Hiyas!

I'm planning a foray into Hive Volg (Fenksworld) & I've gathered (mainly from the Inquisitors Handbook & Creatures Anathema) that this is a wretched, horrid & brutal place amped to the max; indeed, probably the worst hive in the Imperium (or, at least, Calixis). I was wondering if you super-creative minds could kindly help me make it truly memorable for my group to never forget, shivering, about "that time in Volg" (ie., I'm fishing for some terrible & nasty encounters to throw at 'em, if you could be so kind as to provide suggestions!). IMHO, not every encounter oughta be immediately dangerous - vistas of Volg-life could embed themselves to memory as easily...

I was thinking of tableaux/encounters with :

Slavers (all kinds of persons & ages)

The Beast House

Pit-fights

The Lake

Mutants

A cross-fire between gangs

Victims of "mistakes" in the system (pollutants released killing mass numbers - the PCs are witnesses)

(Yeah, I know sounds pretty lame, that's why I'm begging for help!)

Thanks!

L

Wasn't there something going on in Volg with extreme pollution? Some refineries or chemical factories that make everyone sick, mutated, or worse?

I think you should make the atmosphere creepy and disgusting, rather than coming up with terrible enemies such as Beast House and slavers. Everytime the characters open a tap, they will find the water is rusty-colouredand smelly. Food consists of packed algae bars and is tasteless. The rain is acid and eats away at anything the characters leave outside. It will hiss and cause nasty-smelling vapours when it reacts with the residue of other chemical agents in Volg's streets.

People on the streets sprout physical deformities, cough and wheeze. They need gas masks or else they will develop severe respiratory problems. The homeless dregs who lack such protection are quickly succumbing to the poisonous fumes and at night you can hear their wretched, agonizing cries. Social interactions are rude, terse, and everyone is constantly on edge.

Volg is the hive city with those crank stubbers mounted on walkways to shoot the pale things that slither up from below, right? Make this an ever present threat. Most people would just shrug to hear that someone got caught by the hairless things. There is a tangible sense of doom ... because people know they are doomed.

Well, if I remember correctly the environment itself is highly dangerous in Hive Volg (or was it Magnagorsk?) and most (at least those that can afford it) wear some sort of insulation suit to protect themselves against the toxic/acidic vapours that seem ubiquitous there. So describe most people being outside of buildings wearing patched up insulation suits of differing quality (e.g. a child wearing insulation suit and rebreather playing in an acid puddle with leaden space marine figurines) and describe that it rains acid most of the time. About all people they see inside buildings have acid burns or scar tissue somewhere visible on their naked skin (maybe bordering on mutation for some ultra puritans (i.e. Redemptionists)) and describe the always present sour and toxic smell in the air. Maybe sirens warn the citizenry seconds before an acidic downpour occurs, so that one can reach some sheltered area.

The Fenksworld Pit-Thing featured in Creatures Anathema originates from there (IIRC) and maybe could be encountered somewhere down- hive or hidden in a manufactorum feeding on the odd indentured worker there.

The Logicians were also responsible for some atrocity there (IIRC) and could still be active in a way (e.g. doing forbidden research on people). Have you played Edge of Darkness? You could easily relocate it to Hive Volg if not.

Mutants resistant to the acidic environment could be encountered somewhere in the lower hive. Maybe they are enslaved as sort of a cheap workforce (that needs no insulation suits) for the manufactora or gangs of them hunt humans with primitive weapons for food (the Pale Thong eventually). Maybe the Logicians even use the mutants to bring them viable objects for their ‘researches’…

In Creatures Anathema features even more creatures (IIRC) being active there. Some possessed Servitors even if my memory serves me right…

I would describe Volg hive as constantly wet, with continuous rainfall above ground and dripping pipes creating the same condition below ground. This would lead to growth of fungus on most surfaces (some of which will be poisonous). I general it would be very slippery and slimy- normally this would just be an element of "atmosphere", but during combat it could have major game effects. Requiring Agility tests after being hit or making a melee attack, or before attempting anything more than a single move action, with a failure resulting in a fall would really add an extra level of suspense to an encounter- especially if it took place on catwalks over pits of water/slime/toxic waste! How many players bother taking the Swim skill...?

