The Abyss was an evil place. It was not only inhabited by evil fiends, but also inherently lived from evil energy. Thus, it created Vallashan, a very tempting layer easy to conquer for people meddling in Abyssal affairs, but in actuality the most perfect trap.

History

Originally, at the time of the Dictation, Vallashan was the 22nd layer of the Abyss, both in name and in location. However, sometime around the start of the Celestial Wars, it moved up to 5th position with seemingly no agency of anyone except the Abyss itself. This made it much more easily reachable through magical means from even outside the plane, and also made magic function better in the layer. During the war, numerous celestial hosts and their allies tried invading the layer. While most successfully conquered it, they thereafter failed to expand much upwards or downwards and collapsed from within, being corrupted and partially switching sides.

The layer never stood under the rule of a lord, however, but instead was a scene of constant chaos and violent warfare between mostly mortal races that didn't have a place in the Abyss, in the eyes of demon lords. While none succeeded in ruling the layer, they did manage to magically shift the location of their layer, placing it above Vallashan and leading to its gradual descent downwards. Eventually, it was repudiated all the way to 13th layer. But the next time it was tried to move Vallashan even further down, the spellcasters were vaporized, and it was realized that Vallashan had been Fastened. This meant its location was unchangeable, and it thereafter remained in its location as 13th layer of the Abyss.

The many corrupted mortal souls that landed in the layer built fortresses and expansive cave systems to call home. Most people lived on the obsidian mountains, either on the mountainside or in caves, and normally close by spires of iron or wood.

The Five Faction Dynasty arose around 1'250 b. OW out of various preexisting mortal organizations.

Features

Superficially, Vallashan looked similar to much of the Abyss. Basalt plains with the occasional mountain of obsidian, river of bubbling acid, and inexplicably breathable air were nothing unusual. An exceptional aspect were occasional spires of wood or piles of iron that seemed to grow out of the ground, allowing its inhabitants to craft weapons and armor. But the most unique feature of the place was its corrupting nature.

There were admittedly other layers in the Abyss that corrupted the souls of all mortals who dared visit, but none did it quite as effectively as Vallashan. Vallashan was designed as a trap for the forces of good, but rather than slaying them, it claimed them for the Abyss. The few resident demons that attacked newcomers were not meant to be dangerous, but rather to cause violence, because every act of violence in Vallashan further corrupted a mortal soul. The layer's corrupting power was so great that even fighting in self-defence quickly made mortals bloodthirsty.

Vallashan's corruption didn't create loyalty among corrupted groups. Instead, much like demons, the corrupted only wanted to be in power. Some armies that had been especially close before remained together, but others splintered into smaller factions and sought their own way to glory. Thus, when multiple armies or single large ones tried taking the layer, they often turned against each other for the right to rule.

The layer itself knew exactly what land was under whose control at all times, slightly altering areas to give invading armies an advantage. Most commonly this was done by providing them cloud cover for stealth or other strategic advantages, but sometimes it could cause entirely new resources to appear, only for them to vanish again when a new conqueror appeared on the horizon.

Aging. Mortals on Vallashan did not age. They remained of the exact age they were in when they entered, and could live indefinitely. However, the layer's corruption very slowly turned people mad to where they grew reckless and much more likely to die.

People could die through other ways as normal on the layer. There were diseases, but most commonly violence led to death. If their souls weren't corrupted, it was possible that they moved on to a normal afterlife or were resurrected. However, if they were already gone, then their souls were reincarnated somewhere in the Abyss as minor demons.

Landmarks

The Fortress of Bones was supposedly made from the skeleton of a corrupted ancient gold dragon that once fell into this layer. The Legion fought and killed it in their early days, before they were all corrupted. They then built this small fortress using the dragon bones as a base, patching in the gaps with the bones of smaller creatures. The fortress housed one of the few large permanent portals out of the layer, which gave the Legion some influence and connections with the two neighboring layers' lords.

Mortal Survival

For mortals, the layer was relatively easy to survive in. The rivers, while made of acid, could be purified into drinkable water using a plant native to the layer, leedledum. Leedledum was a stark white, semi-sentient, rather wide strawberry-like berry. Rapidly growing tip up at random spots throughout Vallashan, these berries could be mashed into a paste and then mixed with river acid, creating about two liters of water per leedledum used. They were easy to farm, growing to full maturity in only a day or two. Of course, in line with Vallashan's nature, there was a trap within the berries: since mashing them was a violation of a living being, doing so corrupted mortals.

Food was also easily available. Leedledums had no nutritional value; instead, the primary food of the layer were semi-sentient bwelts. Appearing similar to wheat at a glance, bwelts had a color and texture similar to obsidian. Unlike obsidian, these plants were brittle, worsening corruption even when accidentally broken. While tasting horrible, a bwelt could be eaten unprocessed, with about five of them being equivalent to a pound of food. However, this could cause serious internal damage because of the plant's sharp edges. Instead, most people mixed it with river acid, turning it into an ashy, but safe, bread.

Culture

Travel

Vallashan was relatively well connected with the layers directly above and below it. Most often, river sources led directly up to the next layer, while their mouths led down. There were also some larger permanent teleportation rings which were very valuable. Due to this layer's proximity to the top, it was very important for many demon lords who regularly led their hosts up through Vallashan to reach the surface and go further from there. Thus, it was imperative to the lords that this layer remain open to travel for all, and that no demon should control the best teleportation areas.

