 Good afternoon denizens of the absence of light. My name is Edgy Chappy, and it's time to talk about the worst deal of your life, the deal you only make once, the art of the devil. I'm going to talk about what makes a devil, the organizational leadership within, and I will go in-depth with how their infamous deals go down, using resources from both Mordenkanen's Tomb of Boes and the recently released Baldur's Gate Descent into Avernus. As always, keep in mind that the majority of this is my opinion, so if you don't like it, well, that's too bad. But, with that out of the way, let's begin. Halt! Before we proceed with today's arrangements, I must inform you of a sponsored sponsorship sponsored by Nerdarchy. The boys in the lab have been hard at work, slaving away over their newest book, Out of the Box, Encounters for Fifth Edition, which now has late pledges for all you slowbuddies who couldn't make it to the Kickstarter payload in time. Prices and add-ons are still the same, and if you're the kind of gal that likes traveling to exotic locations, then you can pre-order tickets for Nerdarchy the Convention through the Pledge Manager. There might even be cool people there, so enslave that mouse and click its button all the way to Nerdarchy's Kickstarter, made for nerds and by-nerds. So, devils are the nefarious lawyers of D&D with a penchant for dickery and a love of soul music. When you think of a conniving trickster imp or a fiendish, rug-wearing mobster sporting a red wine glass and a vague foreign accent, then you've got yourself a devil, where demons just go around punching stuff like it was a song from I'm in the Band. Devils carry with them lethal grace, finesse, nuance, and metaphysical government tariffs. You see, the whole point of a devil is to move up the company chain of command, from the useless interns of the Lemurs and the Nuperebos, to the less lesser lesser devils, to the, this is a raise, but really it's just more work, greater devils, and finally, to the ultimate managerial position as an arch-devil. The actual rank and file is set up in 13 distinct forms of devil, which go as follows. Lemurs and Nuperebos, imps, spine devils, bearded devils and moraygons, barbed devils, chain devils, bone devils, horn devils and orthons, erroneous, ice devils and narzagons, amnizus and pit fiends, dukes and duchesses, and the all-powerful Lords of the Nine! Capped off with the mighty Asmodeus holding all the keys to the devilish of ending machines of perdition. From within his hyper-intelligent mind, the mecanations for the entire Nine Hells spin, and it is within his will that the devils of those Hells seek out the most potent currency of all, souls. Souls are the currency that keep the Nine Hells stocked and ready for the never-ending blood war against the demons of the Abyss, and they are what get devils ahead in life. See, a devil has three ways of rising up to get that hellbred, and those are punching demons in the face for glory, punching their boss in the face for treachery, or punching mortals in the face for souls. Now, those first two things are either really tough or really dangerous, so the most prevalent way of ascending to their rightful place in the hellish land of the Nine Hells is to go to the material world and start collecting souls like they were Pokémon, and every village was lavender town. Unfortunately for most devils, moving into the material world weakens that devil's power, and it makes forging a legally binding contract almost impossible. The only way to make this contract possible is to either seduce a mortal that is either sinful enough or prideful enough to be corrupted and bring them into the Nine Hells, or otherwise get summoned by a mortal, and while still inside the summoning circle, forge a pact that will be made binding as soon as the devil returns home. Now, the logistical process of actually making a deal is worth going over so that when you definitely don't summon a devil because that is a terrible idea, you don't find yourself unprepared in the moment of truth. Firstly, devils really like showboating, and the forms that their contracts take are a perfect example of that. When you hear making a deal, you might be thinking of a devil opening a large scroll and asking you to sign on the dotted line in blood, and yes, that's one of the ways, devils come up with lots of crazy disturbing ways to make their contract de-uncomfortable, including, but not limited to, singing a song that will forever be stuck in your head, kissing a lemur, covering a contract on a blind dude's skin, dipping your hand into lava and pressing it against stone, hugging an evil baby doll that pukes blood onto you and hearing it ask for honey forever. So yeah, it can be a lot of things. In regards to what the actual content of the contract consists of, it's almost always a mutual trade of whatever the devil has to offer you and change for your soul. Depending on how powerful the devil is, your mileage may vary on what you're allowed to ask for. Lemurs and Naparibos are so pitiful that they can't even make a deal. Any lesser devils can offer paltry sums like 500 gold or indentured servitude for up to nine years. Greater demons can promise greater riches and better service for a much reduced time, and archdevils can promise the world and the palm of your hand, so long as you pay the right price, the price almost being your immortal soul. Granted, some devils are smart and enjoy playing the long game, so they may not ask you for your soul right away. Instead, they could offer you gold and glory in exchange for a service that you could do for them, something that seems easy enough, but may have some hidden caveats. Even while crafting the contract, devils are sneaky little buggers and will hide clauses and find print wherever they think they can sneak it in. So if a devil's deal seems too good to be true, be wary, because the price for failing what you might think is a simple task of finding an apple could turn sour upon the cold realization that all of the apples in the village have been stolen, and the price for your failure is, you guessed it, your soul. And if you don't have a soul to pay for, either because you ponded off to somebody else, you have some weird magic problem affecting you, or you just have hair that's a little too red, then you're still not exempt from the devil's advocacy, as you'll find yourself stripped of all titles and riches, or worse, you'll find yourself turned into a fiendish creature, not unlike a tiefling, but exuding evil and malicious intent at an uncontrollable rate. Finally, if the devil is unable to keep up its bargain, or if the source of the contract is destroyed, then the deal becomes null and void, and both parties get to go home with empty hands and, for you, a happy soul. But most devils take great care to ensure that this never happens, because your soul is their ticket to the big league, and not getting it will leave their bosses angry with no one to blame, but the poor devil