Cult of Zariel
Zariel's worshipers were those that wished to fight but lacked the necessary experience, training, skill, talent, and bravery in martial affairs to do so, all of which her agents could offer. Ordinary cultists showed greater ferocity than they would normally, and cult leaders had a keen tactical eye. Her cults were often headed by her own cambions.
Those that wished to prove themselves on the battlefield, those who sought fame and fortune through military achievement, refugees lacking the ability to fight, and those who simply desired the skills to survive were all attracted to the cults of Zariel. On the more experienced side, militant conquerors, already established warriors desiring a combat edge, and hobgoblins that escaped the goblinoid pantheon of Maglubiyet were also typical members. Entire orders of knights, fighter's guilds, and mercenary companies could fall under the sway of Avernus' Archduchess.
Zariel desired the souls of the greatest warriors and expected only the best from those under her. She allowed them relatively fuller lives, if only so they could hone their skills in life and join her ranks of universally disciplined and capable servants after death. Those mortals who pleased her while alive were sometimes allowed to keep their memories and be promoted into higher forms of devils rather than become pathetic lemures. She also demanded loyalty from her servants, her hard bargains being eternal and indissoluble things akin to ultimatums.
Manipulation:
However, just because service to the former angel had some advantages didn't mean she wasn't willing to use underhanded means to get her way. Prosecuting the Blood War constantly taxed Zariel's armies, with her legions always being depleted by the ceaseless fighting. To keep Hell in the war, she aggressively recruited mortal souls and looked for evildoers on the Material Plane who could bring her more, thus guaranteeing her more infernal soldiers. Though violence was a crucial tool in the scheme, the methodology of Zariel's lead soul harvesters was nonetheless diabolical. Zariel's cults flourished in regions wracked by war, and her agents effectively acted as war-profiteers, sowing corruption by destroying harmony and stability, thus setting up the right circumstances for mortals to perform heinous deeds. They gave mortals the means to harm each other by funding evil organizations and distributing weapons, and incited hatred between them by coercing them into acts of sectarian violence justified by the need to defeat some arbitrary enemy. Another deceptive method of Zariel was the exploitation of the mortal desire for spiritual leadership. A key example of both these strategies could be seen in Gideon Lightward, one of Zariel's most loyal servitors. Zariel took advantage of his fervor by sending devils disguised as angels to offer him power if he would help fight off the demonic menace, slowly eroding his sanity until he was a tyrannical leader obsessed with the destruction of demons on a level reaching madness. Some cultists of Zariel were known to heap praise on her for her tireless efforts to win the Blood War and defeat the demons that threatened to destroy the cosmos.
However, just because service to the former angel had some advantages didn't mean she wasn't willing to use underhanded means to get her way. Prosecuting the Blood War constantly taxed Zariel's armies, with her legions always being depleted by the ceaseless fighting. To keep Hell in the war, she aggressively recruited mortal souls and looked for evildoers on the Material Plane who could bring her more, thus guaranteeing her more infernal soldiers. Though violence was a crucial tool in the scheme, the methodology of Zariel's lead soul harvesters was nonetheless diabolical. Zariel's cults flourished in regions wracked by war, and her agents effectively acted as war-profiteers, sowing corruption by destroying harmony and stability, thus setting up the right circumstances for mortals to perform heinous deeds. They gave mortals the means to harm each other by funding evil organizations and distributing weapons, and incited hatred between them by coercing them into acts of sectarian violence justified by the need to defeat some arbitrary enemy. Another deceptive method of Zariel was the exploitation of the mortal desire for spiritual leadership. A key example of both these strategies could be seen in Gideon Lightward, one of Zariel's most loyal servitors. Zariel took advantage of his fervor by sending devils disguised as angels to offer him power if he would help fight off the demonic menace, slowly eroding his sanity until he was a tyrannical leader obsessed with the destruction of demons on a level reaching madness. Some cultists of Zariel were known to heap praise on her for her tireless efforts to win the Blood War and defeat the demons that threatened to destroy the cosmos.
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