I return to the library to talk with Jasna again, this time about Asmodeus. This is where I think I will really learn a lot, and am still pretty excited.
I'm going to paraphrase a lot of what she told me, because she basically read me a story. I hope I remember all the important bits!
In the beginning, the before times, there was only chaos. Demons came to be, and thrived and fought for time immeasurable, because there is no time in chaos. But the universe found the chaos intolerable, for the universe is balance, and the power of law rose. And like chaos, law had it's own creatures come into being. These deities used armour of pure stability, and weapons forged of ideal thought. They battled the demons, for time immeasurable, for they hadn't thought of time yet. And they realized that order needed to be tracked, how long, how many, how much longer. Gradually, they began to suspect that no matter how many they killed, there would always be more. They were weary of battle and wanted to work on projects, such as the creation of worlds and intelligent beings.
So they made beautiful winged warriors to serve them and wield their divine magic, both in the endless war against the demons, and in the worlds that were to be created. These beings, glorious in their diversity, were called angels. The bravest, toughest, fiercest angel was Asmodeus. He slew more demons than any other - angel or deity. But as the eons went by, Asmodeus and his magnificent and terrible company began to take on their enemies traits - the better you know your enemy. Gradually their beauty turned ugly, and the deities and other angels began to fear them. And one day the inhabitants of the celestial realms petitioned the great gods the banish Asmodeus and his company.
So Asmodeus went on trial before Tyr, the god of valour. He responded readily to the charges he faced, reading from the tablets of law, that he had helped carve. "The first duty of law is to destroy chaos," and argues that he has done this better than any other. Tyr agrees, but points out that Asmodeus isn't as they had created him, and he has been "poisoned" in the process, and that the gods would prefer that Asmodeus was elsewhere so that they would not also be contaminated. Asmodeus smiled, the smoke of a thousand battlefields rising from his lips. Asmodeus tells Tyr "As Lord of Battle, you should know that war is dirty business. We have blackened ourselves so that you can remain golden. We have upheld the laws, not broken them. Therefore, you may not cast us out."
The gods gathered afterwards to discuss what Asmodeus had said. They could not find counters to Asmodeus's arguments on their tablets, and it did not make them happy. Asmodeus appeared to know their laws better than they did. As more time passed, Asmodeus and his company grew ever more frightful. Fangs, forked tongues, covering their bodies in fire were just some of the changes. The deities fled, building new citadels, but Asmodeus and his company followed them. Asmodeus and his company demanded the rights of champions of order. The deities wished to stop him, but could not find a way in their rules.
So the gods hid away, and worked on their newest, greatest, project - the creation of mortals, and the verdant worlds where they would live. But demons saw, and invaded the world, and Asmodeus was called upon to defeat them. The tanar'ri (the chaos guys) weren't any easier to defeat in the material plane than the outer planes, Asmodeus and his company generally succeeded. The deities and the angels created blockades to keep the demons at bay - walls, mountain ranges, icy wastelands, and buried the demon entrances under the vast oceans. Thus the world was not as pristine as desired, instead marred, as Asmodeus, for the betterment of law. Then the deities made a horrifying dicovery - their pride and joy, the mortals, had immediately set to work defeating the barriers. They scaled walls, climbed mountains, traversed glaciers to let the demons back in. Upon returning, the demons destroyed one earthly paradise after another.
The gods were angry and confused. Yondalla cried "Why did my sweet halflings do this to me?" Moradin thundered "I invented mountains and set my clever dwarves as their protectors! Why did they tunnel under them and into the demon crypts?" And on and on it went, until Asmodeus told them why "Your mortals are taking these actions because you gave them minds of their own." The gods agreed, because without free will, the choice to follow law means nothing. Asmodeus continued "They are curious creatures, these mortals, and the demons have promised them freedom. Soon they will learn that the liberty dangled before them is that of absolute anarchy, and that in the demon realm, they are free only to be destroyed. But by then, it will be too late for them. You might create more worlds and more mortals to people them, but I promise you, the same folly will recur eternally."
The deities realized the truth to what Asmodeus said, and grieved. Asmodeus was not done though "I have the solution that eludes you. One that will allow your precious mortals to retain free will you have so beneficently given them. The problem is this: your law is one of voluntary obedience. You command the mortals abjure chaos, but what happens if they disobey you?" The gods had no answer save that creators should be heeded by their creations. Asmodeus agreed "Indeed they should, but they do not, because there can be no law without punishment."
