Manual of the Planes

dribble of slimy water sluices into a long fall down to thefourth layer. Many a lost traveler and petitioner has accidentallybeen caught up in that long, lethal fall toPhlegethos.The City of Minauros: This metropolis of devilsgives its name to the plane.Minauros is also calledThe Sinking, because thestony weight of the city isforever slipping beneaththe cesspool waters. Onlythe eternal effort of astream of petitioners andslaves keeps it from finallysuccumbing to the swamp,but still, the city sinks alittle farther into the mudevery year.Ruins below the city aresaid to contain vast riches.It’s possible that the ruinsbelow represent a townpulled from the Outlandsmillennia ago.The City of JanglingHiter: The City of Chainshangs suspended above thebog of Minauros from thickmetal links. The city isruled by kytons. The lowestportions of the city justgraze the roiling swamp, butthe strength of the chainskeeps the mire from drawingJangling Hiter down where so manyother cities have drowned. No one knowsto what structure the suspending chains are finallyconnected, though a good bet is that they somehowpierce the layer boundary and connect to the undersideof Dis above. The hail-laden clouds hide the truthof the matter.Though kytons generally consider each other equal,they often defer to a particularly clever kyton namedQuimath. He resides in Panos Qytel, a cathedrallike,triple-towered structure in the heart of Jangling Hiter.PhlegethosThe fourth layer of the NineHells is a place of fire andpain much like the ElementalPlane of Fire. Rivers ofliquid fire rule the land, andthe air is consumed withdancing flames—in fact,the layer of Phlegethos hasthe fire-dominant trait.Creatures without fire resistanceor immunity aresoon immolated.Abriymoch: This cityof hardened magma, obsidian,and crystal squatsin the caldera of an almostextinct volcano. Abriymoch’sfoundation is saidto be the grave of a deityslain by Asmodeus. Thecity offers some protectionfrom the fiery environmentof the rest of Phlegethos,but even so, certainquarters are open to theraging flame.A legion of more than fivethousand hamatula devilsresides here, a force kept inreserve should a demonic attackpierce this far into the NineHells. A pit fiend named Gazra commandsthe hamatula devils, but he directly answers to the Lordsof the Fourth, Fierana and Belial. They also reside inAbriymoch in a palace of jagged obsidian built on one lipof the caldera.CHAPTER 7:THE OUTERPLANES Illus. by W. ReynoldspqqqqrsLORD OF THE THIRD: MAMMON THE VISCOUNT rebellion called the Reckoning. Few of the other Lords wouldMammon is an archdevil and so possesses almost deitylevelpower. In form, he resembles a 30-foot-long serpent involved in the next internal revolt.ever trust Mammon again, making him least likely to bewith a human torso, head, and arms. He wields a harpoonlikespear, though its magic is the least of Mammon’s LORDS OF THE FOURTH: LADY FIERNA ANDimpressive abilities. He rules from the center of the city of ARCHDUKE BELIALMinauros, inhabiting a mausoleumlike structure of similarly Belial and Fierna are archdevils who take the form of slightlymassive proportions.devilish-looking humanoids. Fierna fights with a blade of fireMammon is a turncoat’s turncoat. Though he once allied she summons at will, and Belial battles with a powerfulwith Dispater and Mephistopheles against Asmodeus, he was ranseur. Fierna is Belial’s daughter; he lets her wear the mantlethe first to abase himself before the Lord of the Ninth when of leadership in public, but really the two rule the layer ofAsmodeus finally proved victorious at the close of a failed Phlegethos together.pqqqqrs119