Lord of the Eighth Hell
Baron of Cania, the Cold Lord, the Prince of Promises, the Lord of No Mercy, the Whispering Lord, Lover of Darkness, Lord of Hellfrost, Lord of Hellfire
Aliases: Mephisto, Mephistophilus, Mephist, Mephoz-tophel, Mephostopheles, Molikroth
AoC: promises, time, forgotten secrets of Baator's history, cruel humor
Superior: The Dark Lord
Allies: Dispater
Subordinates: Baalphegor (consort), Barbas (chamberlain), Adonides (steward), Bele (justiciar), Belphagon (dead), Bifrons (dead), Hutijin, Nexroth, Hadriel, Jalie Squarefoot, ice stalkers, the Maskim. Two companies of pit fiends, including Silcharde, Bechard, Guland, Sphandor, Buldumech, Anxrab-bas, Ezegul, Ulfrin, and Seilazar: most of them are dead following Molikroth's coup.
Rivals: Beelzebub, Leviathan, Belial
"I like to play with the mouse before I eat..."- Mephisto
He is thought to have originated in the depths of Nessus, the very lowest of the Baatific planes, and worked his way to the office of court magus of Asmodeus himself.
Tiring of his role as magus in Malsheem, he seized the Eighth Hell from Rimmon, its insectoid ruler, and claimed it as the first step in his conquest of the Deepest itself.
It seems the original ruler of the Hell called Caina or Cania was a powerful general named Shalgiel, who accoring to the myths of the pit fiends originally froze that circle of the Pit. Shalgiel is thought of as formless and incorporeal - as the wind of Caina itself. Shalgiel's servants were similarly formless.
Until Rimmon. Rimmon created cocoons with which he snared some of Shalgiel's servants and transmuted them, creating the first of the gelugons as his army. With this army he defeated Shalgiel, The remaining minions of the previous lord universally bowed down to their conquerer in order to save their miserable lives. Shalgiel was reduced to a mere wind, a spirit of the air under Rimmon's absolute control.
Rimmon was the uncontested master of Caina until Mephistopheles took it from him, wielding the dark sorceries of Nessus in ways Rimmon had never seen. Driven from his domain, Rimmon slunk into Nessus himself and sacrificed most of his power to the Dark Lord of that realm, in exchange for being permitted to serve there. Rimmon became lord of the gelugons of the layer, and a great master of weather magics.
Imagine black wings so vast that they cover the sky and drain the world of all its light. Imagine a universe of dark and cold. In its forboding heart, imagine a pool of cloying, honeyed warmth. This is the palace of Mephistopheles, the Lord of Cania. Mephistopheles ("Loves Not the Light") considers beauty and ugliness, corruption and purity, torture and revelry, discretion and control, reward and punishment, even ice and flame to be equal tools to further his goals. Unlike the other lords of Hell, he makes certain his names are in most tomes available to powerful wizards, daring all to summon him or his servants. It is said that he brought more than one civilization crashing into Cania with the influence gained from his dark pacts. He is the very youngest of the Nine; even Bel had led Dispater's legions for millennia before Mephistopheles snuffed out his insectoid predecessor. Mephisto is a tall, heavily muscled humanoid with large wings and blue-black or red-black skin, though he may make himself appear fat and clownish if it pleases him. His primary source of amusement is torture. Mephistopheles was not, for most of his existence, fond of priests. He sponsored sorcerers and witches instead, but has lately permitted a growing cult to exist. He thinks of himself as the natural heir apparent of the Nine Pits of Baator, an early encounter with the exiled Kingmaker of Hell, Gargoth, confirming this to his satisfaction. For a long time, Mephistopheles seemed almost sedentary, never leaving his warm and heated fortress in Cania. He had once challenged the Dark Lord's throne in Malsheem itself with an ancient secret called the Hellwinter, the source of Cania's chill. Afterwards he sat, defeated and still, even his lips sealed. The cold breeze would speak for him.
Mephistopheles' nobles are known for their powerful voices and defiant natures. The Prince of Promises even encourages others to believe he allows them personal freedom -- he doesn't, but he hopes it will help him win support in his bid for the Overlordship of Hell.
They thought the Lord of Hellfrost had become frozen himself, a statue of ice. He hadn't moved in centuries, since the Reckoning when Triel the Fallen cost him his chance at Baator's throne. Occasionally his voice could still be heard, whispers in the wind as it blew throughout the Eighth Circle.
Baron Molikroth was fat, pompous, and hungry for power, a fop in Sigil's latest fashions. He was also clever and mocking, a court jester of sorts in Mephisto's court entertaining the nobles with feats of witty torture and mutillation.
Until recently, Molikroth was thought to be a completely separate fiend. It wasn't sometime after the jester led a successful coup against the Lord of the Eighth that he revealed himself for what he truly was - a guise of Mephistopheles himself. All those who had joined him in overthrowing himself were destroyed.
