[ Gray Waste ] [ Oinos | Niflheim | Pluton ]
Pluton
The Gray Waste — Layer the Third
The Gloom of Grief, the Land Without Love, the Gloom of Alienation, the Sorrowed Land
Themes of the Layer: Silence, claustrophobia, despair, grief, colourlessness, shades, poisonous sorrow
The Lay of the Land
Pluton is the dreary, drab domain of Hades. You’ve found your way to the bleakest layer of the Gray Waste cutter, where colours fade into insignificance and emotions dissolve into a murky grey sludge. Here, evil isn’t a grand, fiery spectacle – it’s a slow, suffocating decay, where even your worst nightmares are dulled by the oppressive banality.
Pluton’s particular philosophy of evil is a lesson in monotony. It’s the kind of place that drains the life out of you slowly, one dismal moment at a time. Hades rules here, not with a fiery fist, but with a cold, detached efficiency. His particular style is methodical and relentless, designed to strip away hope and vitality, leaving nothing but a husk of what you once were. There’s no grand battle between good and evil here, no flash-bang of the Blood War, no Ragnarok-style apocalypse: just a pervasive sense of inevitable decline.
The landscape of Pluton is a desolate expanse, where the sky is perpetually overcast with a sickly grey pallor. The rivers Styx and Lethe snake through the realm, their waters imbued with their dark enchantments of forgetfulness. The Styx, as you might know, is infamous for its soul-corroding properties, while the Lethe offers a bittersweet escape – forgetfulness at the cost of your very self. Most folks who take a sip from Lethe’s waters are never the same again, if they even remember who they were to begin with.
Wander the lands of Pluton, and you’ll find the remnants of grand structures, now crumbling and abandoned. Giant stalagmites and stalactites shaped into grotesque mockeries of classical Greek architecture dominate the landscape. Picture Doric columns and frescoed pediments, all carved from deep black marble, perpetually being demolished and rebuilt by hordes of tormented souls and daemons.
The House of Hades
You can enter the realm of Hades through the Gates of Erebus, but be wary – the enchanted adamantite gates are a death trap for the unwary. Cerberus, that infamous three-headed guardian hound, lurks here, ready to pounce on intruders unless you distract him (them?) by a tasty morsel. His favourite food is tieflings, the chat goes. Beyond the gates, a black marble stairway descends deep into the Third Gloom, down inside a cavern that plays tricks on your perception, making escape seem impossible.
A three-hour trudge through the grey wasteland leads you to Hades’ palace, a sprawling edifice of Stygian marble surrounded by a meadow of ghostly asphodel—a gray flower that has the faint perfume of ash. It’s a forbidding place, guarded jealously by Hades’ minions. Few have seen its interior and lived to tell the tale, but whispers speak of labyrinthine halls and chambers filled with unspeakable horrors. Twin pools at the entrance, fed by the Lethe and the waters of Memory, offer a cruel choice – forget everything or cling to fading memories, if you dare.
A Gaggle of Hags
There’s more to Pluton than the thrall of Hades though, cutter. Take Hagsend, for example—the festering sore of Pluton, the twisted sanctuary of the goddess of hags, Cegilune. Nestled halfway up a blackened mountain, Hagsend is a hive of depravity and deceit, where every hag schemes to gain an edge, even if it means betraying their so-called sisters. This ain’t a place for the faint-hearted or the foolish.
Cegilune’s realm is a merciless marketplace, where souls are just another commodity. The night hags here are perpetually locked in a game of one-uphagship, driven by the dark desire to collect magic for their hated Queen. They loathe her, sure, but Cegilune doesn’t give a rat’s tail about their feelings as long as the magic keeps flowing. It’s a cutthroat world where everyone’s out for themselves, and trust is as rare as a sunny day in Pluton.
Hagsend is a warren of bone-strewn caves carved into the mountainside. The caverns are vast, with ceilings towering at least twenty feet high, ensuring that even the most imposing fiends can navigate them with ease. The walls are adorned with the macabre decorations—skulls, twisted roots, and eerie glowing fungi that cast a sickly greenish light.
