Beshaba (/bɛˈʃɑːbɑː/ be-SHAH-ba)
Beshaba is the Infernal god of the Trickery domain, ruler of all devils, a patron of power, and known as the greatest devil, the Lady of the Ninth and overlord of the Nine Hells as a whole. She is responsible for accidents, luck and fortunes (good and bad), and random mischief. She has many other titles, include Supreme Master of the Nine Hells, Lady of Nessus, The Lady of the Ruby Rod, The Cloven, Old Hoof and Horn, The Archfiend, The Raging Fiend, Black Bess, and The Maid of (Mis)fortune.
These days, Beshaba is heralded by an unexplained grotesque shadow with faint maniacal laughter. Theologians note that Beshaba never showed herself except through avatars or a projection image, both in humanoid forms. Her most frequent avatar looked like a young, femme, charismatic, red-skinned humanoid over 13 feet (4 meters) tall. She was said to have horns on her head, a wild mane of pure white hair, and glowing red eyes ablaze with delirium. Overall, she was described as charismatic, beautiful, and could give a “look” that captivated people. She always wore very expensive red and black clothing, often a gown of pitch-black fabric, accented with a tiara of black pearls. It is said these clothes looked to be valuable enough to cover the annual national spending of any nation. However, there are a few rare documents that suggest that, underneath these expensive garments, her body was wracked with bleeding injuries. There are a few stories that describe how she always managed to give the impression of being unconcerned with pain, injury, or suffering. Legends say she could manifest ten avatars at once, allowing her to station one on each layer of Hell if needed, with a tenth leftover for managing extra-planer duties. Even with multiple avatars, they were always described as holding a Ruby Rod. There are a few cases where she sometimes limited her manifestations to a 12 ft (3.7 m) tall, white-haired head with a maniacal expression.
It is said that Beshaba rules an entire realm in the Infernal Plane called "the Nine Hells of Baator". Her seat of power is Nessus, the ninth layer. The blood that spills from her wounds is the source for new cornugons and, more often, pit fiends. She is said to have exploited this, building a great army, which is stationed in Malsheem, a giant fortress in the Infernal plane so large that it is considered impossible to draw on a map. Being a god to values her own privacy and safety, she is said to usually remain within her fortress of Malsheem, primarily using other people to make her will clear to others. Other arch-devils are annually called to Malsheem. Legend has it that Beshaba keeps a huge store of souls in the citadel, and they could be bought from her at an extremely high cost. It is rumored that entire kingdoms could be exchanged for a single soul.
She tends to show favor through manifesting animals such as cockroaches and rats, or summoning monsters on her behalf such as half-fiendish humans, bebiliths, bodaks, and quasits. Her holy symbol consists of three inverted triangles arranged in a long triangle, with black antlers protruding from the top-center one. She is also associated with the colors black, mauve, and purple.
Power: 3/5 | Interest: 3/5 | Passion: 4/5 | Form: 3/5 | Thought: 4/5
Following
| Loyalty | Influence | Size |
|---|---|---|
| 5/10 | 8/10 | 6/10 |
Beshaba demands worship to keep her followers on her good side. She delights in temptations (often leading mortals to their own demise via curses), and causing travelers to lose their navigational instincts.
She has a large following, although some argue she is revered more out of fear than out of religious faith. With Amaunator’s assistance she has orchestrated it so that any cult aligned with the Infernal plane, but that doesn’t venerate a god of the Infernal pantheon, is considered a subdivision of Beshaba worship. As such, these cults ultimately swear allegiance to her and not the entity they think they follow. In fact, what boons the other cults can provide is not determined by their supposed god or archdevil, but ultimately by Beshaba herself.
While Beshaba maintains cults dedicated to fictional entities, those who worship her as herself fall into a category called the Revealed Beshabans. These followers understand that their object of worship is Beshaba. To Revealed Beshabans, signing up means joining a secret mutual-aid society. Members help each other into positions of influence and affluence. For some, their prime motivation for joining is greed. They begin by making a pact with Beshaba that guarantees their soul enters the Nine Hells upon death. It is said that Revealed Beshabans leaders who prove their worth were given the ability to drain vitality from an ally.
