Chamada

[ Gehenna ] [ Khalas | Chamada | Mungoth | Krangath ]

Gehenna — Layer the Second

The Raging Furnace, the Mountain of Hate, the Howling Inferno

Themes of the Layer: Chamada embodies themes of poisonous rage, secrecy, and tyrannical rule. Here, the idea of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer takes on a deadly seriousness. Forming strong clan bonds are essential here — blood is thicker than lava, after all. This often leads to power struggles and treacherous alliances. Chamada is a crucible of hatred and ambition, where the fire of rage never cools and the bonds of family can be both a strength and a deadly trap.

The Flaming Terrain

After you get out of the frying pan that is Khalas, welcome to the fire. This second layer of Gehenna will make even the most fire-resistant basher rethink their life choices. The air here is thick with acrid smoke, rising up ten miles above the surface, blinding unprotected eyes and turning your lungs into wheezing soot-traps. Imagine breathing through a bag of burning hair and flesh, and you’re nearly halfway to grasping Chamada’s ambience.

The landscape of the layer is a fearsome nightmare of city-sized volcanoes, rivers of molten lava thousands—yes, you read that right—of miles wide, and terrain in constant flux. It’s a cacophony of destruction, with the ground itself in a near-constant state of motion, sliding inexorably downwards towards the eternal night of the void that surrounds the mountain. Boils and pustules of molten metal litter the rocky surface, ready to burst at the slightest disturbance, spraying searing death in all directions. It can rain broken glass or obsidian shards.

Dangers of Chamada

In Chamada, death is not just a possibility; it’s a promise. The ground burns with such intensity that it deals damage to exposed flesh. Without magical protection from the heat, anything organic will immediately burst into flames, turning even the most hardy adventurer into kindling. Rivers of lava sweep down the slopes and obliterate everything in their path, creating a landscape where solid ground is an illusion—often just a thin crust over a recent lava flow.

The air itself is a weapon. The stench of sulphur and charred flesh is omnipresent, acting like a permanent stinking cloud, causing those unaccustomed to it to struggle for breath and even cough up blood. Caverns beneath the surface offer fleeting refuge from the smell, but these too are temporary, as the heat quickly melts them back into the magma — and hard to escape should this happen.

The Denizens

Chamada is home to some of the most malevolent and destructive fiends in the multiverse. The immolith div thrive here in the wastelands and molten lava fields, using the perpetual infernos to amplify their fiery assaults. These divs delight in the annihilation of anything that dares to exist in their domain, even yugoloths, turning the searing heat and flames against any intruders with a sadistic glee.

The yugoloths also favour this layer, their fire-resistant towers and mobile fortresses dotting the hellish landscape. These fortresses offer the false hope of shelter, but are little more than traps for the unwary. The yugoloths’ mastery of deception and tyranny makes them particularly suited to Chamada’s environment, where trust is a weakness and power is all.

Chamada is the full-throated embodiment of Gehenna’s cruelty and destruction. It’s a place where rage and ambition fuel an eternal cycle of violence and betrayal. Only the most prepared or desperate souls venture here, and even fewer survive. If Khalas is the harsh introduction, Chamada is the brutal lesson that follows.

Locations of Chamada

Amygdule (independent burg)
- Manual of the Planes [5e] p198
Bastion of Hate (realm of Iyachtu Xvim)
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p168,181
Coryne, the Brutal City (yugoloth burg)
- Manual of the Planes [5e] p200
Death’s Gorge (site)
- Hellbound: Dark of the War [2e] p64
Ecstatic Agony (headquarters of the Society of Pain sect)‡
Forge (independent burg)‡
Hueiuhcalli (realm of Huitzilopochtli)‡
Maeldur et Kavurik (citadel)
- Hellbound: Dark of the War [2e] p11,15, Wargames p39-42,50,54,72-73,82-83,89-96
Nimicri (independent burg)
- Hellbound: Dark of the War [2e] p64; Manual of the Planes [3e] p114, [53] p199; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p34-36, Player’s Guide p26; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p21
Palace of Deception(realm of Sargonnas)
- Manual of the Planes [5e] p202; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p180
Rictus (realm of Maanzecorian, destroyed)
- Dead Gods [2e] p37
Steep Ascent (planar pathway)
Thraotor (realm of Memnor)
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p176
Tower Arcane (site)
- Dungeon Magazine #144 p82; Faces of Evil [2e] p69,76,80; Hellbound: Dark of the War [2e] p13,27; Inner Planes [2e] p42; Manual of the Planes [3e] p114, [5e] p199; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p36; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p21

Powers of Chamada

Huitzilopochtli (Aztec power of war and light)‡
Iyachtu Xvim (Faerûnian power of hatred and tyranny, dead)
- For Duty and Deity [2e] p27; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p168-169,181; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p28
Maanzecorian (illithid power of knowledge)
- Dead Gods [2e] p9,17-19,37,49-50,124; Fiendish Codex I [3e] p128; Manual of the Planes [3e] p111, [5e] p200; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p47,176; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p28
Memnor (Ordning power of pride and control)
- Manual of the Planes [3e] p111, [5e] p201; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p176; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p25
Sargonnas (Krynnish power of retribution)
- Manual of the Planes [5e] p202; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p47,165,180; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p28; Planescape Campaign Setting DM’s Guide [2e] p58

