Dios, the Banished One, Lord of the Infernum
Dios, the Banished one, the Father of Lies, Former King of Hell
Everybody knows that it was Asmodeus who signed the Pact Primeval, thus giving Devils a new home and creating the current system of Alignment where Souls, not deeds determined the relative strength of the major powers. Hell replaced Perdition as the domain of Lawful Evil, and Devils en mass migrated to their new home, to live forever under the rule of the Lord of the Nine, the absolute ruler of hell for all time. This of course, is not true, little regarding the Lord of the Nine is, though he was an Angel corrupted by fighting the Abyss, and fell to evil, the Lord of the Nine did not propose, or support the Pact Primeval, it was an easier figure, Dios the Father of lies. Unlike Asmodeus, Dios did not fall from Heaven, instead he was the Banished Prince of the Ancient Baatorians, the old pre Devil beings of the Nine Hells, driven away for attempting to seize power. He came to Perdition and immediately became a major player, using the realm of Perdition as a focus point for his great war against the Baatorians. However with the arrival of Asmodeus, the two of them made a secret alliance (along with Mephistopalis, Triel and Belial) to overthrow Sataniel, tired they were of his absolute rule over Perdition. To do this, they turned to an unexpected source, the Upper Planes and the beings of Lawful Neutral. Dios proposed the Pact Primeval and the Planes were forever changed, the original domains were moved aside and new homes were created reflecting the new order. Dios chose Baator as his new domain, and the Devils settled in to this new home, calling it the Nine Hells of Baator. The Devils were quickly able to overrun the natives and subjugate them, but those who surrendered could expect decent treatment from Dios, who was Baatoran himself. For all of his horrific evil, Dios did honestly believe that Hell served a valuable purpose, and the dual roles of hell as the domain of Punishment and a vehicle to fight the Blood War were taken very seriously by Dios. However, treachery as always was just around the corner, and through a mix of treachery, force of arms, subterfuge and possibly chocolate, Asmodeus was able to lead a great coup against Dios, destroying most of his loyal followers, and driving him from the capital. The Horrific The Great Uprising then ensured, as Hell fought Hell, with Dios only having Belial as a loyal follower. Even then, the war came to a stalemate until Belial, offered a better deal, betrayed his master and Dios’ greatest army was destroyed, and Asmodeus then was able to seize control of Hell’s machinery. He then suddenly emerged with power that none of his peers had ever expected (or maybe he always had them, and only now manifested them). Part of this came from the fact that unlike Dios, Asmodeus made himself Lord of the Nine, not Lord of the 9th, ensuring himself far more power. Dios was banished and Asmodeus to subdue the remaining eight lords in very short order, subjecting them to his will and quickly kill, banishing or securing the surrender of most of Dios loyalists. He then rallied hell’s armies to wipe out the Baatorians once and for all, as well as driving Sataniels forces out of Hell when they attempted to take over. Asmodeus ruled Supreme, and has continued to do so for the million plus years since that great war, and Dios has become like Woland, a forgotten figure of failed evil. Or not….well kinda.
Dios has since taken up residence in a domain of hell more suiting his power, the legendary Inferno, home of Fiends and the Domain of Pure Evil itself, the heart of which lies Satan, the Source of all Evil itself, forever trapped in nice tearing itself apart. The Fiends while evil, are weak and focus upon committing small acts of evil, all the while futilely trying to bring an end to the Blood War so that the Realms Above might be destroyed once and for all. So it was to their great chagrin that Dios, a partisan of Lawful Evil and one planning to continue the tradition of evil infighting, emerged in their domain with his four closest companions (Xaphan, Caasimolar, Demoriel, Naome) and set up shop, taking over 4 of the most important layers which he quickly claimed as his own. Later he welcomed exiles from Hell, Abaddon and the Abyss, the former Lord of the Sixth Beherit, the Great Serpent Leviathan, and the Former Queen of the Abyss Lilith, and the eight of them make up the largest power bloc in the Inferno.
