The Dukes of Hell

Keeping track of unique devils and major pit fiends

Now that I have FC2, it’s time to get back to work on this.

OK, in keeping with the hierarchical devils, one would think there should be a way to more easily keep track of them! Well, here’s what I’m going to do, I’ll assign numbers to them arbitrarily based on the order they appeared in the D&D game. (For the sake of argument, I’ll place MM2 before Dragon #75, since the articles there were intended as a “preview” for MM2).

For the most part, only the unique devils below have stats in the listed source. Pit fiends (denoted with an – ooh – PF!) did not need stats, of course, as they don’t likely differ much from the standard, stat-wise.

Note that these listed here all appear on the index in the MM2 p44 as far as I know. The next step would be to get into any unique devils who debuted in 2E (Levistus, Fierna, and Zariel, for example), as well as any pit fiends who have roles in Hell’s hierarchy (and the Dark Eight), and any that may have debuted in WotC’s 3E as well, and then figure out what order they go in.

Note that below I did not list the pit fiend Bel listed in MM2 and Dragon 75 as a servant of Dispater; was he the same Bel who now rules Avernus, or a different being with the same name?

Monster Manual
1. Asmodeus (and why shouldn’t he be #1 anyway?)
2. Baalzebul
3. Dispater
4. Geryon

Monster Manual II
5. Amon
6. Bael
7. Belial
8. Glasya
9. Hutijin
10. Mammon
11. Mephistopheles
12. Moloch
13. Titivilus

Dragon #75
14. Bitru
15. Amduscias
16. Malphas
17. Goap (PF)
18. Nergal
19. Bist
20. Caim
21. Lilis
22. Arioch
23. Biffant
24. Merodach
25. Alocer
26. Focalor
27. Caarcrinolaas
28. Melchon
29. Zimmimar (PF)
30. Naome
31. Chamo
32. Balan
33. Bathym
34. Gaziel
35. Zaebos (PF)
36. Zapan (PF)
37. Cozbi
38. Gorson
39. Herodias
40. Agares
41. Machalas
42. Fecor (PF)

Dragon #76
43. Lilith
44. Tartach
45. Bileth
46. Bethage (PF)
47. Herobaal (PF)
48. Baftis
49. Neabaz
50. Barbatos
51. Abigor
52. Zepar
53. Baalphegor
54. Bele
55. Adonides
56. Barbas
57. Bifrons
58. Nexroth (PF)
59. Bensozia
60. Adramalech
61. Phongor
62. Buer
63. Bune
64. Morax
65. Rimmon
66. Zagum
67. Alastor the Grim (PF)
68. Martinet (PF)
69. Baalberith (PF)

Dragon #91
70. Armaros
71. Azazel
72. Cahor
73. Dagon
74. Duskur
75. Kochibel
76. Malarea
77. Nisroch
78. Rumjal
79. Gargoth (aka demigod from the FR)

Dragon #42
80. Selm, Prince of Possessors (and Thyle, Cykes, Tyd, Nausyyd, Dyclex, Hyrkovan)

BOZ said:

Note that these listed here all appear on the index in the MM2 p44 as far as I know. The next step would be to get into any unique devils who debuted in 2E (Levistus, Fierna, and Zariel, for example)

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Add Martinet, who was a pit fiend in the 1e MM2 but promoted to unique status in Guide to Hell and Book of Vile Darkness.

Also add Selm, Prince of Possessors, from Dragon #42. He's in Asmodeus' court. He's served by six lesser nobles - Thyle, Cykes, Tyd, Nausyyd, Dyclex, and Hyrkovan - but they might be treated as incorporeal pit fiends or Fiends of Possession.

Note that below I did not list the pit fiend Bel listed in MM2 and Dragon 75 as a servant of Dispater; was he the same Bel who now rules Avernus

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I assume he was. It's possible to give a devil the name of its predecessor in those cases when the rulers of Baator are deliberately trying to sow confusion - most of the Dark Eight are not the originally bearers of their name - but I see no reason for this to be done in the case of Bel. Bel is a very, very old pit fiend according to Guide to Hell and the Hellbound timeline, older than some of the Nine.

Ripzerai said:

Add Martinet, who was a pit fiend in the 1e MM2 but promoted to unique status in Guide to Hell and Book of Vile Darkness.

