Gate-towns

Situated about the Outlands are burgs that contain gates leading to the various Outer Planes. Each gate-town opens to the first layer of its respective plane. The areas around the gate-towns, as well as the burgs themselves, take on various aspects of the plane to which the gate leads. So the area around a gate to Mechanus is extremely orderly, while the town around a gate to the Abyss is sinister and foul.

Gates to the Planes of Law

• Automata

The gate-town of Automata leads to Mechanus. It's full of lawful, orderly, overly organized bashers who can't strap on their own boots without filling out a form. In short, watch out for the red tape. But it's the only place outside of Mechanus that a body can find the strange new clockwork weapons that've been developed on the plane of law. Crossbows that fire more than one bolt, armor with built-in dart-throwers, and even stranger things can be found here, as long as the buyer's extra-generous with the jink (and is willing to fil out the proper forms).

• Excelsior

In Mount Celestia's gate-town, Excelsior, the streets are paved with gold-flecked brick and floating castles of paladin lords keep the perimeter safe. In fact, a body can't swing a dead vrock without hitting a paladin in Excelsior. If that's not something a basher appreciates, she should just avoid the place.

• Fortitude

Fortitude is the gate-town to Arcadia, although some bashers call it the Egg because the town's wall makes a perfect oval shape. The burg's a beautiful place, but it's an ordered beauty. The trees line the parks in neat rows, the grass is uniformly clipped, and the streets are polished to a shine. An intolerant lot of berks live here - beware showing too much individuality.

• Ribcage

The fortress city of Ribcage, nestled under the curving "ribs" of the Vale of the Spine mountains, protects the gate to Baator. The people are a peery bunch who work hard and keep their eyes open. Fail in either, and there'll be music too harsh to pay.

• Rigus

Even more of a military camp is Rigus, the gate-town to Acheron. The gate itself lays far underground, and a basher's got to get through guards and protections too numerous to catalogue, but rumors say there's other, secret ways to get to it.

Gates to the Planes of Chaos

• Bedlam

Bedlam's the gate-town to Pandemonium, and it's a barmy place that doesn't look quite right to a body wandering about the streets. Don't assume anyone here's completely sane, but don't think they're all deranged sods, either. If possible, contact a bariaur named Thirst. He's a little touched, but more lucid than most, and for a price he'll keep a sod out of the blinds.

• Glorium

Glorium's got two gates to Ysgard. One's on the water, big enough for ships to sail through, while the other is actually a part of Yggdrasil. The town's very small anthill and there's not much to see. look for a blacksmith named Thurnur who makes a nasty chiv for not a lot of jink. Some say he enchants his wares, but Thurnur denies it.

• Plague-Mort

The ramshackle town of Plague-Mort leads to the Abyss. Here, might makes right, and the strongest rule the day - rather ruthlessly, too. The shacks that make up the city surround the huge, ornate iron keep where the ruler makes his case. The current chant is that the burg's ruler has a group of plane-touched enforcers called the Hounds - and they're always looking for new recruit. Tieflings beware, 'cause these folks don't take "no" for an answer.

• Sylvania

Sylvania (which surrounds the gate to Arborea) is a burg for the party-loving planewalker. There're more taverns than in any other gate-town, and that's not even the beginning of the sensual delights to be found here. But beware of partying too hard, 'cause cony-catchers and cross-trading scum wait to peel and bob the unwary bubbers who fill the streets.

• Xaos

Barmy's the best way to describe Xaos, the gate-town to Limbo. There's so much chaotic energy here that the town shifts and changes in an eyeblink. The folks here can handle it - lots of travellers can't.

Gates to the Planes of Conflict

• Curst

Curst leads to Carceri, and like that plane, is full of exiles and refugees. There's said to be a slaver ring here that ties all the way into the Inner Planes.

• Ecstasy

Ecstasy holds the gate to Elysium. The town's known as the City of Plinths for the tall stone and iron monuments that dot the burg. Here, bashers sit idly and contemplate the multiverse. Everyone else in town is equally motivated - they do what they want, when they want, and generally enjoy life. This isn't a bad place for a planewalker to take a break, but don't look for much from the local folk - they're busy with their own cares.

• Faunel

Although it looks like a ruin, Faunel is actually the gate-town to the Beastlands. This burg's been overgrown by plants and is populated by more beasts than people. Here's a fact some leatherheads can't tumble to: The place is supposed to be wild. Berks trying to fix the place up and establish a real city wind up in the dead-book. The dark is that something here lurks in the shadows, championing the wild side, killing anyone who opposes it.

• Hopeless

Hopeless is built in a spiralling pit with the gate to the Gray Waste at the bottom. The burg's a depressing place with only one street - the one that spirals down into the pit. The Lonesome Fear Inn caters to planewalkers, particularly those who've spent a lot of time on the Lower Planes and know the dark of the nether regions.

• Torch

The horrible town of Torch is built amid volcanic spires and surrounded by a blood-red marsh. The gate to Gehenna hovers high off the ground, making it a real challenge to get to it. Torch is full of spivs and knights of the cross-trade, many of them well-lanned about the Outlands and the Lower Planes. For information, look for the top-shelf blood Baldurth in the Feasthall of the Falling Coins.

• Tradegate

Bashers hoping to get to Bytopia might try Tradegate, but the gate's real hard to use 'cause a berk's got to find a cutter named the Master Trader fist. Most folks just come here to buy and sell, since this is the center of Outlands commerce.