Archdemons¶
"The most powerful of all demons, the archdemons represent the pinnacle of demonic hierarchy and answer to no one. Each archdemon is an Astral Shard holder … and a rival of the others." — from a Fifth Age bestiary of notable demons (S022)
Contested
This page is named in the open questions Seven Hells or Nine Layers (whether the archdemons hold seven Hells or nine, and whether the dead archdemon is Leviathus or Leviathon) and Bhaal's prison (whether Bhaal is held by the Druids of Nyx, by the Light of Kalar, or sits in the Abyss). The page follows the newest sources and records the others.
The Archdemons are the seven greatest of the demons, "widely regarded as some of the most powerful beings ever to walk on Terrun" (S434). Each is the strongest of one of the seven kinds of demon (S434), each is associated in the Sancturi-era demonologies with a sin (S124), and each claimed one of the Seven Hells when the Einar wardens set over those prisons fell (S001). Two are gone. The Abyss "is now ruled by the remaining five archdemons: Asmodeus (holds 3 shards), Bhaal, Mephistus, Belphegor and Mammon. Their conflict has been even more intense since the betrayal of Asmodeus (during the Hollowing Period)" (S001). Each archdemon has a page of its own under the Archdemons of the Religion section; this page describes them as a group and as the summit of the demonic hierarchy.
The Seven¶
| Archdemon | Kind of demon (S434) | Associated with (S124) | Standing now (S001, S022) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asmodeus | Horned | Lust and revenge | Rules the Abyss; holds three Hells |
| Bhaal | Bone | Gluttony, "lord of flies, feeding upon others" | Holds two Hells; "previously considered the most powerful archdemon" |
| Mephistus | Shade | Wrath | Holds two Hells; "especially ruthless" |
| Belphegor | Frost | Sloth and infernal devices | Holds one Hell |
| Mammon | Blade | Greed | Holds one Hell |
| Leviathus | Sea | Envy | "Destroyed or sleeping/hiding" |
| Luciferon | Fire | Pride | "Destroyed or sleeping/hiding" |
Also called: Asmodeus is Asmodean in the older demonologies (S434, S124) and Daemiveus, "the Archfather," to the devils and witches who worship him (S132); the sea archdemon is Leviathus in most sources and Leviathon in the newest cosmology (S001).
The Hells they hold¶
The Hells "were originally Astral Shards repurposed as prisons … Each shard (one of the seven hells) was initially governed by an Einar Warden, but eventually each fell to the Demons, and the Seven Archdemons claimed one shard each" (S001). The archdemons have since "managed to claim additional astral shards once owned by the dead gods, making them stronger than ever" (S001); see Astral Shards.
The Fifth Age bestiary counts nine layers rather than seven and names them: Asphodel, Minos, Acheron, Plutoph, Styx, Lethe, Phlegethon, Malebolge and Cocytus (S022). In its reckoning Asmodeus holds Minos, Phlegethon and Asphodel "and 25% of all the demons in Hell (though a majority of them lesser)"; Bhaal holds Styx and Cocytus and "the most numerous (30%) and most powerful demons in all the Hells"; Mephistus holds Malebolge and Lethe and "15% of the demons in the Hells, though all of them fanatically loyal and powerful"; Belphegor holds Acheron and a tenth of the demons, "all of them very powerful"; and Mammon holds Plutoph and a fifth. Leviathus was "previous owner of Asphodel" and Luciferon "previous owner of Phlegethon," both taken by Asmodeus (S022). Of the layers themselves the sources say only that Asphodel is "a place not unlike the material realms, but devoid of life, rocky and barren," and Acheron "cold and wet" (S022); the Abyssal biomes known from the Sancturi demonologies are given on Demonic Lifecycle and the plane on Abyss.
Gap
No source maps the seven Hells of the cosmology onto the nine named layers of the bestiary, or says which Hell each archdemon held before Asmodeus took three.
Escape, imprisonment and return¶
The archdemons have never been content in the Abyss. In the oldest accounts Mephistus and Asmodean "escaped during the early Demon wars. Their souls are now reborn into mortal forms after each death. It is therefore necessary to keep these mortal forms imprisoned, and alive for as long as possible" (S434); the compendium adds Belphegor to the escapees (S384). This is why the demon-hunting orders keep living prisoners rather than killing them: an escaped archdemon "can no longer be forced back to the Abyss and must be contained using hosts that volunteer to keep them controlled for several years at a time" (S519; see Demonic Possession).
