The Blood War
Imagine a war that has been raging for eons, long before the birth of the planes, and that will continue long after the death of the last mortal being. Picture battlefields littered with the bodies of the dead from a small skirmish of just over a million creatures and that these clashes stretch out across the entire lower planes. This is the Blood War, which has been fought with an intense fury for as long as the gods can recall, with no end in sight.
It wouldn’t be a ridiculous thought to think that war is between the forces of good and evil, but that would be wrong. Instead, this is a conflict between evil and evil and is more about philosophy than anything else. This conflict is between the lawful and chaotic fiends, Between Devil and Demon.
But how did this conflict start, and what all does it entail? Are the celestials actually just standing by and not helping mortals trapped in between these evil armies? Who are the other players in this war and which side are they hoping will win over the other? Or maybe, they are hoping this conflict lasts for eons more.
The Blood War was originally released in the Planescape Campaign Setting (1994) for 2nd edition. It was further detailed in Hellbound: The Blood War (1996) which outlined the beginning of the conflict and how players can take part in it. This conflict was a large focal point of the Planescape setting and was a massive conflict for high-level characters to wade into.
This war is about a difference of philosophy, as the lawful Devils can not stand the chaotic Demons and vice versa. While the Celestials do try to wipe both out, they realize that it was a huge mistake to get involved as they suffer massive casualties that they are still recovering from. Most are more than happy to let the fiends war with each other and many get rich off of selling weapons, souls, and information between the two sides.
The Blood War began after the fiends were created by the Yugoloth, and the Devils and Demons eventually found each other. Upon their first meeting, they immediately started killing each other and it only grew in size from there. Many claim that the Yugoloths are orchestrating the Blood War as their prophecy of the end time involves the Blood War and its conclusion, though no one has been able to prove anything.
Upon the 3rd edition being released, the Blood War was largely pushed to the side along with the rest of the Planescape setting. Detailed in the Manual of the Planes (2001) the conflict is described as a genocide of fiends. So long as Devils or Demons are still alive, they will still try to destroy each other. Depending on where you are in the planes, you may never realize there is a massive conflict… on the other hand, some planes are permanent battlefields home to towering siege engines that move across the land like mountains crawling across the landscape.
The Blood War has come to a type of stalemate where a cold war has formed between the two sides. Detailed in the Manual of the Planes (2008) the Blood War goes through hot and cold stages of conflict where massive battles of trillions of souls are destroyed over centuries until both sides are so weakened that they retreat to their home planes, regrouping and rebuilding before the next huge push. 4th edition assumes that the Blood War is currently in a cold stage of the war, and both sides are readying their armies for when the war begins anew.
Another new idea brought into 4th edition was the idea of how the Blood War started. At the beginning of creation, a primordial was looking for something to allow him to have ultimate power over all gods and creation. Finding the Heart of Darkness, an evil seed of destruction, the primordial planted it in the Elemental Chaos and from it spawned the Abyss. Here pure evil manifested and primordials, like Orcus, Baphomet and others were twisted by the evil. Asmodeus stole a shard of this seed, creating his Ruby Rod from it, and weakened the might of the Demons. The Demons have sworn revenge for this betrayal and vow to destroy Asmodeus. They hope to take back the Ruby Rod and by returning it to the Abyss, it will restore the might of the Demons.
The Blood War takes a backseat in 5th edition and is touched on only in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (2018). The conflict is largely confined to the Nine Hells and the Abyss, with occasional outbursts on the Material Plane between cultists and summoned fiends. The beginning of this conflict is unknown, though many attribute it to the fact that Devils wish to control everything and Demons wish to destroy everything. This puts each other at odds as the Demons have little to no interest in ruling over mortals and wish to destroy everything in the Multiverse… which makes it very hard for the Devils to rule over anything if there is nothing left.
The beginnings of the Blood War differ between the editions, though the most detailed version of the events is from 2nd edition's Hellbound: The Blood War (1996) as summarized below.