The gods did not know what punishment was, and asked what it was. At this time, Punishment was a sword, though it has taken different forms since then. Asmodeus pulls it out and says "I have invented this item for you as the ultimate weapon of law. When laws are broken, the wrongdoers must be made to suffer, as a warning to others. Thus, mortals can choose between the paradise of rightful action and the torment of wickedness. A few will suffer punishment so that the majority can see the consequences of lawbreaking." The gods were made uneasy by this, but could see no flaws in the logic. Why would mortals choose to be virtuous, if evil was unpunished? At last, one of the godlings step forward and said "Yes, retribution is the basis of all law," creating the deity Oghma.
This day, the gods began to see that law and chaos were not the only principles of the universe. Good and Evil were natural forces as well. So the gods separated themselves from one another on that basis. Deities such as Hecate and Set offered patronage to Asmodeus's poisoned angels, while Tyr and some of the others drew back from them still more. So the deities handed down their new laws and sent their clerics through the mortal lands to announce that the punishment for sin would be torment. The gods were pleased, they truly thought everyone would obey and no one would be punished. But as the mortals died, some souls trickled in with the stink of transgression. Asmodeus, aided by Dispater, Mephistopheles, and others of his dark brigade, set about with punishment. They flayed these sinners, burned them, placed them on racks.
The shrieks of the damned reverberated throughout the heavens, and the flowers of the idyllic gardens dripped blood. The gods of law tried to shut their ears, they could not abide the horror. So again, they charged Asmodeus with high crimes. In chains, Asmodeus argued "I have merely done what I said I would, under the laws you drafted!" The gods admitted he was right, they had to. "But I have a proposal for you. You wish to see law upheld, but you do not care to witness its ranker consequences. So to preserve your delicate sensibilities, my followers and I will take our project elsewhere. We will build a perfect hell for you. You will gain from its existence, but need never lay eyes upon it. We shall put it... there." He pointed to empty land, now called Baator. The gods agreed, excitedly. Asmodeus extended his hand, a ruby rod of power appearing. "But first, we must make a pact."
Moradin was suspicious of a pact. Asmodeus continued, producing a document with a wave of his hand. "It is to your benefit to ensure that we, who labour for you in a place you will not venture, continue to carry out your will. This agreement specifies the fate of the damned souls. In exchange, it allows us to draw magic from these souls, so we can fuel our spells and maintain our powers." Moradin was still suspicious. "Your concerns are entirely understandable, O Maker of Dwarves. But since we will be separated from you, we will not be able to draw our powers from you, as we always have. You do not wish to make us gods independent of yourselves, would you?" Moradin was appalled by this idea. "So instead, take this lesser measure, and simply sign this pact." Asmodeus smiled, and the deities signed the agreement that determined the boundaries of Hell, and the rules for the transmission of wicked souls. Today, the pact is known as Pact Primeval.
Once the pact was signed, Asmodeus, Mephistopheles, and Dispater decamped to Baator, a bleak, featureless plain. With them came a bunch of dark angels, erinyes. Asmodeus's helpers bemoaned their lot, and Asmodeus explained his plan. The deities of virtuous law reveled in the renewed purity of the celestial domains, free from the dark angels. After a while, they noticed a marked drop in souls come up to them and realized that the dark angels, the devils, were turning the mortals to evil, to ensure their damnation.
The deities formed a delegation for Baator. They arrive and are horrified to find it a set of tiers of monstrous horror and torment. There were countless souls writhing in pain. The souls transformed - first mindless monsters, eventually powerful devils. Tyr demanded to know what this was about. Asmodeus replied "You have granted us the power to harvest souls. To build our Hell and gird our might for the task set before us, we naturally had to find ways to improve our yield." The war god drew forth his long sword or crackling lightning. He cries out about punishing transgressions, not encouraging them. Asmodeus smiled, "Read the fine print"
She continues to say that this story is from Asmodeus, and there is no confirmation from any of the gods involved, so perhaps it is true, perhaps it is a trick.
I thank her, this has definitely given something to think on.
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