In his great mercy, the Platinum Dragon conceived of the plane of imprisonment. In his great wisdom, he crafted the Tarterian Depths. In his great honour, he sought the aid of the Allhammer to forge from adamantine a gleaming triumvirate: the gates, the shackles, and the authority of the warden. The Platinum Dragon watched, and poured his essence into the three, so that they were joined to him and part of him.
All three the Allhammer wrought, though he had shorter time to forge the last, for the first of the Platinum Dragon’s great foes was defeated, and needed a prison. The foe, whose name since was lost or hidden, was placed inside the prison even as the Allhammer polished the authority. At this moment, the Cloaked Serpent approached, and asked if the kin of the Platinum Dragon and the Allhammer might also use the Tarterian Depths for their own foes.
And so the kin met, and so the kin made a pact: that all of the kin may use the Tarterian Depths, and that none of the kin would interfere with the prisoners of the others. Mayhaps the Cloaked Serpent schemed it that way, and mayhaps not, for either way the discussion caused the Allhammer to forget the weakness of the authority, and the flaw departed from his mind as the kin waged that almighty war at the dawn of the cosmos.
The ages marched onward, and the kin found less and less need for the Tarterian Depths, though the Platinum Dragon thought often of the pact they had made, and how he wished the Cloaked Serpent had no prisoners there. Eventually, he too turned his mind from the gaol. When he did, the influence of the first great foe began to spread, corrupting and corroding the Tarterian Depths. It rusted the might of the gates. It rusted the strength of the shackles. It rusted the purity of the authority.
The warden of the Tarterian Depths soon lost control of their mind. They had learnt of the flaw in the authority that they wielded, and their madness drove them to betray the Platinum Dragon. Whispers spread through Baator, reaching the ears of the kytons – if any of their number could control the authority, they could unlock the shackles and open the gates.
For this dishonour, the Platinum Dragon cast down the warden and hid the authority away, though he knew that this would not dissuade the kytons from seeking it. The Platinum Dragon looked and saw what had become of the Tarterian Depths, and saw how it had been twisted by the power of the first great foe. In anguish, he gave his creation a new name:
Carceri, the Red Prison.
The Masked Merchant 