At the beginning of time, the planes were first formed and the entities known as the Baernaloths staggered out of the mists of creation. Eventually, they spawned the Yugoloths as their children and used them to start implementing their plans. During this time, the River Styx is but a small stream that trickles its way through the Multiverse before the Baernaloths increased its flow and it became a raging torrent. The River will prove to be an important part of the Blood War and is incredibly dangerous to touch. As the Yugoloths grow stronger, they wish to have the same neutrality that their creators, the Baernaloths, have and their most powerful general, known as the General of Gehenna, created a magical stone, the Heart of Darkness, that drives the impurities of Law and Chaos out of anyone who touches it. Summoning all of the Yugoloths, they touch the Heart and the General channels the expunged forces onto separate planes of existence - the forces of law became larvae on Baator and the forces of chaos became larvae on the Abyss.
After eons, the larva began growing and evolving on their respective planes and they began exploring not only their plane but the planes near them which include Gehenna and Carceri. These larvae grew into the Devils and Demons, though there were originally known as the Baatezu and the Tanar’ri respectively.
Now is when the Yugoloths are discovering the power of their neutrality and the Baernaloths, their creators, suddenly withdraw into the Gray Waste, leaving behind little evidence of their existence.
Once the Devils and Demons gained control of their planes, they each decided at the same time to begin investigating what else was out there. Scouts were sent by both sides and each found the Yugoloths in the adjacent planes. The Devil entourage saw the creatures as weak-willed and without any sort of ethical guidance, they then left the Yugoloths and continued eventually finding the Abyss. In the Abyss, they first meet the chaotic Demons and realize that they have such a different philosophical ideology that it manifests as violent hatred and the Devils begin slaughtering as many Demons as they can find before returning to Baator to report what they found.
During this time, the Demons have sent their patrols out. They find the Yugoloths and begin torturing and killing them for fun before heading deeper into the planes and eventually finding Baator. Here they first meet the Devils and begin murdering and destroying all they can find. Many decide to continue through Baator, vowing to destroy all Devils while others head back to the Abyss to tell of what they have found.
Now, each side has learned of the other and they begin amassing raiding parties to attack the other side. These parties soon grow into battalions and then swell into the size of armies and beyond. They begin slaughtering each other and it looks like no side will win against the other. The Demons have what feels like an infinite number in their armies, though they are too chaotic to make an effective fighting force. The Devils are more limited in their numbers, but due to their lawful nature can create effective armies capable of stopping the chaotic horde.
After centuries of conflict, the Yugoloths sent emissaries to both sides and offered their services as mercenaries, those most contracts benefitted them the most. Many point to this as the time that the Yugoloths began their plan of controlling the Blood War and in the first battle, they betrayed both sides and broke their contracts. Though this did nothing to stop either side from hiring them again and again after that, for when the Yugoloths held up their contracts they were the key to winning decisive battles.
Soon after, the Lords of the Nine appear in Baator and Demon Princes appear in the Abyss. Each plane suffers its own massive power struggles until the Lords and Princes put in a hierarchy that stops ambitious friends from unseating them. These leaders begin pushing their armies harder and the war continues to rage across Baator, Gehenna, the Gray Wastes, Carceri, and the Abyss with no side gaining the upper hand for very long.
At this point, both sides realize they are in a stalemate and they decide to send out scouts to see what else is out there and if there is anything that can be used in the Blood War. This decision brings with it the discovery of the Multiverse and each side realizes that if they simply destroy the other side and end this conflict, they could have all the territory of the Multiverse and the battles are fought with an intensity beyond what was previously seen.
While the fiends are exploring the Multiverse, they attract the attention of the Celestials who abhor their evil and a massive army of Angels, Devas, Solars, and others are sent to the lower planes and begin massacring any fiend that gets in their way. The Blood War is now the fiends against each other and the Celestials against both sides. After a full year, the fiends realize they must work together to stop the Celestial onslaught and they turn their attention to the Celestial host. In less than a week, the Celestials are driven out of the lower planes with their white robes stained in the blood of their fallen kin. All told, it is said that of the massive host of Celestials that defies numbering, only 3000 are to survive this assault. The Celestials that wish to remain a part of the Blood War realize they must pick a side, but none can agree if they should join the Devils and Law or the Demons and Chaos as Celestials lay claim to both ideologies.
