How big is the Blood War?

[Nightfall]

Yeah well first they need Orcus to rule the Abyss....then we'll get the misunderstandings sorted out.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

The Blood War ended when an endless flow of Kender, who were trained by Tinker Gnomes to be Tinkers, spilled onto the lower planes. All sides involved would rather not speak of what went down, but all the fiends are hiding in their fortresees cowering.

 

[Nightfall]

Then along comes Orcus, vampirize them and the War continued only now he needed to find a place somewhere in the Abyss for them since Ravenloft got rid of them.

 

[frankthedm]

When you get down to it, the blood war is the D&D Meta-plot.

How big is it?
Multiple infinite planes

Is it on such a scale that not even the gods can comprehend it?
The gods 'get it'. Law and Chaos showing thier true colours. Because they could not clash at the neutral plane, the reality of both law and chaos taken to their extreams are more aligned with evil than good is why the evil planes are where the fate of the Multiverse hinges. Law will freeze the universe into crystal, chaos will make formless soup.

Will it ever tip in favor of one of the other side?
The day whoever owns D&D decides alignment is going bye-bye. 4E would make sence, new edition, radicaly new metaplot.

Which major players have a vested interest in seeing the Blood War continue?
Forces of Good benefit from evil feeding on evil. Anybody not at the top of one side or the other of the blood war. The rest want to get that top spot, then win.

What are some good sources for information about the Blood War?
Planescape stuff, random Dragon articles, Feindish codexes.

Can it ever be influenced in any major way?
Same way Vampire Meta-plot could be influenced.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

How big is it?

About a millionth of the Edition War's size. Or the D&D Race War. Or the RPG-System War. or the War between Old and New WoD.

Is it on such a scale that not even the gods can comprehend it?

With them being more or less omniscient, I doubt it. But surely it's way beyond everything any non-deity could ever hope to comprehend.

Will it ever tip in favor of one of the other side?

Who knows? It has lasted Aeons (it was there before time), it might last until the very end (but not much long after - according to current info, devils draw their energy from the souls of the damned. Once the flow of damned souls ends, due to the Apocalypse, the devils' power will run out sooner or later. They won't be able to promote other devils, they won't be able to create lemures out of the damned, so they will run out of troops. So it seems that after the last mortal on the last material world has died, the devils will lose the fight, the demons will overrun first them and then everything else).

But of course it's quite possible that the information we have is wrong...

Which major players have a vested interest in seeing the Blood War continue?

I think most have, because if any side should prove victorious, it would probably set out to conquer or destroy the rest. Plus, the 'loths profit from the Blood War, so they don't want it ever to stop.

What are some good sources for information about the Blood War?

Older edition material; and both Fiendish Codexes have some tidbits about the whole affair.

Can it ever be influenced in any major way?

If you consider that there are millions of combatants (if not more) on either side, you'd have to do something beyond Epic to influence it.

 

[NiTessine]

Can it ever be influenced in any major way?

Major in the scale of the war? Doubt it. However, a clash spilling over to conveniently demolish an inconvenient gate town or occupation of a Prime world for use as a staging ground are small things in the scale of the war. It's all in the perspective...

 

[Umbran]

I think that the expanse of the blood war makes all other wars insignificant.

Significance is not necessarily determined by size. It is determined by impact.

Most folk on the prime material plane(s) are ignorant of the Blood War's existance. And while multiple infinite planes are involved in the Blood War, multiple infinte planes are wholly unconcerned. The Blood War has gone on for time immemorial, and will continue for same. It is, in the end, the ultimate expression of Law vs Chaos, as it so well fits the description - the more things change, the more they stay the same.

So, in a way, it is may seem rather insignificant. It goes on in the background, and on most scales can be simply ignored.

 

[Piratecat]

The blood war is so big, it makes your momma look small.

...what?

<sneaks off screen>

And Umbran is right: it's large, but it doesn't have much impact on most people.

 

[lukelightning]

Blood War, Schmud Mor. I think the idea is played out.

 

[Vuron]

Also keep in mind that however mindboggling complex the blood war is it's largely seen as a distraction by the higher-ups of the Hells and the Abyss as most the Lords of the Nine largely delegate it to the Dark Eight on the infernal front and many of the Demon Lords view it as a waste of time in comparison to thier struggles for supremacy.

As for the Gods being able to comprehend the blood war completely the default view of dieties in 3.0/3.5 is far less omniscient than the 2e configurations. While they can use thier divine abilities to watch the bloodwar they aren't instantly aware of all that goes on unless it intrudes on thier domains or thier primary interests.