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The Dukes of Hell
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<blockquote data-quote="Ripzerai" data-source="post: 3275345" data-attributes="member: 38324"><p>The name "the Reckoning" was coined by Chris Pramas in <em>Guide to Hell</em>, a post-Planescape WotC product. It gave a name to the diabolic insurrection first described by Monte Cook in <em>A Paladin in Hell</em>, which was an old-school homage to 1st edition published in the late '90s (post-Planescape).</p><p></p><p>But the story is much more involved than that. You see, way back in the <em>early</em> '90s, the traditional demon names used for first edition lords of the netherworld were banned by TSR brass. So when Planescape designer Colin McComb needed to name the rulers of Baator, he came up with an almost entirely different set of characters - the warlord Bel, the disgusting slug Triel, the sadistic fop Molikroth, the riddling snake Minauros, the avenging hag Malagard, the unpredictable beauty Fierana, the manipulative Dispater, the imprisoned Levistus, and the shadowy, unnamed Dark Lord of Nessus.</p><p></p><p>That was all well and good. They're an interesting, varied set of villains. But people who remembered the first edition archdevils wondered what had happened to them. This began a long process of trying to reconcile the two sets of archfiends. Colin McComb suggested in <em>On Hallowed Ground</em> and <em>Hellbound</em> that the 1st edition archdevils were part of a long line of rulers that were deposed and replaced continually over the eons. Only Dispater remained of those that ancient texts refer to (and then only because Dispater had been mentioned in earlier Planescape products by different authors).</p><p></p><p>Now, people like Wolv0rine weren't satisfied by this. They <em>really</em> liked the old, iconic rulers that Gary Gygax had set up and didn't like the radically different set, and they complained loudly about it on a relatively new medium called a message board - in this case, the ones TSR had set up on America Online. So Colin McComb tried out a different compromise in <em>Faces of Evil</em>, suggesting that the Planescape Lords of the Nine were only one guise of beings that had many alternate forms and disguises. He suggested that Fierana and Belial (without mentioning the name Belial, which he still wasn't allowed to use) were one and the same - different aspects of the same complex, mysterious entity.</p><p></p><p>In <em>A Paladin in Hell</em>, Monte Cook tried a completely different tack from either of those approaches. Instead of a series of coups and assassinations over a span of eons, he suggested there had been one cataclysmic rebellion, the cumulation of all the plots and rivalries mentioned in 1st edition materials, set thousands of years before the "present day." This rebellion became the driving force of the adventure's plot, which revolved around Geryon's attempt to regain his throne. Monte Cook preserved as many of the 1st edition rulers as he could via the "alternate aspect" theory, using the unnamed rebellion as an explanation for the transformations. </p><p></p><p>Every subsequent presentation of those entities has used the <em>A Paladin in Hell</em> backstory as its basis. </p><p></p><p>As far as the Slug Archduke goes, I like him. He's the Jabba the Hutt of the Hells. Nobody laughs at him - they don't dare, because he has spies everywhere, and his powers are not diminished in any way by his change in form. </p><p></p><p>Baalzebul's now the one rocking the "disgusting and gross in the way evil should be" appeal that Mammon used to have, except he does it much better. "Out of shape pit fiend" doesn't do it for me, but "maggoty Jabba the Hutt" does. Mammon is sleek and sinister.</p><p></p><p>In writing the Planewalker encyclopedia entries (I wrote all of them), I did err on the side of the Planescape interpretations of the various figures, while still incorporating new information. The description of Mammon in <em>Guide to Hell</em> is much more old-school - Chris Pramas said that Mammon still takes on his old form when he goes on the hunt, riding a nightmare and accompanied by hell hounds. Mainly because a guy with the lower body of a snake would have difficulty riding a horse.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ripzerai, post: 3275345, member: 38324"] The name "the Reckoning" was coined by Chris Pramas in [i]Guide to Hell[/i], a post-Planescape WotC product. It gave a name to the diabolic insurrection first described by Monte Cook in [i]A Paladin in Hell[/i], which was an old-school homage to 1st edition published in the late '90s (post-Planescape). But the story is much more involved than that. You see, way back in the [i]early[/i] '90s, the traditional demon names used for first edition lords of the netherworld were banned by TSR brass. So when Planescape designer Colin McComb needed to name the rulers of Baator, he came up with an almost entirely different set of characters - the warlord Bel, the disgusting slug Triel, the sadistic fop Molikroth, the riddling snake Minauros, the avenging hag Malagard, the unpredictable beauty Fierana, the manipulative Dispater, the imprisoned Levistus, and the shadowy, unnamed Dark Lord of Nessus. That was all well and good. They're an interesting, varied set of villains. But people who remembered the first edition archdevils wondered what had happened to them. This began a long process of trying to reconcile the two sets of archfiends. Colin McComb suggested in [i]On Hallowed Ground[/i] and [i]Hellbound[/i] that the 1st edition archdevils were part of a long line of rulers that were deposed and replaced continually over the eons. Only Dispater remained of those that ancient texts refer to (and then only because Dispater had been mentioned in earlier Planescape products by different authors). Now, people like Wolv0rine weren't satisfied by this. They [i]really[/i] liked the old, iconic rulers that Gary Gygax had set up and didn't like the radically different set, and they complained loudly about it on a relatively new medium called a message board - in this case, the ones TSR had set up on America Online. So Colin McComb tried out a different compromise in [i]Faces of Evil[/i], suggesting that the Planescape Lords of the Nine were only one guise of beings that had many alternate forms and disguises. He suggested that Fierana and Belial (without mentioning the name Belial, which he still wasn't allowed to use) were one and the same - different aspects of the same complex, mysterious entity. In [i]A Paladin in Hell[/i], Monte Cook tried a completely different tack from either of those approaches. Instead of a series of coups and assassinations over a span of eons, he suggested there had been one cataclysmic rebellion, the cumulation of all the plots and rivalries mentioned in 1st edition materials, set thousands of years before the "present day." This rebellion became the driving force of the adventure's plot, which revolved around Geryon's attempt to regain his throne. Monte Cook preserved as many of the 1st edition rulers as he could via the "alternate aspect" theory, using the unnamed rebellion as an explanation for the transformations. Every subsequent presentation of those entities has used the [i]A Paladin in Hell[/i] backstory as its basis. As far as the Slug Archduke goes, I like him. He's the Jabba the Hutt of the Hells. Nobody laughs at him - they don't dare, because he has spies everywhere, and his powers are not diminished in any way by his change in form. Baalzebul's now the one rocking the "disgusting and gross in the way evil should be" appeal that Mammon used to have, except he does it much better. "Out of shape pit fiend" doesn't do it for me, but "maggoty Jabba the Hutt" does. Mammon is sleek and sinister. In writing the Planewalker encyclopedia entries (I wrote all of them), I did err on the side of the Planescape interpretations of the various figures, while still incorporating new information. The description of Mammon in [i]Guide to Hell[/i] is much more old-school - Chris Pramas said that Mammon still takes on his old form when he goes on the hunt, riding a nightmare and accompanied by hell hounds. Mainly because a guy with the lower body of a snake would have difficulty riding a horse. [/QUOTE]
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