After this horrifying event, the gods have taken an interest in the Blood War and they begin adding their power to their ideological side. The Chaos gods add their strength to the Demons, and the Lawful gods add their strength to the Devils. It is only after a god of chaos finds their power withered away that the other gods stop being directly involved and they begin using proxies, though a few gods of wars still offer their power and full attention to the Blood War.
Soon the fiends discover a use for the souls from the Material Plane as before the fiends had no idea what these souls were or where they came from, they had just made good food. Once they discovered the Multiverse, they also discovered the Material Plane and where the souls came from. They quickly realized that they could shape these souls into lesser Devils and Demons. It was then that they began developing plans to overtake the Material Plane and bolster their armies with even more of these tormented souls.
The conflict is still raging on between the forces of Chaos and Law, though powerful magical artifacts, Ships of Chaos, valiant warriors and so much more has been dumped onto the battlefields of Devils and Demons. Celestials, Slaad, and even Modrons have all joined in on the fighting in different ways, and nothing has changed for the two warring factions. Some blame the Yugoloths, that their scheming has kept the Blood War raging on so that they can benefit from it, and others worry that there might be a day when the fighting stops. If that were to happen, then it means one side has won and the rest of the Multiverse is now in trouble.
At the beginning of time, the River Styx was merely a small stream of water that ran through the lower planes. Eventually, it became a roaring torrent that cuts it’s way through the planes. It is constantly morphing and changing, which makes it incredibly hard to navigate or map it.
The waters of the Styx are especially dangerous to all but a few creatures that come in contact with it. When a creature is exposed to the River, they begin losing their memories and identities, which for the Devils is a horrible thing to happen. No Devil wants to explain to their superiors they lost because they forgot what the battle plan was.
The fact that the River Styx flows across the lower planes makes it of great strategic importance and allows the Devils and Demons to both use it to bring their armies to bear against each other, the only problem is that only a few creatures fully understand how to navigate the treacherous waters and they are typically mercenaries for hire. It isn’t unheard of for a Yugoloth-captain of a boat to suddenly drown a squad of Devils when the Demons offer them a greater price.
Baator, or as it is better known as the Nine Hells, is a lower plane home to the Devils. There are nine distinct layers in Baator with Avernus being the top layer and Nessus, where Asmodeus makes his home, the bottom layer. Each layer of the Nine Hells is governed by an Archdevil and they are largely left alone to their own devices so long as they continue to follow Asmodeus and keep up with their quota of souls. Avernus, as it is the first layer of the Nine Hells, is now a large battlefield. It once was a beautiful location filled with forests and wildlife, though the war and demonic presence have destroyed any remains of that. The only thing that remains across Avernus are the fortresses set up along the Styx to stop Demonic invasions and as staging areas for the Devil army to make attacks into the Abyss.
Massive ruins of cities sucked into the Hells can be found throughout the plane and the promise of magical items draw many would-be adventurers into its depths. Many never make it out of Avernus, and the ones who do are forever changed by their experience.
The Abyss is a plane of entropy and chaos. While over 600 layers of the Abyss have been documented, it is theorized that there are an infinite number of layers and an infinite number of demons occupying the levels of the Abyss. This is a staggering amount of Demons for any army to fight against, but luckily they are ill-organized and are often fighting among themselves just as much as they are fighting the Devils. The first layer of the Abyss is known as the Plain of Infinite Portals or Pazunia. It is a wasteland with a burning red sun high overhead and blistering winds that never end. Here the massive forces of the Abyss board ships to sail across the River Styx to put an end to the Devils, and eventually to the rest of the planes. The deeper you go down the Abyss, the more maddening it gets as powerful Demon Princes have made their lairs across many of the levels, with more Demon Princes rising from its infinite layers.