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yeah, i got him on there (#67), but tracking the changes is exactly what i'm trying to do, so thanks.

Ripzerai said:

Also add Selm, Prince of Possessors, from Dragon #42. He's in Asmodeus' court. He's served by six lesser nobles - Thyle, Cykes, Tyd, Nausyyd, Dyclex, and Hyrkovan - but they might be treated as incorporeal pit fiends or Fiends of Possession.

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good catch - guess i just didn't realize that they were servants of Asmodeus.

Ripzerai said:

I assume he was. It's possible to give a devil the name of its predecessor in those cases when the rulers of Baator are deliberately trying to sow confusion - most of the Dark Eight are not the originally bearers of their name - but I see no reason for this to be done in the case of Bel. Bel is a very, very old pit fiend according to Guide to Hell and the Hellbound timeline, older than some of the Nine.

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for the sake of argument, i might as well go with the assumption that the pit fiend Bel who served Dispater is now the unique fiend who rules Avernus. would it be safe to assume, then, that while under Dispater's service, he began a relationship with Zariel, spending more and more time with her and not so much at his duties (unless that was a part of his appointed duties), until he did the unexpected(?) and took over the first layer?


so, for the 2E-era debuting baatezu lords... where were Levistus and Fierna first described? Planes of Law, or Faces of Evil, or was it that Dragon article or somewhere else altogether?

was Zariel first mentioned in in Guide to Hell?

as for the Dark Eight, we know that #29 Zimmimar, #35 Zaebos, and #36 Zapan left their former masters to join this organization. who else was in the Dark Eight, and do we know anything about their previous functions/affiliations?

a few Dukes/pit fiends were introduced in Faces of Evil. Morsch is the commander of Mammon's armies. Nexroth commands a company of pit fiends for Molikroth/Mephistopheles (or was he in 1E and i just missed him?).

good ol' Gazra also came in at some point in Planescape. Planes of Law?

what other uniques and pit fiends in the hierarchy of Hell that debuted in 2E am i missing?

i'll get on to 3E next... one step at a time.

BOZ said:

was Zariel first mentioned in in Guide to Hell?

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She was first given a name in GtH, though the existance of a predecessor to Bel that he toppled had been described earlier than that.

as for the Dark Eight, we know that #29 Zimmimar, #35 Zaebos, and #36 Zapan left their former masters to join this organization. who else was in the Dark Eight, and do we know anything about their previous functions/affiliations?

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The other members of the Dark Eight are as follows, but of them, only Baalzephon is the same pit fiend who was there when the group was founded by the pit fiend Cantrum. All of the others are later pit fiends who usurped the earlier holder, assumed their name, and in the grand tradition of Baatorian historybooks, rewrote the official histories to reflect them rather than the fiend whose name and position they had taken ("I am the new Corin, you are number 6" sort of thing)

Corin
Dagos - Bel served under Dagos at some point in the past, and depending on who you ask, Bel still answers to Dagos in matters of the Blood War, Lord of the 9 status or not for Bel
Paerza (the most recent iteration of Pearza was recently killed and replaced with a new Pearza. That one was female, the new one is male)
Baalzephon
Furcas (one of the original members of the Dark 8, but recently killed and replaced. Furcas is dead, long live Furcas)
Cantrum - would have been the 9th member. Long dead at the hands of a subordinate, though popular legend (falsely) claims that a mortal paladin killed him.

Off the top of my head, I don't think that all of them have had their original positions in the courts of the Lords of the 9 defined. Bel conceivably was positioned within the noble court of Zariel after having killed and usurped the position of another pit fiend warlord under her dominion, but how this works out with his affiliations with Dagos and the future members of the Dark 8 is uncertain. Some of the others we know their original affiliation prior to the Reckoning, but I've used the Baatezu less than the other fiends, so I don't recall off the top of my head which ones were in the service of which. I'd need to check.

what other uniques and pit fiends in the hierarchy of Hell that debuted in 2E am i missing?

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There's a lot of pit fiends...

But off the top of my head, since I used her in a story I wrote, there's the female pit fiend Lydzin, commander of the mobile Baatezu fortress 'The Relentless'. (Hellbound - Squaring the Circle)

BOZ said:

would it be safe to assume, then, that while under Dispater's service, he began a relationship with Zariel, spending more and more time with her and not so much at his duties (unless that was a part of his appointed duties), until he did the unexpected(?) and took over the first layer?

