Header Art: Planar Adventures (2018) by Paizo Publishing

What are the Brine Depths

Within the deep, dark waters of the Plane of Water, there is a haunted dominion of acidic salt water. Located at the boundaries of water and earth, where the two elemental planes meet, is a seabed holding the infinite expanse of ocean above it. While many know it by the name of the Brine Depths, it also has been called the Salthell, Abyssal Plain, Ocean’s Locker, and many others. Within this domain are long-dead sailors who made deals for life from any divine being that would hear them, though, instead of being saved from the cruel waves, they were dragged deeper into them.

History

This domain was once ruled over by an evil primordial of water, though with them being locked away eons ago, it is a brutal realm devoted to only suffering. Its direction is rudderless, with geniekin and elementals vying for power while they maintain their roles as jailors, ensuring that any soul that arrives within the depths is accounted for. Once they fill their salt-laden prison, only then can they hope to release their primordial god.

It was first inhabited by Inanição, a primordial of evil waves and water, wherein he created a realm more pleasing to him. It became a realm of torment, acidic salt spray, and the fear that inhabits the hearts of sailors who gaze into the dark waters below them. In this realm, Inanição ruled with little trouble from others, though when the gods and primordials warred, he drifted from this realm to take part in the conflict. Unfortunately for Inanição, he was locked away and imprisoned in a mortal world, leaving this domain without its ruler.

In the eons since, no one can truly say they control this realm. Sure there are those who have amassed a great following, but Inanição’s loyal subjects still hold quite a lot of power in this dreary realm. There is constant conflict between the multitude of sides, and even a few primordials from outside this realm have tried to claim it with little success.

An Outsider’s Perspective

For those traveling the planes and stumbling across this realm, they often leave just as soon as they can. This realm of acidic ocean water is unwelcoming to almost everyone and most travelers find it hard to believe that anyone wants to reside here. Of course, those who know about the realm and don’t just stumble across it understand that there are important resources within the realm worth exploring.

This realm is a wondrous and terrible place as the souls of drowning sailors are drawn to it. Many inhabitants still serve Inanição, dragging the souls of damned sailors into this realm where they have pledged their souls to the vile elemental. Some have journeyed here to save the souls of loved ones who have drowned at sea, while others journey to this realm to gather the special acidic salt found here, metal deposits of gold, silver, and more common metals, gems crafted from intense pressure like diamonds, and harvesting the eggs and body parts of abyssopelagic beasts like krakens, massive clams, dire anglerfish, and more. There are even vast fields of sunken ships that have sunk across the Material Plane and have ended up sinking to the seabed of the Plane of Water.

A Native’s Perspective

The natives of the realm are largely elementals made of water and salt, though there is a sizable portion of genie and geniekin. There are even those who reside here from outside the plane. Elementals and geniekin of earth and sand, who travel here from Plane of Earth through the seabed may spend most of their time here as they make deals with the elementals and geniekin in the Brine Depths. Even fiends who delight in pain and torture may journey to this location simply to delight in the suffering of the tormented souls, or try to steal some of those souls for their plots.

The natives here are also constantly vying for power and who controls the realm. While Inanição might’ve been the first one to find, or maybe create, this realm, he has been locked away for so long that many of his original supporters are starting to fade. His power and control over this realm are beginning to wane, which has only made his remaining followers that much more dedicated to restoring his power.

Those that oppose Inanição, are varied and rarely ever work together. Perhaps had they put their differences aside when they first began moving against Inanição’s supporters, they might’ve taken over this realm, but they refuse to help one another. The largest faction is led by a marid, Hizir Pasha Reis, who wishes to become a padishah, or lord of kings, and control the realm and its multitude of souls. One of Hizir’s strongest opponents, though, is a group of salt elementals who see the water in this realm as diluting their strength and are led by a primordial named Nnu-ndu who wishes to see the salinity in the water increase and even solidify the realm in salt.

Opposing both groups are mud mephits that have gotten it in their heads that the seabed is actually a part of the Para-Elemental Plane of Mud and that it rightfully belongs to them. They think that any mixture of water and earth only serves to create mud, and thus it is theirs by the very fact a seabed consists of earth and water.