that messed up big. However, if the devil does get your soul, then, depending on how influential or particularly heroic you are, your soul could be worth big monopoly money down in Avernus, and once you bargain your soul away, your afterlife is sealed. Once you die, you'll be pulled down into a layer of the Nine Hells and made to serve as a new devil of your own. For most people, their soul will twist and morph into a lemur, or if you were particularly boring, an upper Evo. But for those souls that warrant a big price tag, their reward will be transformation into a devil higher up on the food chain, and they'll be all the more ready to serve their masters in the blood war. And speaking of masters in the blood war, D&D has had a lot of named devils in the history of the coast, but I can help you decide which type of boning damnation you might enjoy more by giving a rundown on a few of the key players of 4th dimensional, extra planer, 8 player chess. First up, we have Xerial, the ruler of the first layer, Avernus, and the star of the latest story in the D&D CU, Baldur's Gate, descent into Avernus, without spoiling anything revealed in that book. Don't worry, I'll talk about it later this month. Xerial is an interesting case in that she actually used to be an angel, tasked with watching the blood war and making sure that it didn't get too out of hand, but her impatience and anxiousness caused her to join in the fight in an attempt to stop it for good, but in the end, her hubris corrupted her and solidified her path to evil. Now she defends the other layers of hell from demon incursions, in what is widely known as the Blood War. Also, a fun fact, they completely changed her design from tomophos and descent into Avernus, and my purest brain will never forgive them. Maman rules the second layer, Dis, which isn't a confusing name at all, and while he is absolutely full of paranoia and a lust for secrets, he officially serves as the main racketeer of the Nine Hells. If you want guns, no one can get you better guns than Dis. Maman rules Mineros, and of all the devils and all the hells and all the planes, Maman has the fattest stacks. He manages the trading of souls, and his treasure hoard is so enormous that it is said that he has the most of any and every currency that is, was, and will be, which is hilariously not reflected in Mineros at all, since he spends almost no money on the lands he rules, meaning the entire level looks like Southeast Detroit. Huh, maybe trickle down economics really doesn't work. Moving on, the fourth layer of hell is ruled not by one devil, but by two. Belial and Phyrna are the duo of devils that handle all of the pain and justice of their layer, Phlegethos. It's very strange to see two devils working together so well, and while they do constantly try to find a way to destroy each other, with Phyrna's charisma perfectly matched by Belial's tactfulness, Belial still manages the day-to-day operations of being a lawyer, and he leaves Phyrna with the task of seeking all the souls that they as devils have to fill as part of their quota. Lovistus and his layers, Digia, are both frozen hell-holes that are equal parts trap and punishment for those who reside there. Lovistus himself is encased in ice as a punishment for daring to mispronounce Asmodeus' name, and he heeds the call of any desperate soul in need that's trying to get out of the frying pan and into the freezer. Glazia is Asmodeus' daughter, and she has a huge rebellious streak that makes all the other devils wonder what the hells are coming to these days. In addition to running the torture department, before she even had a real job, Glazia established hell's first proper crime syndicate, and she successfully pulled off a soul heist where people pledge their souls to a servant with no power, essentially getting a bunch of souls for free by cheating super hard. This impressed daddy Asmodeus so hard that he surprised her on her sweet 16 with Malbolj, the sixth layer of hell. Balzibul is the secretary of the nine hells who actually used to rule both Maladmini, the seventh layer, and Malbolj. But an accounting error, which was actually Balzibul trying to portray Asmodeus as incompetent so that he could usurp him, caused him to be struck with two infernal punishments. First, if he ever lies to another devil, he'll be turned into a slug for a whole year. And that rule was retroactive, so he spent a few millennia as a slug already. And second, any deal he ever makes will end in complete disaster for whoever he makes it with. For mortals, this is fine, because they normally have no idea that this is a thing, so he still gets his red new of souls all the same, but now devils will literally never ever ever work with him again, cutting off all of his scheming plans. Mephistopheles is the magic man of ultimate destiny, and from his tower within Cania, the eighth layer, he experiments on the very fabric of magic and holds the souls of countless wizards who became just a little too ambitious for their own good. He himself is always caught up in his work, and he tends to disintegrate people who annoy him. On an unrelated note, his workroom is always covered in a fine layer of dust. And finally, within the bowels of Nessus, in the lowest, most evi level of the Nine Hells, rules Asmodeus, the most intelligent, most clever, most evil being to rule the Nine Hells! His layer is a barren wasteland, with Asmodeus himself often resigned to his secret fortress, within which he plots to one day rule the whole cosmos and put every being in the multiverse to work in his perfect, infernal bureaucratic system. The tale of the Trial of Asmodeus recounts how the angels of Mount Celestia, accusing Asmodeus of devilish crimes, pushed him to call a trial against himself within the lawful, neutral plane of Mechanus, and beseech Primus, the ultimate being of pure law, to hear his pleas. Asmodeus put on a charismatic testimonial, claiming that evil is necessary for the balance of the multiverse and that he has never made a deal that he's double-crossed or been anything but clear and forthright about. It was simply mortal nature to fall into his hands, and it isn't a crime to keep them open and waiting. During the trial, when it looked like Asmodeus would actually win the case, one of these angels got angry with all the red tape and began infighting with her kin, leading Asmodeus to win the trial and be stuck with the Ruby Rod, an item that represents proof that he is lawful as much as he is evil. The identity of the angel that facilitated this was an unknowing Xerial. And while Asmodeus didn't cause her fall, it was him who orchestrated the entire charade just to get her to trip on her own steps. But that'll about do it. I hope you enjoyed this video. Leave a like, comment, join my Discord, Twitter, Instagram, ring the bell, go to hell, and maybe support me on Patreon so that I can finally pay off that debt to Daddy Asmodeus for getting the successful YouTube channel. But yeah, Davy out.