Madness is a problem for countless cities and towns across all of the Known Spheres. Too often, these people are those without homes or families to care for them, and prove a drain on precious resources. Large cities build their own asylums to house these poor souls. While many are established with noble intentions, quite often they become dumping grounds for people whom are declared insane. Times of turmoil and tragedy can amplify this problem far beyond any city's ability to handle it. During these times, religious men and women appear, offering to transport the afflicted to a sanctuary moon where they can get better. Many cities are all-too-eager to hand this problem off to someone else, and quickly forget about those sent to the moon known as Asylum.
Asylum is not what it seems. Below the gardens and white-gowned patients is a darker world, where thousands are forced into a brutal breeding program run by the Tanar'ri, the demons. Women are routinely forced to birth half-fiendish cambions or other demonic-spawn, while men are seduced and abused by succumbi. Their children are sent to the Abyss to be raised in orphanages where they learn the arts of war and destruction. These horrors are inflicted upon minds already broken by madness, and many do not long survive their torment.
Asylum should be too small for seasons and weather, but it does experience fierce thunder storms every few weeks. The storms last for 2-8 days at a time, with overcast so thick that even during the day it is as dark as the blackest midnight. This is a sure sign that a powerful half-demon has been born (see below). While conditions are usually spring-like, the storms can create winds that send a chill to the bone.
Asylum appears as a green asteroid, covered with hundreds of private gardens and the large primary building. During storms, it is completely englobed by black clouds, almost invisible in space.
There are no continents and the only real landmark is the primary building. It is a gothic stone structure with some gargoyles, a steeply pointed roof, and many stain-glass windows. It is large enough to house about one hundred cultists and five hundred inmates. Extensive tunnels under the building radiate out like a spider web with hundreds of secret rooms, passages, and at the very bottom, an open Gate to the Abyss.
There are very few creatures living on Asylum. There are a few birds, some worms for them to feast on, and a few rodents. Some creatures from the lower planes can be found in the passages that honeycomb the asteroid. Here, one can encounter hell hounds, manes, abyss bats, quasits, mephitis, and the rare yeth hound.
There are three types of beings on Asylum: cultists, the insane, and a handful of demons lurking in the dark places under the main building.
The cultists are responsible for running Asylum. Most are humans, but their numbers include some elves, lizardmen, half-orcs, and even telflings who disguise themselves as human. They disguise themselves as kindly men of faith who claim their religious duty is to care for those "afflicted with a bit of madness". They are masters of screening candidates who might be missed and those who will not. Some are skilled diplomats whose forked tongues can convince many a city elder to hand over their insane without a word of protest.
The insane are divided up into certain groups when they arrive on Asylum, depending on certain criteria. Those with family connections that might check up on them, such as royalty, are kept on the garden grounds, given clean clothes, and regularly bathed and cared for. They are not, however, treated for their madness nor allowed to explore beyond a designated area. These offer a good cover for the rare cases when a ship shows up at Asylum. The second group are those without any sort of family connections but deemed worthy of entering the breeding program. Women are mated with male demons to create cambions, usually of the lesser variety. Men are given to the succumbi, who give birth to alu-fiends. Most do not survive very long, with the women dying in childbirth and the men murdered as soon as the succumbi tire of them. Those of third group are those that are completely unsuited for breeding, mostly barren women and worthless men. These are cattle, nothing more. They are fattened up and then killed to feed young half-demons.
There are truly few demons on Asylum at any given point. There are thirteen succumbi, almost always in a constant state of pregnancy. They dwell in lavish apartments, where they indulge themselves in carnal acts of depravity. Guarding them are several vrocks, a dozen or so Hezrou, and a trio of glabrezus. The galbrezus are in charge of the Asylum, responsible for dividing up the insane into the appropriate groups and deciding who gets to mate with whom. For their services they have been rewarded well. Each is armed with a magic sword, a rod of some power, as well as 2-5 other magic items that they can use. They are never found without 1-4 naked slaves chained to a rod they carry. These are their "personal favorites". Finally, there are four maelephants guarding the Gate to the Abyss that can be found at the lowest level. They are tireless guardians, and if trouble arises they can sound a gong that will bring forth reinforcements.
