Asmodeus

Asmodeus, the Overfiend, also called Demiurge, the Great Adversary, the Tyrant of Tyrants, or the Master of the Unbidden Voice, called Yaldabaoth by the giants, Samael by the Radham, and Mehapet by the dragons, has long been the enemy of the Heavens, and one of the most powerful forces of Evil to threaten the Firmament. His hand was at work in every Apocalypse that shook Uskara to its foundations, though he is cursed eternally to never succeed at his designs. Every Uskaran culture has their understanding of Asmodeus and he is universally understood to be not only a dread lord of darkness, but inimical to everything they hold dear. Less understood save by the most learned (or mad) of occultists is that Asmodeus was the being who created the Firmament that he now stands opposed to, and that his rebellion is not against the Heavens as such so much as the enigmatic Anunnaki imagined the universe into being.

Origin: First World

Both Axiomatic and Dogmatic orthodoxies pay little heed to Asmodeus's origins. Clergy of both religions simply make note that he is the ruler of the Nine Hells, and is mentioned in their holy texts (usually through euphemisms) as a great foe but most simply believe him an embodiment of the Principle of Evil. Mitraism focuses on him more because of his role in the War for the Heavens, while worshippers of Dantalion often minimize his role in the cosmology.

According to the Book of Lies, a religious text that was distributed by the Red Hand before they were destroyed by the Inquisition, Asmodeus was the first being to exist in the universe with a will of his own. By speaking the first words and giving shape and Law to the formless Chaos, he built the world according to his design, forming the Firmament by sheer force of will. He built the Celestial Heavens and the Thrones of Ascension from which he intended to rule as Overgod, and seeing the emptiness of it all, invited life into the world to keep him company. However, the Firstborn, his finest creations whom had wills of their own, betrayed him and cast him down into the Pit, back into the Chaos he abhorred. It was only through his power that the Nine Hells were formed, created from the same Principle of Law that he used to create the Firmament. So then began his millenia long war against the Heaven, detailed through the text all the way through the Sixth World.

Despite the name of the text, almost everything stated there is true. While it contains many distortions and fabrications, the themes and events largely match the truth, as penned by Baazlbul himself originally and then transmitted through a lineage of diabolists. One exception is the nature of Hell: It already existed before Asmodeus found it, and it was here that Evil truly claimed Asmodeus. Asmodeus in some ways is a tragic figure, cursed with the knowledge that he is a fiction. When Asmodeus communed with Evil in the depths of the Hells, he learned that he was not the true creator. He was a blind idiot god created by the machinations of the Anunnaki, beings that predate even he, who embody the great Chaos he thought was his bane but was in fact his progenitors. Evil granted him this vision, and for this he is eternally damned, doubly so by the knowledge that Evil, just like Good, serves the Anunnaki all the same. His rebellion and villainy is itself something forced upon him by the illusion of his will, and he knows with every venture that he will fail utterly. Yet he must try, and a shard of him believes that this time, things will be different.

Dominion: All That is Evil

Asmodeus's purview includes pits, darkness, fire, and power, as well as oppression, manipulation, tyranny and contracts. He embodies Evil, and is strongly aligned with Law. He commands all devils and has appointed His various counts and dukes across the Hells, including the archdevils who are demigods underneath him. He is the nemesis of humanity, the patron of the power-hungry and those who would topple the Heavens, and steward of the Pit. Archons that serve Asmodeus appear as terrible beings that resemble celestials clad in armor but have the faces and legs of beasts. In His aspect as Demiurge, Asmodeus knows all the secret names and laws of the universe He created and is not afraid to exploit them. As the Great Adversary, He opposes the Overgod of whatever age He may find himself in. As the Tyrant of Tyrants, He established the first of all hierarchies and oversees all domination of one over many. As the Master of the Unbidden Voice, Hhe can with only words bring nations and heroes to their knees, crushing their will with the terrible revelations of the Pit.

Worship: The Infernal Bargain

None worship Asmodeus openly, not since the Fifth World. During the time of the Grand Old Dominion, Asmodeus was seen as patron to civilization and emperors, and promised to lead humanity to Heaven not as supplicants but conquerors. It was He who created the Axiomatic Church, intending to claim the Principle of Law for Himself and establish Himself as the Overgod, but He was foiled by the demon prince turned shining god Mitra, whose faithful remained vigilant against him for centuries. Mitra's Inquisition exterminated all traces of Asmodean worship in Talingarde, including the Red Hand, a conspiracy of aristocrats and priests within the highest echelons of the Holy Lawful Empire and Church who intended to bring back the old faith, but were revealed and precipitated the War of the Six Houses, the most bloody and protracted civil war Talingarde has ever seen.

Instead, cults form around charismatic devotees of Asmodeus, always with a tight hierarchy. The need for secrecy often overrides other concerns, and each forms their own peculiar traditions. Commonalities are the binding of adherents to contracts, both to the hierophants and to devils as well. Asmodeans are careful to reveal little to anyone who has not sworn themselves to the Nine Hells. The lure of power is one thing, but there must be certainty that they will truly be committed to the cause of eternal war against the Heavens. For this reason, among others, Asmodeus is actually one of the least worshipped of the Eldritch Gods, ironically because His worshippers desire true devotion and rarely use deceit as a means to lure others into the worship of Asmodeus as other archdevils do. Of course, that is only for true servants: they will manipulate and enslave any others they deem necessary to meet their ends.

