Mammon

Mammon, sometimes referred to as Minauros, was the lord of the identically named Minauros, and potentially the richest being in existence. Both literally and figuratively two-faced, the archdevil viscount was a feckless miser whose only loyalty was to coin.

"The count of my coins is more reliable than any roster of mortal hearts or immortal souls."

- Mammon

Description
Mammon's original form was traditionally infernal, a tall creature that resembled a flabby pit fiend with scaly, red-gold skin and wings that were as lustrous as rubies. Although still able to assume his old form, Mammon's natural appearance was eventually changed into one resembling certain yuan-ti halfbloods, albeit long. His lower half was that of an enormous, spotted serpent with yellow-brown skin comparable to swirled puke, while his upper half sported a muscular humanoid torso with bony spines protruding across his shoulders and along his large arms.

His horned, hairless head was similarly humanoid but seemed oversized. Some said his eyes were yellow and slitted like a snake while others reported that his eyes were pale and pupilless, although his vision seemed nonetheless sharp. Below his white eyes were hideous black lips, behind which laid his pointed teeth, two serpentine fangs and a forked tongue that gave him his hissing, whispering voice.

Personality
Mammon was an utterly selfish entity that practically personified greed with his insatiable desire. He was a ruthless hunter who would unrelentingly pursue his prey, whether it be an actual quarry or future possessions, but was ambivalent towards his prize once it was actually obtained and would swiftly move on to new targets. While his cupidity wasn't limited to currency, Mammon was wholly materialistic and measured worth in regards to monetary value. He made deals solely for the purpose of making profit and was otherwise indifferent to the results of the exchange. Alongside being avaricious, Mammon was also megalomaniacal, lusting after power and always scheming to acquire more of it.

The methods required to achieve his goals were irrelevant to Mammon and he would perform whatever act he believed necessary to accomplish them. The duplicitous Viscount would seduce his victims with silver-tongued promises before wantonly and gleefully watching their expressions when he betrayed them. The Serpent's speech, like his convoluted schemes, was riddled with winding messages and unclear requests, meandering even when supposed to be delivering orders. Mammon was not only sinister, but shameless, keeping his position primarily by acts of bootlicking sycophantism most charitably described as embarrassing. His pathetic groveling before his master was as renown as his arrogant condescension towards his own inferiors.

Mammon's host of other flaws included his overactive paranoia that drove him in his craven, and often foolish pursuit of loyal servants. This was combined with his petty, oversensitive demeanor and overindulgent hedonism to make a being that was practically impossible to work with. Mammon's typical response to frustration, such as if he felt his time was wasted, was to alleviate the feeling by destroying the offender or otherwise tormenting unrelated parties. No matter how competent the tyrant, it was impossible to stay on Mammon's good side for he had no such thing.

Powers
Both before and after his transformation, Mammon had various spell-like abilities such as fool's gold or teleport, and other powers that allowed him to bewitch and confound. He was a cautious fighter, yet enjoyed toying with his prey by magically deceiving them into considering him an ally before suddenly killing them. If he desired, the touch of Mammon's hands could sever bonds between people, whether formal, friendly or familial, driving them to randomly attack and steal from their allies in an outburst of greed, possibly including Mammon himself.

He could produce a symbol of hopelessness and utter an unholy word once per day, surround himself with an aura of fear and inspire terror in others with his gaze. Alongside more powerful baatezu like pit fiends, gelugons and cornugons, he was also known to summon barbazus, hamatulas, osyluths and green abishai.

Mammon could easily and indefinitely adopt his previous pit fiend form, allowing him to strike down his foes with greater speed at the cost of the abilities exclusive to his serpentine form. Despite his wily behavior he could also be somewhat brutish, crushing and constricting his enemies through sheer, overwhelming power. Once restrained, he could easily use his fangs to inject his adversaries with a disease-laden venom. The wasting poison was similar to mummy rot but acted much faster and couldn't be stopped with anything short of a heal spell.

Posessions
Mammon was known to wield various types of enchanted spears.

Realm
Mammon's realm of Minauros was a murky, miserable mire plagued by perpetual rain. The fetid, blackened dirt had been melted into cesspools and marshes by the precipitation of oily sludge, occasionally accompanied by hailstones of polluted ice mixed with metal shards and teeth. The only light source arose from the stinking clouds of yellow-green swamp gas and heat could only be found underground, turning some spots of otherwise cold water into geysers of mud. Various foul odors bubbled up from the putrid waters, and intaking the contaminated ooze was an easy way to catch a horrible disease. Closer to the center of Minauros were rifts filled with slime and ash-spewing volcanoes.

It was said that Minauros was built upon the bodies of the dead, and indeed the blighted bog was littered with carrion and bones. Trying to navigate the murky layer could lead to accidentally tripping over the scattered remains of the dead or falling into a sinkhole. Amorphous lemures and cowardly spingagons were abundant in the swamp due to Mammon's paranoia and short temper forcing him to keep plentiful supplies of worthless devils nearby in case he needed to spontaneously fire someone important. Pitiful, demoted nupperibos could also be found blindly slogging through the filth, along with lesser devils seeking to redeem themselves in Mammon's eyes.

