STRUCTURING AN EMPIRE
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Meanwhile, out upon the fields of the Third Age, chaos reigned, for those sephiroth and shayatin who had stayed on Midaerd following the Great War sought to wrest control of it for themselves and carve out kingdoms and enslave mortals, and the blood ran thick as they warred between themselves as well as with the jann and the shedim and the nephilim and demons who were so unwilling to relinquish control of Midaerd to the unwanted foreign powers rampaging across its hills and through its forests.
Soon, men began to call upon the powers of Hell, in addition to many others, seeking the strength necessary to attain their desires. These requests drew the attentions of beings of every imaginable disposition, most of them unconstrained by the dictates of fair play or good faith. The future of the Hells was still in doubt and there were many factions grasping for any advantage and few had any compunction about dishonoring the traditional sanctity of the summoner’s parley to enslave one more careless mortal.
I recognized an opportunity here. Choosing to take the long view, I assessed that by codifying an enforceable and binding contractual protocol, meaningful commerce could be fostered between mortals and my own faction who had made the layer of Diabola, at the very center of the Hells, their home. I was interested in expansion through the promotion of sorcery, the use of which was unpopular amongst humans at the time. Justly so. The shayatin had a well-earned reputation for treating interplanar dealings as nothing more than a sport, a sport engaged in only by the most desperate and delusional of mortals. Mortals were generally despised and most shayatin failed to appreciate their potential.
However, in humanity I identified a rapidly expanding resource. They were motivated, capable, intelligent, and ambitious, with unfettered access to Midaerd. They were ideal agents, and I was determined to include them in my strategy because by pushing them away, the hierarchy of the shayatin only strengthened the ranks of our angelic foes. The energy of ubilaz was a commodity in high demand when I was making my bid for power and we, the shayatin, were in a position to barter it for influence across the planes. This could be done effectively only if dealings with the shayatin could be profited from. The situation demanded a policy of inclusion which would draw interest to the discipline of sorcery and encourage discourse and trade with the Hells.
My manifesto was as simple then as it is now, an elegant system of contractual law overseen by a diabolical bureaucracy which maintains safeguards ensuring intellectual standards in the conduct of sorcery. It was established around the principle contract penned in Salomitic phonetic characters and signed in the blood of the participants. Such a contract must be respected by any who wish to maintain membership in the Diabolical Court of Asmodeus. Any such contract is to be honored in good faith by all parties, any of whom are subject to the rulings of the Judges Diabolus. The court evaluates each contract by the rigorous standards of logic and semantics, and the Syndicate Diabolus enforces verdicts through the Syndicate Slayers, independent agents of the court sworn to carry out infernal justice across the planes.
The Diabolical Court created an ultimate authority to replace that which had been lost with the abstention of Ehrimon, a social framework that bound the elements of the diabolical social strata together, around which other organizations and community elements could form. Of course, the more elaborate the structure became, the more byzantine the bureaucracy, the more gravitas it accrued. A ruler must never aspire to simplify his organization, for simplicity and accessibility both breed contempt.
I did the opposite. I kept the mechanics of the diabolical contractual system simple but around it I encouraged the most labyrinthine of organizations to form. This imputed an incomprehensible complexity of design, irreplaceability, and the hopelessness of overwhelming indifference. That was the point in the first place. The goal was not to create efficient machinery. The goal was to create inefficient, unnecessary machinery that could be pushed aside when prime movers need to get something done or blamed when they want nothing to get done. Sound familiar? Yes, my business model has since been copied.
Another important component for any successful political apparatus is the collection of money. It doesn’t really matter if money is even needed. That’s not the point. The collection of money creates legitimacy. An organization which is taking in taxes is important and formidable – it has everyone’s resources and this makes it practically impossible to defy. It becomes a leviathan, unassailable in the mind of the subject, no matter what the reality may be.
The collection of money has an even more profound effect, which is the psychological investment of those who have contributed. Once members begin to pay into an organization, they become members and have expectations. They expect to enjoy a return on their investment that those who have not paid will not enjoy. This will give them an edge. Enforcers of the organization become their protectors. The victories of the organization become their victories. The enemies of the organization become exploitable prey as well as a threat requiring the continuation of the organization (and further payments). This continues the cycle and the founder of the organization becomes the establishment. The perception that becomes reality is that the organization is indispensable.
This was the state of the Hells early in the Third Age and once we reached that tipping point, when my tower in Diabola became the de facto centrum of society in the Hells, then I enacted phase two of my strategy: the systematic extermination of my opponents. Once you reach the tipping point, that is merely the logical next step, because more are with you than against you and every enemy you annihilate makes your base of support feel more secure.
Give no thought to justification. That’s the irony, your own faction will devise more clever justifications than you could, for they are justifying their own participation. This is another example of the power of investment. Keep in mind that justifications are for their benefit, not yours, so it is simply more effective to passively accept whatever justifications make them feel comfortable with the support they are giving to your endeavors. To be clear, I use the term “justify” not in the moral sense that humans might. It is the Hells we are discussing, after all. It is social justification that I describe, the support of one faction at the expense of another, the shifting of allegiances, the betrayal of one’s former allies.
The extermination phase is critical because it makes clear that society endorses you and accedes to your will. Once phase two was over, I could have chosen from a wide range of strategies, anything from plundering the Hells to ushering in a new iteration of the personality cult, following in Ehrimon’s footsteps and establishing myself as the next maniacal tyrant governed by opaque motives and impulsive desires, with every court reception a new bloody spectacle.
Instead, I introduced an open society of reason and logic. Behavior and motive are of no concern to me. I judge not men, only contracts. My single demand is adherence to the Tenets Diabolus which comprise Asmodean law. Do not misconstrue my intent. I make no claim to be something that I am not. I was once elohim, and in my pride I felt capable of the impossible, of overcoming the ultimate force of evil, Ehrimon. I was betrayed by my own exuberance, my desire to do good, which obscured my capacity for logic and strategy and led to my downfall. Ehrimon overcame me and twisted me, obliterating that in me which was divine. He took the joy and the exaltation and left me only the gift for strategy and my vaulting ambition. My mistake, then, was exceeded only by Ehrimon’s, for I have used those gifts he left in me to satisfy ambition and take his empire for myself, not for the sake of evil, nor for spite, that ignoble cousin of evil, but because – just as all other creatures and beings – I was created the way I am. I have simply done what I was suited to do, you see. I would not characterize it as a virtue or a vice. It is just the way things are.
Understanding my reasoning, then, perhaps you can accept this treatise as simple candor instead of trickery. My purpose is to demystify the cosmological struggle that has been going on for so long. It is a business more than anything else. Morality, as it is commonly apprehended, has little to do with it. This is a new age and the outlook of the Hells has changed. In my kingdom there is no bias against humans or any other race. There is no expectation as to philosophy, ethics, theology, or any other standard save Asmodean law which applies to all. Know then that until the end of time all shall be welcome in the Hells under my rulership. Those who wish to prosper may prosper, those who wish to visit may visit, and my laws shall govern each equally. This is the essence, the theoretical foundation, of what the hypocritical worlds of men and angels refer to as justice.
Is it then surprising to find justice more evenly maintained in my own realm than in those of more vociferous advocates whose ardent chest-beating has garnered more universal attention and acclaim? I think not. For, as I have previously stated, I value logic rather than emotion.
Perhaps there is no glory in Hell, but know at least that there is truth.
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