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No, it's clear he was serving Zariel at the time of his coup. If he ever served Dispater, it was before that. I'm thinking he got transferred at some point - perhaps he turned traitor on Dispater during the Reckoning, when Dispater and Zariel were on opposite sides.

Remember that the Reckoning was thousands of years ago.

so, for the 2E-era debuting baatezu lords... where were Levistus and Fierna first described? Planes of Law, or Faces of Evil, or was it that Dragon article or somewhere else altogether?

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Planes of Law gave the first hint of their existence, but didn't detail them all.

was Zariel first mentioned in in Guide to Hell?

Click to expand...

That was her first mention by name, though she was referred to as early as Planes of Law.

as for the Dark Eight, we know that #29 Zimmimar, #35 Zaebos, and #36 Zapan left their former masters to join this organization. who else was in the Dark Eight, and do we know anything about their previous functions/affiliations?

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The Dark Eight are:

* Baalzephon, Master of Supply (female)
* Furcas, Minister of Mortal Relations
* Corin, Spymaster of Baator
* Dagos, Marshall of the Pits
* Zimimar, Minister of Morale (female)
* Zaebos, Minister of Promotions and Demotions
* Zapan, Minister of Immortal Relations
* Pearza, Minister of Research and Development (female)

Baalzephon originally served Dispater as his Prime Minister before being recruited by the pit fiend Cantrum into the then-secret cabal known as the Dark Nine. Furcas served Dispater as a commander of barbazu. Zimimar served Mammon as a commander of osyluths. Zaebos was Belial's lieutenant, and Zapan commanded cornugons for Belial.

Corin, Dagos, Pearza, and Cantrum were all first mentioned in the Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix. Their backgrounds are not known.

Note that of the original Dark Nine, only Baalzephon survives. The others are all replacements given the same names as their predecessors to preserve the illusion of continuity.

Baalzephon also plays a big part in the Greyhawk supplement Ivid the Undying.

Nexroth commands a company of pit fiends for Molikroth/Mephistopheles (or was he in 1E and i just missed him?).

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Nexroth was in 1e as a commander of 16 companies of malebranche.

good ol' Gazra also came in at some point in Planescape.

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Nope. Gazra was first mentioned in the Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix under the hamatula entry.

what other uniques and pit fiends in the hierarchy of Hell that debuted in 2E am i missing?

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There's Zaggutch, a pit fiend lieutenant of Dispater who is one of the chief villains in the Planescape adventure Fires of Dis.

Balruhk the Invincible is a pit fiend general who plays a part in the fiend article in Dragon #306. He seems to serve the Dark Eight, rather than any specific Lord of the Nine (since he's a general in the Blood War). Though with the horrible set-up in Fiendish Codex II, that means he serves Bel. I really wish that book hadn't been published. For all its good qualities, some of it was just execrable.

Archduke Thulikazt is a pit fiend "of almost godlike power" mentioned in Dragon #313, page 70. He's dead now, though.

Ripzerai said:

No, it's clear he was serving Zariel at the time of his coup. If he ever served Dispater, it was before that. I'm thinking he got transferred at some point - perhaps he turned traitor on Dispater during the Reckoning, when Dispater and Zariel were on opposite sides.

Remember that the Reckoning was thousands of years ago.

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So something like “ancient records state that Bel once served Dispater, but for as long as anyone can seem to remember he has been on Avernus.”

Ripzerai said:

Planes of Law gave the first hint of their existence, but didn't detail them all.

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Shemeska said:

She was first given a name in GtH, though the existance of a predecessor to Bel that he toppled had been described earlier than that.

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Ripzerai said:

That was her first mention by name, though she was referred to as early as Planes of Law.

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OK good, I’ll worry about Zariel, Levistus and Fierna later.

