Baalzebul

Baalzebul

(Deity)

Titles

Lord of the Flies
Hell's Angel
The White Son
The Black Son
Lord of the Seventh
The Lord of That Which Flies

Realm

Betzebbul, Cocytus, Hell

Alignment

Lawful evil

Areas of Concern

Arrogance
Flies
Lies

Worshipers

Power-hungry spellcasters, seekers of revenge, self-serving lords

Edicts

Convey yourself with regal dignity, claim what you desire and deserve, seek vengeance from those who wrong you

Anathema

Provoke Baalzebul's envy, show humility

Follower Alignments (1E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (1E)

Air, Death, Evil, Law

Subdomains (1E)

Devil, Murder, Undead, Wind

Follower Alignments (2E)

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Domains (2E)

Air, ambition, magic, trickery

Favored Weapon

Spear

Symbol

Iron crown and diamond

Sacred Animal

Fly

Sacred Colors

Black, white

Images of Baalzebul

Source: Book of the Damned, pg(s). 28–29 (1E)
Gods & Magic, pg(s). 124–125 (2E)

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

Baalzebul

(Creature)

Type

Outsider
(devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)

CR

30

Environment

Any (Hell)

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of Baalzebul

Source: Bestiary 6, pg(s). 16–17

Ⅰ

The archdevil Baalzebul (pronounced BALL-zee-bull) rules the seventh layer of Hell, the freezing cold realm of Cocytus.

Appearance

Prior to Asmodeus's Exodus from Heaven, Baalzebul had a beautiful, glowing form. Later, after demanding greater honors, Asmodeus stripped Baalzebul of his celestial form, turning him into an amalgamated swarm of countless biting flies. He now manifests as a fifteen foot tall armored angel, though his body and wings are composed of flies.

History

The archdevil was once a celestial serving in Heaven's legions, among the first beings created by the earliest deities, seen to be the son of Asmodeus and called Lord of That Which Flies, as scholars believe he may have been the first being to have angelic form. When war came to Heaven, Baalzebul's loyalty was unquestionable, leading Asmodeus's armies and training his new generals Belial, Dispater, Moloch, and Nybbas. Later, as the politics of Hell evolved, Baalzebul killed Nybbas in a rage and scattered the Laughing Duke's ashes across Cocytus, supposedly creating the gusts of snow that plague the seventh layer to this day.

The creation of Mephistopheles and the distribution of Hell's rule among the archdevils infuriated Baalzebul, who expected to rule at Asmodeus's side. When Baalzebul confronted the Lord of Hell and demanded a realm greater than those made after him, Asmodeus asked why he deserved greater, to which Baalzebul recounted the victories he had claimed for his lord. Asmodeus responded, "You are as I made you and have done only as I have willed. Yet, if you imagine yourself lord of the multitudes, so be it." With that, Baalzebul was stripped of his angelic form by his lord, and what remained was fused with swarms of flies. Fleeing to Cocytus, mourning the loss of his beauty, the archdevil took his throne as the Lord of Flies.

Realm

A frozen wasteland of absolute despair, Cocytus—the seventh layer of Hell—is in the constant grip of such absolute cold that flesh shatters and words freeze on being spoken. Glaciers of unimaginable depth entomb the souls of betrayers and the most cruel and ambitious. Mountains of ice and volcanoes erupt from the depths, the latter providing bands of heat to stave off the impossible cold, either with lava-filled calderas or rivers of molten rock. The Lord of the Seventh rules over his bitter domain from the floating citadel of Betzebbul which is shackled to the ice below with giant frozen chains, which must be scaled by those who seek an audience. The Lord of the Seventh rules his domain with pomp and circumstance, despite its brutal landscape, acting with all the formality he believes he deserves.

Relationships

Baalzebul has a complicated relationship to his lord, Asmodeus, for whom he works unceasingly to prove his worth, yet hates for having stripped his beauty and slighted with insufficient honors. The Lord of Flies knows that overt plots against the other archdevils would anger Asmodeus, but he grants none of them favors. The other archdevils, in turn, rankle at Baalzebul's abrasive nature, but none would dare challenge one so powerful and favored by the Lord of Darkness, especially if he might have noticed a weakness during their training.

The Lord of the Flies reserves a special hatred for Basileus, the herald of Asmodeus, who is said to have been created by Asmodeus in the likeness of Baalzebul's former angelic form.

Servants

Baalzebul is served by elite cornugons who each seek to be transformed into a malebranche. He is also served by greater gaav, gelugons, advodazas, and nessaris. Ultimately, Hell's greatest strategists and warriors train in the icy depths of Cocytus, each following the directives of its lord.

Religion

The Lord of the Flies attracts worshipers with deep ambition, an immense desire for revenge, or who seek arcane knowledge. Those who seek his favor must approach with great flattery and labyrinthine etiquette to convince him their adoration is both genuine and total, without triggering his envy or suspicion. When he acts in the Universe, he occasionally sends an ice devil, or a manifestation of himself in his true form, or a giant fiendish fly, though generally, he sends a single normal-seeming fly to whisper secrets or advice.

Obedience

Some of Baalzebul's most devoted servants gain special boons by covering their hands with a paste of rotten or spoiled organic matter, waiting for flies to begin swarming, and feeding from it, then recounting the battles Baalzebul has won for Asmodeus.

religious symbol

Baalzebul's religious symbol is either an iron crown and diamond, a haloed gemstone above a split crown, or a shattered crown.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

External links

• Baalzebul (Dungeons & Dragons character) on Wikipedia
• Beelzebub (real-world deity/demon) on Wikipedia