MikelaC1
2012-07-09, 08:37 AM
A short history
The odds on any lemure advancing all the way to pit fiend status is several billion to 1, in fact the odds of a lemure even advancing out of that stage is over a million to one. But, when you have an almost infinite number of creatures trying to make the progression, obviously, it has to happen.
Askaretha Kantala was a beautiful but greedy and devious woman. She seduced and used numerous men, enriching herself in the process of ruining their lives and marriages. At times, it seemed no one could resist her charms. As befitted a lawful/evil soul, her soul transmigrated to the Nine Hells upon her death.
However, by an incredible stroke of luck, Askaretha did not receive the normal “baptism” in the Styx River upon her arrival in Hell, and although she was formed in the lowly lemure mode, she retained the spark of what made her, her. Still having her full intellect and continuing drive, Askaretha began to control the other lemures around her and even was able to influence devils above that status (of course, only nupperibos, but still) and began to build up the beginnings of a legion. Of course, it wasn’t as grand as a legion, but it did serve to keep Askaretha safe in the depths of hell; things that preyed on lemures were not particularly choosy about which lemure they ate or sacrificed in whatever skirmish was being fought and so Askaretha could use these mindless drones to make sure her number didn’t come up.
It took hundreds of years, but eventually, Askaretha had built up a sizable number of forces and just in time too, because a spinagon in the service of the pit fiend Kareth came looking for an “army” to assist in repelling a demonic invasion on the first layer of Hell. Finding such an immense gathering, the spinagon thought for sure that not only would he be able to give his master the forces he needed, the speed with which he got them would surely lead to a reward. He was right in the first supposition, the forces were enough to hold the breach against the manes that the demons used as the blunt of their invasion; unfortunately he never got his reward, as he perished under “mysterious” circumstances in the thick of the battle. When Kareth arrived on the scene of the victorious battle, he found a lemure leading the forces (Askaretha) and a reward, promoted him to spinagon status to replace the slain corporal.
Askaretha was now set on her path, and made a vow to herself that one day, she would become a pit fiend. By what she knew, there was no such thing as a female pit fiend, and she was determined that she would become the first. Because she managed to retain her “army” after her promotion to spinagon, she was able to fulfil the recruitment missions that fell to all spinagons by default faster than any other of her kind, and set an unofficial record for the fastest promotion out of that rank and into that of barbazu.
Now, every move she made, every plan she laid was built towards that final goal. Many times, she passed up easy promotions that were available, because they would have taken her out of the normal path of progression, preferring instead the slow but steady climb up the ladder. Thus he never spent time as a harvester, and there were many times when he could have had that chance, watching for the chance to become an erinyes. She built her power slowly and carefully, patiently making sure no attention was drawn to her, until the time that she had amassed enough power at his current level and needed that one big splash to earn herself the recognition and advancement only her superiors could give. From barbazu to hamatula to osyluth, each step was carefully choreographed, and when the chance finally came to become an erinyes, she took it.
Using her skills from her human life, and her increased power as an erinyes, Askaretha became a very successful and very powerful erinyes. She made sure to turn all of her wealth and captured souls back into power for herself, instead of flashy displays of jewelry and bling; this served two purposes, giving her a low profile and making her missions that much easier to accomplish. Askaretha was successful both as a seductress and as a warrior, and soon began to make a “name” for herself. She did not overly pursue this fame, but made sure her accomplishments got at least some notice. Eventually, her power attained a rank such that she was promoted into the upper echelons of the erinyes, the status of pleasure devil.
Now, Askaretha had made it into the ranks of being a true devil, even if she was outside of the ranks that normally became pit fiends. Above her lay the ranks of cornugan, gelugon and the last step was pit fiend. Recognizing that now she needed allies of a more permanent nature, she spent the time while she was lying low from the big step of erinyes to pleasure devil to build up her “associates”. The first such contact was a beautiful erinyes named Sabrina, Askaretha saw her as perfect for her plans, she could tempt any mortal with her beauty and when the going got tough, she was not some silly skank who could not defend herself, she was a true warrior. She became her first recruit. Through her and through her own work, others followed, but even here, Askaretha was careful, making sure that none of her new allies would attract attention, she deliberately did not chose the brightest and the best. They would be the pawns she would later sacrifice, when she made her move for cornugan, gelugon and pit fiend status.