Dios own realm is called Infernus, a layer that he was able to purge and remake so that it contained a part of his very essence, he effectively was able to add a new layer to the Inferno (hence the name) and over the millennia has been able to become one absolutely with the plane. Dios is one with the plane, as Primus is to Mechanus, so Dios is to Infernus, nothing goes unnoticed by him, and the few invasions that have occurred of this realm have found themselves overwhelmed and destroyed in short order. All movements are seen, all whispers are heard, a thought is not hatched and no plan conceived without Dios knowledge. When people speak of Infernus, they speak of Dios and visa Version. No creature, no thought, stands a chance against Dios on Infernus, and within this singular Domain, Dios has become more powerful than he was even before the Great Uprising, but of course that is only within his own realm. Outside his domain, he is far weaker than he was, and while he is only slightly weaker than Asmodeus, even Bel could easily destroy him with his far greater forces should it come to a fight. Dios has little in terms of offensive abilities, his personal army of Devils, while numbering Millions, is mostly irreplaceable, as he only gest new Devils when locals feel like defecting over to him (not a common occurrence), and the Fiends are unwilling slaves who would betray him at a moment’s notice. Thus he has no choice but to slowly tempt mortals to his worship, which has very slowly increased the size of his army. Recently however, he has discovered a new tract, he has started to promise the Fiends that should he defeat Asmodeus, he will prioritize destroying good before wiping out the Abyss, and has secured at least some of their loyalty in return. His domain have also become home to exiles from the Grey Wastes, Perdition, Gehenna, Abaddon, really anywhere that might produce evil beings who would like a shot at Asmodeus, think that attacking Hell is a good idea, or simply have nowhere else to go. However for all of Dios’ power, Asmodeus doesn’t seem to regard him as a major threat, while Dios is almost impossible to finally kill, he is really only dangerous to Asmodeus (currently) as an opportunists, if Asmodeus suddenly suffers a major defeat, Dios and his forces might try to take advantage of his temporary weakness to invade. Dios and his forces are vultures, just waiting for Hell to make a critical mistake so that they might sweep in and hopefully deal a crippling blow.
On Dios part, he has been launching occasional raids against Hell, but also sending feelers to see if he can find any dissidents or traitors among the Infernal forces.
Relations: His four servants are for obvious reasons, utterly loyal to him, any Cosmic powers who are still with Dios at this point would only do so if they were utterly loyal. They do squabble among themselves to an extent, but generally these guys are a team, and bringing down Asmodeus is the primary goal. Beyond that, he has a loose alliance with Lilith, Leviathan, and Beherit, who via convenience are working with him against mutual enemies, though they occasionally fight due to power struggles within the Inferno. His greatest allies are those who despise Asmodeus, specifically Moloch, Geryon, Sammael, Verrier, the Hag Countess and to a lesser extent Levistus (Dios is afraid that he might be a double agent). Ideally all of them would attack Asmodeus simultaneously, and through that they might defeat the Serpent once and for all. He has not made any effort to work with the Lord of Hellfire, as he resents the Devil’s betrayal during the Uprising, and he would likely sell out any alliance anyways. Despite mutual hatred of Asmodeus, Dios resists allying with either the forces of Perdition or the Abyss, who he views as equally great threats who could destroy everything he has worked for. Currently he is focused upon hiring adventurers who can help him gain an edge over Asmodeus, and people who want to put a finger in the eye of hell can find easy patronage from the Banished Lord.
Within the Inferno, the Infernal Seven are by far the most powerful, and nobody dares fuck with them. The Guardian resents them, as he feels they are impure interlopers who have corrupted the Inferno’s true wonder, but he keeps it to himself as they are far too powerful for him to stand up too, particularly since recently losing his Avatar to…well the Avatar. Behemoth is almost as powerful as Dios, but cannot defeat him and his alliance and so focuses most of his time on the Abyss
His Four Servants include Naome (Current Queen of Infernum), Xaphan his greatest Champion, his chief Adviser Demoriel, and his elite spy Caasimolar. Each comands their own domain, and run their own plots to try to secure the Serpent Throne for their beloved master