Who the Hell Are These Guys? Part 10: King of the Pit (Hell pt 16)
Satan summoning his Legions, 1796-1797
Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA (1769 - 1830)
This is my blog about a whole new hell, its denizens, its cosmologies. And this is maybe the end. At the very least, it's *an* end, in which we discuss the very mightiest of the Archdevils, the Dark God of Envy, Pride, and Tyranny. See the bottom of the page for links to the rest of the articles.
The King of Hell has many names. In the Successor States of Rega, he is Interitus, or "Destruction". In many worlds, he is Baal-Abed, or "Lord Slave." In others, he is Ninghalamma, "Annihilation". In all worlds, he is the first born child of the serpentine monster that predates reality, the physical spawn of entropy, created to destroy all of reality that Khaos might once again rule all. But he was too powerful, and became too real, and while he still sometimes works toward total destruction, he'd much rather rule over all creation.
At the dawn of time, it is said that he and his siblings, his co-rulers, Iht-Tabah and Jar-Mot, came into being from the corpse of the primordial evil, slain by the creator gods. Or that they stepped forward from the void just as the world was being made to oppose all good and purity. Or any number of other tales. What is known for certain, in all worlds where they exist, is that they oppose the gods of kindness, of good, of beauty. They are the source of evil, of tyranny, of sin, aided and abetted by the other Seven Archdevils. They seek to corrupt and control creation, and they will use any tactic, no matter how foul or unwise, to achieve their goals. If they seem self defeating, well, sometimes they are. They scheme and war amongst themselves for power, and the King of Hell himself is of literally two minds: one, under the directive of Khaos that spawned him, wishes to bring all Creation to ruin. The other, born of his time inside Creation, wishes to grind all living things beneath his boot forever, and stamp out the bright gods. The two are not entirely compatible, and Baal-Abed finds himself at war with himself, setting schemes in motion to derail his own schemes, working to conquer all that is while also seeking to defend it from the utter Annihilation he is named for, and guarding it from further incursions from the Void Outside.
He shares his vast fortress and palace, Byrsa Kurnugia, with his siblings. It rests at the edge of the Abyss, also called the Pit, that vast hole leading out into the Darkness Outside, whence comes his power, demons he can conscript as is or turn into devils, and things even he must stop at the gate or throw screaming back into the bottomless depths.
He is the King and Supreme Commander of Hell. Though his siblings are equal (or nearly so) to him in power, it is his plans, as contradictory as they sometimes are, that direct the forces of Kurnugia in the rest of Creation. Unlike many of his subjects, and even his siblings, he does not wander. He does not rest. Instead, he schemes. He commands. He directs. He moves from one war council and strategy meeting to the next, pausing only to test his might against the greatest warriors and generals Hell (and sometimes the Heavens, and the mortal realms) have to offer. He corrupts. He manipulates. He watches. He also plays a lot of chess, sometimes for high stakes.
There is no greater schemer, deceiver, or dissembler in all the worlds. Many scholars believe he is equal in force of arms to the mightiest of the Bright Gods, if not greater, so far beyond mortals and even angels and demons that he must carefully limit himself to experience any challenge. He may take any form, and may be as fair of face and speech as he likes. If he chooses to appear good, one is unlikely to detect him. "The Devil may quote Scripture," as it were. And he does. Oh yes he does. He loves little more than to corrupt the servants of his enemies, to turn them from the Light to the Darkness. (A note: Light and Darkness truly only take on their metaphorical meaning here. Bright Angelic devils scour the Hells in the name of their King, and he is as comfortable on a bright sunlit day as he is the darkest night.)
He is fickle, he is capricious. He always means what he says, and say what he means. He almost never actually *lies*, and he always keeps his sworn word. He never breaks a contract. But Hell and its King are better negotiators than you, and the Devil is in the details. Read the fine print, and hope you understood it.
He is glad to give mortals power, because they almost always use it in his service even if they are not contracted to do so. Power doesn't really corrupt (well, his power does) but it does attract the corruptible.
He is Envy, and hates any notion that anything might surpass him, or have what he does not. He is Pride, and does not truly believe that any force inside Creation *can* surpass him. He's not exactly *wrong*. He is calm, cool, collected, until he suddenly isn't, and nations die.
His default form, and one of his favorites, is a dark haired man of middle age, silvering at the temples. He is handsome, dignified, strong. He is in perfect condition, well muscled in the Greco-Roman style, with just enough fat to indicate that he enjoys life, and is a man of means. When dressed, he might be in toga or chiton of royal read over tunic of bright green. He very often carries a tall scepter. He might also appear armed and armored for war, in the armor of an ancient hoplite, formed of black metal, embossed with green serpents. In that case, the scepter takes the form of spear, the Serpent's Bite, and he might have shield and sword as well. The crest on his Corinthian helmet is of dark green, shaped like the fin or wing of a dragon, and a red cloak hangs from his shoulders.
One of his human forms.
His diabolic form varies more than his underlings, but he often prefers a huge green scaled creature with the head and wings of a dragon, armed and armored much as his human seeming self. His fangs and claws weep venom, and fumes rise from his nostrils. He also enjoys simply being a dragon, or a vast sea serpent, or almost any snake.
Dragon!
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 new Hells I’ve designed, 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 recently 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
Then we cowered in terror from Malhamit, the diabolical Bull of War, the Archdevil of Wrath.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-4-war-is-hell-hell-part-10
More recently we spoke of repulsive Sha’Urcit, the Devil Prince of Lust. https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-5-lust-and-pain-is-the-candy-hell-part-11
Then we were proud to present Iddet-Leil, Devil Princess of Pride.
Then we described Hamarqal the Zealous, Devil Prince of Envy.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-7-ulcer-of-the-soul-hell-pt-13
We began the descriptions of the Dark Three, the true gods of evil, with Jar-Mot, Lord of Undeath and Vizier of Hell.
https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-pt-8-fear-itself-hell-pt-14
We lastly illustrated the evil of Iht-Tabah. the Devil Queen, Hell's Champion, Goddess of Blood.