You could have a rescue mission. Some prominent person or child thereof gets nabbed, by a group of folks, and taken somewhere really gross, like a decommissioned/condemned (etc) treatment plant with rotten pipes and gantries and such. Some place where they have to go down into the darkness. Pipes that are so old and corroded that any stray shots will rupture them, spilling out acid, toxins, fire, gas, etc. Gantries unable to support things over a certain weight (armour, heavy weapons, x people crossing at a time, unable to use clip harnesses because nothing will support their weight, etc.

You could also make up a bunch of really gross critters, acid slugs or leeches, ripper jacks, etc. Make it really easy for your players to rescue this person. Then you could twist the finale in multiple ways. Finding out the victim is actually the ring leader, finding the victim long dead, finding everyone dead, finding that it was all a scheme of a recurring villain to off the players, etc.

[The Sink]
The investigations of the pc bring them into a lower section of Volg; a section sited within an excavation sink. As the pc reach the ladders leading down, they notice some yellow signs in hive dialect scrambled next to the access to the ladder.

Intelligence(+30) tells them that it looks like a warning. If anyone is able to read it (Literacy and either having the Hive Dialect (Volg) or passing a hard(-20) test for Low Gothic or the Hive Dialects of one of the other Hive of Fenksworld) will tell that the levels the pc are going to enter are flooded with carbon monoxide due to a burst in a pipe. The “tag” indicates that this had occurred just two days ago. The concentration of the carbon monoxide is “tagged” as a deadly threat (Respirators alone will not help here).

If the pc enter the level (perhaps they search for something in the belongings of a resident or want to check if a certain resident is still alive?) they will find the upper levels to still be inhabitat. The lowest level is a grave, so.

There is not much space and the ramshackle huts cramped into what was once a wide corridor featuring multiple large pipes running across the walls and one ceiling (the huts "back" are the wall of the corridor on both sides. Some of pipes were warm enough to be used as an radiation).

A lot of corpses can be found in beds and on mattresses (the pipe break occurred during a nightcycle. They never woke up but suffocated in their sleep).
Strangely, there is no sign of item of any value. At least not of any a man could pick up and move away.They will although find one corpse on the “streets”. The corpse looks just a day old, wears a breathing mask connected to an air flask. The rubber tube connecting both is severed and the corpse shows numerous knife wounds (this is a looter. He encounter another looter and greed ended in death).

[The Gantries]
After the landing, the pc might spend some time atop of the Hive (which does not rise high but burrows itself into the depth of the world). The hive looks like an urban pockmark here, and there are open abyses and ditches reaching deep into the bowls of the hive. Those are crossed by gantries which are open to the elements.

The pc might notice that on many gantries, people line up to queues, only crossing a given gantry one at a time. The metal moans and shrieks as man move over it, sour rain pours down. Allow the pc to path the gantry. Later in the adventure, make some gantry crash down and people end up near the pc. Other hivers rush to them at once…but not to help but to loot!

Make the pc end up before a gantry where nobody is. See if they dare to cross it.

As pc are the next one to cross a gantry, make some bullies appear who brush and push their way through the queue (Intimidation goes a long way in Volg Hive).

As one pc crosses one these gantries, make run onto it from the other side. The guy is followed by three other who open up fire with crude weapons. The gantry shudders and moans under the additional weight of the running man. Will the pc on the gantry through the other man from it in order to ensure his own safety?

[ATTACK!]
The pc are near a section to an abyss leading into darkness and guarded by crank guns. The streets here are a little crowded (but nothing compared to a REAL hive) since there is one of the few Almshouses here.

The pc are going about there own business, as they hear gunfire not far away, followed by the whaling of an industrial siren. Suddenly, the people in the street turn into a paniced mob. Ask for agility or strengh test,or the pc will either get carried away by the mob or might end up falling and trampled over.

If the pc run toward the danger, they see some men (what goes as enforcers in this district) manning the crank guns and firing. Pale, mishappend slimy things leaping up to them. Disgusting mis-matches of frog and dog, the size of a man.

[Loved ones on sale]
(This scene assumes that the pc are clearly identifiable as superior by the natives). As the pc make their way through the ugly streets of Volg, they hear a women shouting out behind them. Actually, a local women (who looks like about 40 but is end 20) is trying to catch up with them, in the one hand a filth-stained piece of paper, in the other the hand of a small boy (about two years old) she is dragging along.

