Origin Story: He Who Was
In this version, Asmodeus was an exarch in the service of an unknown god, but after retrieving a shard of evil, he killed that god. Asmodeus put much effort in wiping out this god's name, so he was known only as He Who Was. According to one legend, this god was a control freak who supervised every single aspect of every single person living in his realm. The all-encompassing supervision and control force on Asmodeus suffered was the start of his need to rise up against his god. He was again the greatest warrior and general of that god's army, but applied brutal methods that at one point caused innocent casualties. As Asmodeus did not want to see the errors of his ways, the lawful good god condemned and fired Asmodeus.
Afterward, Asmodeus worked as a watchman over Tharizdun's prison. During this time, Pazuzu, a demon lord of the obyrith, came to him and they had a conversation. The demon's flattery caused Asmodeus to develop a sense of pride that became arrogance and the desire to rise up against He Who Was. Asmodeus maintained a stable secret alliance with Pazuzu, who served as his general and was vital in eventually killing He Who Was. A side effect of Asmodeus's corruption was that he began to hear the location of the shards of evil. He retrieved one by going down to the bottom of the Abyss through the Blood Rift, created his Ruby Rod with the shard, and killed his god with it when it looked bad for the deities during the Dawn War. The corrupting influence of the shard turned Asmodeus and the members of his army into the first devils. He Who Was had cursed Asmodeus and since then Asmodeus could not leave Baator. He Who Was's curse also affected Asmodeus's angelic army, which was stationed in Phlegethos, the site of which later became known as the Lake of Fire. Afterward, Asmodeus managed to lay the groundwork for emerging stronger from the Dawn War, while all other participants were weakened.
Publicly, the other gods condemned Asmodeus's actions, but privately some started making deals with the future lord of devils, because He Who Was had been infamous for his incompetence, which would have caused the gods' defeat in the Dawn War and with it their end. Asmodeus made deals with both the gods and covertly the primordials, but in the end decided to take the divine side. One of these bargains gave him the eternal right to use souls to maintain Baator.
With this right, Baator became a divine realm of material affluence, while all other realms had a poverty problem. This was due to Asmodeus's great management skills, and a very dark touch. Among others, this was done by turning Baator into a giant torture chamber where magical energy was tortured out of souls. He modified the Nine Hells so that as many souls as possible could enter the astral dominion. For example, because of the damage done by the Dawn War, the system of souls being transferred to the realms of their deities did not properly function. Souls that appeared outside of the proper divine realm could not enter any realm except the Nine Hells and a lot of souls made use of this unique aspect of the Nine Hells.
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