In the Sancturi Age Asmodean was "partially free, imprisoned by the Light of Kalar on the material," Mephistus likewise "imprisoned by the Light of Kalar on the material," and Belphegor and Bhaal were in the Abyss (S124). Then came the Hollowing. Asmodeus, "known for his long running schemes and machinations," brought "one of his largest and longest schemes" to fruition, "allowing him to take control of the Mithis plane and reform it. This has also enabled him to slip out of his imprisonment on the material plane. He is rumored to have used his newfound power to destroy Luciferon and Leviathus, wresting control of 2 additional layers of Hell" (S022). Mephistus had already "escaped his imprisonment on the material plane shortly before the Age of the Dark Sun," and on his return to Hell "destroyed not just those demons which had betrayed him, but every demon under them, amounting to more than half of Mephistus's host and nearly one in ten of every demon" (S022). Bhaal, "a bone demon who was previously considered the most powerful archdemon (before Asmodean's ascension)," remained "the only archdemon still imprisoned," his proxies "in a bitter battle with Asmodeus, who has made repeated attempts to weaken Bhaal's forces and displace him" (S022). The Druids of Nyx are named as "the wardens of the imprisoned archdemon Bhaal" (S019); the Light of Kalar is credited with "imprisoning Bhaal and many Demon Princes and Greater Demonlords" in secret prisons on the Material Plane (S078). After the Redemption destroyed the Hollows, the archdemons, "especially Asmodeus," were counted among the declining powers, "re-imprisoned in the Abyss," though Asmodeus "still has a lot of control" over what remains of the Mithis Plane (S112). The newest cosmology leaves the five ruling the Abyss and at war with one another (S001).
Demon princes and lords¶
Below the archdemons the demonologies rank Demon Princes, Greater Demon Lords, Demon Lords, Greater Demons, Legion Demons, Lesser Demons, Minor Demons and Demonlings (S114); the ranks are described on Demonic Lifecycle. Named among the Demon Princes are Orcus, "Lord of the Undead," who "commanded legions of the dead during the Demon Wars" and was "too powerful to be imprisoned in the weakened Abyss," and Gothmog, "King of Balrogs," who had to be imprisoned on the Material Plane and escaped (S384, S114). Among the outcasts who bow to no archdemon is Abraxas (S022).
Each archdemon keeps lords and princes of its own. Bhaal's are the best attested: the Demon Prince Xyrlazath, "one of Bhaal's direct minions," whom a secretive group of outcast demons in the Demonlands sought to summon into a captured living form (S341); the bone demonlord Vileryth, "Lord of Corpserot … Warlord of Bhaal," who rules a Demonblight in the Rift (S050); the fungal demonlord Adramycos in Alghert (S181); and the goblin-blooded Silek, whom Bhaal bred during the Hollowing (S025). Asmodeus' devils, who gathered the bones of the dragon goddess Pravustiratel for him (S143), are described on Devils.
Spawn of Leviathus¶
The Spawn of Leviathus are "a group of Demonic outcasts which went their own way instead of bowing to one of the other Archdemons" after their master's fall (S022).
Gap
The sources name the Spawn of Leviathus and say nothing more: not their number, their leader, nor where they went.
Earlier accounts¶
The compendium of the Earlier Ages records a scholarly opinion that "the Arch-demons are actually Dead Gods who have managed to regain a physical form" (S384), and the Overview of the Gods lists them among the demi-gods (S429). The Sancturi-era demonologies hold that "at least one of the seven archdemons is known to be a Vile," a demon worn down to "a twisted, blackened husk" (S114, S518). The campaign notes of the Hollowing make Asmodeus "undisputed ruler of the Demons. He has defeated 1 of the other archdemons and subjugated the other 5," with Mephistus (Dexinas, "the Right Hand, Voidbringer") and Bhaal (Causinis, "the Left Hand, Plaguebearer") as his lieutenants in a pantheon of his own, while "4 of the Archdemons having lost a great deal of their power (now basically greater demonlords & ur-viles)" led the demons who rejected him (S132); the Fifth Age bestiary above has Bhaal and Mephistus as his rivals instead. A dream-vision of the Proturan campaign recalls "Asmodeus's Hollowing" as the moment the ascendants of the sleeping gods debated seizing the Mithis Plane for themselves (S031).
In Play¶
No one meets an archdemon. One meets its agents: a warlord's herald sent to bring back corpses (S050), a demon in disguise setting wards in a frightened city (S181), outcasts raising a prince into a stolen body (S341). Those who imprison archdemons do so quietly, and the sources are explicit that the Light of Kalar's prisons are "very secure and very secret" (S078).