Asmodeus (æz-mo-DAY-us)
Supreme Master of the Nine Hells, Lord of Nessus, The Lord of the Ninth, The Lord of the Ruby Rod, Prince of Evil (a.k.a. The Cloven One, Old Hoof and Horn, The Archfiend, The Raging Fiend)
God of indulgence and evil Devils. That Asmodeus wanted to take over the multiverse for himself was a known fact. He genuinely believed that a bright future awaited the multiverse if he was to rule it. As arrogant as this claim sounded, Asmodeus had the competence to back it up.
Asmodeuswas a greater deity. However, he was older than the concept of faith and the power of deities like him neither waxed nor waned with the number of worshipers and, beyond himself, he had no ability to grant spells to his followers. However, there was one way for mortals to gain spells from him, by becoming a disciple of darkness. On the mortal side, this agreement meant that the archdevil could take the life of the mortal at any time he wanted if he was not appeased with sacrifices. The mortal generally did not need to meet any strictures like a dogma or the like and could cast divine magic with impunity. The method through which Asmodeus granted spells was not through his own powers but through using himself as a channel for the divine magic of Baator itself to the mortal cleric. After consuming the powers of an ancient Runestone he no longer required sentient sacrifices and could grant magic directly.
Asmodeus ruled the entire plane of the Nine Hells of Baator. His seat of power was Nessus, the ninth layer. Being a man to whom his privacy and safety were important, he usually remained within his fortress of Malsheem, primarily using other people to make his will clear to others. The other archdevils were annually called to Malsheem. Asmodeus had a huge store of souls in the citadel, and these could be bought from him at an extremely high cost, rumored to be the cost of entire kingdoms for one soul. By devil law, only Asmodeus could issue letters of safe passage that did not just cover one layer but for travel between layers. However, he never issued such things for Nessus.
Divine Domains
Knowledge, Order, Trickery
Tenets of Faith
- Indulge in your desires.
- Submit to The Archfiend.
- Destroy all who oppose Order.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Shinodeus had working relationships with evil deities who supplied his followers with spells, for he could not do it himself, in return for his aid in their endeavors. Baatorian deities were quite respectful around him.
The lawful deities and Shinodeus had an ancient agreement called the Pact Primeval that, among other things, allowed his devils to corrupt mortals and wring divine magic from their souls. From time to time, rumors about various lawful deities allying to take over Baator from Shinodeus popped up, but never amounted to anything. Lawful deities were not really capable of changing the status quo and, even if they were, the ability to agree on who was to take control of the Nine Hells was beyond them. Like the gods, Shinodeus did not want an open war either.
Glasya was Shinodeus's daughter and he was a caring father towards her—at least for a devil. Moving against her was something to be done in a covert fashion lest it look like moving against Shinodeus himself. That said, Glasya was quite an impudent daughter. She tried to avoid working for him, but came to terms with him after the Reckoning and was rewarded by becoming an archdevil with Malbolge as her personal layer. Shinodeus allowed her to hire whomever she wanted for her personal staff, even to headhunting from other archdevils. She made aggressive use of this privilege and became disliked by other archdevils. However, Shinodeus constrained his daughter by decreeing that Glasya was only allowed to obtain souls by legal means, so she had to find loopholes and the like in contracts, laws, and other legalities.
Levistus was culpable in killing Bensozia, Shinodeus's consort, for which he was imprisoned in ice. After the Reckoning, Shinodeus re-instituted him as the lord of Stygia. According to a theory Levistus believed, this was a ploy by Shinodeus to let his schemes be a distracting element in infernal politics. When he elevated Glasya to archdevil status, Levistus's scheming was a smokescreen to hide this political move and Levistus's predecessor Geryon's power was handed to her, leading to the theory. Believing it, Levistus felt himself at risk of punishment should he not rein in his scheming, but increased his scheming nonetheless. One of his goals was win Shinodeus's trustees over. He was still subject to Shinodeus and had the ironic duty to offer desperate people, especially those whose life was in danger, an escape from dangerous situations.
In the Pact Primeval version of Shinodeus's origin myth, Mephistopheles was Shinodeus's companion since before they went to Baator. He was once a subcontractor of Shinodeus as an object of worship, but handed this job to others to create his own cult dedicated to himself as the patron of hellfire. He not only wanted to take over Shinodeus's position, he believed he was fated to do so, but his excessive confidence revealed his intention to Shinodeus. Mephistopheles ultimately was slain in an attempt to use his daughter, Aria, against Shinodeus.
Divine Classification
Greater Deity
Alignment
Lawful Evil
Children
Gender
Male
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