Shemeska said:

The other members of the Dark Eight are as follows, but of them, only Baalzephon is the same pit fiend who was there when the group was founded by the pit fiend Cantrum. All of the others are later pit fiends who usurped the earlier holder, assumed their name, and in the grand tradition of Baatorian historybooks, rewrote the official histories to reflect them rather than the fiend whose name and position they had taken ("I am the new Corin, you are number 6" sort of thing)

Corin
Dagos - Bel served under Dagos at some point in the past, and depending on who you ask, Bel still answers to Dagos in matters of the Blood War, Lord of the 9 status or not for Bel
Paerza (the most recent iteration of Pearza was recently killed and replaced with a new Pearza. That one was female, the new one is male)
Baalzephon
Furcas (one of the original members of the Dark 8, but recently killed and replaced. Furcas is dead, long live Furcas)
Cantrum - would have been the 9th member. Long dead at the hands of a subordinate, though popular legend (falsely) claims that a mortal paladin killed him.

Off the top of my head, I don't think that all of them have had their original positions in the courts of the Lords of the 9 defined. Bel conceivably was positioned within the noble court of Zariel after having killed and usurped the position of another pit fiend warlord under her dominion, but how this works out with his affiliations with Dagos and the future members of the Dark 8 is uncertain. Some of the others we know their original affiliation prior to the Reckoning, but I've used the Baatezu less than the other fiends, so I don't recall off the top of my head which ones were in the service of which. I'd need to check.

Click to expand...

Shemeska said:

The Dark Eight are:

* Baalzephon, Master of Supply (female)
* Furcas, Minister of Mortal Relations
* Corin, Spymaster of Baator
* Dagos, Marshall of the Pits
* Zimimar, Minister of Morale (female)
* Zaebos, Minister of Promotions and Demotions
* Zapan, Minister of Immortal Relations
* Pearza, Minister of Research and Development (female)

Baalzephon originally served Dispater as his Prime Minister before being recruited by the pit fiend Cantrum into the then-secret cabal known as the Dark Nine. Furcas served Dispater as a commander of barbazu. Zimimar served Mammon as a commander of osyluths. Zaebos was Belial's lieutenant, and Zapan commanded cornugons for Belial.

Corin, Dagos, Pearza, and Cantrum were all first mentioned in the Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix. Their backgrounds are not known.

Note that of the original Dark Nine, only Baalzephon survives. The others are all replacements given the same names as their predecessors to preserve the illusion of continuity.

Baalzephon also plays a big part in the Greyhawk supplement Ivid the Undying.

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Thanks; I’ll figure out how I want to make use of them. probably not much though, but I don’t want to skip over them either.


Was Morsch, the commander of Mammon's armies, mentioned anywhere other than Faces of Evil?

Ripzerai said:

Nexroth was in 1e as a commander of 16 companies of malebranche.

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D’oh! Missed him…

Ripzerai said:

Nope. Gazra was first mentioned in the Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix under the hamatula entry.

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Ah, right! It’s easy to forget that MC8 had at least as much influence on the early development of Planescape as did the MotP and the various 1E sources…

And so Gazra’s crystal castle and hamathula army are indeed described in MC8 (the references in which, are repeated in PS-MC1)

Also, it looks like the Dark Eight were first described in MC8, most likely as a replacement for the original 1E Lords of the Nine (a concept which had to be dumped at the time).

Bel is also described therein, as an honored pit fiend commander who patrols Avernus.

Under the Spinagon entry, it is noted that a pit fiend named Greth once advanced a spinagon to a hamatula, but I have no idea if he’s mentioned again anywhere else.

Shemeska said:

There's a lot of pit fiends...

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Well, true… but I’m not interested in all of them, just the ones that play(ed) important roles in the hierarchy of the Lords of the Nine. I could go on forever, but I’d like to limit my research to only 100 hellish nobles or so.

Shemeska said:

But off the top of my head, since I used her in a story I wrote, there's the female pit fiend Lydzin, commander of the mobile Baatezu fortress 'The Relentless'. (Hellbound - Squaring the Circle)

Click to expand...

Shemeska said:

There's Zaggutch, a pit fiend lieutenant of Dispater who is one of the chief villains in the Planescape adventure Fires of Dis.

Balruhk the Invincible is a pit fiend general who plays a part in the fiend article in Dragon #306. He seems to serve the Dark Eight, rather than any specific Lord of the Nine (since he's a general in the Blood War). Though with the horrible set-up in Fiendish Codex II, that means he serves Bel. I really wish that book hadn't been published. For all its good qualities, some of it was just execrable.

Archduke Thulikazt is a pit fiend "of almost godlike power" mentioned in Dragon #313, page 70. He's dead now, though.

