In brief
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Asmodeus – Prince of Darkness

God of tyranny, slavery, pride, and contracts Alignment: LE Domains: Evil, Fire, Law, Magic, Trickery Favored Weapon: Mace Centers of Worship: Cheliax, Isger, Nidal Nationality: Devil

Some say that when the world was forged, Asmodeus wrote the contract of creation, agreed to by the gods. His faithful believe that this contract holds the key to their lord’s final victory, ushering in a new age under his infernal reign. Asmodeus believes in strict discipline, unwavering obedience, and the strong ruling the weak. He loves the art of negotiation and delights in deals that appear fair but actually give one party a disparate advantage. The Prince of Darkness expects and appreciates flattery, although he recognizes it for what it is. Frequently shown as a red-skinned human with black horns, hooves, and a pale aura of flames, Asmodeus often appears as a foil in art depicting good deities. In his temples, such roles are reversed, with the Prince of Darkness standing tall over the other deities bowing before him.

Public temples dedicated to Asmodeus thrive in Cheliax, where they often share space with the nation’s bureaucracy, although secret shrines are scattered across Golarion. Asmodeus’s impeccably clean and orderly clerics dress mostly in dark tones, usually black with red accents; many ceremonies use horned masks or helms. His faithful abound among slavers, bureaucrats, tyrants, and even some silvertongued nobles. Temples built to him look and feel distinctly diabolical, but many are actually temples of other gods that were abandoned or purchased and redecorated to suit their new master, with rituals designed to blaspheme what was once practiced there. His doctrine is recorded in the Asmodean Disciplines, although that work is greatly simplified and relies on numerous appendices and supplementary volumes.

Asmodeus is also the most powerful of Hell’s archdevils, and the only one of that realm’s rulers to rightfully claim the title of deity. The eight other archdevils have long sought Asmodeus’s throne, but to date, none of them have been able to displace the Prince of Darkness from his position of power. Of all the evil gods, the other deities find Asmodeus the easiest to bargain and deal with, although few are foolish enough to do so unless it is absolutely necessary. The most legendary tale of such an event was the imprisonment of Rovagug — after Sarenrae cast the Rough Beast into the Pit of Gormuz, it was Asmodeus who locked Rovagug away. He carries the key to that lock still.

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