Malagard

The Hag Countess was a night hag and once the Lord of the Sixth of the Nine Hells.

Description
The Hag Countess appeared to be a stooped, tall crone, made withered and hunched by the march of time. Her warty skin looked deeply bruised and was riddled with boils, blisters and open sores. What truly made her stand apart from other night hags were the feathery wings on her back, black and tattered like that of a fallen angel. Her visage was truly hideous, with eyes that glowed a hellish red, rancid breath that smelt of tainted meat, and course, gray hair as opposed to the night-black color of most night hags.

Personality
Although lawful evil, Malagarde was more distant and whimsical than her more controlling counterparts. Still, she was no less corrupt than the other archdevils, being an incredibly treacherous and conniving schemer. She tolerated no insolence or foolish behavior from others, although she was not unreasonable. Being the only archdevil that wasn't truly a devil at the time of her rise to power, she feared that her rivals might ally to depose her.

Powers
Malagard was possibly the weakest archdevil in terms of physique, having earned her place through trickery rather than toiling, and lacked a heartstone with which to cure disease and become ethereal like normal night hags. However, the Countess was not as feeble as her elderly appearance suggested, for she was dangerously strong, had frightening agility and moved with unnatural speed.

The Hag Countess had lived in Hell long enough to expand her retinue of spell-like abilities by learning forbidden lore, with more offensive options such as fireball, spells with long-term uses like animate dead and insanity, as well as enhance her polymorphing abilities beyond those of ordinary night hags. She retained the plague-ridden bite of the night hags and like other archdevils could summon baatezu to aid her, whether they had been a dozen or so lemures or a pit fiend. So long as the Countess was in Malbolge she was practically invincible as she could control every part of the layer, such as causing swarms of meteors to rain down on her foes or start avalanches just above or below her enemies.

Possessions
The Hag Countess was skilled with and reliant on in battle a powerfully enchanted greatsword that was incredibly light when she wielded it and horribly injured anyone else trying to use it. The blade became more powerful when bathed in blood and when the Countess was filled with fiery fury so to would the sword be engulfed in flames.

Realm
Malagard inherited the hellish layer of Malbolge from her predecessor, as well as the massive legions of devils and hell hounds that patrolled it. It was a rocky layer made entirely of slopes that suffered from constant avalanches due to the perpetual rolling of giant boulders, the only structures that survived being the Hag Countess's Copper Fortresses. Some were small strongholds while others were great citadels commanded by pit fiends, but all of them constantly weathered the persistent rockfalls, filling them with resounding, clanging noise and forcing those in charge of them to watch for stresses in the bronze.

Unlike the fortresses, which were made in relatively stable locations, the Hag Countess's personal keep was inside a boulder the size of a mountain that always rolled down the slopes of the layer on an unpredictable path. The fortress was not the domain of her court but housed stables of nightmares, numerous annis hags, green hags and medusas, and was one of the best and most expensive soul markets in Baator.

Activities
Malagard was a trickster that took great pleasure in luring others to Malbolge, mortal or otherwise, before having them crushed to death by the boulders of the layer. Unlike the other lords, her nobles lived within the copper fortresses rather than being centralized in her personal domain, and one of her favorite activities was disguising herself and unexpectedly arriving at one of the fortresses to inspect it and test the guardians. The Countess enforced a "questions first, torture later" policy, and rudeness, let alone unthinking brutality, was unacceptable. She razed the fortresses of anyone that met her with disrespect or violence, as well as those that weren't looking after the fortresses properly.

The Hag Countess had little interest in baatezu politics or even attempting to overthrow Asmodeus, leaving such pointless squabbling to entities like Baalzebul and Mephistopheles. Rather than become the Lord of the Nine Hells, Malagard had the even more ambitious goal of ascending to godhood, although her examination of god corpses on the Astral Plane had given her no clues. Until that point, the Countess focused on solidifying her place in the Nine Hells.

Relationships
Malagard was once the consort and advisor of the former Lord of the Sixth, Moloch, but as a result of her betrayal he held nothing but bitter hatred towards her. Her main competitor at the time was his other spouse, Lilith, who through her inaction allowed the schemes of the Countess to succeed. Asmodeus lacked any long-term use for the Hag Countess and she, having witnessed his overwhelming strength, tried to leave him be.

Malagard thought of lesser night hags as her sisters and like them used nightmares as mounts, her favorite being a particularly powerful one named Bloodcurdle. She traveled between the copper fortresses with her tribune, a pit fiend named Bileth, and employed the Prince of Imps, Beleth, as her spymaster.

History
Originally a night hag from Hades, the Hag Countess became one of the chief advisers of Moloch, the former Lord of the Sixth. She counselled him to rebel against Asmodeus during the Reckoning of Hell, and when Moloch was overthrown, Asmodeus installed her in his place.

However, Asmodeus had only promoted the Hag Countess so that the other Lords of the Nine would not notice his designs. He installed his daughter Glasya as the new Lord of the Sixth and caused the Hag Countess' body to grow to gargantuan size and rupture, turning the formerly mountainous Malbolge into a realm of decaying flesh.

Appearances

 * Novels


 * Lady of Poison • Brimstone Angels