Lore · Planes & Wars of the Gods
The Plane of Hate
You probably remember the Plane of Hate for the Maestro and the Innoruuk spawn. Here is what its makers said the place actually was.
A city with no open space
The Maps of Myrist describe Hate as a dark, twisted city inside towering black walls, with no open ground, only alleys and empty buildings, and no safe place for anyone, residents included. Spiral ramps climb toward a sealed citadel, and black wood and stone pillars stab down from the ceiling into the ground. Its creatures often look like beings you know from Norrath, but their true forms are said to be beyond imagining.
Where the Teir’Dal began
An early Verant story about Zatozia the Torturess tells the origin of the dark elves plainly: Innoruuk stole the high elf king and queen from Takish-Hiz, imprisoned them in the Plane of Hate, tortured and broke them, and remade them to his own design. The first dark elves were then placed in Nektulos Forest to spread hatred across Norrath.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Plane of Hate (Zatozia the Torturess, Verant) · Library of Erudin: “The History of Norrath” (original EverQuest manual text)
The palace and the decoy
The 2004 Plane of Hate sourcebook says the plane’s layout is a trick. It is built so invaders believe the Cathedral and its Maestro are the real power, while the tunnel to Innoruuk’s palace is kept discreet. In the palace he receives sacrifices and supplicants, rewards or punishes his Teir’Dal heroes, and hands out missions to spread hate. He also throws lavish parties for district rulers who loathe one another, so he can bask in the hatred in the room.
His guard is drawn from the most famous dark elf heroes and villains of every age. In one black stone villa live three beautiful Teir’Dal women who were among the first of the Firstborn, the dark elves made directly from Tunare’s elves.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Plane of Hate (RPG sourcebook, 2004)
Hate opens
The plane has broken into Norrath. In the official Bloody Kithicor story, a vast power tore open the barrier between worlds and a miasma of evil poured out of Hate. In the Seeds of Destruction retelling, Lanys T’Vyl’s mentor Laarthik K’Shin used an artifact to open a portal to the Plane of Hate so that Innoruuk could rescue his defeated daughter.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Plane of Hate (Bloody Kithicor; Seeds of Destruction Part 3)
Districts of Hate
The 2004 Plane of Hate sourcebook treats the plane as one large city split into districts. Each district of Lesser and Greater Hate has leaders who answer for its support of Innoruuk’s will. The Slums of Spite hold hordes of lesser servants, who would be thrown at any major invasion to buy time for the elite troops to counterattack. The District of Scorn is ruled by Overlord R’Gahbsa, the unofficial head of the Indigo Brotherhood and nominal commander of every Teir’Dal force on Norrath and in Hate. In the District of the First, the Firstborn prepare dark elf strike teams for Norrath. Even blocks away, a haunting melody from the Cathedral of the Maestro pulls travellers toward it.
The Book of Souls
Classic EverQuest quests reached into Hate as well. In Steamfont, Yendar Starpyre asks for the Book of Souls, a tome that “chronicles all the lives Innoruuk has tainted over the years” and is kept by the Maestro of Rancor. The bards of Greater Faydark sent players there to study ghasts, scorn banshees and haunted chests. In a 2010 developer post for EverQuest II, the Ydal awoke in Mistmyr, a realm Innoruuk created inside the Plane of Hate, and a flaw in their creation that they mistook for a blessing led to their extinction.
Sources: Library of Erudin: Plane of Hate (Yendar Starpyre; Stefan Marsinger; The Ydal’s Origins in Mistmyr)
Where the sources disagree
- An EverQuest II developer post says the first dark elves, the Ydal, woke in Mistmyr, a realm inside the Plane of Hate, and later died out because of a flaw in their making. That sits awkwardly beside the classic story of the stolen Takish-Hiz king and queen.
Keep reading
Retold in our own words from the sources linked under each chapter; short quotes are marked and sourced. The illustration is an original AI-generated painting made for this page alone, not from the game.