. No matter where one was in the city, except for the Garden of Delights, the Tower always seemed to be one block away, and no matter what direction one turned it was always standing there, somehow surrounding yet at the center of the city at the same time. So painfully obvious was the dominating, omnipresent structure that for most it simply blended into the background of daily life.
And yet, the Iron Tower was also practically impossible to reach, somehow preventing approach by its mere presence. Not even teleportation could bring one further, and attempting to dispel illusions failed because there was nothing illusory about the phenomenon. One could spend days marching there, going mad just trying to reach the gate and have nothing to show for the effort. Only baatezu seemed instinctively able to overcome the dimensional anomaly without simply teleporting closer, as they could also do.
The only way to approach the Iron Tower and make actual progress was to remove it from the mind, either by deeply concentrating on something unrelated or not looking at it. After half an hour of travel, presuming one wasn't scalded by the burning iron throughout Dis, one would find themselves before the Iron Tower. Its terraced approaches were adorned with trees made of iron.
==Structure==
The Iron Tower itself seemed stranger than the city that surrounded it since its form was never the same. Ironically, despite making the changes of the surrounding city seem gradual by comparison, it was the only truly stable structure there, exempt as it was from the constant deconstruction and reconstruction the rest of the city was subject to.
The Iron Tower was always an ugly black building of stone, steel, lead and carved bone, surrounded by a haze of smoke, but its texture, architectural style and basic structure was in a state of constant flux. It would seamless shift in a shimmer minute by minute, ranging in form from a squat dome to a slender spire. It could become so towering as to pierce the layer's smog, and at its maximum height it could stretch into the sky.
In the World Axis cosmology, the Iron Tower stood above the center of Dis by hanging down from a massive stalactite in its cavern ceiling.
==Interior==
The Iron Tower's interior was as undefinable as its exterior but far more consistent to those inside and generally appeared like any other place in Dis. The rooms always kept their shape and magically squeezed in such a way that they always fit inside. Rather than rooms connected by corridors, each interior space was a pocket separated from the others by, at times, several miles of iron. It was fairly simple for beings able to teleport and familiar with the tower to navigate but other methods, like passing through solid material or teleporting without proper guidance, could land a trespasser over a gaping hole or inside solid steel.
The Iron Tower housed a number labyrinths and prisons, as well as libraries, in which Dispater had more recently spent most of his time. If Dispater wished he could create new mazes and actual passageways to elude and confound his enemies. Some areas of the tower shared its anomalous spatial properties and would send those who didn't know the secret to progressing back where they started, including the corridor to Dispater's inner sanctum, containing his crimson throne. Only Dispater's most trusted servitors knew how to enter without his assistance.
For those with business within the Tower but without the means to traverse it, black flowers made of the spirits of petitioners could be used. Each petal was marked with a symbol denoting a corresponding room and by tearing off a petal and placing it on a solid boundary inside the tower one would be transported to the room via an effect similar to portable hole.
==Activities==
Dispater's conducted his iron rule over Dis and political conspiring against the other denizens of Hell from the safety and comfort of his tower, and rarely ever left. Erinyes frequently flit in and out of the high, arched windows, presumably corresponding with Dispater himself. Greater baatezu met within to plan out the work crew rosters for the city's projects and review the amusing lack of progress on strangely unburning parchments.
==Defenses==
The primary purpose of the Iron Tower was to protect its properly paranoid ruler. It was heavily guarded by monsters and constructs and riddled with deadly traps both inside and out, all set in place to protect Dispater. Unlike with other locations in the city, there were no portal leading directly into the Tower, and those without reason to be there were not permitted entry.
A solid, circular wall (inconsistently reported as being made of rock or stone and being or tall) encircled the tower, its single gate guarded by cornugons that, through a constant telepathic communication, could swiftly contact Dispater and many others. Dispater's magic prevented non-baatezu from teleporting past the wall and stone gargoyles squatting on the top animated and forced offenders attempting to fly or levitate over to plummet back to the ground, returning to their posts after. It was possible to scale the wall, but it posed the same threat of burning as the rest of Dis. 
Because of its overwhelming aura, spells designed to detect law, evil or magic couldn't pinpoint specific sources within the Tower and it was far too powerful for dispel magic spells to have even a minor effect. 
Even if not for the plethora of other protections, Dispater was virtually, if not entirely invulnerable when within the bounds of the Iron Tower. Weapons passed through him and spells fizzled out; even wish magic could be brushed off by his avatars alone. 
==Inhabitants==
Only Dispater and his servants dwelt in the Iron Tower. He dictated his wishes to his trusted Nuncio, Titivilus.
==History==
The Iron Tower was enchanted at the same time as Dispater's symbol of authority, his powerful rod.
==Rumors & Legends==
If one managed to pierce the myriad of spatial impossibilities of the Iron Tower and enter Dispater's throne room, it was rumored that an even greater challenge awaited: an even larger city farther away from Dispater. Given Dispater's defenses and paranoia, the claim was unverified.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Locations
Category:Towers
Category:Locations in the Nine Hells
Category:Locations in the City of Dis
Category:Locations in Dis
Category:Locations in the Fiendish Planes
Category:Locations in the World Tree planes