Ydmechron, also known as the Eternal Battlefield and sometimes called Acheron, was a harsh outer plane in northeastern Ochebana. It was not aligned with either good or evil, and was a scene for both lawful and chaotic forces.

Structure

The Eternal Battlefield was a vast expanse of land. It had a single layer which was physically connected to its neighbors and the ocean. Its main feature were rocky plains riddled with cracks and rubble, along with large neighboring cliffs and mountains. These areas often suffered earthquakes that led to the rise of whole new mountains and the collapse of others.

There were also other biomes distributed seemingly randomly across the plains. Most notable were the large fjords, which were huge valleys cut into rocky plains. Their flanks were forested with pines and low shrubbery, and their bottoms were large rivers or bodies of water directly connected to the ocean. There were also battle plains, grass plains with low rolling hills that were ideal for fighting. A couple of forests, either rock pine that grew directly on the rock or normal trees that grew on soils, accentuated the terrain and made strategic deployments more interesting. Finally, some mountains reached very high, where they formed relatively flat plains of snow called snowmounts.

An unique biome of Ydmechron were the brass plains. These were completely flat expanses of a polished brass-like metal, with occasional spikes rising up a few meters sprinkled around.

Magic items, except those directly invested by the power of and controlled by a living mortal soul or to a deity, did not function in Ydmechron.

Living on Ydmechron

Ydmechron was not unique in that mortals living on the plane did not age. They did, however, not require food or drink either, being fueled directly by the Weave. Wounds healed very quickly and natural diseases were rare. However, people were also instilled with a deep longing for fighting. This was not necessarily a bloodthirstiness and did not encourage reckless battle, but rather instilled a desire for war in the general sense. People gained satisfaction from going on campaign. Some soldiers could appreciate marching as an army and fighting in ranks, delighting more in careful strategy than in shedding blood. Others used more barbaric methods, relishing in the simple act of killing. Ydmechron's battle lust could reflect in very different ways in different people, simply accentuating their preferred way of fighting, but was the driving force behind the ongoing warfare that tore the plane apart.

Magic on the plain was as accessible as in other locations; in fact, offensive spells (primarily evocation) were even empowered, unleashing more energy and damage. However, resuscitation and reincarnation spells did not work, and most hygieia spells were limited. Additionally, only mortals and supernatural beings such as deities could cast spells - souls reincarnated as majtitikes however, which represented the vast majority of Ydmechron's population, could not use any magic whatsoever.

Afterlife

There were multiple ways for souls to reach Ydmechron. The most common way was through normal afterlife. When a mortal died, their soul could join their gods in the Eternal Battlefield, which was mainly the case for goblinoids and orcs. Some humans who followed Tempus also went to Ydmechron. Other souls, ones of great warriors or strategists, could choose to go to the plane of war even though they had no gods there. Some pantheons even considered sending their unworthy followers to Ydmechron a good punishment, because they could force the souls to eternal "suffering" without having to offer them to fiends. Some mortals actually went to the plane during their lifetime, because they could gain great magical power, become generals of the gods, and live eternally there. When they were killed, their souls almost never left the plane to return to their gods, but remained and continued the war.

Souls on the Eternal Battlefield were always reincarnated, most often as majtitikes.

Resources

The air on Ydmechron did not appear altered from the standard. Climate, however, was somewhat rougher - featuring dry storms with lightning, and strong wind, more often - and the landscape was decidedly less adapted to plant growth. Additionally, there were hardly any underground caves or tunnel networks supplying large stocks of fungi.

But the plane was renowned for the great amounts of resources it offered. Various plants with a rock-like appearance grew in the omnipresent stone plains, while also forests had trees with large grapes of fruit and nuts. Few of these were actually edible to living creatures, but no one needed sustenance anyways. However, many had special alchemical properties that were propice to creating droughts of strength, healing, rage, and various others. There were also wealths of poisons that worked by simple blood contact which were useful on the battlefield.

Materials of war were also richly accessible. Veins of ore - coal, copper, tin, iron, even some mithral - seemed to grow into rocky areas, coincidentally often in contested locations. The ore was often easy to mine and process into armor and weaponry. Most trees had thin shrub-like limbs growing along their stems that could be used for bows, while clumps of silex were abundant in rocky fields; this stone could be used by more primitive factions to fashion spear- and arrowtips. There were also numerous mountain rothe and similar animals around who could supply leather, bones and tendons.

However, materials did not last very long here, as if they were not fully made out of solid matter. Wood rotted suddenly after a few weeks, while metal rusted easily and seemed to even evaporate after a while. Even stone used as weapons of war easily chipped and turned to dust. Buildings built out of actual stone rather than Ydmechron's too-plentiful resources lasted normally, however. This rapid use of materials forced armies to constantly find new gear to equip their soldiers.

