Petitioners that have been completely drained of hate have weights tied to them and are thrown into the magma rivers until their capacity for jealousy and loathing regenerates itself.
For most people that isn't very long at all. 
Bastion of Hate
| [Chamada, Gehenna]ThemeWhat if Hate could be trapped within a bottle? What if, within the Hate, could be trapped a world? DescriptionInheriting his father's domain of tyranny, Iyachtu Xvim conquered the Gehennan territory that now makes up his realm by brutal force. Once, in fact, the region was two separate realms; the realm of Mephoffere, God of Sacrificial Fumes, and that of Dalyctos, God of Infernal Beasts. The region where Mephoffere once held sway is still filled with statues, each several stories high, from whose furnace-like mouths noxious gases still pour. Their faces, though, which once bore Mephoffere's proud but alien visage, are defaced and utterly unrecognizable, the eyed hand of Xvim branded on their melted surfaces.The region once ruled by Dalyctos is wild forest, the gray, twisted tree-trunks astonishly resistant to Chamada's smoke and flames. Dalyctos once ruled over horrific, wolflike beasts related to barghests and hell hounds - Xvim used these to create the Beasts of Xvim and the darovai. Xvim himself rules from an oversized black fortress - the Bastion proper - reminiscent of Zhentil Keep, but with airy terraces and balconies allowing winged minions to easily take off, and preventing Iyachtu Xvim from ever feeling trapped within its stone walls. The wide back wall, however, helps protect the realm from the pyroclastic flows of Chamada. Characters approaching the Bastion of Hate first see the smoking,defaced statues, no matter which direction they approach from. Afterwandering through the monoliths for some time, they come to barrenvolcanic waste more typical of Chamada. This ends in an abrupt ridge,where the crude splicing of the two root realms is evident. Then theForest begins, and continues until either the Hateworks or the Bastionproper is reached. The pride and joy of the Bastion is the Hateworks.Petitioners, prodded by Xvim's minions, are set against one another atall times in a vicious rivalry. Open violence is forbidden, but covertassassinations are encouraged. They are all forced to dwell in theHateworks, a mechanical construct the size of a city where all negativeemotions are drawn out to fuel the god. Petitioners that have been completelydrained of hate have weights tied to them and are thrown into the magmarivers until their capacity for jealousy and loathing regeneratesitself. Then they are scooped up in nets to begin the process again.The most favored petitioners are those who find new ways to hate,endlessly creating new horrific emotions in themselves without end.These artists of disgust live lives of pleasure and decadence in theHateworks like nobles do elsewhere.Sometimes nearly-emptied petitioners will try to escape into the woodssurrounding the Hateworks. They are then harried by the Beasts of Xvim,their fear feeding the forest as their hate would have fed the god.Eventually, nearly all are recaptured.Other inhabitants of the Bastion of Hate realm include many banedeadand Beasts of Xvim, and several legions of tyrantfog zombies. Althoughthe Bastion is in Gehenna, tanar'ri mercenaries are much more commonthan baatezu or yugoloth ones; it's said that Xvim's mother was atanar'ri lord, and he retains many contacts in the Abyss.Behind the ThroneEveryday care of the realm is supervised by Xvim's seneschal, the banelich Forghamast. Forghamast is quite sedentary for an undead lord, having spent over three centuries playing chess with itself before the Godson came to claim it. The banelich came to its lord's call reluctantly, but has since grown to enjoy its new position. It sees the entire realm as a sort of extra-large chessboard, and the inhabitants - even Iyachtu Xvim himself - as its pieces. Sometimes it will use its god-granted powers to force a lesser minion down to miniature size so that it can plan out its moves on the to-scale replica of the realm that it keeps in its study. If the god is Forghamast's king, his queen is Divolg Quavein (Female Prime/NE/ elf(drow)/ Rogue 6/Warlock 14/Fated), a drow and Iyachtu Xvim's Chosen. The Chosen brutally enforces her god's commands throughout the realm, and she makes up quite a few of her own while she's at it.THE ChantSpeaking of family,chant is that the Godson has a son of his own, a boy of great powerspawned from a liason with Loviatar. The Godson's Son is guarded at alltimes by a fiendish nanny Iyachtu Xvim created from an undeadarcanaloth. The nanny whispers strange secrets to the child, not all ofthem sane.ResourcesThe Hateworks are the most likely goal formost visitors. The nobles who dwell there, wealthy with loathing, areeager to buy outside goods and news on their god's largesse. Rescueattempts are also sometimes made for those who have been improperlycaptured, or even for those petitioners who belong there (though theseare few; Iyachtu Xvim is a new god who has yet almost no petitioners ofhis own). Sensates and emotion-addicts sometimes go to the Works topurchase fresh quantities of quality pressed essence. TheBastion citadel also has a few other features of interest. Firstly,many of the tanar'ri who serve there left the Abyss without settlingtheir debts and other affairs. It's possible that some may haveknowledge or items that PCs or their contacts need. Secondly, and moreimportantly, is the godchild. Many, many groups are very interested inowning a young and relatively defenseless deity.Current EventsWhile speaking in his palace before a large gathering of his forces, Iyachtu Xvim is torn apart from within in a burst of green flame. To the great surprise and horror of the assembled crowd, emerging from the corpse is Xvim's father, Bane himself. Bane leads an exodus of the entire population of the realm through Avernus into Acheron, creating quite a commotion along the way. This is Bane's plan - he wants as many as possible to know that he's back. The march goes through the City on the Edge in Khalas, down the Styx cataracts and into Stenching Evil in Baator, marching across the blood dust plains through Ribcage and Rigus and across the cubes to where Bane's Black Bastion once brooded and soon will again. An impressive display, to be sure, but rivals will surely attempt to take advantage of it and attack while the newly reborn power is still realmless. With the death of Xvim, the Bastion of Hate will likely slowly fade away into the Astral, unless Forghamast or another can hold some of it together.His grandson is, at this point, smuggled away by the arcanaloth nanny. Is he, too, a seed, one that will eventually grow into a reborn Xvim? Or is he something else - a wildcard, or a tool of the yugoloths? The roads of Fate are many. |
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Interesting to think of Xvim pulling off Bane's trick, but he was such a wimpy replacement for his dad that I doubt he thought that far ahead. Never say never, though...