The Abyss

## The Abyss is a plane of pure malevolence to which the souls of the wicked go upon death.

### Creation of the Abyss

The Abyss is the final destination for a distressing number of souls. It was not part of the original plan of the planar cosmos. It was created by accident. Mor-Dun, once he was defeated at great cost, had to be contained in separate places to keep him from returning to power. His Sahu was left to drift in an unconscious state on the Material and floats in the Void. The majority of his power and consciousness was shunted off and chained in the bonds of his Sekhem (which had been twisted almost completely to evil and destruction) and cast beyond the Astral Sea. However, his Ren (like the Ren of all Maerin) was so strong that it pulled him back into the Astral, to its very edge, and accumulated layers and layers of astral matter, crushing it together into a nested ball of worlds so utterly corrupt that no existing god could have imagined it. The tiniest sliver of goodness remained, however, and because he had been a god of balance as much as anything else that goodness was able to create Paradise as a counterweight against the hungry gravity of the dread plane..

#### The Rules of the Abyss

The Abyss is not like other worlds. It's distorted and insane. It is exists outside of time and pulls souls from all points in time to it like iron to a lodestone. This is the only reason it has inhabitants. The Abyss can twist and corrupt, but it cannot create anything. Most of Mor-Dun's divine remains exists at the very bottom of the Abyss's layers (which are of an uncertain number and sometimes curve back on themselves, making "the bottom" hard to determine). His spiritual gravity is so strong it makes getting in very easy, but leaving very difficult, and even moving back and forth between layers is complex. Due to the distorted and broken nature of time one who moves between layers and back may find that time has passed disproportionately quickly, not at all, or even moved backwards. It is possible there actually are no layers, but simply different moments of broken time existing simultaneously. Gods can come and go from the Abyss with some difficulty, and the most wicked will do so to harvest the strange powers and secrets of the inhabitants, or sometimes to claim souls for their own service.

The Fate of the Soul

When a soul enters the Abyss it is still identical to that of a mortal, similar to one of the True Dead (or to one of the Twice Dead if they became such). However, such a form is not suited to survive in the abyss, and the soul begins to twist and break, crushed into a form similar to a larval insect if not captured by agents of Hell and brought there for "shaping" into a demon. These larvae sometimes burrow into the ground if not harvested and grow into networks of "trees" and "grass" that scream and bleed when cut or harvested. Some grow into malicious beasts that stalk wild through the Abyss until caught and rendered into parts in the Shaperies. Those that become plants often lose their memories of mortal life, but the animals remember distressing amounts of information and can be enticed to talk. However, they are generally wicked and insane, so trusting them is perilous.

Hell

Hell exists in the "Center" of the Abyss, according to its Lords. What this means, if it is even true, is debatable, but time does seem more stable in the Nine Districts of Hell and the Abyss's warping properties can be controlled. This allows the Lords to maintain a caste of unshaped souls for some basic work and for "entertainment," in the form of torture or stories of their memories of the living worlds.

The Lords of Hell in Brief

The Lords of Hell are only technically demons. They are of the highest echelons of demonic power and possess more will and control over Abyssal forces than do their servants. They sometimes call themselves devils, though that term actually refers to any of the highest ranks of demon kind. The roster of the Lords is not unchanging. The first were all of Vahlan extraction, though later when some of the Malakim of Paradise betrayed their realm and its ethos and fell to the Abyss they were challenged. The leader of the Fallen, Kraehel, successfully overthrew one of the Lords and took its power. Other usurpations have occurred since then, and the roster is likely to change again many times across the millenia.

How to Make a Monster

In the Shaperies of Hell, Soulshapers transform captured spirits into demons by subjecting them to horrific surgery and sorcery. Metal, stone, and parts of the flora and fauna of the Pit are merged with the spiritual body as "Hellfire," the divine energy of the abyss purified into a form that can be used, burns away anything that cannot survive the transformation. Frequently this results in a demon that is much like a machine requiring programming, so the Shaper uses Primal forces to build a basic mind for it in keeping with the tasks the Lords require of it. A more detailed personality often develops, leading to more and more powerful and cunning demons. Some say this was the origin of the first Lords', while others say their souls were so strong and so malevolent they shaped themselves. Once shaped, a demon no longer need fear being warped by the Abyss and is truly native to that realm. This does not make it safe to travel, however. Even devils fear to tread too far from Hell for too long.

Time and Technology of the Abyss

The Abyss is outside normal time, so souls from all eras bring their understanding of technology with them. This is reflected in the architecture and available technology of Hell. As most worlds seem to plateau and exist in a state with minimal complex technology, Hell is not a beacon of technical superiority on the surface, but the demons do advance in the ways that matter to them. Beyond mere close combat weapons, firearms and armor, greater demons are threaded with complex enhancements of a combined mechanical and magical nature granting them the ability to project weaponized energy, shrug off damage to their manifestations, ensnare minds, and read probability, among other more specialized options. Combined with the natural powers of spirits from the outer realms, these enhancements make demons formidable foes. The Lords have great "thinking machines" which link Hell's infrastructure and keep track of resources and souls, helping manage their vast empires. However, the average soul on the street from Dorhaun is likely to see things only slightly more advanced than the technology of the middle Age of the Virgin Lands.

The Way Out

For a damned soul or a demon, the only reliable way out of the Abyss is to be summoned. It is also possible to escape in places of horror and pain, wounds in the worlds where the Abyss can bleed in, but these are rare and the journey through them is painful. Most will try to stay on the Material (or really any other) Plane as long as possible. Others, acclimated to the Abyss and at home in Hell or elsewhere, will wait for a chance to do something horrific to their summoner and/or their loved ones or other innocents then return to the Abyss (an act which is possible with a simple act of will). For some, however, the urge to remain free is much stronger, often because the living suffer in more interesting ways than the dead. These can shed their "physical" bodies and become incorporeal spirits, less substantial than ghosts, and move through the world fettering themselves to living flesh and/or objects as needed in order to remain free. Devils in any of Hell's districts can leave the Abyss by a simple (albeit taxing) act of will. They leave most of their power behind when leaving voluntarily, however, and must temper their actions accordingly. Though if a devil dies after having projected out of the Abyss, they simply reform there, fatigued but usually unhurt. The true danger is a loss of status, which can be lethal in the Infernal City.