Asmodeus

Synopsis:

Description:

Asmodeus's true form is that of a wingless scaled serpent hundreds of miles long. His form's sheer size made it impossible for him to meet and enter into conversations with others. Therefore, he created humanoid-looking avatars. The location of his body is kept secret from everyone, including other devils and everyone who learnt of the truth about his body are killed within a day.

Asmodeus never showed himself except through avatars or project image, both in humanoid forms. Asmodeus's avatars looked like a slim, charismatic, red-skinned humanoid over 13 feet (4 meters) tall, with horns on his head and glowing red eyes. Overall, he had charismatic and beautiful looks that captivated people. He always had a perfectly trimmed beard and wore very expensive red and black clothing, which were valuable enough to cover the annual national spending of any nation. However, underneath these expensive garments, the body was wracked with bleeding injuries. While he was in pain, he managed to give the impression of someone unconcerned with the pain the injuries caused him. He could manifest ten avatars at once if needed, allowing him to station one on each layer of Hell if he needed to, with a tenth leftover for managing extraplanar duties. Each of his avatars held a Ruby Rod of Asmodeus.

Personality:

Asmodeus is a primal embodiment of lawful evil and a supreme strategist of unparalleled skill. His sinister machinations could take centuries, if not millennia, to come to fruition, and his master plans extended across the entire multiverse. His labyrinthine, insidious intrigues could seem inexplicable to most outside observers, for Asmodeus let even his own servants stew in fear of his next move. With all the planes as his board, the Lord of Lies maneuvered the forces of evil like chess pieces in his grand designs, slowly and subtly manipulating everyone from deities to, when needed, lowly mortals.

Just as Asmodeus was an unmatched schemer, he was an unrivaled orator, a legendary political master of unquestionable prowess. He was the most well-mannered of the archdevils,[10] soft-spoken and eloquent as he lured others into serving his ends. Even when wracked by constant pain, he managed to appear blithely unbothered, and seemed almost chillingly reasonable.[29] However, though he could seem generous, the quickly offered rewards of the archdevil were given to those willing to sign away their souls, after which they would suffer as a pawn in his dark designs. Despite his charisma, Asmodeus was nonetheless a representative of ultimate evil, revealing his true nature at his will.

In truth, Asmodeus was a tyrant, an authoritarian overlord who sought complete control over as many subjects as he could obtain[36] and nothing less than absolute dominion over all reality. Torture was his tool to break the wills of others and impose his own, and knowledge of secrets and dealings his desired instrument to claim others as his.[39] The Prince of Evil was confident in his position as one of the multiverse's strongest beings, and genuinely believed his rule was for the best. Under his rule, and only his rule, the multiverse would be pristine and perfect, with everyone in it having a place and a purpose to fulfill.

In Asmodeus's mind, only he had the strength, insight, and charisma needed to guide all to an ideal utopia, or at least the infernal hierarchy that the Archfiend interpreted as such. His rivals were inferior minds lacking the skill to see his vision through. The forces of the Abyss were loathsome opposition, their very existence a threat to his mastery of evil and their armies a direct threat to his supremacy. The forces of good were foolish, sentimental beings too soft and weak to do what had to be done. This arrogance would have led to his destruction if he lacked the competence to back it up, yet Asmodeus had managed to thwart all conspiracies against him and survive Heaven with nothing but his wit.

Law or Evil

According to legend, Asmodeus attributed his wicked deeds to necessity and the mandates of law, alluding to the rules of Hell in his defense and arguing that his contracts were never broken. He made the case that the souls he harvested served the ultimately noble end of protecting the cosmos, and noted the sanctity of law as what separated him from the demons of the Abyss. Without him and his devils to defend it, he argued, the multiverse would be overrun by demonkind and ultimately destroyed, and in this, Asmodeus might technically be correct.

Although one of the ultimate powers of law, Asmodeus did not uphold the rules out of respect. Despite arguing that his actions were necessary to prevent the rise of chaos and preserve the forces of good, this was mere camouflage to disguise his true intentions. In reality, Asmodeus saw the Abyss as a useful distraction, and when prepared he planned to destroy the Upper Planes and perhaps even use demonkind to accomplish this dark goal. Ironically, in the most extreme scenario, Asmodeus's plan would ultimately be to embrace chaos, to withhold the power of law from the world and let it collapse. With the multiverse broken down and him having survived its fall, he would remake reality as he desired.

To the mind of Asmodeus, the law was merely a tool by which others could be bent to his will. Civilization, as he understood it, was a means of gaining power, the structures and technology created by society instruments to crush his enemies. Chaos made for easy conquest, and to conquer was to bring others under control.  Asmodeus would use tradition as his protection and wording as his weapon, appeal to the letter of the law, and frame his deeds as upholding the natural laws of the cosmos. Even his masterfully crafted plans would obey universal laws, such as the Rule of Threes, and he believed himself the multiverse's chosen protector.[30] More than any of these however, Asmodeus was dedicated to obtaining absolute authority for himself, and if necessary, was willing to break every law in existence to do it.

Despite his cunning and charisma, Asmodeus was not intellectually invincible. Though he was not above pretending otherwise, he was capable of being surprised, feigning foreknowledge and acting as if all was going according to plan either way. Furthermore, even Asmodeus was capable of fury, and if he forgot himself could end up bursting into a rage, his mask of civility slipping to unveil the evil that lurked below.