Baalzebul, the Lord of Flies

Maladomini was once a bustling realm of vibrant cities and a panoply of roads, gardens, and bridges. It was the center of the Hells’ bureaucracy, where every edict, law, and order was dutifully copied and filed away. With each passing year, the devils would add more fortresses and archives to Maladomini to house all their records.
Then came the single greatest act of treachery in the annals of the Nine Hells. At the time, the archdevil Baalzebul was so powerful that he ruled two layers of the Hells, Maladomini and Malbolge. He conspired to topple Asmodeus and replace him, which in itself was not a crime. But in order to work his plans, he knowingly altered documents that passed into his care with the intent of confounding the apparatus of the bureaucracy. Before his scheme could come to fruition, he was caught and subjected to the most bizarre of punishments.
In that time long past, Baalzebul believed that he could cast Asmodeus as incompetent and amass a force to replace him before Asmodeus’s allies could act, but his calculations failed to take into account the unpredictability of The Blood War. A sudden offensive from The Infinite Layers of The Abyss struck Avernus just as Baalzebul was about to put his plan in motion. Baalzebul directed most of his shield legions to stay out of the fight, instead of helping to hold the line against the demons, so that he could use them in staging his coup. The absence of those legions, however, enabled the horde to push close to the doorstep of The Iron City of Dis.
Baalzebul was forced to abandon his plans, realizing that The Nine Hells of Baator would be of little use to him if it was overrun with demons, and ultimately he united with the other archdevils to turn back the invasion. But when an investigation of the events uncovered his treachery, Baalzebul didn’t submit to punishment, and Maladomini was wracked with fighting as the other Lords of the Nine took to the field against the conspirator. The resulting devastation left much of the layer in ruins.
After Baalzebul was overwhelmed and defeated, Asmodeus stripped him of his rulership of Malbolge but left him in charge of Maladomini, albeit with a new set of duties. Asmodeus knew that Baalzebul’s superior intellect and propensity for lying would make him the ideal representative of the bureaucracy of the Hells in the worlds of mortals. So, to ensure his loyalty while taking advantage of his talents, Asmodeus enacted two laws concerning him.
First, whenever Baalzebul lied to a devil, he would transform into a slug-like creature, hideous to all who beheld him, for one year. This penalty was retroactive, covering several millennia of deceptions and untruths — and only recently has Baalzebul worked off all those transgressions and been returned to his former humanoid form. In all that time, he has not told a lie to another devil, and his continued honesty is motivated by his desire to keep his current appearance.
Second, Asmodeus decreed that any deal Baalzebul strikes shall end in disaster for the other party. For this reason, other devils avoid forming alliances with him, even though they know he is compelled not to lie to them. Mortals, on the other hand, know nothing of the situation and still offer their souls to him.
His ability to scheme neutralized by these limitations, Baalzebul continues to ensure that the devils’ bureaucracy runs smoothly. He focuses most of his attention on gathering souls from the Prime Material Plane, a task to which his talent for lying is well suited.

Ruled Locations

• Maladomini