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The Malifortis Sphere

Overview

The Malifortis Sphere is a scorched dominion of ash-hung void and flickering soulflame, ruled not by tyranny, but by sanctuary forged in infernal fire. Infernal historians claim the first settlers of this sphere were planetouched humanoids—tieflings, fire genasi, and others with infernal bloodlines—driven from their homelands across wildspace and the lower planes. They were drawn to the abandoned relic at the sphere’s heart: a supermassive gate of ancient Antæran design known now as the Scævolan Gate. Once thought to be a path to the Antæran homeworld, the relic was eventually corrupted, torn open to the Nine Hells of Baator. Devils spilled forth—but instead of conquest, they found kinship among the outcast descendants of Hell.

Over the centuries, Malifortis became a refuge. Devils and tieflings forged a society of laws, contracts, and unshakable hospitality. Across the sphere, infernal terraforming sculpted each world in the image of one of Baator's layers—not as prisons, but as sanctuaries echoing the order and symbolism of their origins. Despite their terrifying appearance, these worlds teem with commerce, diplomacy, and a cold but genuine civility.

To outsiders, Malifortis is a vision of Hell made manifest, its skies filled with brimstone and infernal sigils. But to those who brave its ember-wrought gates, it is a realm of refuge—where even the damned can find a home, protected by the very terror that keeps others away.

In the era when the Scævolan Gate first tore open, it belched forth great clouds of ember-laced soot into the void. Though the gate no longer spews these plumes, the soot remains, drifting in long, veiled strands across the sphere. These ashen clouds cling to orbiting bodies and sometimes interfere with spelljamming navigation. Many devils and cults use the soot as cover for travel, ritual, or secrecy.

For centuries, Malifortis has endured a relentless holy war declared by crusaders from the Sanctum Æternum sphere. Born of deep prejudice against those of infernal heritage, this war is waged in the name of purification and divine mandate. Malifortis has withstood sieges, raids, and ideological condemnation, holding firm behind its infernal civility and ironclad oaths. Peace is an illusion; the war is eternal.

Planetology & Astrology

  • Type of Sphere: Standard
  • Primary Body:
    • Name: Vultazarr
    • Type: Fire body (manifest zone to the Elemental Plane of Fire)
  • Spelljamming Aware: Yes

Inner Track

  • Planet Name: Avernus
    • Distance: 57 million miles
    • Size: E
    • Type: Fire
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: Scorched and cracked, Avernus is a world of burning wastelands and rust-colored mountains. While named for the first layer of Baator, it bears only symbolic resemblance. Its infernal cities are carved into cooled lava flows and iron cliff faces. The planet hosts Malifortis’s premier military academy, where officers, tacticians, and void commanders are trained in infernal doctrine and arcane warfare. Avernus also serves as the staging point for the government’s standing spelljammer navy; its drydocks and launch ramps are etched into obsidian cliffs. The moon Zakariel is a fortified retreat for high command and war archivists.

Goldilocks Zone

  • Planet Name: Dis

    • Distance: 122 million miles
    • Size: H
    • Type: Earth
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: Built from layers of crumbling basalt and fused stone, Dis is a sprawling, ruinous expanse with no central structure. Its surface is crowded with refugee camps, tenement districts, and tightly packed neighborhoods of exiles from across the planes. The cities are loosely organized under contract-bound house guilds, but most governance is local and self-enforced. The planet’s asteroid ring is home to floating arcane furnaces, independent guild halls, and vast, multi-tiered markets that act as neutral ground for trade, diplomacy, and espionage. The moon Kynra serves as a neutral zone where rival factions exchange oaths.

  • Planet Name: Minauros

    • Distance: 164 million miles
    • Size: F
    • Type: Water
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: A dank, fetid world of slow-moving sludge and half-submerged ruins, Minauros is often said to reflect the decay of civilization. While inspired by the layer of the same name, it lacks any true replication. Its infernal inhabitants simply embraced its natural squalor. Floating walkways and magical stilts keep cities above the mire. The planet is divided into numerous baronies, each functionally autonomous and steeped in corruption. With no central enforcement, Minauros has become a hotbed for narcotics production, contraband trade, and black-market spell components. The moon Vresh serves as a repository for plague magic and alchemical waste.

  • Planet Name: Phlegethos

    • Distance: 193 million miles
    • Size: E
    • Type: Fire
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: Flame-choked and vibrant with geologic activity, Phlegethos is renowned not for its dangers, but for its performances—rituals, art, and celebrations tied to heat and passion. It shares its name with a fiery layer of Baator, but only loosely in spirit. The planet is considered the spiritual heart of the sphere, where devotion is expressed through shamanistic ceremonies, interpretive dances, and ritual fire rites. Public rituals are attended as both religious observance and artistic spectacle. Its crust fractures constantly, creating spontaneous stages and sinkholes. The planet has no moons, but thick ash clouds drift in erratic orbit, occasionally glowing with residual heat from deep fissures below.

