Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 7:THE OUTERPLANES108strapped onto an onyx altar (or become food for a hungrycleric), and in some are special vaults where the relics ofNerull’s faith are sealed away.Finally, small tunnels lead deeper into the ice of thelayer, supposedly connecting to vaults of horror soghastly that even the demonic priests shy from exploringtheir depths. Otherworldly wailing and whispers rise upfrom the depths.Carceri EncountersUse Table 7–6: Abyssal Encounters for random encounterson Carceri.GRAY WASTE OF HADESIt is where evil springs eternal.It is a plane of endless apathy and despair.It is the great battlefield of the Blood War.Hades sits at the nadir of the lower planes, halfwaybetween two races of fiends each bent on the other’sannihilation. Thus, it often sees its gray plains darkenedby vast armies of demons battling equally vast armies ofdevils who neither ask nor give quarter. If any planedefines the nature of true evil, it is the Gray Waste.In the Gray Waste of Hades, pure undiluted evil acts as apowerful spiritual force that drags all creatures down. Here,even the consuming rage of the Abyss and the devious plottingof the Nine Hells are subjugated to hopelessness.Apathy and despair seep into everything at the pole of evil.Hades slowly kills a visitor’s dreams and desires, leaving thewithered husk of what used to be a fiery sprit. Spendenough time in Hades, and visitors give up on things thatused to matter, eventually giving in to total apathy.Hades has three layers called “glooms.” Uncaringmalevolence that slowly crushes the spirit permeateseach gloom.HADES TRAITSHades has the following traits.• Normal Gravity.• Normal Time.• Infinite Size: Hades may extend infinitely, but itsrealms are finitely bounded.• Divinely Morphic: Entities of at least lesser deitystatus can alter Hades, though few deities deign toreign in Hades. The Gray Waste has the alterable morphictrait for less powerful creatures; Hades respondsnormally to spells and physical effort.• No Elemental or Energy Traits.• Strongly Evil-Aligned: Nonevil characters in Hadessuffer a –2 penalty on all Charisma-, Wisdom-, andIntelligence-based checks.• Entrapping: This is a special trait unique to Hades,although Elysium has a similar entrapping trait. Anonoutsider in Hades experiences increasing apathy anddespair while there. Colors become grayer and less vivid,sounds duller, and even the demeanor of companionsseems to be more hateful. At the conclusion of everyweek spent in Hades, any nonoutsider must make aWill saving throw (DC 10 + the number of consecutiveweeks in Hades). Failure indicates that the individualhas fallen entirely under the control of the plane,becoming a petitioner of Hades.Travelers entrapped by the inherent evil of Hadescannot leave the plane of their own volition and haveno desire to do so. Memories of any previous life fadeinto nothingness, and it takes a wish or miracle spell toreturn such characters to normal.• Normal Magic.HADES LINKSThe River Styx flows through the uppermost layer ofHades, and a few of its small tributaries may lead deeperinto the plane. As with everywhere else along the Styx,sinister ferrymen ply its length, granting passage toother planes.Portals to other planes are fairly common, at least onthe uppermost gloom, Oinos. Portals usually appear asgreat spinning coins of color. Golden coins lead toCarceri, silver ones lead to the Outlands, coppers go toGehenna, and rare platinum ones connect to the AstralPlane. Because everything else in the Gray Waste isleached of color, the coin-portals glitter for miles.HADES INHABITANTSFoul creatures of every sort can be found in the GrayWaste. Because this is the battleground of the lowerplanes, demons, devils, slaadi, formians, and even theoccasional deva can be found here, spying for the wareffort or deserting their unit. Of course, yugoloths alsoabound, despite the fact that most of the race has movedfrom this plane, their original home, to the neighboringplane of Gehenna.Night hags are also thick in Hades. They constantlyseek special petitioners called larvae, which they use as aspecial form of spiritual currency in their dark dealingswith evil beings and deities.Besides Blood War detritus, night hags, and petitioners,Hades hosts herds of fiery nightmares.Hades PetitionersPetitioners in Hades are mostly grayish ghosts, spirits sodepleted by the Waste that they lack solidity. They rarelyspeak, instead crowding around visitors like mothsaround a candle, seeking the warmth of emotion andhope that living beings possess.Spirits of particularly selfish and malicious mortalsthat come to Hades become a special form of petitionercalled a larva. Larvae appear as Medium-size worms withheads that resemble the heads on their mortal bodies.Larvae serve as the currency of the Lower Planes, especiallyamong night hags, liches, demons, devils, andyugoloths. Most are as likely to be used as food as topower a spell. The rare “lucky” larva is sometimes promotedto a lower form of fiend.