Archfiend

An Archfiend is a particularly powerful fiend, often a Demon Lord or a Devil Archduke or Archduchess, and usually a creature that rules over one of the fiendish planes or has a fiendish army at their disposal. There are 10 Archdukes of the Nine Hells, an unknown number of Yugoloth lords, Baernoloths, and considering the infinite layers of the warring Abyss, possibly an infinite number of Abyssal Demon Lords, though only a select 10 have gained enough power to of major significance. A page listing most known demon lords can be found here. Any number of insignificant demon lords rise and fall, with select few lasting long, therefore, resourceful Dungeon Masters can use this to their advantage, weaving lesser demon lords into their adventures without conflicting the detailed and specific histories of the major Abyssal Lords.

Abyssal Lords
Each abyssal lord is a demon that has a realm on one of the layers of the abyss. They either scheme against each other, throw their armies into the Blood War or try to manipulate events on the Material Plane. In a theoretically infinite Abyss there are theoretically an infinite number of Abyssal Lords. only 10 Abyssal Lords regularly interfere in the affairs of mortals and these are:


 * Baphomet: Patron of Minotaurs
 * Dagon: Worshipped by many underwater creatures.
 * Demogorgon: Currently hold the title of 'Prince of Demons'
 * Eltab: Lord of the Hidden Layer. Has been a major influence in eastern Faerûn.
 * Graz'zt: The Dark Prince is a demon lord and one of the most powerful fiends in the Abyss, contested only by his rival Orcus and Demogorgon for the ultrapowerful title of 'Prince of Demons.' He is constantly trying to regain the title from who holds the title, either Demogorgon (The current bearer) or Orcus, and at some times both.
 * Kostchtchie: Corrupts Frost giants to worship him.
 * Malcanthet: Attempts to corrupt followers of Sharess in competition with Graz'zt.
 * Orcus: Lord of the undead, enemy of Kiaransalee, Demogorgon, and Graz'zt and patron of Zhengyi.
 * Pazuzu: Interested only in the corruption of mortals.
 * Yeenoghu: Patron of Gnolls.

Lolth
After Araushnee was cast down from Arvandor into the Abyss, Corellon Larethian cursed her into becoming the Abyssal Lord Lolth. Lolth has since regained her divinty and left the Abyss, shedding her mantle of Abyssal Lord.

Baernoloths
The Baernoloths rule over the Yugoloths but are not widely documented. As such, very few have any information on who they are.

Archdevils
The archdevils have a strict hierarchy. The deeper the layer that they rule, the higher their rank in the eyes of the other devils. Ancient lore tells of devils having once been angels but they left the holy ranks to rule over the Nine Hells. Asmodeus led the migration and has since ruled the 9th and deepest layer of Hell. Things remained constant for a long time, but relatively recently, the order of things in Hell has changed at Asmodeus' direction. The archdevils are now as follows:


 * Bel: Lord of Avernus. Overthrew the former ruler of Avernus. An excellent battlefield tactician.
 * Dispater: Lord of Dis. Cunning and manipulative, with an affinity for creating and destroying metal.
 * Mammon: Lord of Minauros. Greedy and lustful, unusually untrustworthy.
 * Belial and Fierna: Fierna rules Plegethos but her father Belial, also an archdevil, resides there as well.
 * Levistus: Lord of Stygia. Trapped in a block of ice by Asmodeus.
 * Glasya: Lord of Malbolge. Daughter of Asmodeus. Took control of the layer after killing the Hag Countess.
 * Baalzebul: Lord of Maladomini. Arrogant and ambitious, was cursed with a wretched body by Asmodeus.
 * Mephistopheles: Lord of Cania. Master of fire, despite his icy demesne.

Asmodeus
Asmodeus is the lord of Nessus and was, for as long as any record suggests, an archdevil (though apparently, he did once posess the mantle of godhood). When Dweomerheart disintegrated, Azuth was flung into Nessus where Asmodeus stole his divinity thus shedding his archdevil status.

Tiamat
When Tiamat was slain by Marduk during the Orcgate Wars she found herself still alive, but only as an archdevil. She has since regained her divinity.

Gargauth
Gargauth has achieved godhood and is no longer an archdevil.

Malkizid
While Araushnee was banished to the Abyss by Corellon, her ally, the fallen Solar Malkizid was banished to Baator, where he soon became an archdevil. Eventually, he angered Asmodeus and was banished from the Nine Hells. He travelled to the Blood Rift and became a lord of the Yugoloths, therefore, he is both an archdevil and a yugoloth.