Princes of Hell is the name given to a group of helborne overlords known as demon princes in the Aeon of the Champion story series.
Lore[]
Initially, they ruled as lords over various parts of the Tartarus, the closest semblance of authority in the entirety of the dreaded realm. They not only possessed great proficiency in the dark arts themselves, but also commanded scores of lesser demons they referred to as their hellspawns.
After the fallen Aesir, Sargamon, was crowned Ruler of the Underworld on the Seat of Flames, he bent the seven demon princes to his evil will, encasing them in sinister capsules known as the Seeds of Discord. Scattering these seeds across Middle-Earth, he ordered the princes to colonise the entire planet, causing the foundation of the Black Empire (subsequently referred to as "Hell on Earth" by the planet's native sapient species).
Hell on Earth was brought to a dramatic end during the Sin War when the seven uncorrupted Aesir raised an army out of the earth's crust itself which led to a great war. The war concluded with the destruction of the princes' citadels and their subsequent imprisonment in subterreanean plates. Due to his increasingly volatile nature, even in apprehension, the demon prince known as Lucithel was slain. His organs were later used by the shaman Astraroth to create the Shrine of Lucithel in the Red Temple.
Following the collapse of the Black Empire, the remaining Princes of Hell sought to make use of their time on Middle-Earth. During the Blessing of the Aspects, in which the Aesir empowered the dragonflights to do the work of the Pantheon, Mammon corrupted the heart of Tiamat, leader of the black dragonflight, and turned her into a Goddess of Ruin. Taking advantage of the other Aspects, she tainted their eggs years before hatching, so that they did not produce any dragons. This kept the population of the other dragons in check, while the black dragonflight kept rising in power and number. During the War of the Ancients, she later revealed the extent of her betrayal, turning her dark powers against the smurf/night elf defenders and other dragons as well as the demons. The Princes of Hell were also responsible for, indirectly, bringing about the collapse of the Unicorn Kingdom of High Faerun, when Mammon manipulated the archmage Gul'Thop and caused him to betray his people, first by allowing Satan to drive Fenrir to madness, and then by using the distraction to set events in motion that made him the Unicorn King.
Members[]
- Asmodeus (also referred to as Ashmodai, Asmodee and Azmodan) is the Demon Prince of Lust. He is responsible for creating the Incubi and Succubi, who serve as his dark agents. Because his corruption manifests in the form of natural human desires, it is one of the hardest to resist.
- Belphegor is the Demon Prince of Sloth, who encourages a lax attitude and a lifetime of laziness. Belphegor specialises in promoting unproductivity and stagnation.
- Beelzeebub is the Demon Prince of Gluttony, whose spirit of Wastefulness has lead many a society to ruin. Belzeebub encourages people to take more than they need, leading to squander.
- Mammon, the Demon Prince of Greed. During Hell on Earth, Mammon's share of the Black Empire was greater than any other of his princely contemporaries (at ~30%). He has more followers than any other prince, and his shrine was the largest out of all those created by the Crimson Cult. Many monarchs and aristocrats are slaves to Mammon, for they sell themselves to him in order to gain quick wealth. Little do they know that come death, their souls will be under his evil thrall for eternity.
- Sathanas is the Demon Prince of Wrath. His eyes have been described as "burning taps" and his tounge a "bed of flames". By far the most unstable of the remaining Demon Princes, Sathanus drives people to insatiable anger, usually via possession. Despite this, many of his worshippers claim that he "empowers" them to deal with their conditions. Shaman Azathoth described Sathanus as the "most physically dangerous" demon prince. He was also the only demon prince to have escaped from his prison (as seen in the events of Cataclysm).
- Leviathan, the Demon Prince of Envy and Lord of the Ocean, causes covetousness and unnecessary jealousy. He works very closely with his affiliate, Mammon, though the two operated separate empires. He is also the only demon prince with an alternate title, as he also has Middle-Earth's waters at his command.
Past members[]
- Lucithel, the Demon Prince of Pride, was the most powerful of the princes of hell during his lifetime. Possessing immensely powerful shadow magic, as well as the ability to command hordes of xenomorphs at will, the entire survival of Middle-Earth was in a perpetual state of doubt as long as he corrupted its soils. Despite his overwhelming power and determination to fill the Spire of Doom above his illustriously obnoxious citadel, his share of the Black Empire was surprisingly below Mammon's, at ~22%. After the rise of the Carnal Armies, Lucithel was obliterated as he was considered too dangerous to control underground. His heart and eyes were later used by to make a shrine during the Third Wave.
Trivia[]
- The 7 demon princes of hell embody the seven deadly sins of lust, greed, gluttony, wrath, sloth, envy and pride.
- As of the December 2017 lore retcon, the demon princes are no longer "parasitic eldritch horrors". That description would better fit the Chaos Gods.
- Some demon princes match Old Gods from Warcraft. For instance: Leviathan is similar to C'Thun. Sathanas is similar to Yogg-Saron. Lucithel is like Y'Shaarj, and Mammon is like N'Zoth.
- As of the Sin War (the war in which the demon princes were defeated and their citadels destroyed by the Carnal Armies) the six princes of Hell are no longer working for Sargamon, and instead serve their own desires; one has even switched to the Dark Cosmics.
- During the events of Ragnarok, the dragon goddess of chaos, Tiamat, allied herself with the demon princes and attempted to free the titan Watchers in order to distract them long enough to allow the demons to escape. She hoped that this would restore the Black Empire to greatness.
- Back in Hell, the princes weren't exactly seen as royalty. They were just looked at as more powerful demons. Once they were relocated to Earth by the Seeds of Discord, they were finally allowed to reign as the royalty they were. Mammon said that he liked Earth because "its native inhabitants have wills of glass" (it was easy to break their resistance and enslave them).
- The demon princes fought amongst each other even before the Sin War. For instance, the capital of Belzeebub's empire used to be Belial, and it straddled the border of Asmodee's territory. Furious, the Lord of Sin attacked, and destroyed the city of Belial, forcing Belzeebub to build a new capital in Belzari, south of the old one.
- Mammon had the largest share of the Empire, at 30-35%, and his capital city (Avaricia) was the largest on Earth during the 'Hell on Earth' period.
- Lucithel's empire was built on the Focus Point, the centre used by the Pantheon to order Middle-Earth and bring its scattered islands together. As such, the area was very ustable. Lucithel decided to prove his worth by sitting on the point itself, rather than residing in his capital (Hubriscki), making him the only demon prince not to live in his capital city.
- Leviathan controlled the waters and 'ports' of the Black Empire, making him a key ally of Mammon and Belphegor, whom often traded with him. This allowed Leviathan's Empire to have a powerful economy, even without much land.
- Asmodee's empire was built on what was thought to be the 'root' of Yggdrasil, the 'world tree', and thus there were severe fears about the Cosmos' stability. The Lord of Sin played on these fears by erecting a fake tree near Orgrary, one of the cities in his Empire, and an area known as the 'Dark Gardens' surrounding it to shield it from good-for-nothing adventurers. Asmodee then 'corrupted' the fake tree for the purposes of scaring everyone else.
- Sathanus once considered himself the King of Hell, rather than just a prince, but his defeat in two back-to-back wars - first to Lucithel and then to Mammon - eroded his influence, and the Lord of Pride and Greed respectively went on to duopolise the empire.