”He was kneeling behind a barrel in the drizzling rain. It was cold. Across the courtyard he could smell the delicious food being prepared in the kitchen. He had not eaten in ages and hunger tore at him like dragon’s claws. If only he had a sword! Caine remembered the days when he was strong. He remembered the sweet victories. The carnage that always followed. Raping, killing, looting… Curse this weakness and hunger!
It was too dangerous. He could not go near or he would be spotted. The peasants in this village would no doubt hang him by the neck from a tree. Too long had they suffered his ilk.
‘You surprise me, Caine’
The sudden voice startled him. He whirled about, only to see a pale old man standing six feet away in a black robe and hood.
‘I never thought I would see the day when Caine Bloodshadow would hesitate to take what should be rightfully his’ the figure continued and pulled back his hood. In the rain Caine could see his icy blue eyes and bald head. He was almost scrawny and sick looking.
‘How do you know my name?’ Caine demanded.
‘I know a lot about you. I have been looking for a man of your… qualities shall we say. I want you to serve me’ the pale man answered.
‘To serve you?’ Caine replied in a harsh voice. ‘I don’t bow at anyone’s feet!’
‘Well, two more days out in the rain and you might as well lie down and die. I am offering you a chance to get back on your feet. Food. A warm bed. And of course ample opportunity for bloody mayhem. You’ll be well rewarded for your services’
He could feel the hunger tear at him. He knew this mysterious stranger was right. He would be dead soon unless he took this offer.
‘Alright’ Caine said.
‘Excellent!’ the pale man said with a delighted glee. ‘Take this silver coin as a symbol of our bargain’
He stretched out a bony, white hand with an ancient silver coin lying in the palm. As soon as Caine reached forth his hand to shake it, however, the pale man grabbed it and held it fast in his own. The coin burned like white-hot coal.
‘Argh! Let go! It burns! It burns!’ Caine cried but the frail man held his hand in an iron lock and just laughed hysterically at his anguish. The pain drove Caine to his knees.
‘Who…who the devil are you?’ Caine demanded.
‘Who the Devil indeed?’ the figure chuckled."
The Devils are always looking for willing servants on the Prime Material plane. As a sign of their contract they pay you "The Devil's Silver" - an ancient silver coin which leaves a burnmark in your palm. The mark can be covered by a glove but can never be masked by magic of any kind. On the other hand, showing the sign to any fiendish creature serving that Devil Liege will grant you their full cooperation.
:-) Jesper
IMNSHO Devils simply don't fit into Mystara, but if you really want them in I've got some suggestions:
1. They're the alternative version of Demons (LE in a place where Chaos is dominant), coming from Dimension of Nightmares to compete with Demons in the Mystara Multiverse (this was Cthulhudrew's idea, IIRC). So in this case they fit and yet they are not native of Mystaraverse ;)
2. They're an offshot of Entropic outcasts who prefer law and evil over chaos and evil. Led by Asmodeus, they're technically still part of Entropy and compete with all other chaotic evil deities and creatures.
3. They were Entropics who made a pact with Immortals of the other spheres to stay out of the fray when the war between Law and Chaos ensued many aeons ago. When the Entropics discovered their bargain, they were cursed to always be obsessed by laws and pacts (thus making them LE), reduced in power (much like the Fey, who didn't side with any of the contenders) and cast down from the Outer Planes. They're now extraplanar beings living in the Astral Planes led by Asmodeus, who is trying to find a way to get back what they lost. They have more powers than simple mortals, but they're not as powerful as demons. However, they can reproduce, so they make up their lesser powers with sheer numbers. They use the souls of the mortals to gain more power and as barter goods in the Outer Planes.
4. They can be servants or spawn of a high Entropic lord (Asmodeus) who was exiled to the Dimension of Nightmares for some unknown crime against the Multiverse. He's now trying to come back, and demons and devils fight a Blood War in the Outer Planes and in the Nightmare Dimension.
As u can see, you've got plenty of choices ;)
Nice piece of fiction, Spellweaver (I especially like the final statement ;) ).
IMNSHO Devils simply don't fit into Mystara, but if you really want them in I've got some suggestions:
Indeed, they do not fit with the OD&D multiverse -- and in fact they do not exist in OD&D.
If considering a later edition, you may either fit the multiverse to OD&D structure (an then DM's solutions are all more or less feasible, but there's still no special need to have the Baatezu around), or you may go with the AD&D multiverse (which is what was done, for example, in Planescape products, which do mention Mystara as a prime world in the standard plane structure).
