Bhaal¶
Contested
This page is named in the open question Bhaal's prison. The sources disagree on who holds him and where; the page follows the newest.
"The Silek strive to please Belos and offer him (and his demons) the thing they desire most, mortal lifeforce and freedom from the Abyss." — the Silek
Bhaal is the Bone-Demon archdemon of gluttony, "lord of flies, feeding upon others". Before Asmodeus's ascension he "was previously considered the most powerful archdemon", and he commands "the most numerous (30%) and most powerful demons in all the Hells". He is also the only archdemon who is still a prisoner: held on the material plane in a volunteered mortal form, his wars are fought by proxies, his hollows run by demonlords, and his worship carried by a people he bred for the purpose, the Silek, who know him as Belos.
Also called¶
Belos, "which means 'Chosen' in Goblin" according to the Silek, who refuse the name Guhvils that other races give them; Causinis, "The Left Hand, Plaguebearer", in the Daemiveus pantheon of Asmodeus.
Nature¶
Bhaal is a bone demon, associated with gluttony and flies and with "feeding upon others". His forces are the most numerous and the most powerful in the Hells. Alone among the archdemons he is "still imprisoned by the Druids of Nyx", and "his proxies are in a bitter battle with Asmodeus, who has made repeated attempts to weaken Bhaal's forces and displace him". The 2023 Notable Demons leaves a note that "his lieutenants which run things for him are especially relevant", and the campaigns supply some of them: the demonlord Vileryth, "Lord of Corpserot, Bone Demon ... Warlord of Bhaal", who rules the Vileryth Demonblight in the Rift; the fungal demonlord Adramycos, who "serves Zuttgomy & Bhaal"; the Herald of Rot who channelled plague into a fissure; and the Demon Prince Xyrlazath, "one of Bhaal's direct minions", whom outcast demons of the Demonlands sought to summon into a captured fae. Bhaal's taste runs to rot, plague, flies and the undead.
The prison¶
"The druids are mentioned here because their specialty is hunting, capturing and imprisoning demons ... They are the wardens of the imprisoned archdemon Bhaal, and prioritize curbing the power of the other archdemons on the material planes." Imprisoning an archdemon means keeping its mortal form alive and possessed by a willing host; the Druids of Nyx use "form entrapment" for lesser demons and some greater means for Bhaal (see Druids and Archdemons). A piece of the Mithis Heartstone was given by the Grand Archprefect of Kalar "to the Druids to assist them in their imprisonment of 2 Archdemons", and Asmodeus took it.
The Proturan notes give the prison to a different keeper. The Light of Kalar, "an order dedicated to extreme secrecy and the imprisonment of demons (imprisoning Bhaal and many Demon Princes and Greater Demonlords)", maintains "several very secure and very secret prisons for demons on the material plane", and in the plot notes of the same campaign "Araxian forces have seized the prison of Bhaal from the Light of Kalar", with "Seth-Arax and Bhaal ... allies" and Bhaal revealing the location of the Well of Souls "in exchange for his freedom" (see Light of Kalar). The 2019 Sancturi Age summary places him simply "in the Abyss". The question of his keeper is filed.
History¶
Bhaal's hand is in two of the Fifth Age's calamities. In Alghert, during the Sancturi Age, "the forces of Bhaal have moved into phase 2 of their plan. They have accumulated enough mithis to create a very powerful hollow around the vault, which should allow them to penetrate its defenses and get to the heartstone." The king and princess of Alghert, heading a coven of witches in service to the demonlord Adramycos, consented "so long as the hollow is stable, they regain control of Alghert and they have been promised great powers from the long term hollow"; the result was a fungal mega-hollow not controlled by Asmodeus, and "Alghert is now the site of a Demon vs Devil war" (see Alghert).
In the same age Bhaal bred the Silek. "The Silek are a result of experimentation and breeding during the Hollowing Period by the archdemon Bhaal. They became known by most other races as Goblin-Devils which evolved into Guhvils … despite technically not being Devils (which were composed only of those demons loyal to Asmodeus)." Each strain is born of a bloodmother "created by Belos". The Silek went on to overrun the northern kingdoms in the Guhvil Wars of the Rift Period; the people are Silek.
Worship¶
Priests of Belos¶
"The Silek have a singular religion: Belos (Bhaal). This religion dominates Silek life and politics. Its priesthood is filled with Warlocks and Mithis magic users that also make up its ruling class." The Ruling Caste "are seen as the direct representatives of the Silek God: Belos/Bhaal" and is divided into sub-castes: the Council of Belos, "the absolute rulers of the Silek", who choose their members equally from the other ruling sub-castes and sit as administrators and judges at local, regional and national levels; the Priests of Belos, "devoted to the ministry and observance of the Rites of Belos"; the Warriors of Belos; and the Scholars of Belos. The Enslaved Caste "are used for labor, ritual sacrifice and food", and rebellious slaves become "part of the next ritual sacrifice".
The Silek's values are their god's. "The Silek strive to please Belos and offer him (and his demons) the thing they desire most, mortal lifeforce and freedom from the Abyss. The displeasure of Belos is harsh, even harsher than the Silek's themselves." "Belos has a thirst for knowledge that has been passed on to the Silek. The Silek scour ancient ruins, collecting artifacts and relics and building libraries of knowledge dedicated to Belos ... They have been known to execute large scale raids on fortified positions with tremendous losses to secure a single powerful magical object." Guhvil priests and warlocks hold rifts open while a Herald of Rot pours "a green glowing wind" of plague through them.
Outside the Silek, Bhaal is Causinis in Asmodeus's Daemiveus, a membership the sources mark with a question.
Earlier accounts¶
The 2023 Notable Demons gives Bhaal the layers Styx (Wrath) and Cocytus (Treachery) under the nine-layer scheme that the 2026 revision replaces with seven Hells. The 2015 Compendium's cosmology assigns Bone-Demons to Moros, "Creator of various corporeal Undead and Bone-Demons", in its 2019 conversion.
Gap
No source describes Bhaal's form beyond his kind, his own Hell, the rites of Belos, or where and when the Druids of Nyx took him. Nothing is recorded of him before the Demon Wars.