This marked a change in the Lord and his policies. During all those still centuries he had been working on a secret project, reaching far beneath the glacial tundra into Caina's forgotten heart. There had been a warm era before the baatezu conquest, he proved. And what was left of it had become very angry indeed, trapped as it was. Mephistopheles tapped the trap and learned how to harness the force. One day Baron Molikroth called all his court together and, with a smirk, revealed himself as the Lord of Hellfire. None but he survived the subsequent inferno. He then called back the remaining nobles who had been exiled during the coup. "And," he added, "don't bother to bring your coats."
Some still mutter in secret that Mephistopheles has bitten off more than he can chew. The Hellwinter was one thing, but investing so much of himself in a pre-baatezu force is nothing short of blasphemous. They forget that the wind has ears as well as a tongue.
Mephistopheles allows one of his most ambitious remaining nobles, Hadriel, to believe he doesn't respect her because of her status as former consort to the now-deceased Duke Bifrons. This only inspires Hadriel to concoct ever more ambitious plans and schemes, never becoming comfortable or complacent. The Lord of No Mercy's second most successful servant, Jalie Squarefoot, has made himself into a lich as preparation for futher transformations. Hutijin and Nexroth are kept busy commanding companies of pit fiends, while Barbas allows everyone to believe he hides within Citadel Mephistar because of weakness, his true duties known only to Mephistopheles and himself. The seven Maskim (named Lunias, Mercurias, Venyas, Solanius, Mertios, Jovius, and Chronios) are the direct hands of Mephistopheles, and they roam the lower and material planes at his whims. Baalphegor, Mephistopheles' consort, is well regarded by the Overlord of Nessus; her genius has created many of Baator's tactics and inventions, and she works diligently in the Iron Blossom of Cania to perfect more. She is far more ancient than her lord, having been a noble almost as long as Triel the Fallen. Other inhabitants of Cania include nightshades and the fiendish servants of Emma-o, of the Celestial Bureaucracy.
A cult of Molikroth still remains in Sigil's temple district and Ribcage. They worship the Lord of No Mercy in his old, cold aspect, ritually tormenting their victims with knives of ice, decorating the frosty altars with delicate lace. Mephistopheles permits them to continue, perhaps valuing the confusion they cause among his enemies or perhaps not caring enough to bother. The Cult of Hellfire has become more powerful, however, especially on the Material Plane.
Curiously, Mephistopheles has not bothered to develop contacts in the Plane of Fire as Belial has. Perhaps he considers his flame to be of a fundamentally different sort, or he does not think competing with Belial on that front would be wise at this time.
The gelugons who dominate so much of Mephist's still icy plane are somewhat of a mystery to the lower rungs of the infernal hierarchy. What are their duties, so integral that all pit fiends spend some time among their ranks? Some guard the Pit that leads to darksome Nessus, and some patrol the rest of icy Cania. Many, occasionally in modified form, battle the tanar'ri on the Blood War front. Some serve Mephistopheles directly as minor nobles in his court, some as ambassadors to other layers, and others direct squads of ice stalkers and guilds of kocrachons. A small proportion of them are stationed in Stygia by the Dark Eight to keep a watch on Levistus and his amnizu. He is especiallly proud of the "hot" gelugons Baalphegor has been developing for him.
But the true purpose of the ice devils is simply this: perfection. The cold wastes of Cania, with their desolate, featureless terrain, are thought by Zaebos of the Eight to be the ideal environment in which to develop complete clarity of mind and singularity of purpose, and so he treats the layer as the flipside of the purifying Pit of Flame: a purgatory in which to test the spirits of those who would rise higher. A gelugon must serve for 777 years without a single error; most must repeat the term many times before getting it right. Some give up first, defecting to Baalzebul instead. It is the duty of Nexroth and Hutijin, and their subordinate pit devils, to monitor the gelugons' progress and report it to Zaebos' Ministry of Promotions. The ranks of ice devils and ice stalkers are filled with spies and moles to aid them in this task.
Mephistopheles allows them total independence in this, concentrating on his own schemes to ultimately take all of Baator for himself - which for him means first defeating the Lord of the Flies. Everything Mephistopheles does is in preparation for this. Unfortunately for him, he no longer has the allies he once did. Mammon has proven himself willing to sell everyone out for the Dark Lord's approval, while Geryon actually did exactly that and was exiled for it. Leviathan, who replaced Geryon, is as lustful for Caina's territory as he is for Phlegethos, and the moment the Lord of Hellfire moved too many troops to another layer he is sure that Leviathan would strike. He is trying to cultivate an alliance with Lilith, hoping he can convince the Hag Countess to protect his flank from Leviathan's bonedreg legions. Thus far, the Countess has been cynical and even contemptuous of such a relationship, preferring to avoid entangling herself in any bargain that might limit her independence. It would take a great boon indeed for her to change her mind.