”Hell is defined by many things, it is the realm of Law and Evil, it is the realm of privilege and systemic oppression, it is the realm of institutional unfairness and kafka est bureaucracy, and it is of course the realm is defined by cold ruthlessness. But more than anything else, Hell is defined by the Blood War, the endless, never-ending, and eternal (yes it did need three words that mean the same thing, that is how endless it is) between the Chaotic Evil Forces of the Abyss and the Lawful Evil forces of the Hell, a war that has predated time itself. The Blood War is an all consuming, vicious and ultimately futile war, as neither side can ever hope to win. But despite the endless failures inflicted and occurred on both sides, each thinks that they will inevitably win, despite all evidence to the contrary. While the Abyss sees the conflict as just another way for them to fight and add the sheer pointless chaos of the world, Hell sees winning the war a goal, and defines their sick state by opposition to something equally horrible. The fact that the war can never be won has never bothered the devils, not truly, for without war, without the class of oppositions, what is Hell anyways?
Bel, the Lord of the First Realm, the Commander of Militarism, and the being more than anyone else in the universe defined by the Blood War, understand this well. Hell is, at its core, about individuals subsuming themselves into a collective. But unlike the truly fascist realm of Perdition, Hell is a mess of contradictions, all of which work together in a lawful manner. After all wouldn’t a military state be more organized and less bureaucratically dysfunctional? Why does Hell still rely upon a decentralized feudal system rather than a military dictatorship? Why does so much systemic oppression stand in the way of efficiency, with “purebred” devils, aristocrats and men getting preferential treatment regardless of merit? How can a lawful state be this inconsistent. To hell however, these contradictions are part of Law, Lawful Evil isn’t about the Law being used for Evil, its about the Law being itself evil, the law being an unfair and arbitrary force that defines people’s existence, and institutionalized unfairness are just part of that package. And nothing helps institutional oppression stay in place than war, than the constant lie that any challenge to the institution is paramount to treason, and that any attempt to fix the problem is abandoned as it is too much work.”
~ Credit to DieCast
It wouldn’t be a ridiculous thought to think that war is between the forces of good and evil, but that would be wrong. Instead, this is a conflict between evil and evil and is more about philosophy than anything else. This conflict is between the lawful and chaotic fiends, Between Devil and Demon.
But how did this conflict start, and what all does it entail? Are the celestials actually just standing by and not helping mortals trapped in between these evil armies? Who are the other players in this war and which side are they hoping will win over the other? Or maybe, they are hoping this conflict lasts for eons more.
Through the Editions
2e
The Blood War was originally released in the Planescape Campaign Setting (1994) for 2nd edition. It was further detailed in Hellbound: The Blood War (1996) which outlined the beginning of the conflict and how players can take part in it. This conflict was a large focal point of the Planescape setting and was a massive conflict for high-level characters to wade into.
This war is about a difference of philosophy, as the lawful Devils can not stand the chaotic Demons and vice versa. While the Celestials do try to wipe both out, they realize that it was a huge mistake to get involved as they suffer massive casualties that they are still recovering from. Most are more than happy to let the fiends war with each other and many get rich off of selling weapons, souls, and information between the two sides.
The Blood War began after the fiends were created by the Yugoloth, and the Devils and Demons eventually found each other. Upon their first meeting, they immediately started killing each other and it only grew in size from there. Many claim that the Yugoloths are orchestrating the Blood War as their prophecy of the end time involves the Blood War and its conclusion, though no one has been able to prove anything.
3e
Upon the 3rd edition being released, the Blood War was largely pushed to the side along with the rest of the Planescape setting. Detailed in the Manual of the Planes (2001) the conflict is described as a genocide of fiends. So long as Devils or Demons are still alive, they will still try to destroy each other. Depending on where you are in the planes, you may never realize there is a massive conflict… on the other hand, some planes are permanent battlefields home to towering siege engines that move across the land like mountains crawling across the landscape.