This constant warring between factions, which doesn’t always involve bloodshed and violence, has served to make the region quite dangerous for travelers. Anyone who arrives here, and isn’t part of one faction or another, must be ready to pledge allegiance to whoever first finds them or be strong enough to escape imprisonment or death.

Traits

Atmosphere

The Brine Depths is a plane of water and salt, so saturated with salt that many claim that the water itself is acidic. This hostile atmosphere has left many vowing to never return, though it can be easily overcome by those who are aware of its acidic nature. A creature that has resistance to acid damage has no problem residing in the saltwater here, though they will have to come up with some way to breathe water. A creature that is not resistant takes 1d6 acid damage every hour that they are in this realm. This constant damage means that the creature is unable to complete a long rest unless they can find a way to not take that damage for 8 hours, the length of a long rest.

Creatures who are captured by one of the various factions, and who can’t resist the acid damage, are left to suffer and slowly die over the hours or days that they last. Many creatures here delight in such suffering and will open fresh wounds in a creature so that the salt water can bring even more pain and suffering as it bites and stings the wound.

Traveling to the Brine Depths

Traveling here is the same difficulty as traveling to the Plane of Water, sometimes storms on the oceans might cause a ship to travel the planes, and then it only requires someone to keep swimming miles and leagues down under the water until they find this realm. Some have even arrived here as they followed cracks and fissures in the Plane of Earth that dripped with ocean water. Following these fissures leads them to the seabed of the Brine Depth, and maybe near the lands of the Ocean’s Locker, where the souls of drowned sailors are imprisoned.

Though, the easiest way of journeying to this realm is to begin drowning at sea and call out for aid from the gods. With some luck, an envoy of Inanição will come to drag your soul to the Brine Depths in exchange for you not drowning.

**Ruins of Azlant #4: City in the Deep**, 2017 Paizo Publishing

Traversing the Brine Depths

One must be able to resist the corrosive effects of the salt, be able to breathe water, and swim to fully enjoy this realm. Anyone that arrives here that can’t do those things are going to find themselves dead or trapped, and anyone that can do all those things might still find themselves trapped or imprisoned. Within this realm are a variety of locations, like the Ocean’s Locker where the souls of drowned sailors are imprisoned, or the Cathedral of Black Salt, the seat of Inanição’s power.

Due to being located at the Plane of Water’s seabed, there is no light in this dark and dismal place. Instead, all light must be created by magic or through bioluminescence, making it hard to see the full expanse of this realm. Along the seabed is very little to gaze upon, at most one can find a few interesting rocks, endless expanses of sand and pebbles, strange plants that thrive in the harsh environment, and odd deep-sea creatures that are best left alone and avoided at all costs.

Filled with the Damned

The Brine Depths holds the souls of countless drowned sailors, torturing their very souls with salt spray. While normally, when a mortal creature dies, its soul would travel onto the Outer Planes, that is not the case for drowning sailors. Often when a sailor is drowning in the waters, they might reach out to the gods for help, promising gold, prayer, and even their eternal soul if they would just be saved from drowning.

Inanição, when he first created the realm, took great delight in answering these prayers, though the sailors would never return to life. When he hears their cries for salvation from any god, he sends his envoys. The sailors are approached by elementals made of water and salt, offering salvation from drowning if the sailor agrees to worship Inanição. When they offer their worship, they are immediately dragged to the Brine Depths, their mortal souls stripped of their physical form by the acidic salt, and their eternal soul burns chained to the seabed where they will spend their afterlife screaming in agony but no longer drowning.

The drowned souls here are a unique feature in the elemental planes. Souls rarely come to these planes, but rather drift off to the Outer Planes for their eternal reward. With so many souls contained in this one area, it is a treasure-trove of valuable soul matter that can be used to fuel the power of a primordial, as a valuable trade commodity, or simply as a bargaining chip.

A damned soul can be saved from its fate here. Since all souls are given a ‘physical manifestation’, they can be physically rescued by removing their salt-crusted iron shackles and taken from this realm. The moment a soul’s shackles are broken, it alerts the followers of Inanição who guard the souls against escape. They immediately descend upon the freed soul and attempt to capture it again, killing anyone that gets in their way. As a matter of last resort, they will seek to destroy the soul, thus destroying the soul forever unless someone casts a wish spell to bring them back.