Written copies of her doctrine state that bad luck befalls everyone, and the only way to avoid it was by worshiping her. In some regions her priests manipulate common folk into revering and providing for them by acting mysteriously and playing on morbid fears. Her clerics offer an entreaty for their spells and make sacrifices of alcoholic beverages such as burning brandy or wine.
Currently, the majority of Revealed Beshabans are Tieflings of the Undersun Empire, but the demography also includes dragonborn, dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, humans.
Beshaba is also documented as a supplier of pacts for warlocks, and a tiefling's or half-fiend's warlock pact is most likely one made with her.
Orders
Doom-masters
The best known order of specialty Beshabans priests are the Doom-masters. They are universally feared for the way they revel in the infliction of misfortune on their enemies.
Black Fingers
If they gain Beshaba's favor, some Infernal clerics, thieves, and fighters of Beshaba can join the secret order of the Black Fingers. They act as assassins dedicated to their goddess's name.
Wormlucks (Priests of Fortune)
In order to spread Beshaba's influence and counter Celestial influence, the Wormlucks were created, serving as a focus for calamities and blessings which occur wherever they go (often affecting them as well). Their style of dress is distinctive, consisting of bright red robes worn over armor, and white wigs to honor Beshaba's own locks.
Divine Domains
Artifacts
Red Wizards of [TBD] were known to erect shrines to Beshaba near their ritual chambers to ward off bad luck.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Holidays
Divine Goals & Aspirations
She is deeply committed to the idea that nothing less than absolute dominion over all reality is necessary for its own benefit. Beshaba is confident in her position as one of the strongest beings across all planes of existence, and genuinely believes her rule is for the best. Under her rule, and only her rule, the planes would be pristine and perfect, with everyone in it having a place and a purpose to fulfill.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
It is written that Beshaba's true form is that of a wingless scaled serpent hundreds of miles long. Her form's sheer size was said to make it impossible for her to meet and enter into conversations with others. Therefore, she created humanoid-looking avatars. The location of her body is a secret, even from other devils. Stories describe how anyone who ever learned the truth about her body’s location was killed within a day.
Body Features
When she used to manifest, her most frequent avatar looked like a young, femme, charismatic, red-skinned humanoid over 13 feet (4 meters) tall. Overall, she was described as charismatic, beautiful, and could give a “look” that captivated people.
Facial Features
Her avatar was described has having horns on her head, a wild mane of pure white hair, and glowing red eyes ablaze with delirium.
Special abilities
Legends say she could manifest ten avatars at once, allowing her to station one on each layer of Hell with a tenth leftover for managing extra-planar duties. Even with multiple avatars, they were always described as holding a Ruby Rod. It is said that everyone within 120 feet (37 meters) of Beshaba’s avatar would fall under an "awe" effect that mdae it impossible for them to attack her.
Stories describe that she has absolute control over the Nine Hells, and with her mind she can change the landscape of any layer in any way she wants when she wants. This control over form extends to the archdevils too, being able to change their forms however she sees fit. It is rumored that she can kill an archdevil with a mere thought.
Descriptions of her protective abilities are impressive. It is said to be impossible to harm her with spells below a certain level of complexity, and she is immune poison, paralysis, petrification, magic dealing with death, illusions, or attempts to influence her mind. Physically, it is impossible to hurt her with even enchanted weapons unless they posses a minimum level of power. Even when struck by such a weapon, the her wounds are said to heal immediately unless the weapon is of a Celestial nature or is otherwise blessed.
She was said to rarely engage in combat, but when she did she used the powers of the Ruby Rod instead of her own. She has magical abilities that allow her to slow people down while decreasing their physical combat capability, or instill fear while sapping physical strength by merely looking at them. Her voice carried an irresistible suggestion that made people subservient to her for ten to a hundred days. It is written that she preferred using these abilities to make people flee from her, or turn subservient, rather than outright killing them. Stories tell of when her abilities failed, she was likely to retreat and let her minions deal with her enemies. Sometimes she would summon a pit fiend, or two specimens of any kind of devil.
