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Pandemonium
Pandemonium -- a name that stems from the ancient words for "every" and "little soul" -- is the vast, forbidding citadel ruled by the devils of the Abyss. It is built within a ring of steep-sided mountains that serve as its walls. In its center is Ungoriadh, the Boiling Lake, a sea of steaming, poisonous liquid capable of blistering off a man's skin in seconds.
About the shores of Ungoriadh, and rising from bald islands above its waves, are the fortresses of the archdevils who collectively hold Pandemonium under their thumb. Between the lake and the soaring, rocky walls that encircle the citadel -- and who hold its inhabitants prisoner as surely as they hold the invading demon-lords' armies at bay -- lie tangled wildernesses and nightmarish towns, rocky deserts and feverish jungles. Kliasta's icy palace perches upon crags high on an inner face of Pandemonium's rocky walls, looking down upon the fiends' realm; Anvhad's shadowy presence can be felt in the whispering darkness of the Shadowlorn Caves that twist through the mountains on the other side. The reach of Pandemonium far exceeds that of the greatest mortal empires, and yet the devils would annex still more territory if only they could defend it beyond the walls of their mountains.
Life within Pandemonium is far more orderly than the chaos that rules the rest of the Abyss. Even the smallest interactions are governed by elaborate laws and social codes, which are enforced rigidly. Punishments in Pandemonium are severe and prolonged, and grossly excessive by any standards except the devils'. The oppressive influence of their tyranny permeates every corner and crevice of the realm; no transgression escapes their notice, and no infraction goes unpunished. Despite their insistence on iron-clad law, however, the devils constantly strive to twist and manipulate the rules of their realm for their own advantage, and so their codes are riddled with gaps and contradictions sufficient to trip the nimblest mind. This, too, is exactly as they like it.
Pandemonium is not completely sealed off from the greater Abyss, if only because greed sometimes gets the better of fiends on both sides of the divide. A tense, suspicious thread of trade exists between the devils of Pandemonium and the fiends outside. Powerful mortals who can cross the divide by passing through the planes into Bierilon and back can also act as messengers or traders, provided that they can avoid being torn apart by the fiends on each side.
The raw evil of the Abyss continues unabated in Pandemonium. The only difference is that mortals who succumb to its soul-corroding influence are likely to be enslaved immediately upon arising as lowly imps or ghouls, rather than being ignored or casually destroyed. Everyone in Pandemonium must have a place in the order, and the proper place for those unfortunates is at the very bottom.
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