Fiendish Codex II next month--Any scoop/rumors/etc.?

[Shemeska]

Sounds like a 'loth wrote it.

*chuckle* Hehehe, my version would have been something along the lines of the following, though I have a thing for Rip's version he wrote a while back as well.

He watched the Fall with a mixture of detached fascination. The Archons had suffered greatly, the Ancient Baatorians even more so, and for once their actions were not even prompted by the machinations of the Baern but by pride and zeal. He did not put it out of possibility that one of his brother/sisters had played a hand in goading them though. He hadn’t caused it, but he was reaping the benefits of it nonetheless, and conquest by triumph or default, it mattered little in the end.

Weakened by circumstance, he played his hand and gave Baator a new king, a new throne, its very own prisoner in a mask of iron to whittle away eternity in a cage of self wrought importance. Baator had subjects, servants, children, slaves, cogs, willing tools, plowshares it would seek to hammer into swords if given the chance, all of them raging against the perversion of their own nature against themselves.

In the end it was delicious. The plane itself rebelled under his feet in rage. If he deigned to step upon its soil, its soul, it trembled like the citizens of a great city before their mad emperor, hated and feared, respected and loathed all at once. The infection in its soil, in its soul, it ran deep. So rooted in was it that not even the Styx could erase the memory entirely.

 

[The Serge]

Assuming this isn't a hoax (the book's not supposed to be available until sometime in December), my thoughts are as follows.

Glasya as the Lord of the Sixth: Nice. Probably an attempt to reflect Lilith a bit better.

Still don't care for the "myth." It's far too close to the JCI fall myths and it ties the devils too closely to the upper planes... However, I do greatly appreciate the fact that they made the stats in the book for aspects rather than for the actual Lords. At least the editors got it right in this release.

I'll have to check with my store tomorrow to see if they received the book...

 

[Aus_Snow]

Glasya as the Lord of the Sixth: Nice. Probably an attempt to reflect Lilith a bit better.

Meh. Ain't no Lilith like Lilith.


The book seems interesting so far though, from what has been presented here.

 

[Ash Mantle]

What are the odds of a Hungarian gaming store getting a D&D product before a US gaming store?


Assuming that the information is not a hoax, at least it looks like they've learnt from previous efforts and made them aspects of the Lords rather than the Lords themselves.

 

[morbiczer]

For the morning:
Any mention of the Ancient Baatorians (the original inhabitants of Baator that existed prior to the arrival of the Baatezu)?

I haven't found any mention of the Ancient Baatorians (yet). Generaly there is no history section besides the creation myth I already mentioned, although there might be some mention of earlier times in the writeups of the individual layers, I haven't read them yet.

Any mention of the Ancient Baatorians and their cities locked in the ice of Cania?

A city named Kintyre is mentioned which is buried deep in ice, but Mephistopheles has recently ordered to excavate it, since he believes that there are secrets there which would aid his research in hellfire. No mention of Ancient Baatorians though.

Any mention of an origin story for the Kytons of Jangling Hiter?

Jangling Hiter is mentioned, but not the origin of the kytons.

Any details on where the Baatezu came from originally?

The myth at the beginning says that at least some of them are fallen angels (Asmodeus, Dispater, Mephitopheels, erinyes), where angels aren't necessarily good. The way I understand it, lemures are created from the tormented souls who come to Hell after their death, and if they are lucky, sooner or later they get promoted to more powerful status. So that's probably where most of the devils come from. Baalzebul is a former archon named Triel. "Asmodeus and most of the other archdevils came to Baator early in its history, when the lines between good and evil were first being drawn, but Baalzebul is a more recent arival".

Any detail on Zariel, former Lord of the 1st?

He is mentioned as the former ruler of the layer, replaced by Bel. In a sidebar it is written that "legend has it that the fireballs that detonate across Avernus in a seemingly random pattern are generated by Zariel, a trapped former archduke from whom Bel parasitically draws his power."

Any mention of alternate origin myths besides the one you mentioned above?

Can't find any.

 

[morbiczer]

Assuming this isn't a hoax (the book's not supposed to be available until sometime in December), my thoughts are as follows.

It's no hoax.

Glasya as the Lord of the Sixth: Nice. Probably an attempt to reflect Lilith a bit better.

A Lilith is mentioned as Second Consort of Baalzebul, Lord of Maladomini, the seventh layer. She (he?) is a unique devil.

 

[morbiczer]

What are the odds of a Hungarian gaming store getting a D&D product before a US gaming store?

I was surprised myself.

The way I understand it, shops actually often recieve books before the actual street date, but they aren't supposed to sell them before it. I'm not surprised my LGS doesn't care about things like that.

 

[DK]

Anythings about hell's Dukes? Stats?

 

[morbiczer]

Anythings about hell's Dukes? Stats?

No stats for the dukes of Hell. The description of every layer mentions the dukes living there.

 

[morbiczer]

I just saw that there are two aditional monsters in addition to the devils I already mentioned:

Worm of Minauros - Gargantuan magical beast - CR 15
Hell Louse (Malbolge) - Large vermin - CR 3