Tantlin, the City of Ice, was the largest city in Stygia, the 5th layer the Nine Hells[2][5][6] occupying the most vast and central of its titanic icebergs.[7][8] Its title was well-deserved, for every street and structure was in some way formed using ice.[7][9] In the middle of the "harbor", which bordered on one side of the nearby River Styx, floated the iceberg prison of the ruling archdevil, Levistus,[2][5][10] at least when it was not uncontrollably cruising across Stygia.[7]
Description[]
Like the lesser settlements of Stygia, Tantlin was built atop an ice floe.[2] Every structure and street[7] in the ice-encrusted city[11] was either carved directly from ice,[7] including that of the iceberg it sat upon,[9] or created by pouring water into shaped molds and freezing it.[7] The city was arranged in concentric circles, and its translucent, serrated spires rose high into Stygia's twilight sky.[7] [7]
Geography[]
The Stygian swamp curved about Tantlin for slightly less than half the run of its walls.[8] Mountains surrounding the city held major quarries that were mined for granite, basalt, marble, and chalk.[12]
Government[]
Tantlin's social structure was a strict hierarchy embodied in its physical layout. A baatezu's neighborhood in the City of Ice was dependent on its influence in the power structure. The closer to the center a baatezu lived, the higher their station, with the inner areas being reserved for the most powerful devils while extra-planar visitors were confined to the outermost ring along with the lowliest of infernal wretches. Entering a quadrant beyond one's station was an offense punishable by immediate execution.[7][9]
Trade[]
Throughout its known existence, Tantlin was an important hub of trade. During Geryon's reign, the quarries nearby provided structural stone to the other Nine Hells.[12] Furthermore, during this period it was richly provisioned, furnished, and crammed with centuries worth of baubles, treasures seized by or gifted to Geryon over the course of centuries. These had been plundered before he controlled Stygia during pillaging expeditions where he sought out the most dangerous and wealthy foes. Rather than coinage, his treasures took the form of statues, idols, furniture, tapestries, and unusual or gaudy ornaments (such as a giant gemstone as opposed to tiny, exquisite, and ultimately common ones).[8][12]
After the rise of Levistus, even during its more anarchic period, Tantlin remained an important trade post,[3] a place where commerce and intrigue came together.[9] The city received many of the souls brought to Stygia by Levistus's fleet.[13] However, the biggest industry for devils in Tantlin after Levistus fully asserted control was paperwork. The scriveners of Tantlin transcribed various books, contracts, magic scrolls and other documentation, taking assignments from all the other Hells. For the most part these were uncountable numbers of boring reports, but sufficient sifting through the calligraphy workshops might produce a scrap of information genuinely useful to a given investigator.[7]
Tantlin was important even beyond the context of the Nine Hells. The sea surrounding the city contained many drifting, icy, well-guarded portals that linked the Styx to the Prime Material Plane,[9][2] and even amid constant gang violence, merchants and caravans traveled to and from Tantlin with goods from other lower planes.[3] Even mummies and liches were known to occasionally travel from Ankhwugaht to engage in commerce with Levistus's devils,[7] and though the sahuagin of Sheyruushk (accessible from an iceberg valley hidden just a short distance from Tantlin) did little commerce, they were known to take non-sahuagin on squid hunts or provide extra muscle.[14]
All of this meant that, despite being deep in the middle of Hell itself, Tantlin was a major cross-planar trading hub that received traffic from non-devils second only to Dis.[9][2][3] However, many among these non-devils were tolerated only if a powerful devil (such as a pit fiend or war devil) guaranteed their safe passage,[9] and most would be forbidden from entering the deeper circles of the City of Ice.[7]
Defenses[]
There was little shelter in Stygia beyond Tantlin,[8] although even then it didn't protect an extra-planar traveler from the layer's cold.[7] It was described as having high stone walls during the rule of Geryon.[8] Ironically it's newer, concentric structure made it somewhat vulnerable to attack, since raiders could safely plow through the outer boroughs and retreat upon encounter sufficient resistance.[7]
Inhabitants[]
The devils of Stygia were resistant to the cold, and so to them Tantlin (and other Stygian cities) were normal, comfortable environments.[7] Despite this, the streets of Tantlin were at one point, due to one of Levistus's longer-running schemes, filled with sluggish and emaciated devils desperate to consume a single soul.[13]
Lurking within the City of Ice was the greatest concentration of amnizu in all the Nine Hells.[15] The lowliest of lemures and bitterest of nupperibos were exiled the the outskirts of the city.[7]
Notable Locations[]
Levistus's tomb was technically a location within Tantlin, but only when it occupied the harbor and wasn't being caught in currents or lodged in-between icebergs elsewhere in Stygia, which could happen for years at a time.[2][5][7] Despite his condition however, Levistus was fully aware of his layer and was capable of enacting his will through telepathy and servitors.[2]
History[]
