The Abyss

The Abyss embodies all that is perverse, gruesome, and
chaotic. Its virtually endless layers spiral downward into
ever more appalling forms.
Each layer of the Abyss boasts its own horrific
environment. Although no two layers are alike, they are
all harsh and inhospitable. Each layer also reflects the
en tropic nature of the Abyss. In fact, much of what one
sees or touches on the plane seems to be in a decaying,
crumbling, or corroded state.

# Layers of the Abyss

The layers of the Abyss are defined by the demon lords
who rule them, as the following examples illustrate.
More information about the demon lords can be found in
the Monster Manual.

## The Gaping Maw

Demogorgon's layer in the Abyss
is a vast wilderness of savagery and madness known
as the Gaping Maw, where even powerful demons
go insane with fear. Reflecting Demogorgon's dual
nature, the Gaping Maw consists of a massive primeval
continent covered in dense jungle, surrounded by a
seemingly endless expanse of ocean and brine fiats. The
Prince of Demons rules his layer from two serpentine
towers, which emerge from a turbid sea. Each tower
is topped with an enormous fanged skull. The spires
constitute the fortress of Abysm, where few creatures
can venture without descending into madness.

## Thanatos

If Orcus had his way, all planes would
resemble his dead realm of Thanatos, and all creatures
would become undead under his control. Under its
black sky, Thanatos is a land of bleak mountains, barren
moors, ruined cities, and forests of twisted black trees.
Tombs, mausoleums, gravestones, and sarcophagi
litter the landscape. Undead swarm across the plane,
bursting from their tombs and graves to tear apart any
creatures foolish enough to journey here. Orcus rules
Thanatos from a vast palace known as Everlost, crafted
of obsidian and bone. Set within a howling wasteland
called Oblivion's End, the palace is surrounded by tombs
and burial sites dug into the sheer slopes of narrow
valleys, creating a tiered necropolis.

## The Demonweb

Lolth's layer is an immense network
of thick, magical webbing that forms passageways and
cocoon-like chambers. Throughout the web, buildings,
structures, ships, and other objects hang as if caught
in a spider's snare. The nature of Lolth's web creates
random portals throughout the plane, drawing such
objects in from demiplanes and Material Plane worlds
that figure into the schemes of the Spider Queen.
Lolth's servants also build dungeons amid the webbing,
trapping and hunting Lolth's hated enemies within
crisscrossing corridors of web-mortared stone.
Far beneath these dungeons lie the bottomless
Demonweb Pits where the Spider Queen dwells. There,
Lolth is surrounded by her handmaidens- yochlol
demons created to serve her and which outrank
mightier demons while in the Spider Queen's realm.

## The Endless Maze

Baphomet's layer of the Abyss is
a never-ending dungeon, the center of which holds the
Horned King's enormous ziggurat palace. A confusing
jumble of crooked hallways and myriad chambers, the
palace is surrounded by a mile-wide moat concealing
a maddening series of submerged stairs and tunnels
eading deeper into the fortress.

## The Triple Realm

The Dark Prince Graz'zt rules
over the realm of Azzagrat, which encompasses three
ayers of the Abyss. His seat of power is the fantastic
Argent Palace in the city of Zelatar, whose bustling
markets and pleasure palaces draw visitors from across
me multiverse in search of obscure magical lore and
perverse delights. By Graz'zt's command, the demons
of Azzagrat present a veneer of civility and courtly
comity. However, the so-called Triple Realm holds as
uch danger as any other part of the Abyss, and planar
i itors can vanish without a trace in its mazelike cities
and in forests whose trees have serpents for branches.

## Death Dells

Yeenoghu rules a layer of ravines known Death Dells. Here, creatures must hunt to survive. Even the plants, which must bathe their roots in blood, snare the unwary. Yeenoghu's servants, helping to sate their master's hunger as he prowls his kingdom seeking prey, capture creatures from the Material Plane for release in the Gnoll Lord's realm.