Dis

Baatorian Layer
Order:	Second
Realms:	Dis The Retreat of the Fallen

As far as people can tell, there's Dis, the Second Layer, and then there's Dis, the City of Pain. It's hard to tell where the city begins - even though the city's walled. Spurs of blackened iron thrust their way into the ash-green skies in the blasted plains around the city, until they get so think they can actually be considered walls. There are roads here that wind among the ever-thickening spurs. Coming into the city's quite abrupt; rounding one of the iron escarpments, a traveller suddenly notices that there's all sorts of sods. If she looks behind herself, she sees that she's far into town. The burg looks like it extends forever, with the streets vanishing into the horizon. Even though the city's ringed about by mountains, it also looks to be infinite in scope.

Abishai perch on the outer walls, keeping watch over the petitioners doomed to toil within and without the city. Some of the dead are lemures, while others are shades who've been granted memories of their past lives so that they can more fully appreciate the excruciating torment they're undergoing. The petitioners perform the detail work ordered by Dispater, the iron-fisted ruler of the city - work that the sods think is meaningless. For example, one group of the condemned might be paving a street to lay metal plates, while another group one block away is tearing up a newly paved street to set down cobblestones. Such illogic doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but that's Dispater's way.

The blackened iron walls of Dis smoke with intense heat, burning horrific wounds into those who brush against them; likewise, the streets sear feet shod in all but the heaviest boot leather. The avenues echo with the screams of petitioners who must touch the burning iron during the course of their work. Anyone who wanders down these narrow streets, or brushes against the walls, without proper protection are subject to agonizing burns. Thick cloth and padded armour are the best protection here, metal armour gets unpleasantly hot in Dis's inferno.

That doesn't mean there aren't any amenities here for planewalkers and traders. In the section of town devoted to such folk, there's hangings on the walls and carpets on the floors to protect visitors from the heat, though Ids is still an uncomfortable place to be.

The central feature of Dis is Dispater's private structure of iron and lead, called the Iron Tower (among many epithets). Some berks say it's called the Iron Tower because of the metalworks on its windows and doors; others say the monkier reflects the iron rule of Dispater.

Baatorian Layers

Avernus . Dis . Minauros . Phlegethos . Stygia . Malbolge . Maladomini . Cania . Nessus