If the pc understand here broken Low Gothic (check;+10) they will understand that she tries to sell the boy (her boy!) to them. The paper is a birth certificate by a doctor, stating that the boy is born “fifth generation in the Volg” (and by local law free to leave if he can afford it). She offers to sell him for 10 thrones (“good boy! Cleans ! Carries!”) but will go down to as low as 5 thrones (if the pc do not show interest). If the pc refuse to buy the boy, she will break down and cry.

Actually, she is a ***** by depth and the “agreement” with her pimp (and the drugs she buys from him) increases her dept each day. Lately, the pimp announced that he will take her boy away as compensation for parts of her depts. While she has given up herself, she has not given up her boy yet. Thereby, she stole money aside to buy a fake birth certificate (she was sentenced five years ago and the boy is first generation and thereby not allowed to leave) and seeks for a way to get her boy out of here.

[Taking out the trash]
Up the street, the pc see a number (1d5+1) underfed and near-naked men and women lying in their own filth on the street. They are trembling and twitching from time to time. The other people on the street give them a wide berth.

As the pc slowly walk along the street, they see a guy in wide black rags approaching the twitchers. He pulls along a ramshackle chart. As the pc walk on buy, the slowly pulls an old, short staffed pickax from under his rags. Callously, he bashes in the skill of the first twitcher, then locks the pickax into the chest of the corps and pulls it onto the chart. The, the figure slowly turns to the next twitcher. Nobody pays much attention.

(The “twitchers” are drug addicts who ran out of money and are completely nerve-burned by the bad drugs they had been sold. The actually lie in front of the drug den which just throwed them out after their money was spend and they were not able to leave on their own anymore.
The figure in the black rags makes a living of boiling corpses to produce soap from the fat (and other things from other body parts). To him, those “twitchers” are just one step away from dead anyway. And he has lived her to long to care, either. So, he comes around from time to time to see what he can pick up.

To Gregorius21778

Deer Greg:

YOU ROCK, DUDE!!!!! Many THANKS for those!!!

L

LETE said:

Thank you, far to kind! (and far to welcome...)

[Foul mouthed]
The pc might notice that a small crowd has gathered in a loose circle. Some of them cheering, most of them silent. If they make their way to a position where they can actually see something, they are witness of a hiver being brutalized by a group of “meatsluggers” (local expression for thugs and leg-breakers). Two of them hold there victim in position, one of them beat him up. A third one holds a stained plastec jug under a pipe which was knocked loose. The jug fills with sullage.

If the pc stay and watch, they will be witness how the meatsluggers force the mouth of the victim open and pour the sullage down into his throat. The poor wretch head is forced into a position were he has to swallow some of it. All the while, one of the sluggers proclaims loudly that “this is what happens if one talks **** about the venerable [insert Name]

What happens if the pc interfere is up to the GM. The meatsluggers are just Heavies (see DH core rules) and are not heavily armed.

(The victim was talking ill about the wrong person. If he denounced the quality of the drugs of some drug den, had something to say about the quality of some local manufactured corpse starch or something else is up the GM. If the adventure involves some dealing with a crime lord or gang boss, this might be a way to introduce him).

[The Pickets basin]
The pc come across several huge basin (each as large as a football field) divided by rockcrete frames. In the center is a huge silo from where pipes lead into the basin. The basin are filled murky sewage and the whole area has a sickening stink to it. Workers in rubber trousers and large plastec baskets straped to their backs wade through the waste deep liquid filth. With gloved hands or pointed sticks, they pick objects out of the murky waters. Some of them leave one field and move to the next, the sewage in the field flushed down (to a lower level) moments later. The workers unload their baskets onto a nearby band-conveyor. The working crews are monitored by Tech-Adepts from a raised platform (from which they operate the plant)

(This could simply be an area the pc have to pass through or pass over. Perhaps they need to interview some of the pickers. Alternately, somebody could have hidden something in one of the basins, connected with some highly adhesive industrial glue to the inside of one of the pipe openings).

[Attack; Vol.2]
The pc walk along some of the streets in the hive of Volg. Along the center of the floor are metal grates leading into the darkness. The floor is slightly angled towards them. Suddenly, one of them pops open and pale tentacles ****** the nearest pedestrian. The victim disappears before anyone has a change to react, the grate clanks back into position. Then screams are heared from below. The crowd curses while moving away from the grids and to edge of the streets. Some-one near the pc mutters something like “****! They said they had it burnt out last week! Curse them!”