Society
The civilization of Minauros was always on the edge of collapse, filled with cyclopean cities of well-carved stone and once grand fortresses perpetually submerging further into the mud. The newer structures showcased second-rate materials and shoddy constructions techniques and so constantly had to be repaired, redone or entirely replaced. The capital city that Minauros was named after was also referred to as the Sinking City due to its ever-descending nature; it would only take a few millennia for the world-sized city to fully sink into the frigid muck. It was thought that all of the original structures of the city had fallen long ago, and that some had been stolen from the Outlands.

What streets weren't made of uneasy, buckling paving stones that could make wheeled travel impossible at times were merely large stones that were always being replaced when they inevitably sunk beyond vision. The architects attempted to alleviate the effects of the hail by building large canopies, but this only increased the frequency with which the teetering buildings collapsed thanks to the precariously placed pillars that were their shifting foundation. Teams of lower class devils would repurpose the debris to be used in the foundations and often fought, sometimes to the death or to the point of critical injury, on who would get the stones. Even Mammon's home, a golden, gem-studded palace, more comparable to a mausoleum than a dwelling, had been slowly sinking into the scummy soup from its haphazard position.

The reason for the dismal state of Minauros was that Mammon's greed was as bottomless as the swamp. His nameless residence itself was built out of exotic black stones, likely brought from the Prime Material Plane, was crowded with innumerable, treasures and anything of worth within the layer was swiftly destroyed or taken inside the pillared halls. Yet despite his immeasurable levels of wealth, Mammon seemed uninterested in the well-being of his own domain and unwilling to invest more than the minimal amount of wealth needed to perform maintenance, even in regards to the practical upkeep of his home. Normally stone was saved for the construction of prison cells, which in reality were simply pits in the marsh with rocks at the bottom and chains tying them to a higher surface, while the money in his treasury was only ever used to keep the soul market of Minauros functional. The Sinking City was one of the most bustling, robust soul markets in the planes, where heinous devils and worse mortals acted as functionaries for those wishing to prove their worth to the Viscount of Minauros.

Activities
Mammon rarely left the Sinking City as he preferred ruling his domain from a singular location, although normally he wasn't actually supervising the realm. Instead, a majority of his time was spent was spent under the corrupted depths where he devised new, nefarious schemes. Like his peers, he coveted the crown of Asmodeus and plotted to overthrow him, but where he differed from them was that he didn't bother with treacherous baatezu politics and instead conspired to enrich himself. He wasted no time sleeping, devoting every second to his money-making machinations so as to increase his unwieldly income rate.

Mammon primary method of influence was through the use of his overwhelming wealth. In exchange for items and services he wanted he offered financial loans, and sometimes hired mercenaries to fend off particularly dangerous demonic hordes with the expectation of receiving the invader's loot. Where the River Styx sluggishly slogged through Minauros there were soul collectors of Mammon on the banks to drag off the lemures within, recording and redistributing them based on contracts and current laws. The King of Avarice was one of the few archdevils willing to barter in gold as opposed to souls and any surplus petitioners were appropriated and sold for money.

When Mammon was angry or needed to relax he'd revert to his pit fiend form, mount his massive nightmare, release a pack of larger than average hell hounds and go on a trophy-taking hunt. Devilish deserters were the most frequent quarry but wandering mortals were also fair game.

Relationships
During the Reckoning of Hell, he was allied with Mephistopheles and Dispater, with Glasya as his consort. After his many betrayals, however, no one in the Nine Hells trusted him. He earned the dislike of Tiamat for his subverting of evil dragons.

Cults and followers
Mammon's cults on the Material Plane were numerous, and he was popular amongst humanoids and non-humanoids alike, especially amongst the selfish and cruel races. He had illithid and beholder servants, as well as evil dragons, which he considered above the others, although Tiamat looked down upon this.

A temple to Mammon would typically be a grand display of wealth, with traps and guards to protect it. The altar itself was usually covered in gold and jewels, and sacrifices were made with blades adorned with jewels. A cleric of Mammon was typically very wealthy through exploitation and coercion, and would typically wear red robes with gold trim, and as much gold jewellery as possible.

Notable cultists included the dwarf Dorban Smokestone and the illithid Ruulam.

Servants
Mammon's army was based in Minauros. It consisted mainly of osyluths and hamatulas with gelugon commanders.

History
Mammon's original form, which he could assume at will, was that of a pit fiend, but he was altered by Asmodeus. He betrayed both Dispater and Mephistopheles, his former allies, and as a result, was not trusted by any archdevil.

As a result of the betrayal, Mammon had to plead to Asmodeus to retain his position. Mammon was cursed by Asmodeus and was confined to the city of Minauros. He always lusted for more power than he currently had; his ambition was to remove the curse and return to what he considered to be his rightful place, along with Glasya.

Despite the general lack of trust towards Mammon, he gained influence over the witch-queen Zbavra.