Abyssal Lords

Of all the tanar'ri, these are the worst - and the whole race is bad news at best. The lords rule entire Abyssal layers, command vast armies of tanar'ri, and prosecute the Blood War mercilessly. They've elevated themselves through sheer force of will and cruel disdain for others, and they combine a godlike intelligence with all that's brutal and dangerous about the lesser tanar'ri - with horrifying results. Over millennia of existence, the bloods've perfected hatred and diabolical trickery, and they rage against one another as much as they fight anyone else.

Basically, they're some of the most evil bashers in the multiverse. Each is radically different, but they all serve as ideals for the hordes of lesser tanar'ri. It's thought that each layer of the Abyss has its own lord, and the uncountable number of layers means there must be more lords than a body'd ever want to think about.

The ones best known among mortals, listed along with their layer (if any), are:

• Alzrius (601st, Conflagratum)
• Baphomet (600th, the Endless Maze)
• Demogorgon (88th, the Gaping Maw)
• Fraz-Urb'luu (said to have staked out a small realm on the Gray Waste)
• Graz'zt (45th-47th, Azzagrat)
• Juiblex (222nd, Shedaklah)
• Kostchtchie (23rd, the Iron Wastes)
• Lissa'aere (27th, Malignebula)
• Pazrael (503rd, Torremor)
• Sess'innek (7th, the Phantom Plane)
• Vucarik, Consort of Chains (wanders)
• Yeenoghu (422nd, the Sleeping Woods)
• Zuggtmoy (222nd, Shedaklah)
• Frazorza (221st, Blekhole)

These Abyssal lords are well known to prime-material and planar mages. Any sod who deals with fiends knows the dark names and shivers when they're spoken aloud. The lords love to manipulate mortals, steering them toward foolish choices or luring them into false priesthoods. The high-up fiends can even grant spells of limited power. And gifts of magical items and tanar'ri servants often woo mortals into serving them. Some of the sods even establish religions based around the fiends' hollow teachings.

See, if there's one thing the lords have learned over their long years, it's how to imitate deities. Most of them aren't true powers, but a berk who forgets might as well pack it in. Abyssal lords don't take lip from anyone, and they're remarkably tenacious when it's their own dignity they're avenging.

'Course, the lords hope to one day shed the pretence of godhood and become the real thing. And it happens. For example, Baphomet, Demogorgen, Juiblex, and Yeenoghu have gained true divinity (as has the lost power of the undead, whose name has been stricken from all records in the Abyss). They've made places for themselves in the multiverse through perversity and strength of will, and they show no signs of slowing their ascent.

If enough Abyssal lords reach such heights, who knows how mighty the plane itself could grow? What's more, because the lords are chaotic, no one can tell what they're planning. They all work separately and thus are even harder to combat. It's a good thing they all struggle against one another as well, or the rest of the cosmos'd be in trouble.