One other characteristic of the plane which encouraged warfare was that natural resources of all kinds appeared more often and in greater amounts in regions that were recently conquered and claimed. Thus, an army on the move was often encouraged to go on and continue their conquest until they were eventually routed.

Landmarks

Blood Fields were very numerous; there were thousands across the plane. A Field did not have a specific location where it grew, but none were located in brass plains. It consisted of a batch of large red flowers, anywhere between five to multiple hundred. The surrounding area was often tainted with blood because the flowers birthed blood-covered majtitike bodies. Some blood fields were specifically adapted to their area, such as those in Diefngjor or in Fuurnak's mountain that birthed only valiant souls of late mortals that joined their fighting gods. Most, however, had fluctuating production rates and gave birth to majtitikes of all origins. More powerful ones, however, usually came only from more spectacular locations.

Bronze Fortresses were large buildings that appeared in brass plains. They had different shapes, but most were blocky and practical, with large towers, machicolations, and many arrow loops. Although they lasted for long periods of time, they could form out of the plain itself as if they were liquid in very little time, and if a fortress was critically damaged, it could "sink", becoming liquid and molding back into the plain. They served as core compounds for Bronze Legion armies, giving them an advantage on defensive battlefields and safe warehouses for military logistics. An especially large such Fortress called Braizen, located in a central position of the Legion core territory, served as headquarters for the armies.

Diefngjor. The goblinoid pantheon Krakkar'Bliet had a huge compound called the Diefngjor in a large rocky plain surrounded on all sides by mountains but with large valleys and fjords leading out. Spellcast canals brought meltwater down from mountains, delimiting districts and considerably improving the plain's defensive potential. The most prominent buildings were the Parade Palace, the Kfern'djik - the military headquarters in the center of the plain, from which messengers could quickly ride out with orders to armies on the move - and the Pantoron, where statues of valiant souls were placed. Additionally, most current great generals, commanders, clan chiefs and prominent mortals had their own mansions and castles in the plain. The most famous were the Five Castles, a group of fortifications dominating one valley that were the homes of the current best five generals.

Fuurnak. This was the home of the orcish pantheon, a sleek black fortress located on a singular mountain. It was asymmetrical and featured many edgy spires rising along its sides and above it, giving it the appearance of a bundle of black spears. It was very difficult to access, visitors having to go through an extensive network of tunnels that regularly shifted patterns. Only some of the gods resided there at any time, since most of the time they were leading armies to battle. The place was guarded by the fared'fark, majtitikes of fourth level that were clad in full black plate and wielded greataxes or other polearms. What attackers of the fortress feared most, however, were their deadly siege bows that could send massive bolts over huge distances and at terrifying rates of fire. For this reason, Fuurnak was sometimes called the Mountain of Black Rain. ##Inhabitants There were numerous sentient people living on Ydmechron who fought in the eternal battles.

Some of the most special humanoids were mortals. These needed much ambition, because they had to travel all the way from their material plane through the Outer Ring and other outer planes before crossing a massive stretch of water with cliffs on both sides. There were no teleportation portals to the plane. These people could quickly gain much power, because they were physically and mentally superior to most majtitikes and - most importantly - were able to wield magic. Thus, most mortals became elite officers of armies, serving as mounted wizards devastating enemy ranks or as actual generals commanding the armies. Mortals often had much prestige, residing in pompous castles and having access to large amounts of wealth and majtitike servants.

Another prominent group were the various deities. There were numerous warlike gods and pantheons, most of which proved their mettle by fighting eternally on Ydmechron and promising their followers to join them in the eternal fighting in the afterlife. Most notable were the goblinoid and orcish pantheons. They resided in the plane, where they had huge palaces and fortresses serving as their home base. They had multiple huge legions of reincarnated fighters and wielded great magical power. They often also had means of communication with their mortal followers and foci through which they could make their fugues accessible to them. deities

Majtitikes

Majtitikes were reincarnated souls that fought on in the war. These were neuter humanoids, about 1.2 meters tall, with very tan and somewhat translucent bodies. Some facial and physical features were taken from the soul's original race. They could be wounded and killed as normal - in fact, they were even more frail than living creatures. A lone soul was reincarnated within a few days. It did so in a random Blood Field. These were small patches of thick red flowers called bloodrops that were scattered in numerous locations across the plane. When a soul entered a bloodrops, its petals closed, and a new majtitike body formed within a few hours. The flower then opened, revealing a new body covered in blood.

Freshly born majtitikes recalled some of their former selves, but had even more lust for battle. They wandered the fields, usually joining the first faction they came across and fighting for them. These soul-warriors were extremely loyal and usually fought well, adapting quickly to whatever strategy their faction used. An army only had to equip their majtitikes with armor and weapons to gain a truly powerful army.

