Asmodeus

Asmodeus (æz-mo-DAY-us or æz-MO-dee-us ), an archdevil before the Spellplague, Supreme of the Nine Hells (or Baator), was the god of sin. An ever ambitious and careful creature, Asmodeus retained his position all through the Reckoning of Hell, unlike many of the other archdevils. Asmodeus was lord of Nessus, the Ninth Layer of Hell, though he was generally recognized as lord of all of his divine dominion of Baator, which lay within the Astral Sea.

Asmodeus was the undisputed master of the Nine Hells, commanding fear and respect from all those who occupied his realm. Even the gods who dwelt in the Nine Hells gave Asmodeus his proper due. Though the archdevils might work to usurp him, few had the courage to act openly. Asmodeus’s machinations were long in the making, and they might take centuries, if not millennia, to see resolution. He worked on a grand scale, carefully constructing insidious and inexplicable intrigues, maneuvering the forces of wickedness like chess pieces on a board that encompasses all the planes. His core concerns were simple. First, he wanted the power structure currently in place to remain exactly as it stood, with him in charge. He had spies on every layer, planted in every court. No fiend knew for sure which of its minions actually served Asmodeus, so the climate was one of justified paranoia. Asmodeus also expanded evil. He directly opposed celestials and good-aligned deities. His minions combated the agents of the Celestial Planes, murdering them whenever and wherever they could. Finally, Asmodeus waged war against the demons throughout the period of the Blood War. He saw the untold legions as a direct threat to his supremacy. Asmodeus was aware of every plot hatched against him. Older than the oldest archdevil, he watched the rise and fall of other archdevils far craftier than any of Asmodeus’s contemporaries. He kept to himself, letting his minions stew in fear of what he would do next. Of course, few forgot that Asmodeus emerged unscathed in the Reckoning, proving to all that he was their better. On the Prime Material Plane, Asmodeus had more cultists than all the other archdevils combined. Mortals who worshiped devils actually drew power from Asmodeus. He influenced all levels of society and had followers of nearly every race, even within the strongest bastions for good. His path was the way to great and unattainable power, so his clerics were mighty men and women with influence and personal magnetism that made them natural leaders among their kind.

Description
Asmodeus was depicted as the strongest, most cunning, and most handsome of all devils. Usually he appeared as a handsome, dangerous thirteen-foot-tall human with lustrous skin and black hair, his crimson eyes shining with infernal power, his forehead crowned by a pair of small, sharp horns. Beneath his finery- red and black robes studded with black diamonds and fiery rubies of unimaginable expense- Asmodeus' body was covered in bloody wounds sustained when he fell from heaven. These wounds oozed blood daily; the drops of his blood which touched the ground grew into powerful devils and demons.

Asmodeus was never seen without his Ruby Rod of Asmodeus, seemingly made of a single carved ruby that shone with the power of Hell; it not only served as a badge of office, but contained great powers, allowing Asmodeus to attack with elemental forces, force his enemies to cower in fear, or cover himself with a field which healed and protected him.

Abilities


Like the other archdevils of Baator, Asmodeus had the ability to cast many spells at will, and it was nearly impossible to hurt him without the use of very powerful holy magic weapons. Asmodeus' Ruby Rod allowed him to use several powerful offensive and defensive spells at will. In addition, Asmodeus had the power to alter the form of lesser devils, including the other lords of Baator. He transformed Mammon into a humanoid/serpent hybrid, and cursed Baalzebul with the form of a gigantic slug with tiny, useless arms.

History
In Dragon #28, the article "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn details the history and politics of Hell. This gives a different history to that detailed below. Satan was more powerful than any other Devil, but lacked support, having been exiled from hell by Beelzebub following a revolution. Beelzebub (meaning "Lord of the Archdevils") was later himself overthrown by Asmodeus and was known forever after as Baalzebul (Lord of the Flies).

In the Book of Vile Darkness, it is stated that while Asmodeus is the oldest devil in the Nine Hells, he may not be the original ruler. However, the origin myth which appears in Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells contradicts this. According to the Codex, Asmodeus began as a servant of the lawful gods. Asmodeus is described in some versions of the myth as an "angel" (though this is self-contradictory given the time period during which this would have occurred). He was "the bravest, toughest, fiercest and most beautiful of angels." He and the other angels were created to fight the demons of the Abyss, so that the gods could concern themselves with creating worlds and sentient beings.

After eons of fighting the creatures from the Abyss, Asmodeus and some of his fellows began to change. They grew similar in appearance and methods to the demons which they fought. Afraid of his power and of the changes he had undergone, the gods put Asmodeus on trial and demanded that he be cast out of the Upper Planes. However, he argued effectively (and correctly) that he and his fellows had not violated the law. Asmodeus and his followers successfully sued for access to the Upper Planes and the honors to which they were entitled.

Once the gods created worlds and sentient beings, the demons attacked these, too. The gods created mountains, oceans, and wastelands to seal up the gates to the Abyss, but their creations defied their orders and explored their worlds, accidentally unsealing the gates. The gods could not understand why their creations did not follow their instructions, until Asmodeus explained to them that their system did not work because it relied solely upon voluntary compliance. Asmodeus explained that the only way to ensure obedience was to threaten mortals with a disincentive; hence, Asmodeus invented the concept of punishment.

Asmodeus convinced the gods to sign a contract called the Pact Primeval. This contract allowed Asmodeus and his fellow devils to take up residence in the abandoned realm of Baator, to punish the souls of wicked mortals, and to extract magical energy from the souls under their care in order to fuel their powers. Otherwise, Asmodeus reasoned, they would have to be granted the powers of godhood in order to do their job, which the current gods would surely find unacceptable.

