Sanguinem Belli

The Sanguinem Belli (or Blood War, as it is sometimes called) has been a central conflict raging both in the inner and outer planes of the universe of Calcaria. It has eclipsed all other conflicts both in its length and in the casualties inflicted: It is a war fought by one near-infinite army; the devils, versus another, truly infinite horde spawned from the Void; the abyssal Daemons. Its origins lie with Balor, Arch-Devil and god-aspirant who stole the Voidshard from lands hitherto unknown, and the daemons who followed him to reclaim it.
The war was first fought in the nine layers of the Infernum themselves, the devils being pushed to near breaking point until Balor first unleashed the powers of the Voidshard. Now the fighting has evolved between the two sides into a conflict of both the Astral and Ethereal, with the devils and daemons using whatever tools are at their disposal to cut each other off. This has resulted in both sides attempting to recruit every other possible ally into the midst of the conflict, including mortals from the material plane who they promise power and riches in return for their souls.
The Sanguinem Belli has been well embraced by Danu and her host, who have taken this time of reprieve to bolster their own celestial host. Danu's armies lie in wait to see which side will be victorious and will need to be crushed, in the meantime staying content at letting two evils wipe themselves out. She only interferes when the war spills over onto the material plane, which she considers hers and wishes to be left untouched by forces of the outer planes.

The Conflict

Prelude

The Sanguinem Belli truly began when Balor, exiled Solar of Danu, stole an ancient artifact from the Great Beyond, a region of the multiverse hitherto inaccessible to even the gods themselves. How he managed to retrieve an artifact from a plane beyond the reach of the most powerful beings no one can say, but his use for it is almost certainly malign.
After his return Balor found that he had not covered his tracks as well as he had hoped, and into the Astral plane was birthed a maelstrom of evil and destruction: The Void had come to Calcaria. This abyss spawned countless of demonic hordes and began its siege on the Infernum almost immediately. Ever since, the two sides have been locked in eternal conflict, fighting for the Voidshard that Balor still possesses to this day.

Battlefield

During the early stages of the conflict, daemon hordes laid siege to much of the upper layers of the Nine Hells and pushed the Baatezu to their breaking point. A common strategy then was to simply douse the battlefield in fire, since the local devils were immune to it but the daemons were not. This was achieved mostly through magical means and magic became so important during the beginning of the conflict that Balor went on an unprecedented recruitment drive of wizard and sorcerer souls. The daemons of course had no magic, and relied on brute force and sheer numbers to overcome their enemy, which they eventually did.
After Balor unleashed the full power of the Voidshard, Avernus was little more than a mass grave of strewn devil and daemon bodies. The casualties of the daemons were so large that even their infinite spawn pools had to recuperate from their losses, and the devils managed to drive them out of Hell altogether in the coming decades.
The battlefield has now shifted to both the Ethereal and Astral, but some demonic incursions happen through Labyrinthian where they are summoned by the Dark Elves to delve deep through the earth and towards the Nine Hells underneath. Though they cannot travel en masse, these summoned demons are enough of a nuisance that devil seek and kill parties are often sent into the depths of the Labyrinthian to locate spawning pools and portals which they aim to silence.

Conflict Type

War

Battlefield Type

Extraplanar

Start Date

-2948BE

Belligerents

The Devils

The Daemons

Strength

Near infinite, requiring damned and lost souls to replenish their ranks.

Truly infinite.

Casualties

Unnumbered.

Unnumbered.

Objectives

To close the Void and retake control of the Inner Planes.

To reclaim the Voidshard, destroy all life forms and use the bio-matter for the breeding of new daemons.