Some majtitikes could "level up" after having gained vast amounts of experience in war. There were about five known levels, the third of which was about equivalent with living soldiers. The fifth level was not a single kind of body, but a common grouping for what was often called megajtikes. These encompassed large and very powerful creatures, extremely cunning generals, very agile elite soldiers, and brezfnyr. These had bronze skin that granted them excellent armor, had a kind of symbiosis with the brass plains, and were always reincarnated in those brass fields as members of the Bronze Legion.

Valkyries were majtitikes of fourth level. They had a very special fighting style and did not adapt to the faction they were loyal to; in fact, they most often formed war-bands of their own, striking out against everyone else. Valkyries used battleaxes in two hands, did not care for armor, and rode all kinds of mounts to charge into lines of infantry. They had exceptional endurance and could survive deadly wounds for some time, surviving only on their battle rage.

Whenever a majtitike died, their soul wandered Ydmechron for a while before finding a new Blood Field and reconstituting a body. They usually kept their power level, but some methods of killing - such as execution - could make the most powerful megajtikes reset and become commoner souls.

Society

There were great many smaller factions that fought on the Eternal Battlefield. In fact, about half of the majtitikes and mortals did not belong to a god's host or to the Bronze Legion, but to some smaller group. Many adventurers who had fought outside of infantry ranks continued valiantly on alone. Some groups did not have a god or did not wish to join them, fighting by themselves. This counted mainly independent-minded souls, who formed messy groups that rarely found success on the battlefield because of their focus on individual prowess instead of strategy, and those who had different ideological values, who formed well-structured units that often served as mercenaries for larger groups.

Krakkar'Bliet

The goblinoid pantheon had a strong presence in Ydmechron, mainly centered on their huge valley of Diefngjor. There, they rallied the fresh souls of fallen goblinoids and raised them as majtitikes into fresh armies. These were summarily trained before being sent out under a general to storm against the most threatened border. Krakkar'Bliet had large lands beyond their valley and mountains, stretching across most of the plane's northeastern corner. They were also renowned for their powerful fleet and its coastal raiders that could strike anywhere along the plane's coasts, or drop powerful medium-sized units behind enemy lines to harass them.

There was some societal structure parallel to the military hierarchy that was extremely similar to traditional hobgoblin clan structure. While the majtitikes were unquestioning soldiers that lived in orderly warcamps or marched in perfect formations, there were multiple other groups, such as auxiliaries, allies and mortals, that were part of the Krakkar'Bliet faction. These people were part of their parent legion or "free", meaning resident in Diefngjor, and were obedient to their general. Each had a more or less large majtitike honor guard and had some access to luxury resources. Most important was their right to "adequate lodgings", meaning castles on Diefngjor or large mobile homes while on campaign.

Gruum'Uruk

The orcish pantheon was less centralized than Krakkar'Bliet. It had the large Fuurnak fortress as a base, but rarely actually lived in it and did not use it for any strategic purposes. Sometimes, when a god's host was harassed and on the retreat, they used Fuurnak as a safe haven. Overall, orcish military organization was not. Each god had their own large hosts, although some gods were (often forcefully) officers in another, more powerful one's host. These armies were gigantic, often the largest single armies marching on Ydmechron at any given time. Then, because these six or so hosts couldn't fight for orcish interests on all fronts, there were many smaller hosts under the leadership of radj, generals. These traditionally swore allegiance to one or the other "clan", a god's host, but could also be independent and fighting for their own glory.

One characteristic of orcish strategy was that they did not fight to hold ground. The goblinoids tried expanding their lands around Diefngjor, while the Bronze Legion fiercely defended the brass plain enclaves they called their own. But orcs had much more shifting borders and often didn't even bother to call the land around Fuurnak their own. Each army sought for glory on the battlefield wherever it could find it, often marching against the goblinoids. They didn't bother keeping supply chains, rather making their gear while on the move and looting the more advanced items. Additionally, because they never per se staked out any land as their own, they relied on other factions' resources. Thus, orcish hosts streamed to the location of recent battles, invading areas that had just been conquered by others to profit of the bountiful resources of Ydmechron there.

Another feared orcish tactic was that of "bomb surges". Because smaller hosts were essentially completely independent, they could go on a tangent through relatively empty land and stay hidden for long spans of time, before suddenly appearing in the rear lines where no one expected them. The threat of orcish hosts appearing out of nowhere was the main incentive for other factions to leave whole armies stationed in their territories.

Bronze Legion

The Legion did not have a god or pantheon leading them, but were a faction belonging fully to Ydmechron. Although not intially a part of the plane, they had become so engraved in it that whole biomes adapted just to them grew. Their foot soldiers were brazens, which were level 1 majtitikes. They were special in the way that their skin appeared to be made out of solid opaque brass, and that they birthed out of the ground in brass plains rather than from Blood Fields.

• larger ones: bronze discoloration on ground some time before they emerge