The Glitterhell
| Divine Realm | |
|---|---|
| Plane: | The Gray Waste |
| Layer: | Oinos |
| Powers: | Abbathor |
- Greed is good. It keeps a body alive. Greed's just the extremity of hope - the hope that a body gets everything he wants. Nothing is more important than the acquisition of gold, and no one is important enough to get in the way of treasure. Greed's the greatest motivator in the universe, and everybody wants it all.
The Glitterhell's tucked away in a cavern complex deep in Oinos. It's hidden from the prying eyes of man and dwarf alike, and no fiends dare the god's wrath by crossing the threshold of the realm. Lots of other caves open out near this complex, and each of them appears to be the entrance to the realm - but these fakes all read to trapped caverns, which collapse on an intruder, or dump him into a pit of vipers, or dissolve into a bath of acid under his feet.
Abbathor of the dwarves, the god of all that's greedy and miserly in the dwarven character, rules the Glitterhell with a jealous eye. He's fiercely protective of his treasures, and he doesn't want just any berk getting into his realm. A traveler should be aware that on the outskirts of the realm, all that glitters might only be fool's gold.
The Glitterhell shines like softly burnished gold, even in the depths of the Waste. The gentle light gleams mellowly in the depths of the cavern, and it's valuable just for that. The color itself can restore someone suffering from the apathy of the Gray Waste, reminding them of the color of life and light beyond the limiting horizons of the layer.
The diseases of the layer have no power here; Abbathor's too jealous of his good health to allow something that potentially threatening into his land. He prefers his little workers healthy, since their wasting sickness would wreak havoc on their ability to function for him.
The petitioners of the Glitterhell work and thieve for Abbathor's pleasure. He's a harsh taskmaster, always demanding more from his charges, knowing yet more treasure can be accumulated and dug from the rock. As a result, his grim and angry followers wish they could have more time for themselves, but they never quite find it. Still, they're not pale ghosts like the rest of the petitioners of the Waste, so they could count themselves lucky. Compared to those sods, they're actually got it pretty good. Not that they ever would think of it, because they're all too soddin' jealous of everyone else.
Sites and Cities
The Glitterhell's divided into three section: Abbathor's Hall, the Mines, and the Village. Abbathor's Hall off-limits to everyone but the power and his proxies, and anyone else found there is assumed to be a thief and killed outright. The bright lights of the Hall discourage anyone who might want to hide in the shadows. Inside, in a quintuply-locked magically warded vault in the very center of the Halls, sits the fabled Trove of Abbathor. It contains all manner of treasure, from a measly copper piece to the emerald throne bearing the bones of the last Emperor of the Forbidden Dawn.
The Mines support the principal industry of the Glitterhell. In defiance of all laws of earth, veins of all sorts of metals run through the ground. Few of these metals are valuable, at least to Abbathor, and so they're ignored in favor of the rare silver or gold veins, or even the occasional gems. Chant is that Abbathor's the one responsible for mines running dry in the Prime - he steals them so his petitioners have valuables to bring them.
All the locals live in a stone-walled town generally known as the Village, and they're not supposed to want to go anyplace else. Well, that's true for the most part, but then no one dares to leave, either. Also called the Redoubt, it's the only village in Glitterhell, with thousands of bashers living in it. Not only petitioners, but planars who decided that the Glitterhell's far preferable to dealing with whatever awaits them outside, too. The dwarves all live in one part of town, the other races are crammed into slums on the other end, and everyone in town seems to dislike each other. The nondwarves in Redoubt are little better than slaves, serving the desires of anyone who cares to command them. They mostly serve as miners and apprentices to the crafters, though a few've made their own names famous.