Bel
| Bel | |
|---|---|
 Bel, Lord of the First. | |
| General information | |
| Home: | Nine Hells |
| Alignment: | Lawful Evil |
| Gender: | Male |
| Superior: | Asmodeus |
| Rules items | |
| Domains: | Warfare |
Bel the pit fiend, is the archdevil currently in charge of Avernus, the First Layer of the Nine Hells of Baator. He is nicknamed "The Pretender" by others of his kin.
Decription
Bel sports the typical features of any pit fiend. He is a huge, square bodied creature with red, scaly skin and a gaping maw instead of a mouth. He also wears a belt made out of decapitated, still-living angel heads.
History
Bel took rulership of Avernus upon the Reckoning of Hell, after he betrayed his mistress, Zariel, the former Duchess of Avernus about whom virtually nothing is known. Bel is a cruel, violent and very blunt warlord whose main concern is the Blood War, an unending conflict between the chaotic evil tanar'ri from the Abyss and the lawful evil baatezu of Baator. As Avernus is actually the battlefield upon which the daily fights occur, Bel is in charge of keeping the demons at bay and keeping safe the harvesting of the souls that come to the Nine Hells. This makes him the archdevil who most often deals directly with mortals and non-baatezu. Although Bel delights in corrupting souls as much as others of his kind do, he is very realistic and he knows he can at best contain the invaders but not utterly destroy them, as they fairly outnumber his own armies. Thus, any mortal that offers him to lend a hand in the Blood War is welcome every now and then, and might be rewarded with the right to go further in the Nine Hells or simply to have his/her life spared. Bel is also the Lord who most often deals with the outcast dukes of Baator, a group of demoted devils that lurk in Avernus and are continually scheming to regain their lost status.
Bel actually gets his power from removing and consuming pieces of flesh from Zariel herself who is currently imprisoned and continually tortured in the basement of the Bronze Citadel where the Lord of the First has his headquarters. This fact got him nicknamed "The Pretender" by the other Arch-Lords who greatly despise him. However, Bel is very appreciated by Asmodeus and the Dark Eight, for his warfare skills and his efficiency in the Blood War, as well as his spying abilities.
Creative origins
Bel's name, like many other arch fiends of Baator, is inspired namewise by a real life mythological figure, the Semitic god Bel.
See also
Bibliography
- Cook, Monte. Book of Vile Darkness. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002.
- Laws, Robin D., and Robert J. Schwalb. Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.
- Pramas, Chris. Guide to Hell. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.