|
Player
Joined: 09 May 2010
Location: Canada Ontario, GMT -5
|
      The Nine Hells of Baator, sometimes simply called Baator or even Hell, best satisfy the imagination of travelers, the greed of treasure-seekers, and the battle-fury of paladins. It is the ultimate plane of law and evil, the epitome of premeditated, crafted cruelty. The devils of the Nine Hells all obey a higher law than themselves, but all that really means is that they chafe and rebel in their caste. Most undertake any plot or action, no matter how foul, to advance themselves. At the very top of the hierarchy is Asmodeus, who has yet to be bested. The Nine Hells compete with any other lower plane for their sheer diversity of vileness. The devils are more cunning, more subtle, and more dangerous than other fiends or so say the devils. A demon revels in slavering, insane, evil power, but a devil always has an agenda, a plan of attack, and a carefully conceived plot for retribution if necessary. Baator consists of nine layers, each lower than the next, like ledges stepping down into an ever-deeper pit. Each layer descended gives a traveler a better view of the Nine Hells as a whole; the layers fit together like puzzle pieces, and each new descent allows a traveler greater understanding of how the puzzle comes together. The Nine Hells are home to minor, major, and noble devils, as well as true deities of evil. The Dark Eight are eight powerful pit fiends who control the primary devil armies engaged in the Blood War. Worse still are the Lords of the Nine: Each lord controls one layer of the Nine Hells, hovering in status somewhere between scion pit fiend and demi-deity. Of course, all the lords ultimately answer to Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine, who rules from Nessus, the bottom layer of the Nine Hells.
__
Movement in the Nine Hells is much like movement on the Material Plane. Even moving between layers is fairly straightforward. The connecting points between two layers are always found at the lowest point of the higher layer and at the highest point on the next layer down. If there is a mountain, hellish fortress spire, or other high structure along the ledge on the lower layer, then the traveler can climb down. Otherwise, simply stepping off the lowest, ledge-like projection on the upper layer sends a traveler plummeting into the lower layer. The distance fallen is subjective, but seems to be at least a half-mile.
The layers of Baator are nine, and each layer has its own ruler. All other rulers answer to the lowest, Asmodeus, in the Pit. Each of the nine layers has its own unique environment, but they're all inhospitable and possibly outright deadly. Travelers to the Nine Hells had best know how to get back out, lest they are waylaid by a devilish press gang bound for the Blood War.
But even a small chance of survival in battle would be preferable to enslavement in the Nine Hells for eternity. The politics of the Nine Hells have rocked back and forth over the millennia, often accomplished by artful rhetoric or subtle poison, but sometimes accomplished by outright conflict involving armies of devils warring against each other. The city of Dis on the second layer has withstood siege more than once at the hands of aggressive devils. However, in all the time that Asmodeus has ruled from below, no revolt has ever succeeded in replacing the lord of the ninth layer with a different devil.
__
Baator's petitioners are those that have been stolen or lured from the Fugue Plane by the devils sent there to do just that. Devils lurk in small enclaves within the Fugue Plane. By agreement with Kelemvor, the god of the dead, they cannot harm or trick the waiting souls of the just-dead. However, they are allowed to explain to the soul its condition and may bargain with it. The baatezu have a great desire for souls, whom they use to create lemures which over time are transformed into more powerful entities in the service of the Nine Hells. Most start as lemures, though some strong-willed souls begin their devilish afterlives as spinagons, the next step up from a lemure. Petitioners can 'evolve' to inhabit more powerful bodies, if they survive and prosper long enough to do so. Lemures, of course, are despised by all other devils, and they serve the most base duties in any devilish group they are part of.
In any initial Blood War confrontation, the lemures are the shock troops that draw the enemy's fire. Lemures appear as revolting blobs of molten flesh, with vaguely humanoid torsos and heads. Hints of the petitioner's former mortal features are visible when they are not too twisted by anguish. Lemures are mindless, though they are sensitive to telepathic messages from other devils and obey their mental commands, doing the bidding of the strongest devil in the closest proximity.
The largest population of the Nine Hells is made up of various devils: barbazu, cornugons, erinyes, gelugons, hamatula, narzugons, osyluths, pit fiends, spinagons, and countless others in the devilish hierarchy. Besides devils, such creatures as hellcats, hell hounds, imps, kytons, nightmares, and even rakshasas call the Nine Hells home. A few hardy mortals have set up permanent homes in the Nine Hells, living in mighty fortresses defended by lesser devils lawfully bound to short-term contracts.
Devils always seek ways to increase their own power and thus gain promotion into a higher form of devilhood. Devils of every son delight in making complex deals with travelers and with mortals on the Material Plane. One must be ever cautious when dealing with Devils, they are fiendishly clever and what may seem like a benefitial offer could backfire and leave you enslaved or worse.
__
Pit fiends are the most powerful of the baatezu, second only to the Archdevils themselves. They are the generals of baatezu armies, the orchestrators of mass corruption and the bullies of their lesser devils. They appear as bestial, scaled humanoids twice the height of any human being with a pair of wings that it can wrap around its body. As venom drips from their fangs, fire wreathes the pit fiend's entire body. Armed with superhuman combat prowess, the intelligence of a mighty wizard, an array of powerful spells and abilities and usually the resources of a devilish army as well, pit fiends are incredibly dangerous foes. Powerful conjurers can summon a pit fiend to make deals. Contracts are usually written up in order to have the deal honoured, but pit fiends are masters of such things and always have ways of perverting the contract to their own ends. When summoning a pit fiend always cast "Protection from Evil" on yourself prior to the summoning lest this fearsome devil rip you to shreds.
Making a deal with a pit fiend is very risky since they are among the most cunning creatures in the hells and will likely turn the deal in their favor, only someone with a lot of experience dealing with devils should make an attempt to bargain with a pit fiend as they would love nothing more than to trick you into slavery.
_________________ ~Draco Bloodcloak~ In the mind of a tielfing~Xanhorn Dragonsbane~
|
|
FAQ
Search
Login
