Nine Hells Conspiracy: What do you think?

[BardicDuelist]

I tend to have deep conspiracies running through my campaigns. The players do not always discover them, but I find that they really help in motivating my villians. One I was thinking of involves Mephitstopheles:

Mephisto has been building up a cult based on hellfire as a quick way to power. This is common knowledge, as is his divine energy debt to the other archdevils. His plan is that when his cultists are fully converted and die, he will recieve a massive influx of souls. Or at least that is what he wants people to believe.

Because of Mephisto's recent obsession with hellfire, the ice devils who were once his most trusted servants have become disenfranchized and many are looking to find a new master who better suits their needs. This creates an oppertunity as the once exclusive ice devils may have found a loophole in their anchient pact which binds them to Mephisto's service. This is an oppertunity being exploited by many of Mephisto's enemies.

Annother group of ice devils who are loyal to Mephistopheles are secretly creating a new type of magic called the Plume. It is supposed to have power which rivals hellfire.

What none of the Archdevils realize is that Mephistopheles has actually secretly orchestrated this ruse, and that loophole is a carefully planned and written lie. Because the other Archdevils think he is blindly obsessed, they feel confidant in their ability to gain information from his disenfranchised ice devil minions. In actuallity, these minions have actually been double agents, feeding Mephisto information on his enemies.

His ruse has also worked in annother way: While all of the archdevils plan to destroy Mephisto's plan to gain cultists and thus ruin his gamble, they are distracted from the Plume which the ice devils are working on. His enemies just consider this a desperate attempt at attention from their master, not realizing that it is actually far more powerful than hellfire.

[Starsinger]

Wow! That's neat! Color me totally impressed.

[Green Bean]

The only snag would be if

The ice devils decide to keep the Plume for themselves. Since Mephistopheles has to keep away from the ice devils, to avoid looking like he's connected, it would be easier to keep such a plan hidden. If this Plume stuff is as powerful as you say, then how will Mephistopheles take it from its creators?

[BardicDuelist]

I should have said that the "loophole" in their anchient contract was a lie. They don't have a way out, but they have a very convincing lie that they do. Changing that.

Also, thanks for the compliment Starsinger.

[Green Bean]

I should have said that the "loophole" in their anchient contract was a lie. They don't have a way out, but they have a very convincing lie that they do.

Ah. That makes more sense.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Might I suggest somethin'? Forget about such plans with old Meph. While never officially confirmed, it has been blatantly hinted that meepho could be a demon spy. And grazzt a devil en disguise. Seriously, Meph almost always is NOT LE, but CE. He is violent and crazy, and I think that the seventh archduke fooling meph into this cult idea would be more fitting.

[BardicDuelist]

Might I suggest somethin'? Forget about such plans with old Meph. While never officially confirmed, it has been blatantly hinted that meepho could be a demon spy. And grazzt a devil en disguise. Seriously, Meph almost always is NOT LE, but CE. He is violent and crazy, and I think that the seventh archduke fooling meph into this cult idea would be more fitting.

That is what I liked about Mehpisto. He always seemed like the hot tempered idiot of the Nine Hells, so the other lords never would think that he could create such and intricate plan.

When I use Graz'zt, which is basically every time I use demons, the way I play him is CE, but intelligent and schemeing. He just has a tendency to create schemes before his current one is even close to being done. He will also dievate for almost any reason, so long as that reason involves destruction and pleasure.

As far as the Seventh Lord goes, I have plans for him as well.

[The_Snark]

Might I suggest somethin'? Forget about such plans with old Meph. While never officially confirmed, it has been blatantly hinted that meepho could be a demon spy. And grazzt a devil en disguise. Seriously, Meph almost always is NOT LE, but CE. He is violent and crazy, and I think that the seventh archduke fooling meph into this cult idea would be more fitting.

Ah... no, not really. Mephistopheles is temperamental for an archdevil, but that doesn't make him non-lawful. Dwarves are often temperamental, but still very lawful. He has his own complex power structure, which he maintains or changes for his own advantage, and seeks to gain dominion over the Nine Hells. Asmodeus has been frustrating him since... well, since the creation of the Hells, really. Or ever since he came to power, depending on which edition you go by.

Grazz't, on the other hand, is solidly chaotic. BardicDuelist nailed it on the head, I think.

It wouldn't really be possible to have a lawful demon lord, or a chaotic archdevil, go unnoticed for very long. Quite apart from the divinations of more powerful demons/devils or resident gods, the layers change to reflect their owners.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Want to know a pretty interesting idea? Create a pretty epicish NPC, who constructs a megacastle. A gigantic metropolis, maybe of more than 250000 people. Then, load it to the brim with at least level 7 adventurers. And the backstory for it is that a friend of the megacastle's lord wants to attempt to break a record. To become the first person to survive more than 24 hours after telling the story of a possible identity of asmodeus (check wikipedia). Make the castle be sieged by BOTH good outsiders on a side, and a renegade band of devils led by a suave and cool pit fiend. Make the PC's sign a pact with both to stop attacking the castle (because of a confusion of both sides, which won't meet till they're both recruited), and to help defending it. As the hours go by, the devil led siege becomes more and more powerful, 'till an avatar of asmy manifests to kill the friend. Then, it's up to the PC's to battle it till the 24 hours end. What about it?

PS: And include some limited artifact that allows the party to have a full night's rest in minutes.

PSS: Just to clarify, Meph is like doctor evil. He is intelligent, but realizes there's a flaw in the plan, and doesn't correct it anyway (a correct interpretation of this is Neverwinter Nights. It shows how Meph made a mistake of dealing with the most powerful Truenamer evah.)
Grazzt, on the other hand, is more like a Bond villain.

[Neon Knight]

PSS: Just to clarify, Meph is like doctor evil. He is intelligent, but realizes there's a flaw in the plan, and doesn't correct it anyway (a correct interpretation of this is Neverwinter Nights. It shows how Meph made a mistake of dealing with the most powerful Truenamer evah.)
Grazzt, on the other hand, is more like a Bond villain.

Doctor Evil is a parody of bond villains. As in, he is one, just a particularly silly one.

[Azerian Kelimon]

With the difference of chaos thrown in. Bond villains do perfect plans, but Bond manages to twist 'em. Evil, however, shows chaotic demeanor, and lets flaws go noticed and unchanged. Bondies = lawful (mostly, some are neutral evil), parodies = chaotic.

[Neon Knight]

With the difference of chaos thrown in. Bond villains do perfect plans, but Bond manages to twist 'em. Evil, however, shows chaotic demeanor, and lets flaws go noticed and unchanged. Bondies = lawful (mostly, some are neutral evil), parodies = chaotic.

The fact that Bond escapes from them means they are not perfect. The sole difference between Doctor Evil and Bond Villains is that Doc evil metagames. Both their plans are equally flawed. Doc Evil just realizes that, but adheres to it because that is how the genre goes. The flaws in both of their plans are somewhat obvious.

Plus, don't you think blind adherence to a plan even when it proves faulty speaks more of law (i.e. slow to change, static) than chaos?