Outer Track

  • Planet Name: Stygia

    • Distance: 309 million miles
    • Size: G
    • Type: Water
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: Stygia is a cold ocean world locked beneath endless permafrost and glacial sheets. There is no visible ground; the surface consists entirely of frozen ocean, layered ice, and patches of long-dead, frost-coated vegetation. Wind-scoured ridges and shattered floes drift across the surface like glacial tectonics. It shares a name with Baator’s fifth layer but bears only superficial resemblance. Ancient wrecks rest half-buried in the ice, rumored to be remnants of early crusader invasions. The moon Azphor is hollow and layered with enchanted frostglass, used for memory preservation and magical isolation.

  • Planet Name: Malbolge

    • Distance: 361 million miles
    • Size: H
    • Type: Earth
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: Malbolge is a tectonically active tomb world composed primarily of dense basalt. The surface is fractured by constant seismic upheaval, with earthquakes and magma vents reshaping its geography regularly. A massive floating city known as Gravenhold drifts through the skies, powered by infernal engines and arcane anchors. It serves as the central hub for magical education and research, hosting the most prestigious academies of the sphere. Infernal pacts, planar theory, and advanced magical disciplines are studied here by the scholarly elite, who wield both infernal and arcane power with equal reverence. The moon Varnis holds observatories that chart the planet’s unpredictable seismic tides.

  • Planet Name: Maladomini

    • Distance: 402 million miles
    • Size: E
    • Type: Earth
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: Maladomini is a smaller terrestrial world that hosts the only known Antæran ruins still intact enough for habitation. Scattered across its surface are multiple ruined cities, carved directly from basalt with surprisingly simple forms and functional layouts. The structures are angular, precise, and laced with inert channels and conduits. None of the ancient machines or arcane systems remain functional, but the basic infrastructure—walls, towers, cisterns, and crude transit tunnels—has been repurposed for limited modern use. Archaeological guilds have established semi-permanent camps within these sites, devoting generations of study to uncovering the truths of the lost Antæran civilization. Despite centuries of effort, meaningful breakthroughs remain rare. The temples within these cities remain sealed and unexplored, fiercely guarded by ancient constructs that attack any who approach. The moon Thull is fragmented, forming a slow-falling belt of broken towers and floating vaults.

  • Planet Name: Cania

    • Distance: 450 million miles
    • Size: H
    • Type: Water
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: Cania is a frozen prison world of jagged ice peaks and bladed ridgelines, where flesh-shredding winds howl through narrow chasms like the screams of the damned. Beneath the surface lies a sprawling subterranean complex—a fortress of chains, wards, and wardens—designed to hold the most dangerous prisoners from across the Known Spheres. Devils, demigods, warlords, and ancient horrors are locked away in dimensional cells and arcane oubliettes. The prison is said to be inescapable, not merely because of its enchantments, but because any who flee into the open air are quickly slain by the unforgiving climate. No one survives the cold judgment of Cania. The planet has no moons, but a belt of massive ice chunks drifts in orbit, slowly grinding against each other like celestial millstones.

  • Planet Name: Nessus

    • Distance: 498 million miles
    • Size: D
    • Type: Earth
    • Shape: Spherical
    • Other Notes: Nessus is a cold tomb world, its surface entirely sheathed in black stone and infernal alloy. No natural flora or fauna endure its lifeless atmosphere, and no trace of natural terrain remains. The entire planet is consumed by a seamless planetary city of tiered architecture and absolute order. When viewed from orbit, the surface appears cloaked in a dense, unmoving mist that obscures all detail. Even the most powerful divinations fail to pierce this veil, rendering the planet unreadable to outside scrying. It is inhabited solely by the nobility and royal houses of Malifortis and serves as the governmental nerve center of the sphere. All decrees, treaties, and sphere-wide decisions are issued from its cloistered towers. Outsiders are never permitted to visit. Those summoned to Nessus are never seen again, and what transpires within its walls is known only to the ruling elite.

Recognized Pantheon

Lesser Deities

  • Dolmyr, the Pale Ledger (LN)
  • Tyrialin, the Mourning Star (NG)
  • Yzzereth, the Blade-Mind (CE)

Intermediate Deities

  • The Hollow Queen, Sovereign of Silence (NE)
  • Braxus, the Chainfather (LG)
  • Selveras, the Ashen Flow (CN)

Greater Deities

  • Askalon, the Crimson Mandate (LE)
  • Virethis, the Emberborn Crown (LN)
  • Calithar, the Masked Flame (CG)

Demigods

  • Phalazhul, Sentinel of the Ebon Gates (LE)
  • Lithiniel, Whisper in the Mire (NE)
  • Varn, Architect of Ruin (CN)
  • Eressai, the Hollow Veil (N)
  • Nyrixa, Ember-Dancer (CG)