4e
The Blood War has come to a type of stalemate where a cold war has formed between the two sides. Detailed in the Manual of the Planes (2008) the Blood War goes through hot and cold stages of conflict where massive battles of trillions of souls are destroyed over centuries until both sides are so weakened that they retreat to their home planes, regrouping and rebuilding before the next huge push. 4th edition assumes that the Blood War is currently in a cold stage of the war, and both sides are readying their armies for when the war begins anew.
Another new idea brought into 4th edition was the idea of how the Blood War started. At the beginning of creation, a primordial was looking for something to allow him to have ultimate power over all gods and creation. Finding the Heart of Darkness, an evil seed of destruction, the primordial planted it in the Elemental Chaos and from it spawned the Abyss. Here pure evil manifested and primordials, like Orcus, Baphomet and others were twisted by the evil. Asmodeus stole a shard of this seed, creating his Ruby Rod from it, and weakened the might of the Demons. The Demons have sworn revenge for this betrayal and vow to destroy Asmodeus. They hope to take back the Ruby Rod and by returning it to the Abyss, it will restore the might of the Demons.
5e
The Blood War takes a backseat in 5th edition and is touched on only in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (2018). The conflict is largely confined to the Nine Hells and the Abyss, with occasional outbursts on the Material Plane between cultists and summoned fiends. The beginning of this conflict is unknown, though many attribute it to the fact that Devils wish to control everything and Demons wish to destroy everything. This puts each other at odds as the Demons have little to no interest in ruling over mortals and wish to destroy everything in the Multiverse… which makes it very hard for the Devils to rule over anything if there is nothing left.
The Events of the Blood War
The beginnings of the Blood War differ between the editions, though the most detailed version of the events is from 2nd edition's Hellbound: The Blood War (1996) as summarized below.
The Beginning
At the beginning of time, the planes were first formed and the entities known as the Baernaloths staggered out of the mists of creation. Eventually, they spawned the Yugoloths as their children and used them to start implementing their plans. During this time, the River Styx is but a small stream that trickles its way through the Multiverse before the Baernaloths increased its flow and it became a raging torrent. The River will prove to be an important part of the Blood War and is incredibly dangerous to touch. As the Yugoloths grow stronger, they wish to have the same neutrality that their creators, the Baernaloths, have and their most powerful general, known as the General of Gehenna, created a magical stone, the Heart of Darkness, that drives the impurities of Law and Chaos out of anyone who touches it. Summoning all of the Yugoloths, they touch the Heart and the General channels the expunged forces onto separate planes of existence - the forces of law became larvae on Baator and the forces of chaos became larvae on the Abyss.
After eons, the larva began growing and evolving on their respective planes and they began exploring not only their plane but the planes near them which include Gehenna and Carceri. These larvae grew into the Devils and Demons, though there were originally known as the Baatezu and the Tanar’ri respectively.
Now is when the Yugoloths are discovering the power of their neutrality and the Baernaloths, their creators, suddenly withdraw into the Gray Waste, leaving behind little evidence of their existence.
The Start of the Blood War
Once the Devils and Demons gained control of their planes, they each decided at the same time to begin investigating what else was out there. Scouts were sent by both sides and each found the Yugoloths in the adjacent planes. The Devil entourage saw the creatures as weak-willed and without any sort of ethical guidance, they then left the Yugoloths and continued eventually finding the Abyss. In the Abyss, they first meet the chaotic Demons and realize that they have such a different philosophical ideology that it manifests as violent hatred and the Devils begin slaughtering as many Demons as they can find before returning to Baator to report what they found.
During this time, the Demons have sent their patrols out. They find the Yugoloths and begin torturing and killing them for fun before heading deeper into the planes and eventually finding Baator. Here they first meet the Devils and begin murdering and destroying all they can find. Many decide to continue through Baator, vowing to destroy all Devils while others head back to the Abyss to tell of what they have found.
