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Jangling Hiter, called the City of Chains, Torture City,[1] City of Rattling Madness or the Place of Chain-Torn-Flesh[2] was a city in Minauros, the third layer of the Nine Hells. It was dominated by chain devils, also known as kytons,[3] and within their city there were no weak links.[4] It was not a particularly large city, particularly in comparison to the world-sized Sinking City, but still the second major metropolis of the third layer of Baator.[1][2]
Description[]
A few sensations defined life in Jangling Hiter; the feel of rusty, slimy chains on the skin and smell of decaying, greasy metal in a claustrophobic and acrophobia-inducing environment. The grating, constant sounds of clinking metal and dripping, rusty water repelled away all but the insane,[4] but worst of all were the screams of the tormented. Such were their number that their wails of pain constantly permeated the city. The combined groans and shrieks regularly rose to a crescendo so harrowing that the decent or unaccustomed would have great difficulty resisting the ugre to display some reaction, such as screams of horror or even pity.[1]
Geography[]
Unlike most other cities in Minauros, Jangling Hiter was not constantly sinking into the swamp, a bizarre solution having been found for the layer's infirm foundations. The City of Chains was suspended by a network of thick, unfathomably long, slimy and razor-augmented chains connected to posts positioned throughout the metropolis.[1][3][5] By this method, the lowest portions of Hiter just skimmed the seething swamp below.[3]
Jangling Hiter was like a jungle of metal,[6] with all its structures, from the streets to the buildings to the cellars to the tents, composed entirely out of chains. The chains were coated with algae and grime and often studded with barbs or razors, making them hard to grip and almost impossible to climb.[4][5][2]
The constant winds and movements of the inhabitants kept the chains of Jangling Hiter in constant motion, which was more evident around the edges and the tops of structures and less so near the center. This medium did little to protect inhabitants from Minauros's horrid rain and deadly sleet, which could reach even those clustered indoors. As a result, most settled for getting beneath a great concentration of chains, which further prioritized being in the noisy, crowded center.[4][5][2]
Flora & Fauna[]
Horrible creatures called hellchain weavers were the subject of many justified rumors within Jangling Hiter, sadistic, canny, monstrous spiders which even the kytons feared, and whose rusting webs could be found within the city's depths.[7]
Cosmology[]
Exactly what the chains of Jangling Hiter were attached to or how they were held in place was an utter mystery. None seemed to know and the residents treated it with remarkable indifference, perhaps because asking would suggest oneself to be a foreigner and therefore a potential victim. A commonly accpeted theory was that the chains somehow pierced the boundary of the planar layers and attached themselves to Dis on the other side.[1][3] In the World Axis cosmology, they were simply anchored to the cavern ceiling,[8] but otherwise they disappeared into the sky behind the hail-laden clouds.[3]
Trying to climb the support chains instigated a strange effect where, past 50 feet (15 meters) up, the climber would gain no more distance. To everyone, including themselves, they would seemingly continue scaling the chains, but the truth became evident once they fell back down.[4]
The Infinite Staircase had a landing somewhere in Jangling Hiter, granting access from the planes to Minauros.[9]
Government[]
Jangling Hiter technically had rulers, but the city essentially ran itself. The kytons largely treated each other as equals,[3] unconcerned with arguments over standing and only occasionally bickering over the remains of their victims.[6] Everyone else was too terrified to step out of line,[3] (though in such a den of wickedness there was always the potential for violence)[2] and the kytons could swing their way through the city, seemingly appearing wherever they were needed.[3] The kytons were both police and syndicate, quietly patrolling the city while collecting money and favors as part of their protection racket.[2]
The only illegal activity in Jangling Hiter was theft, murder, and generally creating chaos. Only the latter was a crime due to being considered dangerous; the first two were illegal because the kytons viewed it as their right and theirs alone. All offenses were met with the same punishment, that being an immediate, brutal death by either the use of chains or from the sheer terror of being hunted. There was no system of appeals or code of law, each kyton being judge, jury, and executioner on the spot.[3][2]
