Androlynne

Deep in the Abyss rests a phantasmagoric realm of horror that is also a bastion of hope. Though wracked by constant, bloody warfare and inhabited by legions of wicked tanar'ri, the land of Androlynne attracts powerful beings of good to its rolling hills and flowered fields. Perhaps here more than anywhere else in the Abyss the conflict is defined in terms of good and evil rather than upon evil devouring different shades of itself. Such has it been in Androlynne since the days immediately following the Age before Ages, for the heart of the layer's struggles was forged before the obyriths lost the Abyss.

When Miska the Wolf-Spider fell upon the fields of Pesh and the Queen of Chaos abandoned Pazunia, a vast eladrin host from the wilds of Arborea descended upon the Plain of Infinite Portals, assaulting its iron fortresses and weakening them for the inevitable tanar'ri revolt. In those dying days, when the obyrith influence had not fully faded, a group of the spiteful ancient creatures initiated a terrible revenge.

The obyrith Pale Night finally misled Royal Consort Ascodel of the eladrin Court of Stars, appealing to his concern for the well being of the most vulnerable eladrins—their children. Through subterfuge and magical influence, Pale Night tricked Ascodel into a blasphemous pact, and with that the Abyss gained thousands of new permanent inhabitants—an entire generation of eladrin forever bound to one of the deepest and least accessible layers of the Abyss.

The Mother of Demons pursued the bound children to Androlynne, which she had already stocked with terrifying demons and monstrous beasts to make their screams more satisfying. Pale Night and her rapidly declining obyrith allies planned to leisurely pick off the children one by one as a way to prolong their revenge for the eladrin invasion, but before the exterminations could begin in earnest, goodly creatures managed to push their way into Androlynne to come to the children's defense.

First, a noble ki-rin arrived, followed by foo creatures, a hollyphant, and a pack of moon dogs. By the time the third couatl had arrived, an all-out war had broken out on Androlynne, a bloody, senselessly savage conflict that continues to the present day. Ascodel himself died on Androlynne protecting the children he had unwittingly betrayed, and even Queen Morwel's current consort, Faerinaal (Book of Exalted Deeds 153) continues the tradition of his predecessors, spending much of his time personally overseeing the defense of the innocent eladrins trapped on Androlynne.

The eladrin children, kept eternally young by the pact that still binds them to the layer, are much diminished from their earlier days, numbering now fewer than 100 souls. Their increasing scarcity makes their defenders fight all the harder, with the forces of good adamant in their zeal to protect the few remaining eladrins from harm and working together to break Pale Night's hold on them so that they might, at long last, be returned to their rightful place in Arborea.

After so many centuries of benevolent defenders flocking to the layer and due to the children's overwhelming purity, Androlynne itself has changed significantly over the years, shifting from a haunted colorless nightmare realm to a deliriously beautiful surrealistic landscape of vivid pastels and lush, alien vegetation. Impossibly huge light-purple clouds dominate the sky, their peripheries frequently taking the shape of screaming faces, animals, or even incongruous household objects.

The map provided here shows a principal front of the war, near the goodly settlement of Pascorel. The evil forces, led by the likes of the jovoc warrior Sneer or the glabrezu Vulgorger, push in from the north bank of the Hoppenstain Run. Across the river, human militia led by the faerie generals Honeydip, Appelstance, Thornswallow, and Popinjay do their best to hold the river long enough for reinforcements from Melantonberg or Eddleston's Blessing to arrive and grind the war once again into a precarious stalemate.

The eladrin children are not cowards and often fight alongside their protectors when the layer flares into open conflict (rather than sustained sniping from both sides). The protectors often wince at this, for it puts the children at great risk, and the demons of Pale Night are not known for their subtlety or their compassion when they capture an eladrin alive.