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Pandemonium
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| Pandemonium | |
| Traits | |
| Gravity | Normal |
| Time | Normal |
| Shape and size | Maze of great tunnels that extends for about six hundred miles; recursive. |
| Morphic trait | Normal |
| Elemental and energy traits | None |
A forgotten domain where the exiled, the hunted, and the desperate slowly succumb to madness.
Contents |
Overview
Edit
A rambling maze of black tunnels blasted by fierce winds, Pandemonium is the most desolate and dismal of the known astral dominions. The deity who created this place in the timeless depths of antiquity abandoned it soon afterward, and no great powers or races have ever called Pandemonium home. It is a place where the forgotten, the banished, and the lost wander without hope or rest, driven before the neverending wind.
A dark and tempestuous portion of the Astral Sea surrounds Pandemonium. As the traveler approaches the dominion, roiling magenta purple clouds (the dominion’s color veil) press closer and closer, and the wind grows to a howling gale. A sudden burst of turbulence leaves the traveler sprawled on the floor of a vast cavern, and the seething clouds abruptly change into cold, black stone.
The entire plane is wrapped in an endless, black hurricane. To leave Pandemonium, an astral traveler needs to fly back through howling black rifts in the “outer” wall of the cavern-plane while battling wild winds. Many travelers wreck their vessels in this violent passage and become stranded here.
Pandemonium is a kingdom-sized labyrinth of long, winding tunnels and great caverns. These eventually return to their starting points, creating a sealed world-maze that no one has ever fully explored. The plane has no natural sources of light, and most of it is cold. The most dangerous feature is the violent, shrieking wind that buffets and torments any creature faring abroad.
Powers of PandemoniumEdit
No divine realms exist in Pandemonium, but that was not always so. Once this plane was the dominion of the awful god Tharizdun. Tharizdun abandoned the plane shortly after creating it, drawn subsequently by the possibilities of the Elemental Chaos. He never bothered to create any great citadel or palace for himself in Pandemonium. Nevertheless, Pandemonium still bears the mark of Tharizdun, the Chained God. Pandemonium’s lightless, winding tunnels, its bone-numbing chill, and its maddening winds are as Tharizdun made them uncounted thousands of years ago. A small number of Tharizdun’s ancient servants—monstrous guardians and angels of madness— still lurk in the depths of the plane. In addition to the mad minions of Tharizdun, the lich-god Vecna maintains a hidden tower in the heart of Pandemonium. Dark angels and powerful undead servitors ensure that no visitors stumble upon Vecna’s tower and live to tell the tale.
Unlike most of the other astral dominions, few mortal spirits come to this dark place after death. Most of the mortals dwelling in Pandemonium are still alive. They are collectively known as the banished, because most have been consigned to this awful place by terrible curses or fled here to hide from powerful enemies. Many are driven insane by the dark and the wind. The most powerful group of banished is the Bleak Cabal, a secret order of adepts who deliberately give themselves over to madness to master magical power no mortal mind could otherwise endure.
Sites in PandemoniumEdit
MadhouseEdit
The citadel of the Bleak Cabal lies near the plane’s veil. It is a sprawling edifice of haphazardly arranged buildings and walls. The insane masters of the Bleak Cabal care little whether visitors stumble into their citadel or not, but the sellswords and monsters who serve the Bleak Cabal are often on the lookout for travelers who might be taken advantage of.
WintervaultEdit
This portion of Pandemonium is noticeably colder than the rest of this cheerless plane. Here stinging blizzards are carried on the wind, and lakes of black ice lie on the cavern floor. A fierce tribe of frost giants lurks here, making slaves of any creatures who blunder into their grasp.
AgathionEdit
Some of Pandemonium’s caverns are completely sealed from the surrounding tunnels. They are completely cut off from the howling winds, also. The only way in or out is by magic portal. Many forgotten evils and slumbering monsters are imprisoned in the silent caverns of Agathion.
ReferencesEdit
NotesEdit
Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes 4th edition, p. 106-107. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
