Page 13 - Mordenkainen's Tome Of Foes

a highly subjective matter. A farmer has no use for an return for the time he has spent, he can at least vent his
arcane spell that could incinerate a legion of warriors, frustration by grinding the offending party into a thick,
but the promise of knowing which crops will sell best bloody sludge.
over the coming years might persuade him to enter into
an infernal compact. FINANCIER OF THE HELLS
To Dispater, all of reality is a contest played out under Mammon's wealth is his primary way of exerting power
secret rules. If he can discover the principles that de- and influence. He offers monetary loans to other devils
fine the true nature of the cosmos, he can learn how to in return for service, favors, or items he desires. From
ascend to the top of the Nine Hells' hierarchy and then time to time, he dips into his coffers to attract merce-
eventually the entire planar order. He covets the souls naries to ensure that a particularly virulent demonic
of those who seek secrets and those who have useful, advance is stopped-always in the expectation that the
secret information of their own that he can bargain for. current lord of Avernus turns loot and booty obtained
from the defeated demons over to him.
When they bargain with mortals, Mammon and his
minions can offer irresistible wealth. Devils that are
tasked with harvesting souls for Mammon carry with
them The Accounting and Valuation of All Things, a
manual that guides them in assessing the value of a
soul in gold or other goods. The amount of gold that
is needed to incite the greed of mortals is a minuscule
drain on Mammon's treasury, but the transactions that
he and his followers consummate draw in more souls
than the efforts of any other Lord of the Nine.
MAMMON
A SHABBY KINGDOM
THE COUNT OF MY COINS IS MORE RELIABLE TH.AN ANY The layer of Minauros teeters on the edge of ruin. The
roster of mortal hearts or immortal souls. realm is a great swamp, interspersed with cities and for-
tresses that are in constant need of repair, upkeep, and
-Mammon
replacement. Time and again, structures built on this
layer are left untended and are eventually drawn into the
Mammon is the foremost merchant and miser of the bottomless muck of the swamp.
Nine Hells, and perhaps the richest entity in all the Mammon refuses to spend any more coin than nec-
planes. As the lord of Minauros, Mammon oversees
essary to keep the soul marketplace in the Sinking City
the soul trade. While those who pledge their souls are functioning. Devils and fiends from across the planes
claimed by the devil they bargained with, lawful evil gather here to trade souls. The place bustles with activ-
creatures that aren't bound by any contract emerge from
ity as caravans arrive and depart and merchants haggle
the River Styx as lemures. Roving bands of soul-mon-
over their wares. Buildings rest haphazardly atop the ru-
gers patrol the river's banks, harvesting the newly cre- ins of those that have sloughed into the muck. The roads
ated devils. On its arrival, each soul passes through the are little more than huge stones sunk into the swamp,
capital ofMinauros, the Sinking City, and is recorded. needing constant replacement as they slowly submerge
The soul is then distributed to whoever should claim it, until the mud consumes them.
according to contracts in force and laws in effect. Mam-
mon appropriates any extra lemures for himself and FIERNA AND BELIAL
sells them for profit.
Mammon has accumulated a great treasure hoard, but A PALADIN? How EXQUISITE! SIT, PLEAS£. REST. TELL ME
spends only a small portion of it on maintaining his do- about the god that would send such a bright soul on so long
main. As a result, Minauros is a fetid, wretched place, its
and dark a journey.
structures characterized by cheap construction, flimsy
materials, and shoddy artisanship. -Fierna
EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE In the flaming realm of P hlegethos, Fierna and Belia!
Mammon measures everything in terms of its value in rule in strange tandem. They are variously thought of
gold. He cares only for the material gain that a trans- by mortals as mother and son, daughter and father, wife
action can provide for him. He never rests, and spends and husband, or ruler and consort, but none of those
every waking moment pursuing schemes to fatten his terms can capture the paradoxical nature of their part-
treasury. He looks for every opportunity to make his nership. The Nine Hells is a hierarchy in which two indi-
processes more efficient, so that he can rake in more viduals can't normally hold the same position as ruler of
and more gold in a given span of time. a single layer. Yet Asmodeus allows these two to claim
Mammon's obsession with wealth and efficiency make dominion over Phlegethos as partners and rivals.
him a dangerous entity to entreat. He enters any bargain Fierna's charisma, equaled only by that of Asmodeus,
with the goal of making a profit. Those who waste his makes her a brilliant manipulator capable of filling
time or tarry in their dealings with him are likely to mortal and immortal hearts with whatever emotion she
incur his wrath. If he can't make an acceptable profit in chooses to evoke. Belia!, meanwhile, doesn't attempt to

CHAPTER l J THE BLOOD WAR
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