Gehenna

Gehenna is a plane of existence of neutral evil/lawful evil alignment. It is one of a number of alignment-based Outer Planes.

In the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms setting, Gehenna has been replaced by the Blood Rift as the home of the yugoloths, while other planes have been delegated for some of the deities who dwell in Gehenna in 2nd edition.

Inhabitants
The yugoloths call Gehenna home, and are its primary natives, though they originally hail from the Gray Waste - they dominate both planes, but in Gehenna their rule is more overt and in the Waste more subtle. The Tower of the Arcanaloths is also found on Gehenna. The leader of their race, known only as the General of Gehenna, moves his Crawling City from layer to layer according to his will. The City moves on thousands of fireproof legs and may climb the face of any cliff.

Pyroclastic dragons also inhabit the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna.

The Layers
Gehenna consists of four planar layers that consists of a pair of huge volcanoes floating in space, joined at the bottom to form massive groundbergs, hundreds of thousands of miles tall. Smaller mountain-shaped and -sized chunks of earth also float through Gehenna, occasionally colliding. The first layer, Khalas, is a hot and fiery place, but the volcanos gradually grow colder as one passes through the layers; the third layer, Mungoth, is a cool place, while the fourth, Krangath, is icy and dead.


 * Khalas is the location of a number of godly realms, including the kobold deity Gaknulak's realm of Aknuthrak, the wererat god Squerrik's realm of Cheisin, Math Mathonwy's realm of Corriegrave, and Sung Chiang's realm, the Teardrop Palace. It also featured the Throne of Blood, which was the realm of Bhaal before his death.


 * Chamada: This layer included the Bastion of Hate, which was Iyachtu Xvim's realm before his death. The Bastion of Hate was visited by the protagonists of Tymora's Luck. Chamada was also the site of Rictus, the realm of the dead mind flayer god Maanzecorian, and Thaotor, the realm of the cloud giant deity Memnor.


 * Mungoth is the location of the lich god Velsharoon's realm of Death's Embrace and Loviatar's realm of Ondtland.


 * Krangath is the location of the orc god Shargaas' realm of The Night Below. It is also home to Hopelorn, Mellifleur's obsidian citadel.

Gehenna was the home of the dark god Bhaal, lord of murder and death, before he was killed in the Time of Troubles.

Edition note
In both the 1st and 2nd edition D&D the Forgotten Realms used the standard D&D Great Wheel Cosmology. Gehenna was part of that cosmology. In the 3rd edition the Realms cosmology was suddenly changed from the standard D&D cosmology, with no explanation. This left dozens of sourcebooks and novels, that made references to the 'Great Wheel' cosmology out in the cold. No effort has been made to rectify any of the changes.

Historic Note
Gehenna is based on the use of Gehenna as a synonym for Hell in Judaism. The term "Gehenna" is a Hebrew word, supposedly adapted from "Hinnom", a valley outside Jerusalem that was variously a garbage dump and a place where unwanted babies were sacrificed by burning. (Jeremiah 7:31)The word appears in the New Testament in connection with punishment after death.