Pandemonium (Dungeons & Dragons)
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- Alternate meanings: See Pandæmonium (disambiguation)
In the standard cosmology of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium is the Outer plane where Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Neutral petitioners are sent after death. Pandemonium is a large, complex cavern that never ends. Compounding this problem, howling winds that screech drive most that live there mad. There are few creatures that are native to this plane; those individuals who do live there usually have no choice in the matter. It is one of a number of alignment-based Outer Planes that form part of the standard Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) cosmology, used in the Planescape, Greyhawk and some editions of the Forgotten Realms campaign settings.
In the Planescape campaign setting, Pandemonium houses the headquarters for the Bleak Cabal faction.
Contents |
[edit] Layers
Each of the four layers of Pandemonium is successively deeper within the caverns.
The gnoll deity Gorellik wanders throughout Pandemonium.
[edit] Pandesmos
Pandesmos is the largest and (relatively) most hospitable of the layers. The headwaters for the Styx are found here.
Pandesmos is the location of a number of godly realms, including Loki and Auril's realm of Winter's Delight, Talos' realm of Towers of Ruin, and Ho Masubi's realm of Uchi-bi.
[edit] Cocytus
Cocytus is also known as the "layer of lamentation", for this is where the winds are the strongest.
Cocytus is the location of a number of godly realms, including the god Erythnul's realm of the Fields of Malice, the bugbear deity Hruggek's realm of Hruggekolohk, Cyric's realm of the Shattered Castle.
[edit] Phlegethon
Phelgethon is the location of a number of godly realms, including the Queen of Air and Darkness's realm of the Unseelie Court, Zeboim's realm of The Maelstrom, and the derro deity Diirinka's realm of Hidden Betrayal.
[edit] Agathion
Agathion mainly contains holes, which double as portals to other planes.
[edit] Historical inspiration
The name Pandemonium comes from Pandæmonium, the capital of Hell in John Milton's Paradise Lost. The name means "all-demons" in Greek.
Cocytus and Phlegethon are two of the rivers from Hades in Greek mythology, and Cocytus is also the name of the lowest level of Hell in The Divine Comedy.
[edit] Fauna
| Outer Planes | ||||
| Celestia | Bytopia | Elysium | Beastlands | Arborea |
| Arcadia | ↑Good↑ | Ysgard | ||
| Mechanus | ←Lawful | Outlands | Chaotic→ | Limbo |
| Acheron | ↓Evil↓ | Pandemonium | ||
| Baator | Gehenna | Hades | Carceri | Abyss |
