Who the Hell Are These Guys pt 8: Fear Itself (Hell pt 14)
An hourglass, a jawless human skull on anold book, and an extinguished candle. Mortality, Skull And Crossbones, Vanitas royalty-free stock illustration. Free for use & download from Pixabay, no artist noted.
Welcome back to my blog about a new and ‘better’ approach to Hell.
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.
Most recently, 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
With no further ado, we turn now to the Dark Three, the mightiest of the Archdevils, the True Gods of Hell.
In that vein, today we will explore the lore, appearance, and behavior of the Vizier of the Seven Hells, Jar-Mot, Lord of Bones, Archdevil of Undeath and Fear. They are sexless and genderless, and embody *three* of the Vices. They are Gluttony, Greed, and Despair. Always wanting more they cannot have, resigned to never having it, never striving, but spreading their own vices to others seemingly without effort. In the world of Tellus, in the Successor States of Rega, they are Metus, god of Fear, Spite, and Horror, the source of Undeath, the deity of the terror of death and unnatural demise. Their symbol is a bare skull with a centipede crawling from an empty eye socket. Their colors are bone white, pitch black, and eerie eldritch purple.
Jar-Mot dwells in the vast fortress of Byrsa Kurnugia with his co-rulers, beside the Pit, called the Abyss, that leads to the Outside, from which terrors even greater than devils emerge. The Fortress of the Land of No Return is both castle and palace, enormous, nigh limitless, of dizzying height and terrifying depth. Near to it, they are the sole Lord of the Darkened Catacombs, a horrific mockery of the Underworld land of the dead that so many cultures imagine. Here, it is, that truly seems most like the classic view of Hell. It is a place of darkness, and flame, and eternal torture. On the surface surrounding it is an apparently infinite graveyard, teeming with undead of all kinds, though the skeletal outnumber the rest, in the aptly named Boneyard.
Jar-Mot listlessly roams the halls, the audience chambers, and the dungeons, and all fear their approach, from the lowest tortured soul to the mightiest devil. They are bored with existence, and without hope for better themselves, they spread fear and suffering in a vain attempt to keep themselves amused. They eat, constantly, take from any and all too weak to resist, inflict pain both physical and mental, all half-heartedly, disinterestedly.
They don’t care enough to tend to their appearance, usually. And so they wear tattered, threadbare robes, once of the finest purple cloth and decoration, stained with blood and tears and other thing best left unnamed. They are most often portrayed as a skeletal figure of bleached bone, with long white hair somehow still clinging to its skull, and a black iron circlet around it. The eyes are a disturbing, eldritch purple flame. Likewise, dark purple centipedes crawl on the bones, in an out of the eye sockets and mouth. Here and there, a shred of rotted tendon clings to the bones.
Jar-Mot is the patron of dark magic in general, and necromancy and necrurgy in specific. Some postulate that they and their realm are actually the source of necrotic energy, as unnatural power from the Pit channels through their essence into the worlds that mortals inhabit. As such, their arcane power is vast, and varied, seemingly without limit, and their ennui fueled experiments push the bounds of what is possible. Of all the Dark Three, of all the Archdevils, in fact, they are the least caring of whence power comes, and summon and make pacts with things of the Outer Dark, much as mortals call and contract with demons and devils. They don’t care about the costs, any more than they care about other things. They also wield and teach enchantment magics and illusions, forcing others to do work they themselves don’t care enough to complete, and spreading terror via nightmares made real and visible. They also simply seem to enjoy deception for its own sake, if they can be said to enjoy anything.
Jar-Mot is the embodiment of fear and despair. They actively fear, as much as the inflict fear. They fear all other power, but especially the Bright Gods of any realms, and their own ‘siblings’, the King and Queen of the Hells. They plot and scheme to gain the power to defend themselves, but they also hate existing, and existence, and plot to end it all . . . but their own despair means they do not follow through, which is good news for mortal planes.
Unlike many death gods, they are not a reaper. They bear no scythe. But their spite and fear do not allow them to be unarmed. They carry a spear crafted entirely of black iron, sometimes named Hastatabes, or Rakavramach, the Spear of Decay. Its slightest touch causes mortal flesh to rot and fall from bones, and the resulting corpse rises to serve their will. The Spear doubles as their wizard’s staff, and has many other horrific powers.
Jar-Mot has no palace, no bedchambers. Jar-Mot does not sleep, or even rest. They simply wander the palace, or their Boneyard, or their Catacombs, or the realm of Dreams, where they bring the worst and most fearful dreams to unfortunate mortals. They experiment. They torture. And all of this is done “just because”. Jar-Mot doesn’t care, except for being afraid of the total annihilation they themselves represent.
Jar-Mot does not have a throne room, either. They can usually be found in the main throne room of the King and Queen when audiences are held, but they themselves, when meetings must be had, use a small , cluttered, dilapidated office. They have a single simple chair of bone behind a desk of bone white marble. The walls are hidden by bookshelves with tomes that mortal necromancers would sell their soul to glance at, and many have. Unlike everything else, the bookshelves are clean, the books well tended, though not by Jar-Mot themselves. Undead or enchanted servants manage such things.
The Vizier of the Hells is served by undead, first and foremost, but the greatest of their servants are fiendish as well. Devils and demons the Master of Nightmares has somehow permanently slain but then revived as undead revenants of what they were, they have all the strengths of the dead and of fiends, while some of the weaknesses are reduced by the admixture. Jar-Mot’s vile experiments have from time to time born strange and powerful fruit indeed.
In battle, Jar-Mot might toy with their opponents, or they might dismissively obliterate their enemies, if the fight doesn’t seem amusing. Magic beyond mortal ken, mighty minions, startling speed, terrible skill with the Spear: The Vizier of the Hells is a god, and their powers and servants are legion.
