Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
The Descent Live event is going on as I’m writing this video.
The new storyline called Baldur’s Gate Descent into Avernus will be out this September 2019.
So let’s talk about Avernus, which is the first layer of the Nine Hells, and maybe some
of the lore that you might want to know!
Demons and Devils are fighting one another, this is essentially the gist of the Blood
War.
And Avernus is the front line of this blood war, well the first defense of the Nine Hells
against the demons.
They might make it to Avernus but they won’t make it to other layers of the Nine Hells.
Certainly not making it to Asmodeus who rules this plane called Baator, or the Nine Hells.
Avernus is the first layer of the nine hells.
Each layer has its own particular quirks and is ruled by an Arch Devil.
Avernus is a charred wasteland, rocky, and harsh with an angry red sky.
Almost volcanic it’s full of devils with the River Styx cutting through it.
The River Styx links the topmost layers of the lower planes.
It cuts through the planes of Acheron, the Nine Hells, Gehenna, Hades, Tarterus, the
Abyss and Pandemonium.
Now in 4th edition the River Styx emptied all this sludge it gathered from the lower
planes into the Astra Sea.
But in 5th edition this is no longer the case, the Astral Sea is no more and is back to being
an Astral Plane.
Because this river links all these planes together it’s a way of traversing the planes
and allows creatures to go from a realm like the Abyss and travel to the Nine Hells.
Much of the blood war is fought along this river, that’s the easiest way for demons
to assault the nine hells and those demons wind up in Avernus.
Interestingly enough the River Styx is also connected to the fifth layer of hell Stygia,
where it cuts a channel through the great frozen sea of that layer.
I didn’t find any info on if demons can easily make it to Stygia or not, so I’m
assuming.. not.
In later editions where we lost the Great Wheel Cosmology and replaced it with the world
tree cosmology the River Styx was renamed the River of Blood, but it is the same river
and is commonly referred to as the River Styx in 5th edition D&D.
The river is deep, and swift, and those who drink from it forget their past lives for
a while, and if too much is drunk, they forget permanently.
It is rumored that the silt at the bottom of the Styx contains memories of past adventurers
who lost themselves to the river.
According to Mordenkainen’s tome of foes the shadar-kai sought to collect vials of
this sediment to offer it to the Raven Queen.
Avernus is where Zariel resides as arch devil, but she wasn’t always the ruler of Avernus
and wasn’t in fact always an arch devil.
Zariel was once a mighty angel who was charged with watching the tides of the Blood War.
In Celestia she tracked the progress of the blood war.
Now the interesting thing about The Blood War is it’s out of mind for most of the
universe.
However creatures of good watch this war because if the balance ever tipped the resulting demons
or devils could take over the rest of the planes.
It’s rather nice that the two evils fight each other but dangerous at the same time.
Zariel watched and wanted to solve the problem of the Blood War, wipe out both sides at once
and rid the multiverse of this evil.
She believed that an assault from the angels of Celestia could handle the hordes of demons
fighting the devils in Avernus.
But her superiors refused to allow her to engage in the blood war.
In Asmodeus’ history he was part of a host of angels that were sent to take care of the
demons but became corrupted by those demons and turned into devils.
Cast out from heaven they found a home in the Nine Hells and because of the rule of
law still carry out their orders to stop the encroaching hordes of demons from the Abyss.
So perhaps this is why Zariel wasn’t allowed to fight in the Blood War, her superiors knew
she would ultimately become corrupted much like the devils before her.
Regardless Zariel acted on her own and led a host of mortal allies into Avernus.
It’s not clear to me how she got these mortals, but she basically had followers that were
willing to fight and die for her.
She cut down numerous devils and demons before she was overwhelmed.
I assume most of her followers died, or were captured.
Later some bone devils sent by Asmodeus recovered her unconscious body and allowed her to recover
in the depths of Nessus, the ninth layer of hell.
Once she was well Asmodeus does what he does best and made a deal with Zariel.
That she could continue her active participation in the blood war as a general of Avernus.
Asmodeus who is in charge of all the rankings of devils within the Nine Hells put Bel (the
former ruler of Avernus) out of a job and gave it to Zariel.
She thus became an Arch devil, with her physical appearance changing to fit the harsh conditions
of the Nine Hells.
Bel usurped Zariel as Archdevil of Avernus for a while, until Asmodeus put him back in
his place with Zariel at the top.
Claiming that Bel’s tactics were inadequate in defending Avernus.
Bel remains one of Zariel’s chief lieutenants as his knowledge of Avernus and the blood
war are much appreciated.
However unlike Bel Zariel is a fighter, she lives to be in the front lines tearing down
demons.
Zeal and Fury fill her as she uses her expertise in fighting off wave after wave of demons
entering from the River Styx into Avernus.
According to Mordenkainen’s tome of Foes Avernus once had cities, outposts, and other
features but most of that is all gone under Zariel’s rule.
It is now a ruined wasteland, because of the blood war.
What this means is that there are plenty of ruined locations for adventurers to hide in
while they explore the nine hells.
Perhaps even discover some long lost hell relic that might turn the tide of battle in
the blood war.
Or at the very least protect the party until they can get out of the Nine Hells.
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