Asylum has but one resource: an ample supply of living beings whose sole purpose is to be breeders to create half-demon armies. That supply of flesh is constantly being renewed by cities throughout the Known Spheres readily send their insane to Asylum. Few care to investigate where they are sending their insane, happy just to be rid of that problem.
From within Asylum's walls has been birthed one of the largest half-demonic army ever. That army now fights the Bloodwar, bringing in wealth and prestige to the demon lord who built Asylum to begin with. The moon has proven a key component to his rise to power, and one he will protect.
The primary import of Asylum is insane beings of all races, although most are human. Necessities like food, water, and clothing are sometimes imported, mostly to keep up the illusion of Asylum being a normal place. Demon-blooded babies are exported through a portal to the Abyss at the lowest level. They are raised on the Abyss, where they grow into hardened warriors of the Bloodwar. Most never return to the place of their birth, and indeed most do not even know it exists.
There is one large primary building, a stone edifice built to house hundreds of inmates. There are several other, smaller buildings which serve other purposes, such as a trio of piers and several storage sheds. Facilities on Asylum are the barest of minimum, without any means of repairing any ship that shows up.
To transport the insane to Asylum, the cultists employ a fleet of 12 tradesmen clearly marked with a well-recognized sign. Each tradesmen is equipped with Holds of Holding, enough to carry as many as 100 people at any given time. These ships are usually left alone by pirates and almost everyone else, as their cargo is generally considered valueless and their ships powered by spells rather than valuable helms. There will be a crew of 12 cultists, including one cleric of sufficient level to cast Create Minor Helm. Some are disguised vrocks, cambions, and other demons. These almost never leave the ship when in port. The cultists keep these creatures on a tight leash when around civilized quarters, as they do not wish to dispel the illusion they are humble caretakers on a religious quest.
The cultists have a regular schedule of ports they visit. Typically they show up once every few years to collect the insane. The size of the city and the number of insane it generates naturally determines how often a cultist ship pulls into port. A small city such as the Rock of Bral might only see a cultist ship once a decade, while a vast metropolis such as Calimport of Toril will have yearly visits. The cultists are clever in avoiding places like Cormyr where their activities might draw notice, and they do not go out of their way to "encourage" more people to be declared insane. In short, their activities go unnoticed and in many cases, most do not care.
Ahazu, the demonic ruler of a small, unimportant layer of the abyss, came up with an ingenious plan to increase the wealth of his poverty-stricken realm. Through contacts, promises, and other manipulations, he came into possession of a small asteroid, upon which he built an insane asylum. Insanity is always a problem for many cities and towns, one that they would rather not deal with. As often those afflicted with madness are those with little or no family and usually very poor, few wish to devote much treasure to cure them, instead dumping them in poorly-run asylums. Ahazu, through cultist agents, easily convinced city elders to "take the madmen off their hands", assuring them that they could be taken to a place where they could be put to good use for the rest of their lives. Too many did not care what the cultists did with them, and readily let them empty their asylums for them. True to the cultist's word, the insane were put to good use, in new breeding programs to create cambion and alu-fiend foot-soldiers for the Bloodwar.
Since the doors of the Asylum opened, thousands of cambions and hundreds of alu-fiends have been birthed. An added bonus came during the Unhuman Wars, centuries ago, when the victorious elves were left with the quandary of what to do with the many tens of thousands of female and young orcs, goblins, and ogres captured in the war. An unscrupulous admiral solved the problem by shipping them to the Asylum a few thousand at a time, and eventually the work camps vanished. Unbeknownst to the elves, a massive army of tanarukks, the result of their handing their captives over to Asylum, now resides in the Abyss in an enormous fortress. In some rare cases, elven political prisoners, many elven, have ended up in the Asylum, resulting in several Fey-ri that command Ahazu's armies. Breeding with other races have resulted in even stranger creatures.
Since Ahazu's breeding programs began, his layer has changed drastically. Before, it was a wasteland with few resources. It now boasts mighty armies of half-demon mercenaries, who through conquest and sell-sword contracts have brought Ahazu great personal wealth. He has even attracted a marilith general for his armies. Recently he has expanded his operations to creating wildspace pirate groups, with crews of cambions, telflings, and other demon-blooded creatures. How successful he will be in these ventures is unknown, but if his success with Asylum is any indication of future prospects, the Known Spheres has much to fear indeed!
Asylum has no moon of its own.