Now, each side has learned of the other and they begin amassing raiding parties to attack the other side. These parties soon grow into battalions and then swell into the size of armies and beyond. They begin slaughtering each other and it looks like no side will win against the other. The Demons have what feels like an infinite number in their armies, though they are too chaotic to make an effective fighting force. The Devils are more limited in their numbers, but due to their lawful nature can create effective armies capable of stopping the chaotic horde.
After centuries of conflict, the Yugoloths sent emissaries to both sides and offered their services as mercenaries, those most contracts benefitted them the most. Many point to this as the time that the Yugoloths began their plan of controlling the Blood War and in the first battle, they betrayed both sides and broke their contracts. Though this did nothing to stop either side from hiring them again and again after that, for when the Yugoloths held up their contracts they were the key to winning decisive battles.
Soon after, the Lords of the Nine appear in Baator and Demon Princes appear in the Abyss. Each plane suffers its own massive power struggles until the Lords and Princes put in a hierarchy that stops ambitious friends from unseating them. These leaders begin pushing their armies harder and the war continues to rage across Baator, Gehenna, the Gray Wastes, Carceri, and the Abyss with no side gaining the upper hand for very long.
The War Spreads Out
At this point, both sides realize they are in a stalemate and they decide to send out scouts to see what else is out there and if there is anything that can be used in the Blood War. This decision brings with it the discovery of the Multiverse and each side realizes that if they simply destroy the other side and end this conflict, they could have all the territory of the Multiverse and the battles are fought with an intensity beyond what was previously seen.
While the fiends are exploring the Multiverse, they attract the attention of the Celestials who abhor their evil and a massive army of Angels, Devas, Solars, and others are sent to the lower planes and begin massacring any fiend that gets in their way. The Blood War is now the fiends against each other and the Celestials against both sides. After a full year, the fiends realize they must work together to stop the Celestial onslaught and they turn their attention to the Celestial host. In less than a week, the Celestials are driven out of the lower planes with their white robes stained in the blood of their fallen kin. All told, it is said that of the massive host of Celestials that defies numbering, only 3000 are to survive this assault. The Celestials that wish to remain a part of the Blood War realize they must pick a side, but none can agree if they should join the Devils and Law or the Demons and Chaos as Celestials lay claim to both ideologies.
After this horrifying event, the gods have taken an interest in the Blood War and they begin adding their power to their ideological side. The Chaos gods add their strength to the Demons, and the Lawful gods add their strength to the Devils. It is only after a god of chaos finds their power withered away that the other gods stop being directly involved and they begin using proxies, though a few gods of wars still offer their power and full attention to the Blood War.
Soon the fiends discover a use for the souls from the Material Plane as before the fiends had no idea what these souls were or where they came from, they had just made good food. Once they discovered the Multiverse, they also discovered the Material Plane and where the souls came from. They quickly realized that they could shape these souls into lesser Devils and Demons. It was then that they began developing plans to overtake the Material Plane and bolster their armies with even more of these tormented souls.
Present Day
The conflict is still raging on between the forces of Chaos and Law, though powerful magical artifacts, Ships of Chaos, valiant warriors and so much more has been dumped onto the battlefields of Devils and Demons. Celestials, Slaad, and even Modrons have all joined in on the fighting in different ways, and nothing has changed for the two warring factions. Some blame the Yugoloths, that their scheming has kept the Blood War raging on so that they can benefit from it, and others worry that there might be a day when the fighting stops. If that were to happen, then it means one side has won and the rest of the Multiverse is now in trouble.
Locations of the Blood War
The River Styx
At the beginning of time, the River Styx was merely a small stream of water that ran through the lower planes. Eventually, it became a roaring torrent that cuts it’s way through the planes. It is constantly morphing and changing, which makes it incredibly hard to navigate or map it.
The waters of the Styx are especially dangerous to all but a few creatures that come in contact with it. When a creature is exposed to the River, they begin losing their memories and identities, which for the Devils is a horrible thing to happen. No Devil wants to explain to their superiors they lost because they forgot what the battle plan was.