Locations

There are several important locations within the Brine Depths, each the bastion of one faction or another who are vying for power. Every inch of seabed and water in this realm is claimed by someone, most of the time multiple someones. It is unwise for any traveler to assume that just because they are in a featureless stretch of seabed or water, the inhabitants here won’t jealously guard it with their very lives.

Cathedral of Black Salt

The seat of power for Inanição, or at least, will be once he returns after being free from his prison. This black structure is made of black obsidian coated in a thick layer of salt, giving it a more grayish hue than it had before the primordial was imprisoned. After eons of neglect, as Inanição’s followers begin to lose faith, drift away, or are killed, there just aren’t enough to keep the cathedral’s gleaming black edifice clean of salt.

It is still protected by salt elementals, water elementals, geniekin, and his followers who have come and gone through the eons. While many have tried to take this cathedral by force, Inanição still has sway while imprisoned to grant his followers enough power to hold them back, if barely. It is only a matter of time, though, as his followers dwindle that he will lose his cathedral and seat of power.

Ocean’s Locker

The vast stretch of seabed located around the Cathedral of Black Salt and is filled with the countless souls of drowned sailors who wished to be saved. Tricked by Inanição, they are weighed down by heavy iron chains that keep them from swimming away and tie them to the field. They are free to move about the seabed here, with vast rock cliffs that ensure they can not escape as their chains won’t allow them to swim so high. They feel constant pain as their skin has been partially flayed off, exposing it to the salt burn, but because they are bound by Inanição’s will, they can not die. Instead, they are constantly tortured and suffering, hoping that one day they might escape or finally die.

These souls are the true source of Inanição’s power and his followers hope that if they retrieve enough souls for him, his power will grow and he will break free of his prison. Once he returns, he will grant great rewards and power to his greatest followers, and then turn his attention toward the destruction of interlopers in his realm.

**Planar Adventures**, 2018 Paizo Publishing

Gleaming Fissures

Like cracks in a mirror, the gleaming fissures are spread throughout the seabed, offering deeper depths to this realm. Within the fissures are all manner of monsters, some even claiming that aboleth nests are in one particularly deep one or that a kraken has laid claim to it and has devoured the aboleths within. These fissures are supposedly rips and tears between the planar divides between the Plane of Water and Plane of Earth, an easy way of crossing the planes.

Lumin

This glistening city is unlike any in the Plane of Water as it gives off a faint glow that can be seen for miles through the dark water. The water itself glows with faint green energy every time a creature moves in the water, with the light brighter or dimmer depending on how much the creature moves. This strange behavior of the water is not well understood by even those who reside here, with some believing it is such a strange behavior of the water, while others believe there are tiny, invisible creatures that give off that glow when they are ‘struck’ by a creature moving through the water.

Thanks to the movement of the city, there is always enough light to see by, casting a dim glow throughout. Here, merchants come and ply their trades, selling materials taken from across the plane, like jewelry, weapons, and magic items. In exchange, they are seeking precious metals found along the seabed, the rescued treasure from ships that have sunk into this plane, trade with earth elementals who brave the Brine Depths, as well as the occasional black market deal where a soul was stolen from the Ocean’s Locker and sold to those seeking souls for their evil plots.

The Seabed

This section of the Brine’s Depth is considered the very bottom of the Plane of Water where it abuts against the Plane of Earth - of course, seeing as how the Plane of Water is an infinite expanse of water, there can’t truly be a bottom to it. In addition, there are fissures within the seabed that clearly show that the plane continues, but both points are mere semantics when it comes to talking about the planes and how something infinite could ever have borders.

The seabed hosts a massive variety of creatures, from gargantuan sea cucumbers to mud mephits, from salt elementals to krakens, and from dire angler fish to cultists dedicated to summoning forth eldritch water gods from a realm far from this multiverse. It is a dangerous area to be and any source of light is sure to attract the attention of all manner of ill-tempered creatures.

**Planes of Power**, 2016 Paizo Publishing

Factions

There is no shortage of factions within the Brine Depths, each vying for complete control. This was when Inanição ruled, and even then he was constantly culling his followers to ensure that none tried to take his seat of power over the souls of the damned.