The most common way for people to reach the layer from outside was in the form of large granite portals that appeared in arbitrary locations across the world. Since the Celestial Wars, however, it was rare for portals to spawn far from the Abyss. Most commonly, they appeared in the outer planes, close to places with large good-oriented mortal populations or even in celestial realms. These portals were one-way, meaning whole armies could march in, but not back out. They often closed after a large numbers of "crusaders" had gone through, or after a certain span of time.

Vallashan was also unnaturally easy to reach through intentional teleportation. During the Celestial Wars, for example, it was as easy to teleport to the top layer as it was to reach Vallashan, then the fifth one.

Society

The Five Faction Dynasty

This political system existed around 1'250 b. OW.

The Eternal Legion, led by His Sacrilegious Evil, Hiram XVII, was the oldest surviving mortal army in Vallashan. They had struck out from Hold Long a millenium earlier, using a portal to enter Vallashan and attempt to purify it. Long corrupted, they still numbered about 600 and were a very potent force. Hiram struck a deal with the Abyss itself, protecting his army from the demons that infested the layer and turning his remaining forces into undying skeletons, while becoming a death knight himself. The legionaries eternally rose from the grave if killed in the layer. Areas under their control become a pale white.

At the time, the Legion controlled about a tenth of the layer thanks to their alliance with various demons, though they were being driven back by the Redeemers. They controlled some strategically important locations, most importantly the Fortress of Bones. Hiram sometimes held large games where people willing to leave the layer could fight for this right, but this was a ploy so that the winners could join the Legion's ranks. A more important role of the fortress's portal was the alliance it gave him with neighboring lords, which occasionally allowed him to draw on large demonic forces to bolster his army.

The Devil’s Saints, led by Unholy General Boniface VI, had survived in Vallashan for roughly five hundred years. Early on, feeling the corruption settling into their souls, they chose to make a pact with the devil god Asmodeus so that they could continue fighting the Abyss. One thousand strong, the survivors had an unique advantage over their enemies, because they still had full access to divine magic. Asmodeus provided them with immunity to corruption at the cost of claiming their souls once they died. Thus, the Devil’s Saints fought cautiously, taking land where they could while being willing to sacrifice some to minimize casualties. The bond with the devils went through General Boniface, and if she were to die her army would fall.

Areas under Saints control featured small outcroppings of diamonds through which clerics could sometimes revive their dead before the souls were claimed by Asmodeus. They controlled nearly a third of the layer, but had recently lost their base of operations when the Scourge descended upon it. Fleeing, the main army took refuge in the caves of Mount Cralsu. While cramped and cold, the Saints were uniquely able to survive here. Due to their protection from Asmodeus, they had sufficiently powerful magic to make Vallashan summon food, water, and heat, making it a hard place to siege. Additionally, they built hundreds of shrines to Asmodeus, providing a variety of effects depending on which is prayed to.

A prominent triumvirate of angels led a small celestial army into the Abyss, hoping to disband a minor lord's army that was expected to attack Bolmeranda soon. They were however misled by the lords of the upper layers and banished to Vallashan, where they became the Angels of Sorrow. The triumvirate and all its soldiers survived, but were quickly corrupted. Their radiant light was transformed into necrotic shadow, and they were mostly known for their unending sadness at having failed. They controlled a relatively large stretch of land which they occasionally defended. They sporadically attacked their neighbors, killing as many as they could before retreating. Land under their control was always wreathed in shadow, which occasionally formed into the shape of an angel covering its face with its hands.

The Scourge of the Skies, led by sky-pirate Gilerha, was surprisingly deadly given their small size of thirty men. Their power came from their airship, the Royal Tutor. Floating in part from an unnaturally durable balloon lashed onto the Royal Tutor, and partly due to magic, this galleon proved one of the greatest threats Vallashan had to offer. Gilerha, like the rest of her crew, was only as skilled and as durable as a normal bandit, but they all could resurrect endlessly as long as their ship remained in the air. They were wholly unable to actually rule land despite their great power, so they instead maintained small enclaves where they resupplied on food and water wherever they wanted and harassed the too-powerful factions. Areas under their control, often called "coves", grew trees with the texture of flesh at a rapid rate.

The Great Redeemers, as they called themselves, were a recent addition to the endless war, only having appeared five years ago. About eight hundred remained. A leaderless group of humanoids, this democracy tried, and failed, to redeem the souls trapped in Vallashan. It was believed that they only continued to survive thanks to their ability to temporarily banish their foes to a deeper layer of the Abyss, leading to the Eternal Legion avoiding them out of fear and even sometimes fighting for them.

The Redeemers were no more resistant to corruption than the average humanoid, but due to their strict pacifism, they remain uncorrupted. The other factions didn't really care about them, as they only owned a tenth of the total layer, which, while a large part, was made almost entirely of obsidian mountains, and thus a very annoying place to siege. Able to summon food and water from the layer, the Redeemers often sent out groups to try and redeem the other factions. Despite this mostly failing, they did manage to convince some of the lesser factions, and to some extent even the Legion, to ally with them, if only for said factions’ safety. Their base of operations was Blackstone Keep, an ancient obsidian fortress.