Aberzanzorax
Hero
I'm running Way of the Wicked by Fire Mountain Games, in which players play villians, beginning as servants of a cleric of Asmodeus (and likely worshiping the dark lord of lies themselves).
So I've been reading up on him. There are several origin stories, but the coolest, IMO, and the oldest is that he and another ancient serpent being of LG formed the outer planes as they bit each other's tails. These were beings beyond and above (and earlier than) greater gods. Among the majority of the rules of the outer planes, they also are responsible for the rule of three.
So, in thinking about that, I wondered how one might use that number to come to know Asmodeus.
A lot of what I'm about to write are my own thoughts, not canon, but I'd be interested in people sharing their thoughts and ideas as well as any knowledge of canon.
They were two beings, one of LG, the other of LE. However, born of their struggle? relationship? separation? another being, one of LN, was created. Rather than a being of "pure law" like Primus of the Modrons, this being was a being of pure neutrality, using the focus of rules and order to create this neutrality (as Asmodeus uses law to beget evil). This being, recognized three (3) things: 1. nothingness was not neutral, it was nil. Hence pure order could not come from an empty universe 2. law was paramount, but could only exist in a world of chaos. Without chaos, there was no standard by which to measure or achieve perfection in law. 3. by its very nature, chaos must be allowed to exist unregulated, but regulation was required by law.
Hence this being, midway between the heavens and hells of its creators, created a place of perfect control. It could create and destroy things at a whim, control entrance and exit, and modeled a perfect balance of the multiverse according to the being's own laws. The being - The Lady of Pain, and the place - Sigil.
Imagine a Sigil which always has a balanced number of beings of each alignment. Portals open and close to make it so. Its very shape, a zero, shows the sum of all alignments, and is "ground zero" for the outer planes. It is three zeroes, the center hole, the solid outside (as viewed from above), and the tube which makes up the inside.
That was my first idea, but there are several possible 3s for Amodeus himself. Some are more solid, some are reaches, but the "conspiracy theory" is fun for me. The obvious ones are the 9 hells (3 times 3), 666 (3 plus 3 three times), and the council of 8 (which he rules...is the 9th member of).
Then there are some stretches. The number thirteen could represent "from one comes three" as it is written. It is also both three times four plus 1 and adding the numbers 1+3 you get four.
Most interesting to me was the pentagram (Asmodeus's) holy symbol. Contrary to what most believe, it is not merely a five sided star; ask an Asmodean to draw it for you and he will not draw a star. He will draw three three sided overlapping figures (three triangles).
So, ideas? Dislikes? Thoughts? Other offerings or canon?
So I've been reading up on him. There are several origin stories, but the coolest, IMO, and the oldest is that he and another ancient serpent being of LG formed the outer planes as they bit each other's tails. These were beings beyond and above (and earlier than) greater gods. Among the majority of the rules of the outer planes, they also are responsible for the rule of three.
So, in thinking about that, I wondered how one might use that number to come to know Asmodeus.
A lot of what I'm about to write are my own thoughts, not canon, but I'd be interested in people sharing their thoughts and ideas as well as any knowledge of canon.
They were two beings, one of LG, the other of LE. However, born of their struggle? relationship? separation? another being, one of LN, was created. Rather than a being of "pure law" like Primus of the Modrons, this being was a being of pure neutrality, using the focus of rules and order to create this neutrality (as Asmodeus uses law to beget evil). This being, recognized three (3) things: 1. nothingness was not neutral, it was nil. Hence pure order could not come from an empty universe 2. law was paramount, but could only exist in a world of chaos. Without chaos, there was no standard by which to measure or achieve perfection in law. 3. by its very nature, chaos must be allowed to exist unregulated, but regulation was required by law.
Hence this being, midway between the heavens and hells of its creators, created a place of perfect control. It could create and destroy things at a whim, control entrance and exit, and modeled a perfect balance of the multiverse according to the being's own laws. The being - The Lady of Pain, and the place - Sigil.
Imagine a Sigil which always has a balanced number of beings of each alignment. Portals open and close to make it so. Its very shape, a zero, shows the sum of all alignments, and is "ground zero" for the outer planes. It is three zeroes, the center hole, the solid outside (as viewed from above), and the tube which makes up the inside.
That was my first idea, but there are several possible 3s for Amodeus himself. Some are more solid, some are reaches, but the "conspiracy theory" is fun for me. The obvious ones are the 9 hells (3 times 3), 666 (3 plus 3 three times), and the council of 8 (which he rules...is the 9th member of).
Then there are some stretches. The number thirteen could represent "from one comes three" as it is written. It is also both three times four plus 1 and adding the numbers 1+3 you get four.
Most interesting to me was the pentagram (Asmodeus's) holy symbol. Contrary to what most believe, it is not merely a five sided star; ask an Asmodean to draw it for you and he will not draw a star. He will draw three three sided overlapping figures (three triangles).
So, ideas? Dislikes? Thoughts? Other offerings or canon?