Two centuries passed before Askaretha made her move to become a cornugan, a move that cost her all of her temporary allies, save Sabrina, and once again she laid low, biding her time. Also because her name was now becoming at least known to the arch-dukes (well, perhaps some of their underlings) she also pursued a nominal alliance with Dispater. She saw Dispater as the weakest of all the dukes, strong enough to eventually grant her the status of being a pit fiend, but not strong enough to thwart her eventual ambitions; as well, she theorized that Dispater was mostly on the outsides of the most of the political battles of Hell and thus allying with him would not earn him any major enemies.
Two more centuries past, and Askaretha saw her chance to make the move to gelugon. It was a risky play, because if she saw it through to the end, she could even make the leap all the way to pit fiend status. She and Sabrina weighed the odds, and in the end, Askaretha decided that if she made it to gelugon, she would endure too much prejudice to make the last jump. She had to go all the way in one shot, or else her path would have ended at that last stage. The battle was close, and in the final battle against the pit fiend Kareth (the ultimate irony, in that he was the pit fiend who had first promoted her out lemure status, all those centuries ago) her distraction of the fiend gave Sabrina the chance to launch a devastating sneak attack that finished him off. When Dispater saw what she had done, he immediately made the decision to promote her and she had achieved her long time goal of becoming a pit fiend. It should have been enough...but it wasn’t. Even though she now had the power she had always craved, the centuries of watching the never ending Blood War with demons had angered her. The Dark Eight, they were incompetent and constantly focused on a military strategy, which could not defeat the infinite number of demons that the Abyss could spawn. She had other plans in mind, plans that could bring ultimate victory for the devils. She gathered more allies, and decided on her next course.
She would depose a member of the Dark Eight, and become one herself
The odds on any lemure advancing all the way to pit fiend status is several billion to 1, in fact the odds of a lemure even advancing out of that stage is over a million to one. But, when you have an almost infinite number of creatures trying to make the progression, obviously, it has to happen.
Askaretha Kantala was a beautiful but greedy and devious woman. She seduced and used numerous men, enriching herself in the process of ruining their lives and marriages. At times, it seemed no one could resist her charms. As befitted a lawful/evil soul, her soul transmigrated to the Nine Hells upon her death.
However, by an incredible stroke of luck, Askaretha did not receive the normal “baptism” in the Styx River upon her arrival in Hell, and although she was formed in the lowly lemure mode, she retained the spark of what made her, her. Still having her full intellect and continuing drive, Askaretha began to control the other lemures around her and even was able to influence devils above that status (of course, only nupperibos, but still) and began to build up the beginnings of a legion. Of course, it wasn’t as grand as a legion, but it did serve to keep Askaretha safe in the depths of hell; things that preyed on lemures were not particularly choosy about which lemure they ate or sacrificed in whatever skirmish was being fought and so Askaretha could use these mindless drones to make sure her number didn’t come up.
It took hundreds of years, but eventually, Askaretha had built up a sizable number of forces and just in time too, because a spinagon in the service of the pit fiend Kareth came looking for an “army” to assist in repelling a demonic invasion on the first layer of Hell. Finding such an immense gathering, the spinagon thought for sure that not only would he be able to give his master the forces he needed, the speed with which he got them would surely lead to a reward. He was right in the first supposition, the forces were enough to hold the breach against the manes that the demons used as the blunt of their invasion; unfortunately he never got his reward, as he perished under “mysterious” circumstances in the thick of the battle. When Kareth arrived on the scene of the victorious battle, he found a lemure leading the forces (Askaretha) and a reward, promoted him to spinagon status to replace the slain corporal.