Movers and Shakers

Diptherius (altraloth, proconsul of the General of Gehenna)
- Manual of the Planes [5e] p200
General of Gehenna (altraloth architect of the Blood War)
- Manual of the Planes [5e] p200

Creatures of Chamada

Batfly
- A butterfly with bat wings, made of solid iron. In the Cage [2e] p94
Cherufe†
- Enormous reptilian made from magma. Bestiary 5 [PF1e] p55
Combusted†
- Reanimated corpse of a victim of spontaneous combustion. Bestiary 6 [PF1e] p63
Div, Immolith‡
- Towering pillars of flame embodying pure destruction. Creature Codex [PF1e]
Dragon, Pyroclastic
- Dragon Magazine #300 [3e]; Draconomicon [4e]
Giant, fire
- Lumbering stocky giants with flaming beards and hair. Giants Revisted [PF1e]
Imp
- Small winged devilish creature, formed from larvae by fiends. Often used a cantankerous familiars. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e]; Bestiary 1 [PF1e] 78, Monster Manual 1 [3e]
Larva
- Spirits of the evil dead, reformed into horrid worms with humanoid faces. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p62
Night hag
- Traders in larvae and soul gems. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p80
Nightmare
- Flaming equine harbingers of death who carry only the most evil of riders. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p82; Bestiary 1 [PF1e] p216
Phiuhl
- Spirits of slain elementals which haunt the desolate cliffs of Gehenna. Planes of Conflict [2e] Monstrous Supplement, Fiend Folio [3e] p135
Quasit
- Small winged demonic creature, formed from larvae by fiends. Often used a treacherous familiars. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e]; Bestiary 1 [PF1e] p66, Monster Manual 1 [3e]
Xac-yel
- Fire-based energy creature. Planar Handbook [3e] p119
Yugoloth
- Arcanaloth
  - Record keepers and contract executors, recording Blood War transactions. They embody death by conspiracy. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p120
- Baernaloth
  - Elder race of outcast solitary yugoloths, thought of as mythical. Planes of Conflict Monstrous Supplement [2e] p30
- Canoloth
  - Scouts and skirmishes in yugoloth armies, guardians and bodyguards of more powerful ‘loths. Manual of the Planes [3e] p185; Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p126
- Dergoloth
  - Spherical insect-like beasts with five legs and three arms, mercenaries in the Blood War known for devouring the injured and dying on the battlefields. Personification of death by violence and insanity. Planescape Monstrous Compendium 2 [2e] p121; Bestiary 2 [PF1e] p66
- Gacholoth
  - Infinitrators and terrorists of the Blood War. Personification of death by terrorism. Dungeon Magazine #49; Monstrous Compendum Annual Vol, 4 [2e] p93
- Guardian Yugoloth (Ceustoloth)
  - Summoning fodder of the yugoloths, personification of death by suicide. Monstrous Manual [2e], Bestiary 2 [PF1e] p65 (as ceustodaemon)
- Mezzoloth
  - Humanoid insects used as foot soldiers and mercenaries. Manual of the Planes [3e] p186; Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p123
- Nycaloth
  - Elite cavalry, observers and reporters on Blood War battles. Personify death by falling. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p124, Manual of the Planes [3e] p185
- Piscoloth
  - Sergeants and overseers of mercenary armies. Personification of death by poisoning. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p125; Fiend Folio [3e] p196; Bestiary 2 [PF1e] 72
- Purroloth†
  - Generals of massive armies, master tacticians. Bestiary 2 [PF1e] p73 (as purrodaemon)
- Ultroloth
  - Officers and generals of Blood War armies. Represent death by oppression. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p126, Manual of the Planes [3e] p185
- Voor, Lasher
  - Hulking, brutish yugoloths used as guardians or bodyguards. Monster Manual IV [3e] p193
- Yagnoloth
  - Nobles of yugoloth fiefs. Planescape Monstrous Compendium [2e] p127

Canonical Sources

Hellbound: The Blood War [2e]
Manual of the Planes [1e, 3e, & 5e]
On Hallowed Ground [2e]
Planar Handbook [3e]
Planes of Conflict [2e]
Planescape Campaign Setting: DM’s Guide to the Planes [2e]
Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vols. 1 & 2 [2e]
Planewalker’s Handbook [2e]

Other Sources:

Bestiaries 1—6 [PF1e]
Atlas of the Planes: Gehenna
Jon Winter-Holt

Canonwatch: Entries are from D&D canon unless otherwise marked, although when the canon is sparse I’ve got creative with the details; † adapted from a 3rd party publication; ‡ homebrew.

More details to follow!