(This can either be used as a warning or as some more colourite. After all, most the Volgnites live by the fact that "it usually hits somebody else". Why should the pc not do the same)?

[Dining and Dieing in Hive Volg]
The „couisine” of Volg could easily be among the worst things a hive has to offer. While a lot of food and water recycling is going on in Volg itself, the majority of the production is going to other Hives on Fenksworld.

Volg Provisions

Type Cost* Availability
Volg Low Grade 1 (1/5) Plentiful
Volg Mid Grade 5 (1) Common
Volg High Grade 40 (8) Scarce
Really High Grade 80 (15) Rare

*The first number is the one based on the prices in the DH core rules book on p.152. The number () is my suggestion (since I really really really dislike the DH pricing for common items). Take the list price for a complete meal with suiting drink.

Really High Grad Volg Provisions is what the rest of the Imperium would consider High Grade Provision. Since there are only few in Volg who can afford such luxury, those foods and drinks are even harder to find and more expensive then elsewhere.

Volg High Grade Provisions would be considered ordinary food elsewhere. In Volg, clean water and food are a luxury, so.

Volg Mid Grade Provisions are would be considered (you get it!) Low Grade. Bad Tasting, but mostly clean and nourishing. Did I say “mostly clean?”. Someone not used to this diet must pass a Toughness(+20) test or will suffer heavily from nausea and bowl movements (-5 on all tests for [8-TB] hours) or from even worse (3 levels of failure; one level of fatigue that only wears of after the duration mentioned above plus another hour for every further level of failure).After three successfully stomached meals or five meals in total, one is used to this food.

Volg Low Grade Provisions will make most men throw up. It takes an easy(+30) Test for Toughness or Willpower to even stomach this stuff. Otherwise, it is the same as above, but with a difficulty of Challenging(+0).Besides getting used to it, there is always a chance the food is recycled that badly that it is actual toxic or otherwise outright harmful.

[infestation Row]
A habitat area the pc move through quickly turns out to be completely infested with thumb-sized, yellow-brown bugs. Wherever a pc looks, something crawls about. The inhabitants seem only midly anoyed by the crawlers. From time to time, the pc see people capturing these bugs with bare hands, butting them into flasks. If they actual eat Low Grade Provisions in this area or have a look at someone elses meal, they will recognize the beetles. Roosted.

(This vermin comes from a corpse processing plant. Whenever this plant cleans and disinfects the compound, the surviving fifth of the beetle population moves to this level and lives of the salt, fat and dander masses of unwashed people generate when living in filthy conditions. A month or three later, the now decimated infestation migrates back into the processing plant. )

Yellstain Diet
The bugs (called Yellstain Nomads) are mildly poisonous. They count as Low Grade Volg Provisions (see above). If ones meals consist of these roosted bugs only, the person will temporarily loose 1d5 Toughness after (TB) days. Over extended periods of time, a Yellstain diet is deadly.

This Toughness loss only regenerates if the body is sustained with Mid Grade Provisions (or Volg High Grade Provisions), and even then the pc has to pass an Toughness+10 test each day to regenerate one point.

[Yellow Silt Slugs (Attack; Vol.03)]
One of the things that is consumed in Volg (Mid Grave Provision there) is the Yellow Silt Slug. This creatures are native to the surrounding swamp area but are actually not farmed but breed in parts of the Volg itself. They resemble a nudibranch (a slug without “housing”) with a rubbery, knobbed yellow skin.

The pc might come across a dozen sheep sized Silt Slugs as they are “herded” by hivers with shock sticks in one filthy area or the other. They “feed” from the grim and stain, the inedible parts either move to there skin or their slime.

Later in the game, have the pc encounter a Silt Slug the size of a calf in an otherwise deserted area (say, a seldom used tunnel or access shaft). A Volg Hiver or a pc passing a Scholastic Lore (Beasts)(-10) test will recognize this as an adult example. The slugs are normally killed before that state, since adult slugs accumulate much acid which not only makes their already sour tasting flesh inedible but allows them to spit acid on nearby creatures (a natural defense) and makes them quit territorial.
The one the pc are facing now has either a wild one that found its way from the swamps or one that escaped a sleepy herder some month ago.