Askaretha was now set on her path, and made a vow to herself that one day, she would become a pit fiend. By what she knew, there was no such thing as a female pit fiend, and she was determined that she would become the first. Because she managed to retain her “army” after her promotion to spinagon, she was able to fulfil the recruitment missions that fell to all spinagons by default faster than any other of her kind, and set an unofficial record for the fastest promotion out of that rank and into that of barbazu.
Now, every move she made, every plan she laid was built towards that final goal. Many times, she passed up easy promotions that were available, because they would have taken her out of the normal path of progression, preferring instead the slow but steady climb up the ladder. Thus he never spent time as a harvester, and there were many times when he could have had that chance, watching for the chance to become an erinyes. She built her power slowly and carefully, patiently making sure no attention was drawn to her, until the time that she had amassed enough power at his current level and needed that one big splash to earn herself the recognition and advancement only her superiors could give. From barbazu to hamatula to osyluth, each step was carefully choreographed, and when the chance finally came to become an erinyes, she took it.
Using her skills from her human life, and her increased power as an erinyes, Askaretha became a very successful and very powerful erinyes. She made sure to turn all of her wealth and captured souls back into power for herself, instead of flashy displays of jewelry and bling; this served two purposes, giving her a low profile and making her missions that much easier to accomplish. Askaretha was successful both as a seductress and as a warrior, and soon began to make a “name” for herself. She did not overly pursue this fame, but made sure her accomplishments got at least some notice. Eventually, her power attained a rank such that she was promoted into the upper echelons of the erinyes, the status of pleasure devil.
Now, Askaretha had made it into the ranks of being a true devil, even if she was outside of the ranks that normally became pit fiends. Above her lay the ranks of cornugan, gelugon and the last step was pit fiend. Recognizing that now she needed allies of a more permanent nature, she spent the time while she was lying low from the big step of erinyes to pleasure devil to build up her “associates”. The first such contact was a beautiful erinyes named Sabrina, Askaretha saw her as perfect for her plans, she could tempt any mortal with her beauty and when the going got tough, she was not some silly skank who could not defend herself, she was a true warrior. She became her first recruit. Through her and through her own work, others followed, but even here, Askaretha was careful, making sure that none of her new allies would attract attention, she deliberately did not chose the brightest and the best. They would be the pawns she would later sacrifice, when she made her move for cornugan, gelugon and pit fiend status.
Two centuries passed before Askaretha made her move to become a cornugan, a move that cost her all of her temporary allies, save Sabrina, and once again she laid low, biding her time. Also because her name was now becoming at least known to the arch-dukes (well, perhaps some of their underlings) she also pursued a nominal alliance with Dispater. She saw Dispater as the weakest of all the dukes, strong enough to eventually grant her the status of being a pit fiend, but not strong enough to thwart her eventual ambitions; as well, she theorized that Dispater was mostly on the outsides of the most of the political battles of Hell and thus allying with him would not earn him any major enemies.
Two more centuries past, and Askaretha saw her chance to make the move to gelugon. It was a risky play, because if she saw it through to the end, she could even make the leap all the way to pit fiend status. She and Sabrina weighed the odds, and in the end, Askaretha decided that if she made it to gelugon, she would endure too much prejudice to make the last jump. She had to go all the way in one shot, or else her path would have ended at that last stage. The battle was close, and in the final battle against the pit fiend Kareth (the ultimate irony, in that he was the pit fiend who had first promoted her out lemure status, all those centuries ago) her distraction of the fiend gave Sabrina the chance to launch a devastating sneak attack that finished him off. When Dispater saw what she had done, he immediately made the decision to promote her and she had achieved her long time goal of becoming a pit fiend. It should have been enough...but it wasn’t. Even though she now had the power she had always craved, the centuries of watching the never ending Blood War with demons had angered her. The Dark Eight, they were incompetent and constantly focused on a military strategy, which could not defeat the infinite number of demons that the Abyss could spawn. She had other plans in mind, plans that could bring ultimate victory for the devils. She gathered more allies, and decided on her next course.
She would depose a member of the Dark Eight, and become one herself