I'd also point out that AD&D Mystara product mention the standard planes (e.g., Carceri), so I'd say that ``canon-wise'', both the OD&D and AD&D alternatives are acceptable.
In the AD&D version, devils/Baatezu would still be much less common (and more subtle) than demons/Tanar'ri.
As a side note, Bruce Heard wrote this article about a Baatezu plot in the City-States area:
http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/dklegion.html
Nice piece of fiction, Spellweaver (I especially like the final statement ;) ).
IMNSHO Devils simply don't fit into Mystara, but if you really want them in I've got some suggestions:
1. They're the alternative version of Demons (LE in a place where Chaos is dominant), coming from Dimension of Nightmares to compete with Demons in the Mystara Multiverse (this was Cthulhudrew's idea, IIRC). So in this case they fit and yet they are not native of Mystaraverse ;)
2. They're an offshot of Entropic outcasts who prefer law and evil over chaos and evil. Led by Asmodeus, they're technically still part of Entropy and compete with all other chaotic evil deities and creatures.
3. They were Entropics who made a pact with Immortals of the other spheres to stay out of the fray when the war between Law and Chaos ensued many aeons ago. When the Entropics discovered their bargain, they were cursed to always be obsessed by laws and pacts (thus making them LE), reduced in power (much like the Fey, who didn't side with any of the contenders) and cast down from the Outer Planes. They're now extraplanar beings living in the Astral Planes led by Asmodeus, who is trying to find a way to get back what they lost. They have more powers than simple mortals, but they're not as powerful as demons. However, they can reproduce, so they make up their lesser powers with sheer numbers. They use the souls of the mortals to gain more power and as barter goods in the Outer Planes.
4. They can be servants or spawn of a high Entropic lord (Asmodeus) who was exiled to the Dimension of Nightmares for some unknown crime against the Multiverse. He's now trying to come back, and demons and devils fight a Blood War in the Outer Planes and in the Nightmare Dimension.
As u can see, you've got plenty of choices ;)
Alot of cool ideas here!
The topic of how Devils fit into Mystara is quite interesting, especially for those of us who use the 3e rules. Seems like a shame not to use all of those monsters ;)
I especially like suggestion 4, which combines some of the ideas above. Also, going by that version we could better explain the events at the end of the "Dark Knight of Karameikos" novel, without bringing in the entire AD&D Cosmology.
Håvard
I don't know much about devils and demons except what I read about Asmodeus and the 8 other Lords of Hell in the old 1st Edition AD&D monster manuals I and II. And I don't know anything about the Bloodwar except obscure references in various 2E AD&D monster products.
IMO, though, like Havard, I think it would be a shame not to use all those nice monsters.
IIRC, Demogorgon is an Abyssal Lord in 1E AD&D MM and Orcus is a lord of one of the 9 Hells in that same product. In Mystara, however, they are immortals (and have been since the old golden Immortal boxed set, right??)
I am going to have to think it over, but I am probably going to go along with the notion that like the Fey creatures, devils and demons were creatures who did not side in the war between Chaos and Law. The Fey were, as a punishment reduced to their present semi-immortal state, while the Devils and Demons were banished to their own planes - the 9 Hells and the 666 layers of the Abyss respectively.
So, while they world of Mystara was still in its infancy and hardly any immortals existed, the devils and demons tested the boundaries of their jails and found that they could communicate with the mortals on the prime plane (Mystara) and sometimes, via the proper rituals, even cross over into that realm.
Some Devils and Demons have been instrumental in aiding some of the very first mortals on their paths to immortality. Orcus and Demogorgon, IMC, were themselves able to escape to Mystara and achieve immortality in that world - forever freeing them of their Hellish or Abyssal prisons.
The Demons and Devils of today are still struggling to escape their prisons and "spill over" into the world of men, but most other than the most evil entropic immortals resist them in these attempts.
It probably needs fleshing out some more. Just came up with it on a whim.
:-) Jesper
The Devils and Demons that escape to Mystara, or sometimes visit it, are not bound by the Immortal Law of non-interference, which partially explains why only Demogorgon and Orcus have sought immortality.
On the other hand, while some kobold tribes may worship a demon or a devil as an immortal, they cannot grant their followers any spells...
:-) Jesper