Deep within the mountain lies the heart of Hagsend—the larvae pens. Rows upon rows of writhing, tormented souls, stripped of their former identities, squirm in filth-strewn enclosures. Ciria, the ruthless hag overseeing this hellish farm, ensures that the larvae are kept in a perpetual state of despair, ripe for trade. She’s fiercely loyal to Cegilune and has a knack for sniffing out thieves and conspirators.
Wizardly types are warned that the air in Hagsend seems to drain such cutters of their magic, unless they’ve brought themselves a reprieve by garnishing Celigune’s temples with magical trinkets.
Aeaea
Ah, Aeaea, the mysterious and arcane dominion of Hecate, the three-faced goddess of witchcraft and magic. Hidden in the misty folds of Pluton’s mountains, Aeaea is a realm of enchantment and transformation, where the lines between reality and illusion blur. This ain’t a place for the uninitiated or the unwary—every shadow here hides a secret, and every crossroads can lead to wonder or woe.
Aeaea reflects the multifaceted nature of Hecate herself: enigmatic, powerful, and ever-changing. It’s a place where knowledge is power, and the pursuit of arcane secrets can elevate or destroy you. The inhabitants, be they mortal or immortal, live by the whims of the goddess, and her favour can shift as swiftly as the phases of the moon. Its a land of striking contrasts, a patchwork of lush forests, eerie moonlit swamps, and rugged mountains, all shrouded in perpetual twilight. The air hums with latent magic, and the very ground seems to pulse with an arcane rhythm.
Perched atop the highest peak, Hecate’s temple is a marvel of dark beauty. Constructed from black marble and adorned with intricate carvings, it glows with an inner light that shifts with the goddess’s moods. The temple is a place of pilgrimage for witches and warlocks seeking Hecate’s favour, and it’s said that those who prove their worth may receive powerful boons. And those who don’t? Well, they tend not be seen again.
Pluton is a lesson in despair, a place where even the bravest can lose themselves to the numbing, grey void. It’s a realm that thrives on the slow erosion of hope, where every step is a struggle against the overwhelming weight of ennui. So, if you find yourself wandering these bleak lands, keep your wits about you and remember – in Pluton, even forgetting can come at a terrible price. Don’t eat the food, and don’t look back.
Locations of Pluton
- Aeaea (realm of Hecate)
- Thalatta (site)
- Fiendish Codex 2 [3e] p48-49; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p123,174; Planes of Law [2e] Baator p18; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malenvolentiae p48,59-60
- Bleakshore (realm of Fumeiyoshi)â€
- Planar Adventures [PF1e] p199
- Corpus (independent burg)
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malenvolentiae p60-61; Player’s Guide p31
- Ghoresh Chasm(site)
- Hellbound [2e] Dark of the War p15
- Erebus, (Hades, The Underworld) (realm of Hades and Persephone’s realm)
- Palace of Hades
- Wheel of the Fates, the (realm of the Moirae)
- Lairs of the Furies
- Deities and Demigods [3e] p99,113,115; Dragon Magazine #113 p11-26; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p123,174; Planar Handbook [3e] p157; Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p2-9; Liber Malevolentiae p45,61-64 (entry for the realm); Player’s Guide p31
- Hagsend (realm of Cegilune)
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p176
- Hill of Bone, the (site)
- Planescape Monstrous Compendium Volume 1 [2e] p82 (graveyard of the nightmares); Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p64 (description of the hill)
- Lodestone of Misery (site)
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Player’s Guide p31 (description of the site)
- Lua-o-Milu (realm of Milu)‡
- Mount Olympus (planar pathway)
- Omore’s Folly (site)
- Planar Handbook [3e] p157
- River Styx (planar pathway)
- River Lethe (planar pathway)
- Slave City of Awaiting-Consumption (independent burg)â€
- Planar Adventures [PF1e] p200
- Town at the Centre (independent burg)
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Player’s Guide p31 (description of the burg)
Powers of Pluton
- Celigune (power of hags)
