Who the Hell are These Guys 4: War is Hell (Hell part 10)
Wrath by Pieter van der Hayden, 1588.
In earlier installments, we've covered that Hell Has Its Laws,
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-has-its-laws-part-1 ,
Hell Has Its Place
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-has-its-place-hell-pt-2 ,
that Hell Hath No Fury
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/hell-hath-no-fury-hell-part-3
, and the reasons Dungeons and Dragons, depicts Nine Hells, in How Many Hells and Why https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/how-many-hells-and-why-hell-part-4 .
We covered where names come from, in A Hell of a Set of Names.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/a-hell-of-a-set-of-names-hell-part-5
And then we talked about the Hells themselves, in What Fresh Hell Is This? https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/what-fresh-hell-is-this-hell-part-6
I wrote about Ibacar, Devil Princess of Despair, as well as some of her minions.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/abandon-all-hope
and then I covered Jajax Lal Anim, the Archdevil of Greed, Lord of Laqq.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-2-eye-of-the-needle
We just talked about Immzebul, Lady of Flies, Archdevil of Gluttony and Rot.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-3-never-enough-hell-part-9
Now it’s time to talk about Malhamit the Raging, the Bull of Hell, the Fierce General, Archdevil of Wrath and War.
As previously discussed, Muluk, the Hell of War, is a barren, battle-scarred landscape. Eternal wars rage across it, with many different armies and factions, in ever-shifting alliances that suit the strategy of the moment. Literal rivers of gore divide the territories being fought over. The rain is scalding blood, the air is harsh from smoke and the smell of the dead and the dying. The demons, devils, and mortal souls bound here are categorized, and kept divided, by the smallest differences. Tiny variations in belief, or skin tone, or nation of origin in the mortal world are vilified, encouraging conflict for the flimsiest of reasons. Here, war is eternal, all for the pleasure and profit of Malhamit and his superiors.
While the terrain is generally barren and lifeless, there is still great variation. Volcanic mountain ranges spew fire and ash. Lakes and seas of boiling blood birth piscene horrors. Rare thickets of screaming trees bleed when you cut them, and throw their thorns at any who draw too near. Twisting vines grab the unwary and glut themselves on the life of those they kill. Rolling hills sometimes literally roll, becoming engines of war to destroy earthworks and bulwarks. Muluk is home to all sorts of demons and devils, but one of the most common are the wrath devils, mighty warriors and generals who resemble infernal minotaurs, and their hellbull steeds. Also common are the hell-raptors that assault anything that moves, and feed on the dead before they rise... it is said that even though dead the victim feels every claw and bite. Goat-like and catlike demons and devils also abound. Though the landscape is horrific, it is the constant war and death that makes it Hell.
An interesting property of this Hell is that one does not permanently die in Muluk, at least when slain by another soul bound here. The warring factions, their demons, devils, and souls, fight and die every day, and rise when night falls. Unlike some fabled northern paradise they are given no feast, no fair maidens, they simply return to the fray. They keep every wound as a scar to both body and psyche, and mortal souls eventually become scar demons. It has almost never happened, but it is said that if slain by a being foreign to this place, a demon, devil, or soul might find true rest. What happens to them after... no one knows, not even Malhamit.
And now, we come to Malhamit himself. He is the Archdevil of Wrath, known far and wide for his mindless berserk rages.
Original art by Ken Holm, https://denungeherrholm.smugmug.com/, altered by me in Affinity photo
What is known of him is a lie. While he is, in fact, Wrath itself embodied, he is still one of the mightiest and most cunning of devils, and his anger is cold and calculated, no matter how out of control he may appear. Unlike his infernal compatriots, he rarely uses his fair form, though he does have one. Instead, he is an enormous devil, red skinned, horned and hooved. His long tail is spiked and barbed. Vast black bat wings spread from his shoulders. He is thick of body, large of belly, and laughs as he kills, making no distinction between bloodlust and humor. He has the broad head and wide outward curving horns of a Cape Buffalo, but the grin of a shark. Rows and rows of teeth line his mouth and gullet, all the way down. Four eyes adorn that skull, two are placed to the sides as they are on a buffalo (though they resemble the hourglass eyes of a goat), but two face forward like a great cat, complete with the slitted pupil. All of those eyes are more like those of a raptor, allowing him to see clearly in all directions at once. His massive hands possess 5 fingers and a thumb each, but strongly resemble the tearing talons of a harpy eagle.
Malhamit is Master of Mayhem. He controls not only his own rage, but that of all others, and can drive any target into an uncontrolled berserk fit. As if that weren’t enough, he literally boils the blood of enemies who approach too closely. He wields the great crimson Sword of War, which burns with the anger of every soul that ever thought themselves wronged, and freezes with the chill of every cold-hearted manipulator who ever brought a country or people into the horror of war for their own gain.
If he does need to take a fair form for some reason, some part of his long laid plans, he prefers a slender, dark red haired youth, bone pale and beautiful, with black eyes empty of all but malice. His full lips curve in a sardonic smile. He wears no armor, preferring only a simple blood-red chiton. Around his temples, a golden laurel crown of victory. His sword, however, is never more than a wish away. Some sources claim that it is he who created the black blade known as Anguish, although that has certainly not been confirmed.
Malhamit roams Muluk in his mobile war camp, sometimes aiding a faction, sometimes destroying one. He will, from time to time, rally vast numbers of the troops in his realm and take them to fight at his behest, at the edge of the Pit at the bottom of Hell… or in the mortal world if he can get there. He trains and readies for when he can wash over all worlds with his limitless hosts.
