| abstract | - In the first age of Creation, Belial was the head of the Fifth House. Removed most from the humans he loved, Belial held court in a palace at the ocean floor, where he created marvelous works of art. He was one of four Elohim to take part in Ahrimal's discussion over how the angels should act in face of a foreseen catastrophe. Belial argued that humanity's ignorance was likely responsible for the threat to Creation, and that they should risk the unknown and reveal themselves to humans so that they might be educated and prepared for whatever lay ahead. When Lucifer joined the debate, Belial sided with the Morningstar's position that they should violate God's ban against revealing themselves out of love for humanity and in hopes that it would lead to greatest good. He commanded all Angels under his command to join the Rebellion and reprimanded those that chose to remain loyal to Heaven. After the rebellion began, Belial was made Lucifer's first lieutenant, and leader of the Crimson Legion. When the other Archdukes forsake him, Belial alone was loyal to the Lightbringer and mounted the defense of Genhinnom after the Great Experiment had failed. When the Fallen were imprisoned in the Abyss, Belial was the one most affected by Lucifer's disappearence. His former love for the Lightbringer transformed into violent hatred and self-loathing that were only aggrandized by the aeons of imprisonment. When Lucifer managed to plant the seeds of summoning into the minds of mortals, Belial was summoned by the court magicians of the Shang Dynasty in China, with offerings of jade, silk and thousand immolated bodies. If he had been to join Lucifer in the crusade to wrest Heaven from God, then the Apocalypse would have been no more than a handful of years away. Fortunately for the sake of humanity and all Creation, Belial is obsessed with his hatred of Lucifer, and cares far more about finding and destroying his former lord and master than for anything else, even usurping the throne of Heaven. In order to destroy the Morningstar and claim his power, Belial would give up mastery of all Creation, or indeed reduce Creation to ashes. Since his reliquary was portable, Belial managed to spread his cults across the whole world. Drawn to the presence of powerful sorcerers, Belial's cults were not as grand or influential in the mortal world as those of Abaddon or Asmodeus, but that was not the Great Beast's intention. Instead, his cults centered on singular powerful hidden figures that were pledged to him. His cults were manifold: The Deikymena in Greece, the Cult of Molech in Phoenicia, the Gaki-Daishi of Japan and the Children of Myrddin of Britain. The purpose of the these sorcerous cults was the cultivation and control over the Ley Lines once created by the Iron Legion. Hoping to use the Ley Lines to locate Lucifer, Belial often traveled on them, seeking to understand their hidden powers. As he became aware of the Hebrews, whose stories seemed to reflect parts of events surrounding the Rebellion as he remembered them, he joined forces with the other Archdukes to destroy them. Belial incited Babylon against Jerusalem and took up residence in the ruined city afterwards, until he was ousted by the Persians. Unlike his rivals, Belial was not weakened by the rise of monotheism, since his cults were elite and already far removed from society. Instead, he closely investigated each form of these new religion for signs of Lucifer, and eventually found a residue of the Lightbringer's resonance in the holy city of Jerusalem. Using his cults, the Earthbound Archduke mobilized religious fanaticism and political greed to transform the city into a hotbed of religious conflict. Belial's intention was that the people would be appaled by the bloodshed wrought in the name of religions of peace and tolerance, weakening Lucifer and his Faith supply enough to locate him. Instead, his actions only galvanized people's beliefs even more, driving multiple lesser Earthbound into slumber. As faith receded across the world, Belial commanded his most trusted cultists to bury his reliquary in the earth of Asia Minor. The Reckoning reawakened Belial, who again began to search for his enemy. Through contacts to Dagon and his vassal Enshagkushanna, Belial learned that Lucifer was most likely located in Los Angeles. Joining forces with two other Earthbound, Belial caused a disastrous earthquake that sparked the Devil's Night Riots that only ended when Lucifer revealed his Apocalyptic Form. Now being sure that the Lightbringer was somewhere in Los Angeles, Belial remains in the city, using a network of agents and enslaved demons in an attempt to locate Lucifer. Belial is an immensely powerful demon of pride, whose arrogance will not allow him to ever accept Lucifer’s pre-eminence in the infernal order. He has the capacity to cause and control all manner of natural disasters, especially storms and earthquakes. He is also a creature of darkness and rage, who can control shadows and awaken uncontrollable anger, terror and madness in human minds. Because he only maintains small cults, though, Belial rarely expends his precious resources with such black miracles. Instead, he prefers to act through his thralls and pawns, saving overt displays of strength for emergencies.
|
