*INTERDICTED LAYER*
by Decree of the Fraternity of Order
The Nature of Evil: Do not fear the darkness, for it is your ally. It hides the fear in your eyes, and the glint of the knife in your hand. Learn to live with and love the dark, for it is the only real friend you have.
The Chant: Blackness upon blackness, night consumed by night. A layer of tunnels which meander meaninglessly like bubbers in the Hive, Molrat is probably unmappable. If the pitch darkness wasn’t bad enough (even magical light struggles to bring relief to this place — its effective range is halved; non-magical lights are extinguished after the briefest glimmer), then a cutter should be warned that the tanar’ri who hunt here have senses of smell so well developed that they can find a gold coin in a vault of silver.
Nobody knows much about the fiends of this layer, save that they hunt one another constantly and don’t have half a qualm about eating whatever, or whoever, they catch. It could be that they’re natives, love the thrill of the hunt and the cunning it requires to survive here, and stay by choice. Or it could be that they’re trapped here in the darkness, and are merely looking for food while they’re seeking an exit. Maybe they’ve been sent here as punishment. Or perhaps tanar’ri (and worse) come here by choice to hone their combat skills in what’s surely an ultimate every-fiend-for-itself fight to the death. It’s any blood’s guess, really, because the tanar’ri of Molrat are far too busy killing or being-killed to answer questions.
Powers of Note: Daisim, the Lord of Discord (planar tanar’ri lord [he/they] / CE)
Daisim is said to be a tanar’ri so ugly in appearance that the very sight of him causes a cutter’s hair to turn white and skin to wither. Chant goes they even scare tanar’ri, and this is why the blood’s chosen to make his lair in a realm of pitch darkness. A triple baboon-headed monstrosity with gangly legs and misshapen body, Daisim dwells in a keep as black as his moods are reputed to be, only joining the hunt in the tunnels when he chooses.
Keen to keep out of the limelight in more ways than one, the Lord has this far avoided being embroiled in the Blood War as well. This might be because he’s so good at hiding on this layer that if he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be. That doesn’t stop the cutter from spreading chaos through the Abyss by bringing powerful fiends into Molrat and scaring the heebie-jeebies out of them. Other Abyssal Lords have called Daisim a coward, though never to his face…
Known Sites: Noctica (site)
Canonical References:
- Fiendish Codex 1 [3e] p156 (mention)
- Planes of Chaos Abyss Poster [2e] (brief layer description)
Source: Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net