At first, the gods found the arrangement agreeable. However, they eventually realized that fewer and fewer mortal souls were ascending to the Upper Planes, and Asmodeus was deliberately tempting mortals to damnation. When they arrived in Baator, the gods found that Asmodeus had turned it into a nightmarish world of endless suffering, filled with countless new devils. When called to account for his actions, Asmodeus uttered the famous words, "Read the fine print."

This story is presented as mythology, and the Codex itself admits that it does not tell the whole truth. For example, it is known that Asmodeus did not depart from the Upper Planes under amicable circumstances: He was cast out, and literally fell into the Lower Planes, sustaining serious wounds which have never healed. Part of Asmodeus' long-term plans includes using the magical energy harvested from souls in order to heal his wounds, and ultimately, the complete destruction of the Upper Planes.

The names of the "gods" involved seem to change depending on what world and source the myth is told on, and some aspects and versions of the origin myth contradict others. For example, the version told in the Fiendish Codex II states that St. Cuthbert became a distinct deity when he agreed with Asmodeus that "Retribution is the basis of all law," while the Deities & Demigods sourcebook states that he is a mortal who ascended to godhood.

The Manual of the Planes suggests a similar but different story. According to the section about the Nine Hells, Asmodeus' true form is that of a giant serpent, hundreds of miles long. He was cast out of the Upper Planes before the creation of the current gods, and his fall created the 8th and 9th planes of Hell. He is currently still recovering from his wounds in the pits of the 9th level, and his devil form is just an avatar of the real Asmodeus. No one who tells the story of the true form of Asmodeus survives more than 24 hours after the telling.

In the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, Asmodeus is established as an ancient deity who was relegated to the position of archdevil and toiled for untold millenia to regain his divinity.

When Dweomerheart collapsed in the wake of Mystra's death, her servant Azuth fell into the Hells where Asmodeus, sensing his opportunity, devoured the lesser deity and became a god himself. He then ended the Blood War by forcing the Abyss underneath the Elemental Chaos.

Chosen

 * Farideh
 * Havilar
 * Bryseis Kakistos
 * Valraun, a Blue Dragon

Vassals
The following beings were among the most notable subjects of Asmodeus on Nessus. The forces at their disposal are listed, where appropriate:


 * Adramalech — Chancellor of Hell, Keeper of Records
 * Alastor the Grim, pit fiend — Executioner
 * Baalberith, pit fiend — Major domo
 * Bensozia — Consort of Asmodeus, Queen of Hell (Deceased)
 * Buer — 15 companies of pit fiends
 * Bune — 30 companies of cornugons
 * Glasya - Daughter of Asmodeus and Bensozia, former Mistress of the Erinyes, now Lady of the Sixth
 * Martinet, pit fiend — Constable
 * Morax — 9 companies of pit fiends
 * Phongor — Inquisitor of Hell
 * Rimmon— 5 companies of gelugons
 * The Spark Hunters - Lord Asmodeus's personal guard of 13 hamatula rangers/mortal hunters who capture and/or slay mortals who draw their master's ire
 * Zagum — 30 companies of hamatula

Creative origins
Asmodeus is named for the Judeo-Christian demon, Asmodai from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit and for a fallen angel of the same name who appears in John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Notes & Revisions to Asmodeus
Early issues of Dragon'' magazine such as the article, "The Politics of Hell," in issue #28 mention rumored older kings such as Lucifer or Satan that Asmodeus deposed. This idea was never considered canonical, but an allusion to it resurfaced in a vague reference decades later in the Book of Vile Darkness. It was revised completely in Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells, when Asmodeus was confirmed as the original founder of the current, Baatezu dominated, Nine Hells during the signing of the Pact Primeval. Manual of the Planes mentions a supposed legend that the form of Asmodeus seen by the other archdukes and visitors was merely a specter or aspect, and that his true form, that of a titanic, serpent-like devil, resided at the bottom of the canyon known as "Serpent's Coil," so named for the outline he made when he hit the surface of Nessus, still wounded from his fall out of the upper planes. Fiendish Codex II does not directly contradict the story, but does seem to retcon it, mentioning in its description of Nessus that Serpent's Coil is shaped for the spiraling path Asmodeus fell, and that Malsheem sits at the bottom of that canyon. The assertion seems to contradict the idea that Asmodeus's "true form" was serpentine, and brings it into line with the Pact Primeval account. Most angels, after all, are humanoid in form. The idea of his wounds, however, remains. In 2nd Edition's Guide To Hell it was stated that Asmodeus was a Lawful Evil or corrupted Lawful Neutral serpentine entity, who along with his Lawful Good counterpart serpent Jazirian, was responsible for the current ring-shaped structure of the Outer Planes. Asmodeus fell once their embrace ended as they struggled over the proper role of Law, eventually plummeting all the way to the serpents coil in Baator. Guide to Hell claimed that his wish was to destroy all creation by making all sentient beings atheists, and thus negating the belief energy holding the Outer Planes together, so that he may fill the void and create it entirely in his own image, without the help of any other deity.' Few of these theories have appeared in subsequent books, or possessed a foundation in prior material, though the theme of Asmodeus as a fallen being of Law has remained. Second Edition's Hellbound: The Blood War and Faces of Evil: The Fiends present another version of Baator and Asmodeus's history and origins. These sources state that the Baatezu only supplanted the original natives of the plane, the Ancient Baatorians, and were themselves first created as the lawful spawn of the General of Gehenna's purification of the early yugoloths. The chronology of the Blood War in Hellbound also states that Baator's Lords of the Nine only appeared in their positions around or slightly after the Blood War began, but also before the existence of deities. Asmodeus himself is left intentionally dark and largely undefined, though his power is made clear, with more detail devoted to the history of his race and their conquered plane.''