This two-hundred-mile-long rift opened in a previous age when The Diabolist’s schemes allowed powerful fiends to tear through the walls of the world. Demons poured out through the Abyss until the Great Golden Wyrm fought its way to the bottom of the Abyssal rift and bound the gate with his body. The Gold Wyrm is now a living ward. His presence keeps the greatest fiends from entering the world.
Lesser fiends who can sometimes slip in through smaller cracks remain trapped in the Abyss by the Wyrm’s magic rather than by his physical presence. Occasionally a demon breaks through the Great Golden Wyrm’s magic or a wizard or sorcerer works to pull one out.
The Abyss is two hundred miles long, between one and five miles wide, and reaches to unknown depths. Floating chunks of rock form islands within it, and these islands are used as anchors for the few bridges crossing it, as well as foundations for the communities there—both the fiend-halls in the depths and a few monasteries and watchtowers scattered around the top.
The deep secret of the Abyss: The Diabolist does not presently work to destroy the Great Golden Wyrm. Occasionally The Diabolist may even act covertly to ensure the Wyrm’s continued survival, because a near monopoly on demonic power suits The Diabolist more than releasing all demons to destroy the world.