Maladomini, The Forsaken Wasteland

(Formerly the Seventh Layer of Hell)

Maladomini is the seventh layer of the Nine Hells, a place of eternal decay, corruption, and despair. The once-majestic cities and landscapes of this plane have been ravaged by relentless construction, demolition, and ruin. The land is a barren wasteland, scarred by strip mines, polluted rivers, and crumbling ruins. Any beauty this land once held has long been destroyed, replaced by endless desolation and unfinished projects abandoned at the whims of its infernal ruler, Baalzebul, the Lord of the Flies.

Maladomini embodies the relentless pursuit of perfection in a world cursed to rot. Its inhabitants, whether native devils or unfortunate souls trapped here, live in an oppressive atmosphere of toxic fumes, choking smog, and constant destruction.

TRAITS

Maladomini has the following planar traits:

• Morphic: The plane is divinely morphic, meaning that Baalzebul can shape it to his will, though his obsession with perfection means that his cities and landscapes are never finished.
• Gravity: Normal
• Time: Normal
• Size: Immeasurable
• Structure: Constantly decaying
• Essence: Corrupt
• Alignment: Lawful Evil
• Magic: Corrupted (spells related to decay, corruption, or control are enhanced)

DIVINITIES

Baalzebul, the Lord of the Flies, rules over Maladomini. Known for his obsessive need for perfection, Baalzebul is never satisfied, leading to endless cycles of construction and destruction. His cities are demolished as quickly as they are built. Maladomini was once home to many other lesser devils and fallen deities, but most have fled or been consumed by the plane’s corruption. Those who remain serve Baalzebul in his futile quest for flawless dominion.

OUTSIDERS

In Maladomini, you find a variety of hellish outsiders, including:

• Baatezu: The native devils of this plane, constantly plotting, manipulating, and tormenting the souls trapped within.
• Fiendish Constructs: Demonic machines built by Baalzebul’s followers to assist in construction projects. These constructs often break down and litter the landscape.
• Tormented Souls: The souls of mortals who failed in life, either due to their obsession with power or corruption, wander the decaying ruins of Maladomini as broken, aimless beings.

PETITIONERS

Petitioners in Maladomini are souls who, in life, were driven by greed, corruption, or obsessive perfectionism. They suffer endlessly in this plane, doomed to participate in the constant rebuilding efforts, only to see their work destroyed or abandoned. These souls reflect the futility of Maladomini’s existence.

INFUSIONS

• Basic: The corruption of Maladomini taints your soul, granting a +2 bonus on all Intimidate checks and a +1 bonus on all attack rolls against lawful creatures.
• Improved: You can tap into the twisted energy of Maladomini, gaining the ability to cast contagion once per day as a spell-like ability.
• Greater: You can assume the form of a fiendish creature, as though using the spell shapechange. This ability can be used once per day for a number of hours equal to your character level.

DENIZENS

Maladomini is home to numerous infernal beings, from high-ranking devils to lesser fiends, as well as the souls of the damned who now serve as Baalzebul’s workers. The most feared inhabitants include the Ancient Diabolic Beings—devils that existed before the rise of the baatezu. These forgotten monsters live in the darkest recesses of Maladomini, only emerging when called by ancient rituals or to claim the souls of those who venture too deep.

SPECIFIC LOCATIONS

• Grenpoli: A city ruled by the erinyes noble Mysdemn Wordtwister, where diplomacy is a deadly game and every word spoken has the potential for ruin. Grenpoli is one of the few cities to remain standing, though it is riddled with corruption and deception.
• The Relentless: A massive fortress that symbolizes Baalzebul’s endless war on his rivals. Its construction is ongoing, though it seems perpetually unfinished, with scaffolding and half-built towers stretching for miles.
• Malagard: The personal city of Baalzebul, dominated by towering black spires. It is a grotesque display of the Lord of the Flies’ obsession with perfection, constantly being rebuilt at the expense of the souls trapped here.
• The Shattered Wastes: An enormous quarry where petitioners toil day and night to mine resources for Baalzebul’s unending construction projects. The land is scarred by deep fissures and craters, and the air is thick with choking dust.
• The Ruined Canals: Rivers of molten lava and toxic sludge wind through the landscape, remnants of failed infrastructure projects. These canals serve as both a hazard and a means of transportation for the infernal creatures that dwell in Maladomini.
• The Endless Scaffolding: An expanse of rickety platforms and incomplete structures that stretches across the horizon. Many petitioners are forced to work here, constantly building and rebuilding to appease Baalzebul, but their efforts always collapse or fall into disrepair.
• The Desolation Fields: A flat, barren land filled with ancient statues, broken pillars, and the remnants of once-great cities. The wind here howls with the cries of the damned, and those who wander too far often find themselves lost in a maze of ruins.
• The Halls of Broken Promises: An enormous archive where the failed contracts and betrayals of devils and mortals alike are recorded. The air here is heavy with the weight of regret and deceit, and the walls are lined with crumbling scrolls and tattered contracts.
• The Pit of Unmaking: A vast crater at the heart of Maladomini, where broken structures, failed souls, and unfinished projects are cast to be forgotten. It is a place of ultimate despair, where everything that is deemed imperfect is discarded forever.

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Maladomini is a hell of ruins, the seventh layer of Hell. Everything natural on the layer has been defaced, destroyed, or stripped away, replaced with strip mines, quarries, poorly maintained roads and bridges, rivers of molten lava, slag heaps, wasted cities, and polluted canals, filled with stinking vapors, earth tremors, fire pits, and mines. Petitioners and other refugees hide in the ruins. Underground, the ancient diabolic predecessors to the baatezu still lurk.

The archduke Baaalzebul, the Lord of the Flies, rules this layer. He is never satisfied with his cities, always demanding that they be destroyed and rebuilt based on tiny, unnoticeable flaws. Nothing less than perfection will do for him, even if he has to destroy his entire layer – indeed, all of Hell – to achieve it.

The major intact cities are Grenpoli, the city of treachery and diplomacy run by the erinyes noble Mysdemn Wordtwister, a fortress called the Relentless, and Malagard, a city of black spires from which Baaalzebul
himself rules.

Maladomini is a place of ruin, endless construction, and futile ambition, where the land and its inhabitants are caught in an eternal cycle of destruction and decay. Those who enter are quickly consumed by its oppressive atmosphere, and few leave without feeling the heavy weight of corruption on their souls.