The Abyss
The Abyss is an infinite plane of chaos and evil, a vast, layered realm of darkness, cruelty, and endless war. It is home to the demons — fiends born from the plane’s raw malevolence — and to the demon lords who carve out domains of power within its countless layers.
Structure
The Abyss is made up of an uncountable number of layers, each one a self-contained world of horror shaped by the will of whatever demon lord claims dominion over it. No two layers are alike. Some are endless wastelands of bone, others are churning seas of acid, and still others are twisted mockeries of the mortal world.
Orcus and the Abyss
Orcus, the Demon Prince of Undeath, rules from his domain of Thanatos — the layer of the Abyss known as the Belly of Death. Thanatos is a bleak, frozen wasteland of tombs, mausoleums, and graveyards stretching to the horizon in every direction. The sky is perpetually dark, lit only by a pale, sickly moon. The dead walk freely here, and nothing truly living lasts long.
From Thanatos, Orcus commands vast legions of undead and plots to extend his dominion over the living. His ultimate ambition is to snuff out all life and replace it with undeath — a world of eternal servitude to him.
Connection to the Mortal World
The barrier between the Abyss and the mortal plane is not absolute. During The Dark Age, Orcus was summoned into the world and enslaved all living things under his rule. It took the sacrifice of The Four to banish him back to the Abyss and seal the rift between the planes.
The Abyss continues to exert its influence through cults, corrupted artifacts, and those who seek to tear open the barrier once more.