Secret Society of Asmodeus

Followers of Asmodeus. This is a secret society dedicated to his worship, likened to that of a cult, and as such not much is known about the organization or belief system.

Worship

Asmodeus did not need mortal worship to maintain his strength as a greater deity, but neither did he obtain more power from mortal worship. He wanted to lure mortals to atheism to receive souls with which to heal his wounds. However, Asmodeus had a large following, which was much larger than any other infernal cult, in fact larger than all the others combined, to the point that the cult of Asmodeus was viewed as the first choice for prospective devil-worshipers. Furthermore, every diabolic cult was viewed as a subdivision of Asmodeus' cult and ultimately swore allegiance to the Lord of Ninth and not to the entity it was named after. In fact, what boons the cults of the other archdevils could provide was not determined by the cult's object of worship but by Asmodeus. To members of these cults, signing up with one meant to join a secret mutual-aid society. Members helped each other into positions of influence and material affluence. The majority of its members were dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, and humans. He also tried to make inroads into hobgoblins and other people with a lawful evil outlook. The motivation of people to pick up his worship was essentially greed and the worship started with entering a pact with Asmodeus that consigned the worshiper's soul to the Nine Hells on death.

Priesthood

Clergy: Not much is known about the clergy of this secret society. It is known that leaders who proved their worth were given the ability to drain vitality from an ally. The clergy is also referred to as Disciples of Darkness, the only mortals able to gain spells from Asmodeus.

Granted Divine Powers

His threshold to reward someone was low, provided that someone was willing to sign away his or her soul. Once the mortal worshiper was dead, what awaited him or her was eternal servitude. He had no ability to grant spells to his followers. However, there was one way for mortals to gain spells from him, 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. Tieflings who descended from Asmodeus were the ones that were considered the standard of the race. While the term used here was "descended", it did not mean that practically all tieflings could trace back their ancestry to Asmodeus. Asmodeus also worked as a supplier of pacts of warlocks and a tiefling's or half-fiend's warlock-pact was most likely one made with him. The channel divinity for this faith is Knowledge of the ages, Read thoughts, Invoke duplicity, Cloak of shadows, and Order's demand.

Political Influence & Intrigue

Like Asmodeus himself, the secret society waits patiently, and uses guile over force to accomplish backroom dealings, and to stir unrest.

Sects

While Asmodeus maintained cults that were dedicated to fictional entities, his cults in which he was worshiped as an archdevil fell into a category called a revealed cult. This meant that devil-worshipers who were Asmodeus-worshipers did so while knowing that their object of worship was a devil.