The kytons of the City of Chains usually deferred to a fellow, particularly clever chain devil known as Quimath, but he was not officially in charge. The earliest cited ruler was the hamatula Pollus Windscreamer, but the apathetic fiend would rather be patrolling Minauros. Allegedly his boredom could be traced back to the rumor that he was merely a figurehead,[4][3] assigned by his superior long ago to maintain order there more as a punishment than a promotion.[2] Later a pit fiend came to rule the city, but was petrified by Mammon as punishment for failing to meet his soul quota before being replaced by Queen Sagirsa, a paeliryon eventually turned archdevil and at some point Mammon's paramour.[1][10][11]
Trade[]
During the reign of Pollus, trade in Jangling Hiter declined, though only the desperate or crazy willingly came. This was by design, as it drove the kytons to their own desperate measures, particularly emigration across the Outer Planes, much to his delight. The city's saving grace in this economic sphere was that it produced the best known chains in existence, whether mundane or magical, light and thin or thick and heavy, metal or some other material. Decorative gossamer curtains, massive anchor bonds, [4] fine chainmail and virtually unbreakable manacles could all be purchased there, along with a variety of secret knowledge.[2]
This was all leaving aside the primary good of Jangling Hiter: the filleted souls of the damned. Souls from across the multiverse were herded daily into the Torture City's massive, factory-like instillations by the tumbrel for torturing. Once processed they were then usually taken to the Sinking City for transmutation into lemures, transport being Jangling Hiter's other main industry. The Hells had no shortage of torments, but nowhere else were the damned more cruelly or creatively agonized, the famous, long-honed precision with which the kytons flayed them being so infamous that other archdevils, namely Levistus and even Asmodeus himself, outsourced much of such work there.[1][8]
Defenses[]
Jangling Hiter technically possessed defensive installations, but these were purely cosmetic. Its great stone walls were unguarded and had a 1,500 feet (460 meters) breach where rancid filth was dumped, and the metal gate at the entrance constantly clattered and clanged in the wind.[1] In addition to their other roles, the kytons were also the local militia.[2]
Inhabitants[]
The chain devils were the primary and native population,[3][2][6] the constubulary of its brutal police force[6] and workers of its soul-harvesting operations.[1] It was rumored that more kytons existed, both deep within the city and elsewhere, than were imagined.[2] The lesser kytons conducted their own ineffable business while their more mature, "normal" counterparts conducted patrol duty.[2]
Non-kyton inhabitants attempted to carry on as if Jangling Hiter was a normal city .[5] Jangling Hiter's residency had entered a state of slow decline as it became infamous even amidst the other regions of the Nine Hells for danger and death, such that at one point it had a populace of only six or seven thousand. The sinister, growing boldness and number of the kytons drove more away every month.[2]
Besides kytons, most residents of Hiter were baatezu, night hags, or yugoloths. Even baatezu became nervous if alone in the wrong part of the City of Chains, for they disappeared among the backstreets even if the kytons would never openly threaten them and indeed paid lip service to being baatezu agents. Barbazus carried out orders while imps either delivered messages or hung around in groups looking to make trouble.[2] Distinctly unwelcome were the chain devils' chief rivals in torture, the pain devils,[1] though kocrachons (who focused on different sorts of victims) went about their business.[2]
Lemures and nupperibos were also present in Jangling Hiter, either traveling as part of an entourage or wandering around lost.[2] They were permitted to do as they would and though their incredible stupidity made them easily evaded, they instinctively attacked whatever they perceived. Other devils found the inability of others to telepathically turn them away hilarious, and might try to extend their amusement by by claiming ownership of them and threatening to sue for property damage if they were slain, though those already welcome were never begrudged the necessity of killing them.[2][12]
Other residents included petitioners and planars among humans and humanoids, including the likes of goblins, orcs, and half-orcs. Tieflings were known to go there looking for acceptance of their infernal side and were generally met with abuse that only made them crueler and more desiring of diabolic favor. The latter were those, usually driven by pressing need, of decent moral character who walked its streets in addition to the majority of those with wicked outlooks.[2]
Notable Locations[]
A map of the City of Chains.
