Abyss (Dungeons & Dragons)

The Abyss is one of the many realms of reality in Dungeons & Dragons. A place of absolute chaos and evil, this plane is home to demonkind.

The Abyss is a universe unto itself, divided into an infinite number of independent layers. Some believe that the Abyss actually consists of 666 layers, though the Fraternity of Order considers it to actually be made up of 679 layers. The truth may never be known as so few have ever ventured into the Abyss and returned to tell the tale, and most of those who have were driven mad by the horrors they witnessed there.

Layers of the Abyss
The layers of the Abyss have been numbered in the order that they were discovered, though there is not necessarily a spatial relation between layers of consecutive numbers, or a correlation with depth. Rather, a layer is considered "deep" if it lacks a direct connection with the first layer.

Each layer supports its own unique environment, though the majority of them are inhospitable to any creature other than the native demons. Some layers were controlled by one or more demon lords, whose natures ended up defining the character of the layer under their domain. Deities who claimed divine realms in the Abyss and even demon lords were extremely territorial and intolerant of intruders, always making an effort to extend their dominion over their entire layers. For that reason, each layer typically contained a single realm, so it was equivalent to either refer to a particular layer or to the realm therein.

Layer 1: Pazunia - Also known as the Plain of Infinite Portals, the first layer of the Abyss appears as a desolate wasteland filled with the crumbling remains of ancient fortresses. The surface of the land is marred with numerous dark pits: portals that lead to other Abyssal layers or even entirely different planes. This layer is ruled by the ancient obyrinth Pazuzu.

Layer 2: Driller's Hives - Realm of Tharzax, the Chattering Prince, demon lord of poison. It was inhabited by ekolids and hives of enormous insects at constant war with each other. The environment slowly turned visitors into insect creatures, although paladins were immune to this effect.

Layer 3: The Forgotten Lands - Ruled by the demon lord Zzyczesiya, the Ungrasped. This layer is dotted with the ruins of ancient cities and inhabited by creatures that fed on the thoughts of those that dared to explore this place. Visitors to this land would find themselves completely drained of their memories and their identities.

Layer 4: The Blood Rift - This unclaimed layer sports a bottomless pit containing portals that lead to many other layers of the Abyss. Various bridges and buildings also stretched out between the rift walls.

Layer 5: Wormblood - The toxic environment of this layer afflicts all who venture through it with a wasting disease that causes victims to rapidly deteriorate.

Layer 6: The Realm of A Million Eyes - This layer is a twisted network of tunnels woven through an environment made of flesh, with countless eyes protruding from all surfaces. This realm is inhabited by beholders, all of which constantly war against one another, and is ruled by their matron deity, the Great Mother.

Layer 7: The Phantom Plane - This plane is populated by lizardfolk and ruled by the great Emperor Lizard Sess'innek. All portals to this layer are sealed.

Layer 8: The Skin-Shedder - This layer is ruled by Volisupula, the Flensed Marquesse. Those who visit this layer are doomed to have their souls corrupted towards chaotic evil. The only beings that are immune to this effect are tieflings.

Layer 9: Burningwater - An ocean of acid inhabited by eldritch sea creatures.

Layer 10: That Hellhole - A dark layer where the only source of food is the sentient beings that inhabit this damned place. This layer was discovered by a dwarven explorer who only spent three minutes there, but returned covered in numerous bites and punctures in his adamantine armour.

Layer 11: Molrat - An underground land of tunnels in eternal darkness, inhabited by demons that constantly hunted each other by sense of smell.

Layer 12: Twelvetrees - A site for carrying out dark arcane rituals surrounded by twelve dead pine trees sits at the center of this otherwise desolate layer. Demons would set out on pilgrimages here to make offerings to their various demon lords and to sacrifice astral devas and other celestials.

Layer 13: Blood Tor - A layer consisting of a vast, blood-red ocean. Two Abyssal deities reside her: Beshaba, Maid of Misfortune and the Bitch Queen Umberlee.

Layer 14: The Steaming Fen - This layer was the realm of the Queen of Chaos. It was a vast, foul, briny ocean from which a mountain so vast as to dwarf any mountain in the Prime Material Plane rose. The queen ruled over the layer from a gigantic castle carved within this mountain, a labyrinth of tunnels and passages with no clear way out. The throne room itself was an enormous cavern containing a pool of salt water covered with a layer of oil in perpetual flames.

Layer 17: Death's Reward - Realm of the demon lord Abraxas the Unfathomable.

Layer 21: The Sixth Pyre - Realm of the demon lord Kardum, Lord of the Balors.

Layer 23: The Iron Wastes - Also known as the Ice Wastes, this icy layer was a vast expanse of glaciers, mountains, and ruins buried in miles-deep ice, constantly battered by an extremely cold and violent blizzard and illuminated by a dim and distant source, similar in brightness to a moon. It was the realm of the demon lord Kostchtchie, the Prince of Wrath. Creatures known to reside here include mavawhans, winter wolves, ice archons and frost giants.

Layer 27: Malignebula - This layer has no solid ground and consists of a giant cloud of acidic gas. It is home to the nabassu, vrocks and alu-fiends and is ruled over by Lissa'aere, the Gaseous Lady.

Layer 32: Sholo-Tovoth - Also known as the Fields of Consumption, this layer was dominated by pure all-consuming hunger. Random pits spontaneously opened on the ground, dropping creatures in slowly digesting pools; the layer even affected visitors, who started losing taste for food and developed cravings for the flesh of sentient beings. It was mostly surrounded by the Gnashing Crags, a range of mountains that resembled teeth. A second range of similar-looking but upside-down mountains could sometimes be glimpsed from far above the clouds. It was the realm of the demon prince Turaglas, the Ebon Maw.

Layers 45-47: Azzagrat - Also known as the Triple Realm, Azzagrat consisted of the layers Rauwend, Shadowsky and Voorz'zt. These planes were connected together by the River of Salt and were ruled over by Graz'zt.