Adramelech

Aliases: unknown

AoC: Book-keeping, administration

Allies: none

Subordinates: Baalzephon, Zimmimar, Zapan, Zaebos, Dagos, Pearza, Baalberith

Appearance: Adramelech resembles a whip-thin, dextrous pit fiend with small horns, large eyes, and a lumpy head. Beneath his heavy gray robes his back is red and his front is a pale, spotted, loathsome pink. Adramelech has a small, neat beard.

Background: Adramelech is one of the oldest lords of Baator. If not for his relative cowardice, he could have ruled the Pit in Baalzebub's or even Asmodeus' stead. Instead, he is content to adminstrate the day-to-day operations of the Nine Hells in the service of his master the Dark Lord. The Eight report to him in the Hall of Infernal Records in the palace of Malsheem, in a seemingly endless library run by mysterious hooded librarians and their vierhaander servants.

Plots: Adramelech knows he's ancient, certainly as old as such primordial nobles as Belphegor, Amaimon, and Nergal. He clearly remembers the setting of Dis' iron foundations. He doesn't remember how ancient he really is, however, and he badly wants to. What was he originally? Was he ever mortal? Could he have been a fallen celestial like some of his colleagues? In his vast library there are books chronicling the existences of every baatezu and noble of Baator, but he can't find the one that tells of his origin. The loss of any part of what the baatezu call the Book of Flame, the history of their race, is unthinkable, and to lose the one that matters to him most is worse. He's sure some rival has stolen it and is using it against him.

The truth is that the book was simply mislaid. It's in the library of Penumue, a former archon who taught writing to mortals in the early days of that form of life. Penumue kept the records of Baator before Adramelech did, and forgot to put all the books back when he left to work for the genie lord Iblis. It's lying in a box along with a few other ancient tomes, guarded by spellhaunts which have formed spontaneously from the resonance of the magical ink.

Adramelech's early history was actually fairly unremarkable. He was a nupperibo at one point, of the kind that forms spontaneously from lawful and evil energies. After taking a turn as the ancient (far less humanoid) equivalent of an erinyes, he eventually became a pit fiend. More interesting is the story of his struggle with the fiend-mage Armaros over the rulership of Baator's fifth layer, and of Armaros' Lethe-brewed enchantment that not only wiped Adramelech's of his memory but also his courage. If the book had been there when Adramalech took over as chancellor, he would have wasted no time in plotting revenge against the fiend, and banished as Armaros was to a floating citadel in Avernus few would have complained. Now Armaros is in Malsheem for the first time in uncounted millennia, working with the Dark Lord on a project known only as the Bringing. Now is not the time to work against Armaros. Or is it?

Adramelech would also like to get a copy of the Codex of the Infinite Planes, purely for research purposes. He's aware of the story that any who read the book become its slave, but is sure that he has the resources to avoid any such curse.

Secrets: The Chancellor of Baator knows any number of secrets about the Pit and its denizens. He knows their true names, their histories and origins, and their habits. One secret he knows is close to home: the Hall of Infernal Records is inhabited by kamerel, an ancient race of the Outlands that retreated into mirrors eons ago. In exchange for his protecting their privacy, some have agreed to come out of their mirrors and act as librarians.

Roleplaying Notes: Adramelech speaks in whispers, a habit that he's kept so long he no longer knows how to stop it. He walks with a perpetual stoop, with several apelike vierhaanders around to support him.

Source: Guide to Hell, Legions of Hell, Dragon #76, Tales from the Infinite Staircase, Dragon #28