Jangling Hiter

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Jangling Hiter
LE small city
Corruption +4; Crime -2; Economy +3; Law +5; Lore +1; Society -3
Qualities cruel watch, defensible, insular, racial enclave (kyton)
Danger +5; Disadvantages XXX
Demographics
Location Baator/Minauros
Government autocracy
Population 7,500 (90% kyton, 5% tiefling, 5% other)
Notable NPCs

Quimath, representative of the kytons of Hiter (Pl/♂ kyton/bard 2/LE)

Marketplace
Base Value 4,000 gp; Purchase Limit 25,000 gp; Spellcasting 6th

Jangling Hiter has stood since the start of recorded history as the home and capital of the kytons, possibly even predating the baatezu themselves. Suspended above the fetid bogs of Minauros, it is a literal city of chain, with everything from the buildings to the ground itself made of chains or chain mesh of various sizes; a tricky environment to maneuver in even on the best of days, horrid when the air of Minauros is especially thick with moisture, but it serves as the perfect city for the kytons, for whom this place grants them as close to omnipotence as they may come. Still, it serves as one of the few places in Baator where those outside the plane can, in relative safety, not only visit but even make a living; merely relative, to be sure, as there's still always the danger of offending the wrong citizen, or stumbling into the wrong part of the city. As befitting its own nature, and the nature of its inhabitants, by far the most renown product of Jangling Hiter both within its bounds and throughout the planes is its chain: from the most basic of products to the most delicate of jewelry to full suits of mail, and everything in between, there is no finer chain anywhere in the multiverse than that from Jangling Hiter.

Ever since the rise of Asmodeus, the city has served as, essentially, a colonial possession of the baatezu, under the watchful eye of the Lord of the Third, with the native kytons here and elsewhere serving somewhere just above the position of vassal. Many of the techniques taught today by the kocrachon at the School of Pain were originally taught here by the kytons, natural experts on the nature of torture as they are, and some of the best metalsmiths of the baatezu received their training from kyton chainwrights of this city.

Around mid-Hashkar 127, this city was one of the many-varied locations impacted by the Iron Shadow plague, hitting city industry hard before the plague was ended. Even so, within mere days the city was further disrupted by the kyton uprising, a coup led by the kyton Quimath that killed Pollus, then-representative of the baatezu, and purged or killed all baatezu or likely agents of the baatezu then residing in the city. In the weeks since the uprising, the city's begun to settle back to a relatively normal state of affairs once more, but these recent events have dissuaded many that once saw it as at least a partial oasis in the hell of Baator.

Government

Until recent history, Jangling Hiter had been ruled by minor baatezu functionaries placed in that position essentially as a way of both sidelining their ambitions and training them for greater tasks. However, following the kyton uprising, the kyton Quimath has served as a representative of the species and ruler of the city, acting against the usual kyton tendency opposing hierarchical rule. While the uprising was too recent for the specific functioning of government to have been settled out yet, so far it appears as though he is ruling the city largely individually, with no moves yet to establish any sort of ruling, or even advisory, council.

Sites

The city is divided up into three neighborhoods; formerly four, including a "Fiend Quarter" once held as the center for baatezu activity, but since the uprising this district has been divvied up amongst the remaining three.

  • Visitor's Quarter (also known as the Abattoir, or the Meat Quarter)
    • Essentially empty, this quarter is kept as a hunting ground for the kytons for those captured by their number, or simply traveling through the city unaware or unguarded.
  • Kytons' Quarter
    • Off-limits to all those not of the kytons without special dispensation and escort, with violations usually meeting with fatal consequences.
    • Devil's Tower; former center of baatezu government, since scoured clean for all records, scrying markers, and portals and sealed from even kyton entrance.
    • Panos Qytel; current "executive manor", home of Quimath
  • Merchant Quarter
    • The only district open to outside travel; though it's declined significantly in foreign travel following recent events, the value of trade with the kytons (especially now that Jangling Hiter is no longer a baatezu holding even in name, and so no longer under the jurisdiction of their arcane legal system) is already leading to a prompt recovery.

Residents

Gallery

Images of Jangling Hiter
Streetfront in Jangling Hiter
Merchant Quarter streetfront in Jangling Hiter.  

Reference

  • Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells, pp.46-48
  • Planes of Law: Baator, pp.18-19
  • Tales of the Infinite Staircase, pp.114-128