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Thanks – I’ll research all of that when I can. Besides Planes of Law, Hellbound, and Faces of Evil (i.e., the obvious ones), where else do I need to research in Planescape for info on the Lords of the Nine and their power structure? I mean even the little bits and pieces of info scattered about…

BOZ said:

Besides Planes of Law, Hellbound, and Faces of Evil (i.e., the obvious ones), where else do I need to research in Planescape for info on the Lords of the Nine and their power structure? I mean even the little bits and pieces of info scattered about…

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Some tidbits in 'On Hallowed Ground', and then another obvious one in McComb's 'Lords of the 9' article.

Fires of Dis features Dispater himself and his tower in Dis and some other portions of the city.

Tales of the Infinite Staircase has some tidbits about the relationship between the Kytons of Jangling Hiter, their nominal Baatezu ruler, and their true leader.

I'll look around for some obscure stuff when I'm not at work and just trying to pull stuff from memory.

thanks Shem.

in the meantime, i'm starting another thread, hoping to straighten a few things first to make it more easier to make more sense of this stuff.

you won't miss it - it's a big 'un.

The most reasonable explanation is that everything which has ever been written about the heirarchy of the nine hells is wrong, and dangerously so. There may be a seed of truth in one of the articles, but only so much as to cause you to believe that you know far more than you actually do. This fiend is the lord of the 5th. No this one. No this one. No this one usurped that one a couple years ago. Wait, they've already been usurped as well. The writers would have us believe that the heirarchy of hell is more unstable the the lords of the abyss. So much has been written which is quite obviously wrong. For example, from 'Planewalker.com'

They hold various titles such as baron(ess), count(ess), prince(ss), and duke/duchess, the meanings of which vary according to the Lord bestowing them.

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So, here we are in the very embodiment of lawful evilness, and titles have no fixed meaning, no traditional role, no force of law, but they are merely the whim of the ruler that bestows them. Since when does any lawful - evil or otherwise - rule by mere whim, or since when do thier subjects obey merely out of fear alone, and since when does any lawful society not weigh its positions, entitlements, rights, duties, and responcibilities to a nicety. In a lawful society, when you give out a title, the position doesn't necessarily serve just at your pleasure (it can, but titles like baron, count, duke ect. aren't examples of them). You are parceling out authority which cannot be easily revoked without 'just' cause. Either you have enfuedated someone or who haven't, and if you haven't you can't expect thier loyalty.

OK, here are the 2E and 3E dukes and pit fiends of the Lo9's heirarchy/power structure that i've found, adding on to anyone already mentioned in post #41. if i'm missing anyone significant let me know.

Monstrous Compendium 8
81. Bel (PF), possibly once servant of Dispater, probably now lord of Avernus.
82. Gazra
83. Other Dark Eight members (Corin, Dagos, Paerza, Baalzephon, Furcas), Cantrum (long dead)

Planescape
84. Levistus (PoL)
85. Fierna (PoL, unnamed, named in Dragon #223)
86. Morsch, commander of Mammon’s armies (FoE)
87. Zariel (GtH, first named and detailed, though mentioned several times previously)

FC2
88. Glwa (Mammon’s “new” consort)
89. Bechard, Buldumech, Guland, Silcharde, Sphandor (pit fiends in service to Mephistopheles)


Glwa. Here’s a nice odd case. You might think that the first place she is ever mentioned is FC2, as it is maintained for almost all of Mammon’s appearances that Glasya was his consort. Not so. She is not mentioned in the list of devils in the old MM2… but, there is a near-identical list that she is on in Dragon #75, in Gary Gygax’s “New Denizens of Devildom” article. Note that in this list, which was probably in print before the MM2 list was finalized, Glwa is listed as Mammon’s consort, and Glasya is not in the list at all. However, in the text of the same article, Glasya is described as Mammon’s consort! Perhaps Glwa was either a typo/misprint, or was going to be the original name of Mammon’s consort, or was a totally different being, and some time before the article was actually printed Gygax changed his mind and went with Glasya (or corrected the mistake part-way, or whatever). Here’s an in-game explanation that I like:

Mammon’s original consort was a devil named Glwa, but Asmodeus’ beautiful daughter Glasya caught his attention and he left Glwa for her. When Glasya became the lady of her own layer, Mammon took his spurned ex-lover back, though he still lusts after Glasya.