Arden Est's Planar Cosmology

Arden Est lies at the center of the universe, and all other realities revolve around it. It is known. Arden Est is a flat disk, at the center of which lies a great lake of lava with a whirlpool in the middle. The dimensions of the Land are unknown -- some sages have speculated that there lie lands beyond the Last Sea, but these have not been seen. Underneath Arden Est lies the Underdark, a land hundreds of times more vast than the surface world. Here are countless tunnels and caverns and the civilization of the drow. Here too winds the river Styx, leading to the realms of Hades, and the river Lethe, leading to the Hells the devils conquered from the Lord of Death. Further down, mad titans delve more tunnels and angels and devils both beat back attacks of demons seeking to free their mistress from Hades's prison. Even further below lies the elemental chaos.

The elemental chaos is divided into six semi-distinct areas. The planes of fire, water, air, and earth blend together at their edges and at their borders with the positive energy plane above and the negative energy plane below. At the center, all of the elements combine in a maelstrom of primal energy, and at the very midpoint, a whirlpool stands, leading the way down into the Abyss. The abyss, it is said, has no bottom. But it is also said that Fayon made his infamous bargain with Tiamat at the bottom of the abyss, so who can know the truth of these things.

Above Arden Est are the heavens. On the moon sits Fiat Lux, home of the Valharim. The moon rotates, shining most when Fiat Lux lies directly overhead, and not at all when the fairest city looks the other way. The sun makes a circuit around Arden Est's disk, renewing her energy from the positive elemental plane each night. Beyond the sun are other worlds, such as the platinum sphere of Bahamut and the copper sphere of Ares.

Two planes exist coterminous with Arden Est. Faerie is the cumulation of the hopes and dreams of the people of Arden Est. Here the Courts of Winter and Summer war with each other, causing the seasons to change as Koschei is first ascendant followed by Titania before Koschei takes the crown again. The fears and dark urges of the free folk, on the other hand, create the realm of nightmare, also called the ethereal. The edges are largely safe, but horrors lurk in the depths.

Session 35: Alice in Chains

As we continued our search of the caves we entered a large chamber with a pool. Before we were able to check the room thoroughly we were set upon by a group of Kobolds. Unlike groups we had encountered in the past these few were up for a fight, and they had magic to aid them. Through coordinated attacks we made short work of them. After the battle we took some time to examine the room properly. We saw a staircase leading out of the chamber but were more interested in a rough rock staircase on the other side of the pool. We could not reach this staircase without passing through a shark filled pool. Goblin suggested dumping the bodies of the Kobolds in the pool to feed and distract the sharks. This worked just long enough for us to cross the pool and continue up the rocky slope, where we arrived at a platform covered in mushrooms. Our stout dwarf friend thought it best to examine the area first as the mushrooms wouldn't affect him if they were toxic. As Flint entered the mushroom patch he was attacked by two myconids. Flint was able to hold off the creatures while the rest of us took turns striking from afar. After the fight was finished we all joined Flint on the mossy platform and Tywyll took the spoils - a pair of boots of spider climb. 

As we continued our climb upwards Flint stepped on a stair that was booby-trapped and fell down into the shark pool. Goblin came to his aid with a water walk spell and Flint rose out of the waters before the sharks came after him. Goblin and Tywyll anchored themselves on the next platform and dropped a rope for the rest of us to climb up. Flint, annoyed that he had fallen for the booby trap, left it to the rest of us to search the area. We found a door and, though we didn't hear anything from inside, we decide it best to not leave our backs open to unexpected assault. We entered the room and found a human waiting for us (according to him). He tried to convince us of his desire to punish those that try to stop others from achieving their desires, even if those desires are to enslave others. Eventually Flint had enough of this blasphemy and attacked. Much to our surprise this creature defended itself with chains. Flint and Goblin knew then that this was a devil and needed to be destroyed. The gods favored us and we were able to dispatch our foe without any of our group getting hurt. Examining the rest of the rooms on this platform we found three humans who claimed to be buying supplies. Goblin was eager to kill them if those supplies turned out to be slaves. Eventually we let them go and they went down the stairs. If they lied to us the Gods would punish them and let them fall into the pool of sharks. The final doorway we came to led out of the caves and we decided it was time to take a rest and recoup our strength. 

Asmodeus and the Devils

When Hadeth rebelled, and was cast out of heaven, many of the powerful spirits joined her in her rebellion. These spirits had many different reasons -- Asmodeus thought that he could bring a stronger order out of the chaos she would create, one that had him as it's master. Dispater out of loyalty to the dark general. And Mephistopheles out of resentment of the new order that Fayon had created after his ascension. During the war, especially as it grew more desperate, Hadeth grew more crazed, seeking allies wherever she could find them -- most infamously, Miska the Wolf Spider. The devils grew more and more concerned, but they would do nothing. They had, after all, sworn her oaths. They served her loyally during the war, but once she was imprisoned in Hades, they did not believe serving her would bring any more gains. So under Asmodeus's leadership, they crafted realms in the underworld they called hells, and seek to increase their power by corrupting creation.

When they are not engaged in creating enormously complex plots of betrayal and counter-betrayal, the devils are trying to corrupt souls. The economy of hell runs on souls, but the only way devils can get souls is to convince a mortal to freely agree to give theirs up to them (typically, a soul is claimed by Hades upon death). Fortunately for the devils, men are greedy and short-sighted, and are often willing to make a deal. Asmodeus has proven adept at maintaining power despite many upheavals.