Hell (Place)

“See with what heat these Dogs of Hell advance To waste and havoc yonder World.” -- John Milton, Paradise Lost.

Hell is a lower plane, a spiritual realm created to punish Lucifer and his rebellious Host, and the wicked in the afterlife. Human souls that are sent here upon their death are tormented until they become Tanar'ri. It is such a vile place of such evil that even demons hate and fear it.

History
Hell was created by God as a prison for Lucifer and his host as punishment for rebelling and twisting humanity to eating the forbidden fruit. From then on, wicked humans went to Hell after death, and were tortued into becoming Lesser Demons. Despite being the leader of the Rebellion, Lucifer is bound to his Cage. Instead, Lucifer selected his elite and loyal servants--the Nine Archdukes--to act in his place.

Structure
Hell is technically an infinite Plane; it goes on and on forever. There are, however, nine different layers, known as the Circles of Hell. It is unknown how one can go from one Circle to another, though Demons are somehow able to navigate Hell.

Each of the nine circles is ruled by a different Archdukes and each Circle seems to reflect different kinds of sin and evil. Every circle of Hell changes appearance occasionally to reflect the specific preconceptions and fears of those within it, though there are common elements.

Avernus
The first circle of Hell, a twisted forest of screaming trees. Chains, meat hooks and frayed ropes slick with gore hang from the branches. Covered in steaming, boiling multi-colored pools. The air is full of acrid, choking smoke that boils the skin. Hellhounds and Tormentors perpetually stalk the forest, hunting down those entrapped here, who are continually raped, tortured and killed before coming back and enduring it all over again. Blood trickles out of the ground in vein-like streams that flow into the second circle. Ruled by Bel the Warlord.

Dis
The second layer of Hell, is a flat, barren wasteland with rocky terrain and grey dust that clings to and erodes the skin (the dust is like coarse, ground up glass). Black, stagnant rivers criss-cross the landscape and bones litter the ground. The sky is a cloudy, dull green that is shot through with lightning. In the center of the Circle is the Iron Tower of Dis, stretching miles into the sky. Foul rivers radiated from a moat big enough to be called a lake. The walls of the tower glow the dull red of hot metal; those stranded here suffer from severe burns. Ruled by Dispater the Iron Duke.

Minauros
The third layer of Hell, it is an endless bog of vile pollution, decaying bodies and rotting marsh, repeatedly drenched by acidic rain, sleet and hail storms. The soggy, bone-strewn, disease-ridden swampland makes movement very difficult and is broken only occasionally by serpentine ridges of volcanic rock. Nameless creatures even the Demons gear inhabit the swamp. An oily water percolated through the roof of the cave and rains down upon swamps, deserts and deserts of mud and oozing black soil, pockmarked by bubbling fumaroles and mud geysers. Ruled by Mammon, Lord of Toads.

Phlegethos
The fourth layer of Hell, it is a flaming landscape, filled with volcanoes, rivers of liquid fire, molten rock, ashen hills, smoking pits, unbearable heat, all wracked by tremors and earthquakes. Even the air is aflame. Burning lava pours out of fissures in the ceiling. The ground is covered is hardened magma, obsidian and jagged crustal, all soaked in the blood of its inhabitants, which must run barefoot while chased by the flaming Hounds. Ruled by Belial the Tormentor.

Stygia
The fifth layer of Hell, it is a bottomless ocean covered by an ice sheet up to three miles thick, and salted with huge icebergs. A single river, called the River Stygia, cuts through the frozen landscape; water thick with screaming souls and undead horrors. A few swampy areas filled with rotting, hardy plants and mosses. A few floating islands are the only non-frozen ground in Stygia, their peaks wreathed in lightning arcing from the coal-black sky. Where lightning strikes, a strange phenomenon called "Cold Fire" erupted; white flames of extreme cold that "burned" for a short time. The air here is utterly freezing and a blizzard constantly howls. Ruled by Levistus the Deceiver.

Malbolge
The sixth layer of Hell, Malbolge is a gargantuan tumble of angular, black stone blocks, ranging in size from a few dozen yards to blocks miles wide in every direction. The randomly tilting and ill-fitting blocks are honeycombed with angular passages and caverns. Stinking clouds of vapor rise up from the depths and light the sky with the color of blood. Biting winds blow constantly along the cliffs, howling and rending the flesh of those caught in its sway. Wraiths and demonic entities hiding in the wind often bite and claw and those caught on the cliff face, using their magics to torment them into jumping off. They present the hope of escape to those who can reach the top, which nobody ever does. Or ever will. Whatever greasy pus that seals up from the ground is flammable, resulting random patches of blazing hellfire. The steep, craggy incline is prone to avalanches. Ruled by Glaysa the Seducer.

Maladomini
The seventh layer of Hell, it has vapor-polluted skies similar to Malboge, but its surface is solid. Is is a colossal maze of passages each several miles across, filled with traps, torture chambers, pits of acid, burning tar, blood or spikes; meat hooks hanging from chains, invisible Hellhounds and other horrific things. Stagnant rivers criss-cross through the maze, as well as lava canals, swarms of biting flies and black pools of ichor that erupted from the ground. Ruled by Moloch the Betrayer.

Cania
The eighth layer of Hell, Cania is a realm of solid ice mountains, titanic, unnaturally fast-moving glaciers and nearly continuous snowfall. Unprotected inhabitants are exposed to temperatures of -60 F at the warmest. The snow is jagged and razor sharp, and the things that stalk and hunt the wilderness here are too terrible to imagine. Those trapped here are released here naked with nothing to defend themselves from the biting cold or the hunters, and many wailing, adulterous spirits sweep and bite through the jagged, frozen, blood-soaked wastes. Ruled by Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies.

Nessus
The ninth and deepest layer of Hell, it is a land of extremes: it contains regions as cold as Cania (it is said Lucifer's Cage lies below the frozen pool found at its center), volcanoes like Phlegethos, a lake of fire, burning forests, sheer cliffs, fire winds, and the Iron Fortress of Baator, which is suspended above the Lake of Fire. Blood rain pours down, rifts open randomly into bottomless drops. The worst prison in the multiverse sits before the Iron Fortress. Ruled by Asmodeus, the King of Hell.

Trivia
--Any creature entering Hell unprotected is likely to be torn apart or burned to ash within seconds.

--A creature who dies in Hell remains in Hell, regardless of how they lived in life.

Notable Residents/Students/Faculty
The following is a list of notable residents of Hell that have been introduced in game.