The fact that the River Styx flows across the lower planes makes it of great strategic importance and allows the Devils and Demons to both use it to bring their armies to bear against each other, the only problem is that only a few creatures fully understand how to navigate the treacherous waters and they are typically mercenaries for hire. It isn’t unheard of for a Yugoloth-captain of a boat to suddenly drown a squad of Devils when the Demons offer them a greater price.
Baator
Baator, or as it is better known as the Nine Hells, is a lower plane home to the Devils. There are nine distinct layers in Baator with Avernus being the top layer and Nessus, where Asmodeus makes his home, the bottom layer. Each layer of the Nine Hells is governed by an Archdevil and they are largely left alone to their own devices so long as they continue to follow Asmodeus and keep up with their quota of souls. Avernus, as it is the first layer of the Nine Hells, is now a large battlefield. It once was a beautiful location filled with forests and wildlife, though the war and demonic presence have destroyed any remains of that. The only thing that remains across Avernus are the fortresses set up along the Styx to stop Demonic invasions and as staging areas for the Devil army to make attacks into the Abyss.
Massive ruins of cities sucked into the Hells can be found throughout the plane and the promise of magical items draw many would-be adventurers into its depths. Many never make it out of Avernus, and the ones who do are forever changed by their experience.
Abyss
The Abyss is a plane of entropy and chaos. While over 600 layers of the Abyss have been documented, it is theorized that there are an infinite number of layers and an infinite number of demons occupying the levels of the Abyss. This is a staggering amount of Demons for any army to fight against, but luckily they are ill-organized and are often fighting among themselves just as much as they are fighting the Devils. The first layer of the Abyss is known as the Plain of Infinite Portals or Pazunia. It is a wasteland with a burning red sun high overhead and blistering winds that never end. Here the massive forces of the Abyss board ships to sail across the River Styx to put an end to the Devils, and eventually to the rest of the planes. The deeper you go down the Abyss, the more maddening it gets as powerful Demon Princes have made their lairs across many of the levels, with more Demon Princes rising from its infinite layers.
Summary of the Blood War
”Hell is defined by many things, it is the realm of Law and Evil, it is the realm of privilege and systemic oppression, it is the realm of institutional unfairness and kafka est bureaucracy, and it is of course the realm is defined by cold ruthlessness. But more than anything else, Hell is defined by the Blood War, the endless, never-ending, and eternal (yes it did need three words that mean the same thing, that is how endless it is) between the Chaotic Evil Forces of the Abyss and the Lawful Evil forces of the Hell, a war that has predated time itself. The Blood War is an all consuming, vicious and ultimately futile war, as neither side can ever hope to win. But despite the endless failures inflicted and occurred on both sides, each thinks that they will inevitably win, despite all evidence to the contrary. While the Abyss sees the conflict as just another way for them to fight and add the sheer pointless chaos of the world, Hell sees winning the war a goal, and defines their sick state by opposition to something equally horrible. The fact that the war can never be won has never bothered the devils, not truly, for without war, without the class of oppositions, what is Hell anyways?
Bel, the Lord of the First Realm, the Commander of Militarism, and the being more than anyone else in the universe defined by the Blood War, understand this well. Hell is, at its core, about individuals subsuming themselves into a collective. But unlike the truly fascist realm of Perdition, Hell is a mess of contradictions, all of which work together in a lawful manner. After all wouldn’t a military state be more organized and less bureaucratically dysfunctional? Why does Hell still rely upon a decentralized feudal system rather than a military dictatorship? Why does so much systemic oppression stand in the way of efficiency, with “purebred” devils, aristocrats and men getting preferential treatment regardless of merit? How can a lawful state be this inconsistent. To hell however, these contradictions are part of Law, Lawful Evil isn’t about the Law being used for Evil, its about the Law being itself evil, the law being an unfair and arbitrary force that defines people’s existence, and institutionalized unfairness are just part of that package. And nothing helps institutional oppression stay in place than war, than the constant lie that any challenge to the institution is paramount to treason, and that any attempt to fix the problem is abandoned as it is too much work.”
~ Credit to DieCast