- Dragon Magazine #345 p64-67; Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p120; Inner Planes [2e] p56,58; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p176; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malenvolentiae p47
- Fates, the (Greek powers of destiny)
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p47,116-117,123,129,174; Planes of Chaos [2e] Book of Chaos p37,39,46; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malenvolentiae p48
- Fumeiyoshi (Tian Xia power of envy, graves and undeath)â€
- Planar Adventures [PF1e] p197
- Furies, the (the Kindly Ones—Alecto, Megarea, Tisiphone) (Greek powers of retribution)
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p47,116-117,123,129,174; Planes of Chaos [2e] Book of Chaos p37,39,46; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malenvolentiae p48
- Hades (Greek power of the Underworld)
- Deities and Demigods [3e] p99,113,115-117; Dragon Magazine ##113 p11-14,16,24,26; Dungeon Magazine #149 p84; Factol’s Manifesto [2e] p129; Hellbound [2e] Dark of the War p73; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p42,47,116,119,122-123,174; Planes of Chaos [2e] Travelogue p21; Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p6-8; Liber Malevolentiae p45,47-48,50,59,61-62,64; Player’s Guide p4,31; Planescape Setting [2e] DM’s Guide p59
- Hecate (Greek power of magic and witchcraft)
- Deities and Demigods [3e] p99,117-119; Fiendish Codex 2 [3e] p48-49; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p116,123,125,134,174; Planes of Chaos [2e] Book of Chaos p37; Planes of Law [2e] Baator p8,18,21; Player’s Guide p20; Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p6-8; Liber Malevolentiae p48,59-60
- Milu (Hawaiian power of the dead)‡
- Persephone (Greek power of the Spring, Queen of the Dead)
- Deities and Demigods [3e] p112-116; Dragon Magazine ##113 p12-14,24,26; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p117,122-123; Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p7-8; Liber Malevolentiae p61-62
Cutters of Pluton
- Aeacus (human proxy wizard of Hades [he/him] / LN)
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p123; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p64
- Cerberus (The Hound)
- Dragon Magazine ##113 p12; Manual of the Planes [3e] p111; Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p6-7; Liber Malevolentiae p62; Planescape Setting [2e] DM’s Guide p59
- Danaids, the(human petitioners [all she/her])
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p9; Liber Malevolentiae p62,64
- Dandy Will (planar tiefling [he/him])
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Player’s Guide p31-32
- Ixion (human petitioner [he/him])
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p2,7,9; Liber Malevolentiae p62
- Jaspar, Caili (planar tiefling [he/him / N)
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p60
- Minos (human proxy wizard of Hades [he/him] / LN)
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p123; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p64
- Peirithous (human petitioner [he/him])
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p62
- Rhadamanthys (human proxy wizard of Hades [he/him] / LN)
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p123; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p64
- Sisyphus (human petitioner [he/him])
- Dragon Magazine ##113 p14; Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p9; Liber Malevolentiae p62,64
- Tantalus (human petitioner [he/him])
- Dragon Magazine ##113 p14; Planes of Conflict [2e] Adventures in Conflict p2,7,9; Liber Malevolentiae p62
- Thalatta
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malevolentiae p60
Canonical Sources
- Hellbound [2e] Dark of the War p73
- Manual of the Planes [3e] p111
- Manual of the Planes [5e] p204-209
- On Hallowed Ground [2e] p123,174,176
- Planar Adventures [PF1e] p196-201â€
- Planar Handbook [3e] p157
- Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Malenvolentiae p43,45-46,48,50,59-64; Adventures in Conflict p2-9; Player’s Guide p4,30,32
- Planescape Setting [2e] DM’s Guide p59
- Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p13
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!
Other Sources:
- Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net
- Atlas of the planes https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/6uf2q8/hades_pluton/