If the pc do not turn round or shoot it from afar, the slug will spray the nearest pc with acidic slime. This is 1d10 (E) tearing quality damage per turn for 5 turns. Damage is double if no actual armour is worn, AP only counts if provided by a completely sealed armour (splash damage). The ongoing damage can only be prevented if the spit is watered down (water or fat or soap or something similar).

No combat stats, since the slug will need time to muster a second spray and it is highly unlikely that armed individuals cannot kill a giant slug….

[Environmental Toxin]
Away from the surface and the swamps, the air the pc breath has a chemical touch to it and is stinging in the nose and lunges in some areas of the Hive. They will see most people either wearing filtration plugs or cloth before there mouth. Only a view can afford a respirator. The sound of heavy coughing will be steady companion in most populated areas.

Ask each pc for a Toughness+20 test after a week. Use modifiers for Filtration Plugs and/or Respirators if these were worn in affected area (mostly “outside”; on the streets and open place. In certain habitats or working areas). If the pc pass the test, everything is fine. Till next week. If the pc fails, he develops a tracheal cough (-10 on every test to prevent the lose of fatigue due to exhaustion). If the pc passes a test while already coughing, he will feel better after a while. If the pc fails while already coughing, the pc temporarily loses a point of Toughness (plus another one for every level of failure). The next failing test, it will be the same unless he pass three tests (weeks) in a row.

To cure the regain the Toughness loss, one needs to leave Volg and spend some time in a more healthy “climate”. After (10-TB) days, the Toughness loss will be regained a point a day.

[Random Violence]
While investigating (or simply in need of a stiff drink!) one or more of the pc enter a kind of dive bar which is although frequented by armed thugs (no bouncer at the door, nobody keeps anyone from bringing any guns in). As the pc go(es) about there business, they might notice that an argument between two armed thugs in the bar is getting fierce (Awareness+10). Some moments later one of the two pulls out some kind of autopistol and open ups fire on the other. Being so close, bullets hit right through the target! The pc need to test for Dodge (+0 if they did not noticed what´s going on, +20 if someone noticed or +10 if the pc at least received a yelled warning from a cell mate) or will be hit (1d10+2 Damage; DS:3).

The guy the salvo was aimed at is lying on the floor in his own bload, soon to be dead. The attacking thug (use Headhunter stats from DH) is eyeing around in the room with his weapon in hand, giving everyone this “dare you!” look. If the pc do not do anything, he will carefully leave the bar after a few tense seconds. If the pc want to loot the corpse, they will either need to pass an Intimidation+0 test (they can assist each other!) or will have to duke it out for it with two present Heavies (see DH core rules).

The possesions of the corps(es) are up to the GM.
If the pc ask around what was going on, they might be told that the guy opening up fire was a gunfighter known by the name of Domnique and the guy ending up dead was his (forma) employer, Karlsten (a small time criminal making "protections money").

Remember also, there's more to Fenksworld than just Hive Volg. There are at least two other Hives noted for Fenksworld; the planetary capital and home to both the only starport and the Library of Knowing, Nova Castille; and the primary manuctorum of Magnagorsk.

Volg is both the primary water reclamation/purification source for the whole of the world, as well as its primary prison. Though most residents are now "free" and able to leave if they so choose, the costs are prohibitively expensive.

-=Brother Praetus=-

[bone Charm Peddler]
On a market spot or in a well frequented place, the pc will notice a hawker carrying a multitude of bones to his waist or hooked and stringed to his grey-stained coat. “Bones! Bones! Bones from an Elderly!” he proclaims.

In Volg, dieing of old age (or more precisely, from pollutant induced organ failure) is a rare thing for the toiling masses, as most are claimed by violence, disease and accidents. Thereby, those who expired nigh naturally are believed to have been lucky in their live times. Thus, there bodies are sometimes kept away from the regular recyclers (for a fee!) and the clean bones are returned to the family. The skull is kept in the household, so the remains might protect the family. The other bones (if not obviously deformed or broken in there lifetime) are sold by the family as charms.

Bone Charms are Rare in Volg (population already taken into account!) and the pc are lucky to meet a hawker. If they approach him, they do good to mutter a short sentence to express their condolence, so. This is an old custom and would be perceived as rude if not adhered to. And, the spirit of the dead might be angered and the charm could turn into curse instead.(Common Lore (Imperium)+10 to know this or figure it out. Volg Hiver will know).

