The Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent
Jutting from the eternally belching plumes of stinking, corrosive smoke rises the accursed Iron City of Dis. Atop its shrieking, blackened keep sits the Infernal War Council, a gathering of seven of the most wicked, cunning, and diabolical archdevils in existence. Known as the Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent, each Head of the Serpent embodies one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Together, their decrees shape the course of the Great War, overseeing Hell’s relentless campaign against Creation on Earth and commanding all Infernal forces in service of the hierarchy.
In the twisted, treacherous, and changing politics of Hell, even the mightiest of devils rarely hold their seat on the great War Council of the Court for long. Towering statues of the Heads of the Serpent, representing Wrath, Envy, Lust, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, and Greed, are erected by slavering work gangs of Yoke Fiends, only to be torn down and crushed into rubble as new devil lords claw their way to power, trampling their rivals beneath them.
The hierarchy of the Court is anything but stable. Countless envious pretenders scheme against the Heads of the Serpent, each vying to seize their place and claim the glory and prestige of such a lofty position. Only Mammon is said to have held an almost unbroken reign of power as the Serpent Head of Greed for the entire Great War. The other positions have seen a bewildering parade of dukes, marquises, margraves, barons and baronesses, paramounts, princes, lords and ladies, earls, and countless other high nobles rise and fall in their eternal machinations for influence and power.
This relentless cycle of political ascension followed by utter ruin is mirrored among their mortal followers on Earth. In turn, the strength of a demon waxes and wanes with the number of mortal followers they can corrupt to their cause.
The Council operates by majority vote, often decided by the slimmest of margins. It takes little for an ambitious Prince or Princess of Hell to amass enough enemies to be deposed, have their wings torn, and their power stripped away. Cast down, they are forced to claw their way up from the depths once more, their rivals’ jeers stinging like venom. While Beelzebub is the most powerful devil of Gluttony, the Lord of the Flies scorns his rightful place at the Court, waging his war against Creation through his Black Grail. This leaves his seat vacant, causing the lesser fallen angels to squabble for the prize of the Throne of Hunger.
At the command of the Court, warbands assemble at the Hellgate, ready to strike out and blight the world. Yoke Fiends muster under the banners of their Praetors and Sorcerers. The shattered forms of the Hell Knights are forced into their suits of armour, emerging from fiery tombs where their bodies lie crushed beneath massive, ever-turning slabs of black basalt while they are not serving in the war effort. Desecrated Saints are brought forth to serve as unholy war altars, their very presence corrupting and perverting the land they traverse. Ahead of the warbands swarm Pit Locusts, the clatter of their wings heralding the Court’s approach, their venomous stings leaving burns that cannot be healed. When deathly omens stain Hell’s burning sky and black stars align, a Hunter of the Left-Hand Path will join a warband as they emerge from the Mouth of Hell.
Most warbands march behind the Wretched, mortal slaves of the Court, lashed onward by the merciless whips of the Yoke Fiends. As they march to join the Great War, joyous and triumphant music played by unseen hands echoes through the air, for taking part in one of these hunts is considered a great privilege within Sheol.