Jangling Hiter was divded into a few wards called Districts or Quarters.[4][1][5]
- Merchants' District: The only quarter where most wanted to be, the Merchants' District was the only area relatively safe from the resident horrors, where outsiders stuck together. This was because merchants brought things of value, and the planar traders who plyed their wares in Jangling Hiter were granted limited bills of safe passage sponspored by influential devil trade partners. Unfortunately the wrath of a powerful fiend could not be counted on to defend a protected trader, as demotions were so frequent in Minauros that a would-be patron could suddenly be reduced to a non-authoritative station. As a result, merchants of the infernal city often employed expendable and easily influenced entourages to give the residents someone else to corrupt or harrass.[4][1][5][2]
- Fiends' District: Also known as the Baatezu District, all planar tourists were advised to stay out of it despite it making up most of the city. Though normally unwilling to draw attention to themselves, encountering lone mortals to consume or torment, particularly in their quarter, might embolden baatezy to attack. A popular pastime amongst Hiters' residents here was to chase foolish new arrivals until they attempted to climb the chains before laughing as they cut themselves.[1][2]
- Visitors' District: Also called the Abattoir and known by locals as the Meat Quarter, anyone who somehow made it to Jangling Hiter without bills of passage was kindly invited to stay in this area, though most people hiding from the kytons ended up here as well before being dying. Here could be found the Sluice, a broad avenue into the city that ran through the center of the District. Troughs in the street ran slightly towards the city center so that the blood spilt there from feasting on vulnerable mortals could be drained away into a rusty metal gate. Though an empty, dangerous area where fiends preyed upon the weak, it did not always possess its joke status.[4][1][5][2]
- Kyton's District: No non-kytons walked the streets of this eerily quiet quarter as they would be attacked on sight by the lone chain devils patrolling the streets. The only obviously non-kytons entities that could walk the streets were entities so blatantly powerful that the kytons didn't want to get involved.[4][2]
Other Locations[]
- Panos Qytel, a cathedral-like building with three towers in the center of Jangling Hiter where laired Quimath.[3] It was completely silent, and nothing moved but for the flickering of shadows and pale, yellow light caused by the ceaseless swaying of chains.[2]
- A giant statue of Sagirsa with cupped hands in which offerings were left by the superstitious among the minor devils in hopes of advancement.[1]
- A 30 feet (9.1 meters) tall statue of the pit fiend ruler before Sagirsa that was actually his petrified and enlarged remains, left by Mammon as a reminder of the price of failure. It wept tears of smoking bile on the anniversery his downfall.[1]
History[]
No one knew how Jangling Hiter came to be,[5] but it was rumored that the kytons had done so in eons past.[2]
Previously Jangling Hiter had ten unofficial kyton rulers, distinguished chain devils apprenticed by powerful baatezu, but the city's decline prompted envy and suspicion that led to murder and betrayal until only Quimath remained.[2]
Appendix[]
Further Reading[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Robin D. Laws, Robert J. Schwalb (December 2006). Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells. Edited by Chris Thomasson, Gary Sarli, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 46–48. ISBN 978-0-7869-3940-4.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 Monte Cook (1998). Tales from the Infinite Staircase. Edited by Skip Williams. (TSR, Inc), pp. 117–124. ISBN 0786912049.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, David Noonan (September 2001). Manual of the Planes 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 119. ISBN 0-7869-1850-8.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Colin McComb (February 1995). “Baator”. In Michele Carter ed. Planes of Law (TSR, Inc), pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-7869-0093-8.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Chris Pramas (November 1999). Guide to Hell. Edited by Kim Mohan. (TSR, Inc.), p. 31. ISBN 978-0786914319.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Jon Pickens ed. (November 1996). Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 68. ISBN 0786904496.
- ↑ Wolfgang Baur, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2006). “Creature Collection V”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #343 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), pp. 47–48.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes 4th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, David Noonan (September 2001). Manual of the Planes 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 115. ISBN 0-7869-1850-8.
- ↑ Rob Heinsoo, et al. (April 2010). The Plane Above. Edited by Cal Moore, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 70–75. ISBN 978-07869-5392-9.
- ↑ Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes 4th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 97, 100–101. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ Robin D. Laws, Robert J. Schwalb (December 2006). Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells. Edited by Chris Thomasson, Gary Sarli, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 49. ISBN 978-0-7869-3940-4.