Agenda

Despite his seemingly cosmic and eldritch nature, Asmodeus is a personable and even hands-on deity, especially compared to the Heavenly Host. He is not above personally appearing to his servitors in various forms, or through his avatars and aspects, splintering his power and consciousness across a Byzantine labyrinth of plots. He has invested many different "shards" of himself through infernal contracts and hellspawn bloodlines that he can use to act upon the Terrestrial Sphere, allowing him to be in as many places as he likes without having to cross the Chthonic Gates and risking the wrath of Meverab. On the other hand, his machinations are aimed at a horizon so distant to seem inconceivable. While it might seem he is always on the cusp of his final victory, Asmodeus knows all too well his Doom and patiently works through the millennia, willing to sacrifice centuries of plotting and preparation in order to prepare for an even greater play down the line.

Asmodeus's surface agenda follows his aspects faithfully, always seeking to unseat the current Heavenly Host from their seats and make war on the Heavens. This includes preparing for the Apocalypse that will end this World (and against his better wishes bring in the next). He lets the other archdevils focus on their particular portfolios and attend to most of the politics of the Nine Hells, which is surprisingly distant to, at least at first glance. This includes the perpetual Blood War between the baatezu and the tanar'ri. They constantly plot against Him, believing that they could be an Overfiend that will truly shake the Firmament. Yet all are fearful of his seemingly absolute power, and none have even shaken his hold upon the Nine Hells for a single moment, even with Herculean effort. Beyond these devilish aspirations, Asmodean cults seek to banish weakness and enforce hierarchies across the land, trying to build a world where true merit and a will to power conquers all else.

However, Asmodeus's true agenda lay in finding some way to subvert the underlying cosmology of the universe he is cursed to haunt and antagonize. He believes that if he can become the Overgod, he can achieve a sort of power that even the Anunnaki might fear him, or change his nature so utterly that he will no longer be their tool. A true will. There is no indication that this will work, other than the fact he has never succeeded, and though his hopes for such a thing are dismal, it is all that motivates him.

Iconography

The pentagram is a symbol of power known since the First World, a symbol of Law that binds and abjures. It is a core sigil to all kinds of magic and is universal to all cultures of Uskara. Asmodeus's symbol of the inverted pentagram subverts this while also proclaiming his regency over the concept. He was, after all, the one who wrote the Law, in his view. Its exact form varies from cult to cult, from World to World, from culture to culture, but its universality even after his worship has been exterminated is a testament to his far-reaching influence.

Asmodeus's depiction also varies dramatically. The classic portrayal in Talirean culture is of the red-skinned archdevil, with his massive black horns and yet powerful physique and seductive allure, truly noble in bearing in all ways that matter even as his appearance is terrifying to the eye. When Asmodeus wishes to be this, he embodies it. In fact, Asmodeus always appears exactly as he is expected to, it is almost a curse that he does not entirely control. The perceptions of others twist his form into what they expect the Overfiend to be, which has caused his portrayal across the years and cultures, even between different individuals in the same accounting, to vary dramatically.

Associations

While the inverted pentagram is the traditional symbol of Asmodeus, and it can be hidden with care since the pentagram is such a omnipresence symbol otherwise, other associations have been developed over the years, symbolizing him through five pyramids (five is an especially holy number for Asmodeus), the alchemical symbol for sulfur, or through the symbolism of keys. Animals associated with Asmodeus are serpents, roosters, and the donkey. Asmodeus is further associated with the darkness of caverns and the underground, locks, black candles, vellum, curtains, thrones and wrought iron. Asmodeus is derived from the Infernal words for "anger" and "god", which can be interpreted as either "Wrathful Deity" or "God Hater." His name is invoked as a curse against tyrants and unjust rule. Devotees will often shape their hair neatly, favoring clean lines and shaven cheeks. Many wear crowns and circlets, representing a title that they believe legitimate (even if recognized by no other authority). Obsidian is a material beloved of Asmodeus, a shard of the Pit having broken through the curst of the Underworld.

The Nine Hells are filled with the baatezu, a race of devils loyal to Asmodeus and his ilk, though there are other creatures that have slipped from his remit, most pointedly the kytons who serve Ka-Ata-Raya, which has earned her his undying emnity. Asmodeus claims a special kinship to the Empyrean, of whom he shares a certain nature with that is unclear, and he especially relishes in binding angels to his will. Many archdevils were once Empyrean themselves. Almost all other gods count him as their enemy, with only the trickster Ez willing to treat with him (and even then only to frustrate him). During the Fifth World, he had concocted a Diabolical Alliance that included many powers to his banner, but the events of the War for the Heavens defintively poisoned the well. Yet even the memories of the gods is not as eternal as they might like, and in Dantalion he believes he has found a kindred soul, if only he could find a crack in Nirvana to slip through. Asmodeus has a special enmity for the Firstborn and the fey as a whole; he understands that they are merely reflections of the beings who cast him into the Pit, but it's the principle of the matter. This makes his relationship with the Hag Countess Malagarda particularly fraught.

Asmodeus has claimed many consorts over his existence. He is associated with hierarchy and that includes polygamy, though despite how deeply gendered his iconography is, it is more about power dynamics than anything else, and a number of his consorts have been men. His first, thought to be the first woman, whose name is lost to time, returned as one of the Firstborn and rules from the Feywild as the Queen of Air and Darkness. Other famous consorts includes Bensozia, whose fate was the pretext for the imprisonment of Levistus, Tiamat, the queen of the Evil dragons, and Belial, his favored and most beautiful (and terrible) creation.

Asmodeus, Demiurge

---

Category: Eldritch
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Adherents: Lawful Evil, Lawful Neutral, Neutral Evil
Domains: Ambition, Confidence, Creation, Darkness, Fate, Fire, Glyph
Font: Harm
Skill: Intimidation
Weapon: Flail
Ability: Strength, Intelligence

Ruled Locations

• Caina