During Geryon's reign, Tantlin was more accurately described as his giant castle.[1][8] Seldom did he leave, for he delighted in battling and hunting lesser devils and intruders throughout its massive, labyrinthine halls or the gravel-strewn mines nearby. While his master was hunting, it fell to his magistrate Herodias to assume command of the city's defenses.[8]
When Geryon was deposed by Asmodeus and Levistus rose to power, Tantlin fell into a state of anarchy due to the leadership of the pit fiend who had taken control of the City of Ice.[7] Though her name was unknown, her presence was feared since it usually doomed whoever was unfortunate to be it.[6] She ran the city as if conducting some demented social experiment,[16] with her only law being that the strong should survive.[6] She was an indiscriminately violent devil who governed haphazardly, rarely stirring from her citadel only for random executions.[2][6][7] The only reason her outbursts were the exception rather than the rule seemed to be because Levistus kept her busy.[16]
Because of this pit fiend's "off-handed" approach and flexible regimentation, Tantlin was overtaken by motley gangs of assorted baatezu and other evil beings from throughout the planes, each regularly warring and vying for control in an attempt to dispense their own brand of law at each other's expense.[2][6][3] Each controlled a section of the city and hoped to expand their territory, only refraining from damaging those important to the city's welfare (such as traders or petitioners involved in repairs) for fear of causing the pit fiend to rise up and root them out.[6]
So violent did Tantlin become that the dukes of the previous regime[7] (who lived in fiefs outside Tantlin)[8] were encouraged to prove themselves by battling for supremacy in the City of Ice under the watchful eye of the pit fiend, resulting in the death, disappearance, or exile of the great majority of them.[7] With the streets in disarray,[2] the rulers of Stygia dying, and the pit fiend ruler acting as a mad queen, something had to change in Tantlin. The chaos had become so encompassing that Levistus's rivals were questioning his lawful credentials.[7]
Before outside criticism reached a crescendo, Levistus reinstated his authority by rewarding the survivors of this period with positions and promotions. His amnizu factorums meanwhile dealt with the one responsible for the city's descent, freezing the unnamed pit fiend of Tantlin was frozen where she stood before she was promptly shattered into a million shards. Her pieces became highly coveted collectibles in Stygia, wearable as pendants to confer strength and endurance (although exposure to above-freezing temperatures would quickly cause them to thaw into gobbets of useless, rotting devil flesh). From there, Tantlin's social structure refroze into its more modern form.[7]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jeff Grubb (July 1987). Manual of the Planes 1st edition. (TSR), pp. 109, 111. ISBN 0880383992.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Jeff Grubb, Bruce R. Cordell, David Noonan (September 2001). Manual of the Planes 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 121. ISBN 0-7869-1850-8.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Monte Cook (1996). The Planewalker's Handbook. Edited by Michele Carter. (TSR), p. 18. ISBN 978-0786904600.
- ↑ 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. 112–113. ISBN 978-0-7869-3940-4.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Wolfgang Baur, James Jacobs, George Strayton (September 2004). Frostburn. Edited by Greg Collins. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 8. ISBN 0-7869-2896-4.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Colin McComb (February 1995). “Baator”. In Michele Carter ed. Planes of Law (TSR, Inc), p. 20. ISBN 0-7869-0093-8.
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 7.21 7.22 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. 55–56. ISBN 978-0-7869-3940-4.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Ed Greenwood (July 1983). “The Nine Hells, Part I”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #75 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 30–31.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 Richard Baker, John Rogers, Robert J. Schwalb, James Wyatt (December 2008). Manual of the Planes 4th edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 103. ISBN 978-0-7869-5002-7.
- ↑ Wolfgang Baur, James Jacobs, George Strayton (September 2004). Frostburn. Edited by Greg Collins. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 43. ISBN 0-7869-2896-4.
- ↑ David "Zeb" Cook (1994). Planescape Campaign Setting, A DM Guide to the Planes. Edited by David Wise. (TSR, Inc), p. 52. ISBN 978-1560768340.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Ed Greenwood (November 1984). “Nine Hells revisited”. In Kim Mohan ed. Dragon #91 (TSR, Inc.), p. 26.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 John Rossomangno (September 2013). “Codex of Betrayal: Levistus”. In Miranda Horner ed. Dragon #427 (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 19–20.
- ↑ Colin McComb (February 1995). “Baator”. In Michele Carter ed. Planes of Law (TSR, Inc), p. 22. ISBN 0-7869-0093-8.
- ↑ 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. 112. ISBN 978-0-7869-3940-4.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Chris Pramas (November 1999). Guide to Hell. Edited by Kim Mohan. (TSR, Inc.), p. 33. ISBN 978-0786914319.