I'm trying to make a team pvp module for the game Neverwinter Nights with the Blood War as background and little roll-play elements (I hope you roll-players don't begin to hate me now ;) ). There are of course the two parties fighting each other, the Baatezu and Tanar'ri. Now I got a problem about finding more exact informations about the battlefields of the Blood War (I have searched around on the Planewalker page and googled around, but most articles are about the devils and demons themselves and their habits, their planes etc. but no exact details of the Blood War).
1. I have read that the Blood War battles are often fought in the field of nessles in the Gray Waste lands. Are there any other popular battlefields?
2. To make the maps more interesting and in different environments, I wanted also to make maps of Blood War battlefields in e.g. Cania or some deep wierd layer in the Abyss... Is that realistic or are there never Blood War battles in a place that deep inside one of the planes?
3. Do the demon princes lead the Tanar'ri armies themselves in the Blood War or do other high-ranking demons (e.g. balor generals) do that job for them? If other demons lead the armies, could you tell me the names of some of them?
4. I've also read that the Tanar'ri use the Vrocks as aerial forces in the Blood War... but what demon race do they use for infantry? The manes?
5. Are there any important and popular Baatezu/Tanar'ri fortresses involved in the Blood War? Maybe some one them where under siege or something?
6. Do the Tanar'ri/Baatezu sometimes make alliances with the Slaads/Rakashas against the Baatezu?
7. Do the Slaads have any important/popular towns?
Thank you for any help!
To my (Minimal) knowledge of the planes, Slaad have no cities, and that's much of the charm. Their whole schtick is unpredicability and disorganization.
Battlefields- to my knowledge, there's several areas- the Abyss, Baator (First layer only), possibly the Astral, and in other words, any place you get large numbers of tanar'ri and large numbers of baatzeu in the same place. :D
If there's a more specific answer you want, please. This is all I've got.
1. I have read that the Blood War battles are often fought in the field of nessles in the Gray Waste lands. Are there any other popular battlefields?
The "Field of Nettles," you mean. And yes, there are.
Other major battlefields include Moldrus' Gap in Carceri, the Stones of Draetilus in Carceri, the Scarlet Jungle in Carceri, the Stinging Sands of Minethys in Carceri, the Burning Glacier of Mungoth in Gehenna, Death's Gorge in Gehenna, the Walls of Corristro in the Abyss, and the Bridge of Khalas in Gehenna.
All of these sites are described in Hellbound: The Blood War, which you can buy online in PDF form from rpgnow.com or paizo.com.
2. To make the maps more interesting and in different environments, I wanted also to make maps of Blood War battlefields in e.g. Cania or some deep wierd layer in the Abyss... Is that realistic or are there never Blood War battles in a place that deep inside one of the planes?
There could easily be a Blood War battle deep in the Abyss, since hardly any Abyssal layers are more than one layer seperated from the Plain of Infinite Portals. They're all essentially the plane's second layer, the numbers are arbitrary.
Cania seems really unlikely, given how closely the portals are guarded and how many layers you have to go through to reach it. Stygia seems likely, though, as the River Styx flows right through it - a tanar'ri army would only have to sail directly from Durao (the primary embarkment layer in the Abyss, due to its deep Styx ports) to Stygia. There'd be a hell of a fight getting past the armies commanded by the amnizu, though.
3. Do the demon princes lead the Tanar'ri armies themselves in the Blood War or do other high-ranking demons (e.g. balor generals) do that job for them? If other demons lead the armies, could you tell me the names of some of them?
Mostly the balors are the only ones that lead armies. Abyssal lords are more concerned with things at home. They'll aid the war effort by sending troops (some of them won't even do that much), but they don't physically get on to the battlefield.
4. I've also read that the Tanar'ri use the Vrocks as aerial forces in the Blood War... but what demon race do they use for infantry? The manes?
Manes and dretches are cannon fodder. Bulezau are the classic infantry forces. Bar-lgura are guerillas and sabateurs, armanites are cavalry. Babau help herd the minor fiends - manes and dretches - into the armies. Hezrou command lesser tanar'ri on the battlefield as field sergeants and the like.
5. Are there any important and popular Baatezu/Tanar'ri fortresses involved in the Blood War? Maybe some one them where under siege or something?
Yes. Corristro, in the Abyss, is one of them. Malevolus in the Abyss is another. The Relentless in Baator, and Bel's Bronze Citadel in Baator, are other. You really should get a hold of a copy of Hellbound. It answers all your questions.
6. Do the Tanar'ri/Baatezu sometimes make alliances with the Slaads/Rakashas against the Baatezu?
No. Rakshasas aren't interested, and slaadi are too chaotic. Slaadi do fight the baatezu - extremely enthusiastically, as they despise the lawful baatezu - but they often get confused and fight the tanar'ri, too. They're too wild to be controlled, so they don't make good allies. Also, slaadi in the lower planes tend toward a good alignment, slightly, so they may spend more time rescuing innocents than fighting. They'll also enthusiastically lay their eggs in or infect wounded fiends of any sort on the battlefield, which turn into green slaadi.
7. Do the Slaads have any important/popular towns?
Just the Spawning Stone in Limbo, where they return every year to mate. Slaadi don't live in towns, as a general rule. They're too confining for them. There are individual slaadi who might take to town life, but there aren't any slaad-built towns.
Abyssal lords are more concerned with things at home.
And most of those things consist of fighting each other :D
Oh, Slaadi build towns all the time. But then they forget about them. And after awhile those towns disolve back into the chaos from which they came.
You win.