Paeliryon

❌

Paeliryons, also known as corruption devils, were grotesque and cunning denizens of the Nine Hells that were adept at blackmailing mortals into selling their souls. Their ability to obtain mortal souls, often very cheaply, went hand-in-hand with their role as infernal spymasters.

Description
Paeliryons were tall perversions of the female form whose  corpulence could be attributed to the incredibly distended bellies that hung below their waists. Their faces were heavily coated in courtesan's makeup, with blue eyeshadow applied to their yellow, porcine eyes and red-painted lips that outlined their fang-filled maws. The black robes they often wore contrasted with their pink, warty skin but did little to contain the billowing stench of their perfume or odorous oils exuded from their bodies. Their fearsome, extendable nails could double in length in an instant, easily reaching in length.

Among their more overtly monstrous traits were the two ridges of bone that ran along the back of their broad heads, and the two bat-wings that allowed them to fly, if clumsily. Strangely, the most powerful of paeliryons were smaller and lacked the ability to fly.

Personality
Hidden behind a paeliryon's hideous exterior and intimidating form worked a keen and creative intellect with a preference for manipulation as opposed to violence. Paeliryons could quickly send the already labyrinthine web of politics that was Baator into a maddening maze of duplicity and betrayal, all the while staying true to their word. Both masterminds in the field of corruption and astute judges of ability, paeliryons saw all creatures as tools to further their wicked agendas. They surrounded themselves with disposable brutes and sycophants while manipulating their more dangerous and unpredictable pawns from afar.

Corruption devils were as hedonistic as they were hideous, engaging in disgusting acts of excess when not supervising lesser devils or tormenting damned souls. As masters of coercion, paeliryons could easily unleash strings of insulting abuse upon others of unrivaled harshness. The greatest corruption devils were often the most morally repugnant, despising those of outstanding moral characters and often plotting the downfall of such figures.

Abilities
The bloated mass of a paeliryon's body was very poor at moving on foot, but they could move through burying underground at a similar speed. Despite their bulk, they were also capable of flying at incredible speed or simply using their wings to hover in the air. The retractable claws of a paerilyon rent not only flesh but twisted and corrupted the minds of those they struck.

Their epithets and insults were so powerful that they bent the minds of those that heard them, allowing them to turn their enemies against one another when not simply immobilizing them. They also possessed the ability to speak and understand all languages as well as spew powerful curses and magical commands at their enemies. Their mastery over both for illusory and divinatory magic allowed them to keep tabs on their enemies while masking their own nefarious deeds. If such methods were insufficient they also had access to more directly powerful spells like antilife shell or meteor swarm. Among the many baatezu that they could summon were lemures, osyluth, barbazus, erinyes, cornugons, and gelugons, although paeliryons capable of making a special type of contract could summon mortals that they had corrupted.

Society
This devil fell right under the pit fiend in the infernal promotion path. Their political reach stretched across the planes.