Like any other devil of authority, Beshaba has the ability to demote any officially subservient devil (which for her consists of literally all other devils) at her whim. She is the only one able to promote a devil to arch-devil status.
Thanks to Amaunator's assistance, Beshaba is considered the underlying power of devil contracts. This is the reason why breaking a contract with the weakest devil still has the power to consign the oath-breaker's soul into the Nine Hells.
Beshaba's rhetoric and strategic skills are considered a class unto themselves.
Manifestations
Favored animals
- Cockroaches
- Rats
Favored monsters
- Half-fiendish humans
- Bebiliths
- Bodaks
- Quasits
Favored colors
- Black, mauve, and purple
Miscellaneous
- A 12 ft (3.7 m) tall, white-haired head with a maniacal expression
- An unexplained grotesque shadow with faint maniacal laughter
Apparel & Accessories
She always wears very expensive red and black clothing, often a tight gown that snugly wrapped her body in pitch-black fabric, accented with a tiara of black pearls. It is said these clothes looked to be valuable enough to cover the annual national spending of any nation.
Specialized Equipment
Each of Beshaba’s avatars were said to hold a Ruby Rod of Beshaba as a badge of office. It also served as the avatar's main weapon and allowed the holder to attack with elemental forces, force enemies to cower in fear, or provide the holder with a field of healing and protection. In fact, when facing combat, an avatar of Beshaba primarily fights using the powers of her Ruby Rod instead of its innate powers.
Mental characteristics
Intellectual Characteristics
Despite her cunning and charisma, Beshaba is not intellectually invincible. Though she is not above pretending otherwise, she is capable of being surprised, feigning foreknowledge and acting as if all is going according to plan either way. Furthermore, even Beshaba is capable of fury, and if she forgets herself can end up bursting into a rage, her mask of civility slipping to unveil the truth that lurks beneath.
Morality & Philosophy
Although one of the ultimate powers of law, theologians argue that Beshaba does not uphold the rules out of respect. Despite her position that her actions are necessary to prevent the rise of chaos and preserve a kind of cosmic balance, some scholars warn that this is mere camouflage to disguise her true intention.
One of the leading theories suggests that, to Beshaba, the law is merely a tool by which others can be bent to her will. In her view, civilization is a means of gaining power; the structures and technology created by society are instruments she can use crush her enemies. Chaos makes for easy conquest, and to conquer is to bring others under control. Beshaba uses tradition as her protection and wording as her weapon, appealing to the letter of the law. Ancient texts frame her actions as upholding the natural laws of the cosmos. Even her masterfully crafted plans will obey universal laws (e.g, the Rule of Threes), and she believes herself the chosen protector of all of the planes of existence. More than any of these however, is the idea that Beshaba is dedicated to obtaining absolute authority for herself. Her followers believe that, if necessary, she is willing to break every law in existence to do it.
Personality Characteristics
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Beshaba is venerated by her follwoers as a primal embodiment of the Infernal Plane, and a supreme strategist of unparalleled skill. They say her machinations could take centuries, if not millennia, to come to fruition, and that her master plans extended across all planes of existence. Her labyrinthine intrigues are inexplicable to most outside observers, and she lets even her own servants stew in fear of her next move. With all the planes as her board, Beshaba is said to maneuver the forces of the Infernal Plane like chess pieces in her grand designs, slowly and subtly manipulating everyone from deities to, when needed, lowly mortals.
Just as Beshaba is hailed an unmatched schemer, she was also considered an unrivaled orator and a legendary political master of unquestionable prowess. Stories depict her as the most well-mannered of the arch-devils, soft-spoken and eloquent as she lured others into serving her ends. She managed to appear blithely unbothered by pain or injury, and seemed almost chillingly reasonable. Warnings have been written about her supposed generosity. Many cautionary tales reveal that her quickly offered rewards are only given to those willing to sign away their souls, after which they often suffer as a pawn in her designs.
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