Dispater (dis-PAY-ter)

Relationships:
Servants:
Dispater's favored servitors were erinyes, natives to Dis appreciated not only for their beauty but for their unfaltering fealty and competence, traits looked for through traps, tests and demonstrably excellent service They earned increased influence throughout Dis and were rewarded for displaying such characteristics.

Patrolling Dis from the skies, Dispater's erinyes would head towards the city and alert other erinyes or important individuals when spotting intruders, presuming they weren't already in a group, in which case only one would leave while the rest attacked. They carefully observed enemy numbers and appearance before leaving and might seek to capture rather than kill them since, as with his peers, entities and items able to better his standing were something Dispater always desired, and destroying something he might potentially want was a quick way to anger him. His chief erinyes was the horribly scarred disciple Ustyhrin-ja, a paranoid devil that was loyal to and only trusted Dispater.

Besides the erinyes, Dispater employed constructs such as iron golems to do his bidding, the most famous and recent of which was Talos. Procured by Dispater through unknown means, the ancient golem was wrongly thought to be created by the Iron Duke, but it nonetheless obeyed his commands.

Dukes:
Labored in by stench kows and spinagons and home to mephits, achaierai and rakshasas were the great estates of Dispater's dukes, set between the Iron City and the distant hills of Dis. The rakshasas occasionally earned leadership positions in such households but were too independent and ambitious to be left unwatched. The duke known as Bitru was the strongest of Dispater's vassals and commanded 70 companies of erinyes, each raised within his fief. Similarly, the war-like general Alocer commanded 36 such companies. Perhaps the most bizarre of his generals was the patchwork quadruped known as Merodach, the leader of 21 barbazus companies.

Dispater's consort was the old and relatively weak consort known as Lilis, a cautious diplomat that cemented her position through strategy, political wariness, and by providing Dispater access to a spy network to rival Asmodeus's. Meanwhile, Dispater's provost, Biffant, managed the Iron Tower itself. The two portly devils showed an uncanny level of mutual understanding, teamwork and trust that exceeded typical expectations for devils to the point that they seemed closer to each other than to Dispater, although they had nonetheless shown their lord unswerving loyalty, granting him control over his domain that brought envy to other archdevils.

The most notable of Dispater's dukes however was his nuncio, the satyr-like, silver-tongued devil known as Titivilus. Dispater had Titivilus serve several roles, acting as his ambassador, advisor, messenger and harbinger, his trust in the duke being so great that he left governance of Dis to him and allowed him to speak and act on his behalf. It was unknown if any message sent to Dispater was ever actually received by the archdevil himself.

In truth, Dispater's biggest mistake was likely putting Titivilus in charge, for while he was justified in being paranoid towards outside threats he had neglected to protect himself from his own fear. Titivilus was not in his position for his strength but because he always knew exactly what to say and exactly when to say it to get his way and confuse others into seeing him as a friend. After gaining his position as Dispater's right hand, he had been preying on Dispater's paranoia, convincing him that even Asmodeus himself was part of innumerable conspiracies designed to dethrone him.

Titivilus insulated his perilous position by killing critics or those that would expose him and creating problems for his master for him to solve, thus making himself seem more valuable to Dispater. Those whose disdain manifested as hatred were terrified of the consequences that trying to take him down could incur and most were simply afraid of him with the exception of one; Arioch the Iron Avenger. As Dispater's enforcer, the avenger protected the city, searching for those that defied, displeased, obstructed or crossed him, and as his bodyguard he accompanied him everywhere that he could be in potential danger, typically outside the city, and warded him from the pestering of devils from other circles of Hell.

Dispater also had a daughter, the outcast duchess Malachlabra.

Archdevils:
For a long time, at least in name, Dispater was an ally of Mephistopheles, although he envied the Cold Lord and was greatly perturbed by the possibility that his arcane studies had uncovered a secret he hadn't yet learned. The two shared a deep hatred for Baalzebul, with Dispater's loathing stemming from the fact that the Slug Archduke was, in his eyes, just a fallen archon and not a 'true' baatezu like Mephistopheles, although only someone as ancient as Dispater would be aware or care about such semantics.

Dispater was once an ally of Mammon as well, but the snivelling serpent's display of craven pleading towards Asmodeus and the speed with which he sold him out broke their partnership. However, Dispater himself was nonetheless cowed after the disastrous ending of the Reckoning, considering himself lucky to still be in his position. He was the most loyal of the archdevils, the beckoning of the King of Hell being one of the few things that would prompt him to leave the Iron Tower, and would need extraordinary persuasion to attempt to betray him twice.

Asmodeus wasn't the only devil that Dispater had changed attitudes towards, him having gained a new political perspective after Glasya's rise. He tried to civilly distance himself from his allies and make peace with his rivals in order to establish himself as a neutral party, a futile goal for a being such as himself in the Nine Hells. The other archdevils nonetheless coveted his secrets, such as the occult trick that allowed him to siphon vast amounts of divine energy from woeful spectres that repented just too late to obtain a second chance.