The actual price and effect is up to the GM (Suggestion: 5 to 10 thrones). Smaller bones are more favoured (since they are less awkward to carry on person) and they at least count as a charm.
As an Option, the tradition could say that if in danger, one breaks the bone saying “so my bones will be spared”.For the duration of the ongoing (or coming) scene, if the pc spends a fate point to prevent harm from him (i.e. a dodge or resistance role or regaining 1d5 wounds, but not an attack role), s/he roles a d10. On a role of a natural 9, the pc does not lose the Fate point.

Brother Praetus said:

Hiyas!

Yep. I know that, thanks! I wanted the action focused mainly in Volg, tho'.

L

I set a significant portion of my campaign in hive Volg, and one thing I developed was power outages. At times, whole sections of the city go completely dark, plunging the miserable inhabitants into complete blackness. All across the city, people dive for cover, trying to get indoors or out of sight as quickly as possible. Tallow candles are lit hurriedly, and those rare few lucky enough to have them will activate any electronic sight aids they might have (like preysense systems etc. Not that anyone in Volg has anything but the absolute poorest quality ones). On the slightly higher levels of the pit, the darkness heralds the oncoming of the Shrieks, gangs of degenerates succumbing to a disturbing mania brought on by the oppressive darkness and living conditions of Volg. The shrieks emerge from their haunts, howling their inhuman cries into the night, and running across ledges, rooftops, gantries, and pipes, with surprising agility. (in my game, the shrieks were the subject of a mutation induced by the logicians which allowed them to see in the dark, and their finely tuned senses gave them excellent balance and agility, but they were all homicidally insane) Shrieks home in on any human caught alone in the darkness, descending with whoops of glee to brutalise and kill as savagely as possible, using only the most rudimentary weapons- they enjoy inflicting pain and watching their victims attempt to escape. It should be noted that shrieks aren't completely feral: They dress in dark clothing purposely, and decorate themselves with patterns of scarification unique to each pack. While they eschew the use of firearms, they can and do customise and craft hooks, chains, knives and clubs, seeing value in weapons that can cripple and incapacitate, but not immediately kill. Shrieks will not rob their prey (taking only food, or in some cases, weapons or clothing) from their victims. Shrieks are unable or unwilling to communicate verbally with anyone but each other, and do so only in their own primitive language, a mixture of growls, high pitched shrieking, and body language.

On the lower levels, the sudden descent into darkness triggers a most immediate horror- swarms of carrion beetles scurry almost immediately out of nearby vents and drains, piles of refuse lying in the street, from cracks in the walls, dropping from the pipes overhead. Carrion beetles will behave as a unit, swarming all over unlucky individuals, bringing them to the ground through a mixture of blind panic, and agonising pain as thousands of needle teeth rip through clothing and armour, and beetles flood into the victim's mouth and burrow through their eyelids. Carrion beetles will shy away from any source of flame, so only candles or torches can guarantee any measure of safety. glow lamps etc that do not have a flame only serve to attract the swarms. Of course, sometimes a power outage will last longer than a candle can burn for, and nothing is more terrifying than seeing the lok in the eyes of a terrified victim as they stand immobile among a carbet of glistening brown beetles as their light source's flames flicker and die...

Another time, when thelights failed, the PC's found some of the railings around the pit had been torn away, and the floor plating around the area was covered in a thick, viscous substance, which trails off into the streets of the hive...

Anyone in volg should fear the darkness, imho. The "wealthy" of volg are those that can fill their existence with light- backup generators, candles, and so on. The deeper one descends, the rarer light gets, and the more horrifying the consequences of darkness.

LETE said:

Volg is the place to be if you are anybody amongst the Cults, Recidivists and Throne Agents of the Calixis. All the cool Radicals go there to work on their chemical peels.

It was more a point of "keep in mind" for those odd occasions where the Acolytes might come up with a loss for ideas. Have them hitch a lighter on over to Nova Castille to try and request access to the Library of Knowing for some research. Or, if they need to procure some new firepower, hit up the merchant quarters of Magnagorsk. Make sure they are aware that Volg is not the only place on Fenksworld; not that a Hive city is a small locale by any definition of the setting, and Volg is described as "sprawling" over a vast alkali marsh land.

-=Brother Praetus=-

Isn't it heavily implied that Pit Fiends (or whatever they're called) are mutated human beings, the result of the Fenksworld gene atrocity? I would do something with that.