Page 15 - Mordenkainen's Tome Of Foes

the planes play a key role in the struggle. Both sides DEVILS A ND GEN DER
sometimes employ adventurers to seek out knowledge To a devil, gender is insignificant. Devils can't create new
that could free Levistus or allow Geryon to vanquish life through physical means; a new devil comes into being
him and ascend to the lordship. only when a soul is corrupted or claimed in a bargain, and
Geryon fulfills his responsibilities in the soul trade by the gender of the mortal that provided the soul is immate-
rial. Devils that represent themselves to mortals are likely
continuing to court mortals through his agents, offering
to adopt an appearance (including an apparent gender)
them superior strength and great physical prowess in
that conforms with what those mortals believe to be true.
return for their allegiance.
Gender (and the assumptions that mortals make about it)
is just another tool for devils to use to get what they want.
A FROZEN WASTELAND
Devils that are known to and named by mortals often
Every other layer of the Nine Hells has a function related
accept the gender assigned to them, but they aren't bound
to warfare, industry, administration, or commerce, but
by that label. Stories of the Lords of the Nine told by
Stygia is an expanse of untamed, unimproved territory.
mortals might speak of Glasya as Asmodeus's daughter
Even so, it has its uses. All manner of unlikely beasts
and Belial as Fierna's consort, but such expressions can't
wander the frozen terrain and swim the seas, including encompass the complexities of the strange relationships
remorhazes, krakens, mammoths, and even a few tribes formed by beings of immortal evil.
of frost giants. These denizens have no fear of any other
creatures, including devils, which makes the place an
force of the onslaught. Condemned devils are typically
ideal proving ground. Lesser devils that need to sharpen
trapped in cages, which are lowered on chains to hang
their combat skills or improve their endurance before re-
beneath the platforms. From such a vantage, the prison-
porting to Avernus for duty in the Blood War spend time
ers are continually battered by Malbolge's avalanches,
in Stygia. The cruelly cold environment, combined with
causing injuries that are agonizing but never fatal.
the constant threat of attack, helps commanders assess
Some locations on the mountain are shielded from
their troops and place them into the various legions as
the rockfall by structures that have projections pointing
appropriate for the skills they demonstrate.
upslope so that avalanches wash around the protected
The presence of so many creatures native to the Ma-
areas beneath. Roofed trenches and tunnels make travel
terial Plane has led to speculation that Stygia was not
between locations possible, if perilous.
always a layer of the Hells, but was previously a world
on the Material Plane. Its inhabitants, facing annihila- A SINGULAR ICONOCLAST
tion, are said to have pledged their souls and their world Of all the Lords of the Nine, Glasya is the most unpre-
to Asmodeus in return for a safe haven- whereupon dictable. She flaunts the rules of tradition and bends
Asmodeus kept his end of the bargain by transporting the Jaw without breaking it. She delights in shocking
the world into the Hells. The archmage Tzunk has re- others by springing gambits that catch them unaware.
searched the topic extensively but has yet to find any Mortals who go up against overwhelming odds with an
evidence that truly confirms the account. If the supposi- audacious plan attract her attention and could win her
tion is true, then the riches of that world might lie under respect and patronage.
miles of ice and beneath frigid, monster-infested seas. The reason behind Glasya's rise to lordship is the
subject of much whispered debate in the Nine Hells. It
GLASYA is generally known that Asmodeus presented Glasya to
the Lords of the Nine as his daughter, and she toured
OF COURSE I LOVE MY FATHER. WITHOUT HIM, WHOM
the Nine Hells on his behalf. While doing so, she put her
would I have to strive against?
own plans into motion, much to the surprise of the other
-Glasya archdevils. Even before Glasya assumed the rulership
of Malbolge, she established the Hells' first organized
Malbolge is the prison of the Nine Hells, and on this crime syndicate, using her followers to purchase souls
layer dwells its most infamous criminal. Glasya, the on her behalf while paying for them with what amounted
rebellious daughter of Asmodeus, rules the place and to worthless coin.
oversees the punishments doled out to devils that stray Was it Asmodeus's intent all along that Glasya should
from their assigned tasks. These lawbreakers are put strike out on her own, or was Glasya rebellious and
on trial in Phlegethos, and if they are found guilty they clever enough to successfully defy her father? Was
are dispatched to Malbolge to endure years of torment. Glasya's rise to power an unforeseen benefit of her
machinations, or is it a great embarrassment to Asmo-
That Glasya is both prison warden and the Nine Hells'
most notorious criminal is evidence that in the infernal deus? Likely only the two of them know the truth.
realms, crime pays as long as you avoid being convicted.
Corn LEGIONS
PRISON AND TORTURE CHAMBER Taking a cue from the sword, shield, and dreg legions
Malbolge comprises one infinitely large, steep-sloped into which the devils' armies are grouped, Glasya estab-
mountain. Boulders and other debris rain down from its lished a new category of "legion" to realize her plans for
heights in frequent avalanches. Some of the structures profit and power: the coin legions.
here are erected atop pillars of adamantine embedded The members of Glasya's coin legions operate in the
in the mountain that can withstand the constant batter- manner of thieves' guilds on the Material Plane. They
ing, though the platforms they support sway under the have one critical advantage compared to their mortal
contemporaries: Glasya's knowledge of the law. She

CHAPTER 1 I THE .BLOOD WAR