Elementals

The most populous of the natives are the elementals, some sentient, and others merely just a mindless extensions of the plane. They rarely interact in any meaningful way with outsiders, but their lives are just as rich as mortals of the Material Plane, at least those who have their own will and thoughts. Due to the influence of this realm, they delight in the torture and suffering of others, though they do not attack creatures on sight, especially not those in the city of Lumin. They bide their time, knowing that there are always those travelers who come ill-prepared.

Salt Elementals and Nnu-ndu

A very small subset of earth and water elementals, salt elementals often take on the appearance of a humanoid made of salt. They are large creatures, with a touch that can cause lasting damage as it eats and chews through organic matter. They have little patience for organic creatures, seeing them as mere nuisances that they must deal with on occasion to conduct trade with.

While not all salt elementals follow Nnu-ndu, Nnu-ndu is recognized as a major leader for them. Nnu-ndu wishes to see the realm transformed into a place with even more salinity than it has, a realm of pure salt without the impurities of water, earth, and other creatures. How Nnu-ndu proposes to do so has been kept secret by the elementals, but the recent destruction of souls in the Ocean’s Locker has been at the hands of salt elementals.

Inanição, the Ocean’s Maw

So named due to his delight in causing hunger and pain in others, many cultures use his name to describe famine, intense and crippling pain, and starvation. Inanição was the first, and really the only, ruler of this realm, delighting in how the very water itself can burn those he deem to be lesser. Even the marid, the genies of the Plane of Water, find this realm to be inhospitable, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying to remove his lingering control over the Brine Depths.

With him being imprisoned, Inanição has had difficulties ensuring that his rule is followed and it has been slowly trickling away. Unless Inanição can find someone to release him from his prison soon, he may no longer have the followers needed to ensure that his presence is felt in this realm.

**Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse**, 2022 WotC

Envoys

While Inanição might still be imprisoned, most of his envoys remain within the realm. They are powerful elementals of salt and water, geniekin who delight in the torment of others, and other manner of odd sea-beast who have pledged their souls to the primordial. They act as his servants and messengers, finding drowning sailors and offering them deals. They fill his Ocean’s Locker with more and more souls, and the more souls they add, the greater Inanição’s strength becomes. Once they have enough souls, Inanição will return and reward them greatly for their loyalty, or so they believe.

Marid

Most genie are assumed to be the royalty of the Inner Planes, an assumption that marid do nothing to curtail. They believe that they are the nobility of the Plane of Water and that all others, including the primordials, elementals, mephits, and other creatures, should delight in serving them. This reputation has not earned them much love, even by the geniekin who have been sired by them. They largely inhabit the city of Lumin, only venturing out to steal souls, kidnap travelers, and ensure that their presence is felt in this realm.

**PF2e - Bestiary**, 2019 Paizo Publishing

Hizir Pasha Reis

Hizir, known more commonly by his moniker the Salt King, hopes to take control of the realm and cement his place as ruler of the realm. If he can gain control of the realm, he will be recognized by other ruling marid padishahs who rule different realms and kingdoms in the Plane of Water. Why Hizir might want a realm of salt is beyond most, but it could be that he sees valuable trading opportunities between marid and dao that interest him.

Encounters

Fiendish Trouble - Fiends like to travel to this realm of pure torment and trade for souls, providing powerful magic items, spells, and equipment in exchange. One such fiend, a demon lord, has been coming regularly enough to set up a permanent home in Lumin. A few angels have placed a large bounty on the demon lord’s head, offering not just the usual treasure, but boons from their god.

Inanição’s Deal - A creature has fallen overboard and made a deal to be saved from drowning by one of Inanição’s envoys, not realizing they would be dragged to the Brine Depths. The stolen soul is an important ally or friend to an adventuring party, and it is up to the party to save them from this eternal torment.

Marid Warriors - Hizir, the Salt King, is looking for more warriors to help fill his ranks. He has a new plan for dealing with the followers of Inanição but doesn’t want to risk marid life. All it requires is a group of adventurers to swim to the Cathedral of Black Salt and distract the elementals there while his team of marid goes to steal a hundred or more souls from the Ocean’s Locker to help bolster his power.

Shipwrecked - Sometimes, when ships sink in the deepest of oceans, they sink into the Plane of Water and descend into the Brine Depths. Within these sunken sites are great treasures just waiting to be recovered, though foul aquatic creatures have claimed these sunken hulls as their own.

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Nov 22 The Brine Depths - Location