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Asmodeus

2019-02-15T11:29:09Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:7188:7BFE:DF8F:3B4D:

[[File:Asmodeus.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Asmodeus, the King of Hell. Note the firebred hellhound and, yes, the Ruby Rod.]]
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Asmodeus
|Symbol = [[File:Asmodeus symbol transparent.png|200px]]
|Alignment = Lawful Evil
|Divine Rank = Debatable (see below)
|Pantheon = Openly [[Archdevil]]s; Ancient Brethren secretly
|Portfolio = Being Satan
|Domains = '''4e:''' Knowledge, Torment, Tyranny '''5e:''' Knowledge, Trickery '''PF:''' Evil, Fire, Law, Magic, Trickery
|Home Plane = The Nine Hells of [[Baator]] (currently imprisoned), the primordial soup of creation (former)
|Worshippers = Slavers, tyrants, bureaucrats, Satanists
|Favoured Weapon = Mace (shaped after his Ruby Rod)
}}
'''Asmodeus''' is THE evil god AND an [[Archdevil]] in [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. He is the absolute ruler of [[Baator|the Nine Hells]], stationed squarely in its infernal core of Nessus. His daughter Glasya is one of the commanders in charge of a "lower" level.

==Fluff==
Asmodeus was introduced in [[AD&D]] 1st edition. In the [[Monster Manual]], no less! His domain was detailed in ''Dragon'' magazine. It's mostly stayed the same since.

Asmodeus was part of the Creation War. After defeating the Primordials, the evil gods set out to kill each other over who would take over the Universe while the good and neutral ones tried to stop them. Asmodeus was able to get a large number of angels to side with him and led a rebellion against the heavens. He was struck down and landed on Baator, which originally had ''seven'' Hells but he made two more just for shits and giggles. There he set up his kingdom of hate.

Asmodeus takes on the form of a boring, run-of-the-mill Halloween devil. Oh, except for being 13 feet tall. He has impossibly high charisma and can only really be damaged with Holy items. Typically, he's a patient schemer who can wait epochs for his plans to resolve, but during the rare times he doesn't use stars forming and dying to time himself, he uses guile rather than force... usually. His Ruby Rod has a lot of at-will spells that he can use, and he can alter lesser beings. ...Yes. It's called the Ruby Rod. The Ruby Rod of Asmodeus. It's been around since forever, and, yes, it looks exactly how you think it looks. Some of his followers even carry similar Ruby Rods, but they are far inferior in length, girth, and potency to his.

''This has been an obvious dick joke. We now return you to your original article already in progress.''

===2e===
The book Guide to Hell gave us a completely new view of Asmodeus. At the dawn of creation, beings of Law began to rise up from the primordial soup. The mightiest of these were Ahriman and [[Jazirian]]. Jazirian was a feathered and winged serpent, while Ahriman was scaled and forked of tongue. They bit down onto each other's tails and together began to create Law in the chaos. The first thing that they created was the Unity of Rings: everything keeps happening over and over again. This place, the first ring, became known as the [[Outlands]]. When it was defined the other planes fell in around it, thus creating the [[Planescape|Outer Planes]].

Next up after this was to honor their three aspects: Law, Good and Evil. From this came the Rule of Three, stressing the importance of the number three in all things. Finally there needed to be a third rule: the Center of the Universe. This is where it started to go wrong: while the Outlands would have been the obvious choice, Jazirian pushed for [[Celestia|heaven]], while Ahriman pushed for [[Baator|hell]]. The two began to pull and struggle at and with one another, until they eventually [[rip and tear|tore each other apart]]. Jazirian flew up to the heavens: each drop of blood she spilled from her severed tail tip turned into a fully-formed [[couatl]]. The wingless Ahriman though began to fall: he in fact fell so hard that upon hitting the seventh layer of hell, he fell ''through'' and in his crash created two new layers. Where his blood hit the ground, Pit Fiends sprung up. Ahriman got stuck in his pit, unable to leave.

[[File:Jazirian_and_Ahriman.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Jazirian and Ahriman, busy creating the three rules of the multiverse.]]
In their struggle the two serpents had lost much of their power, and began to nurse themselves back to health. In this time, the other gods overtook them, banded together and began to colonize the [[plane]]s. So, Ahriman began to hatch a new plot. He took the guise of Asmodeus, a near-power just short of being a god: the arch-devil and the lord of evil. But he is more than that: more potent than even the gods and not dependent on the adoration of mortals. He is trying to get into power by ways of three plans: the [[Blood War]], the Politics of Nobility, and Armageddon.

Asmodeus fakes that the Blood War is of great importance to him: he sees it as little more than a series of skirmishes who turned into a full-blown war. But by staying at war with the [[Tanar'ri]] he makes the upper powers think that if one of them were to win, they would flood out to the rest of the planes and create a massive war that would end all life. Thus, they continue to let the fiends fight amongst themselves. The second plan, the Politics of Nobility is more or less the same thing but internal: by keeping the devils occupied with struggling with one another they won't have the resources to fight Asmodeus and his plots.

The third one is a far more sinister plot. Those who die without believing in anything. Since only the believers can go to an afterlife, those who do not believe are instead send elsewhere, namely Nessus. But instead of becoming petitioners here and starting out as [[Baatezu|Lemures]], they become chow for Asmodeus. The process of being eaten by a primordial serpent takes centuries, [[grimdark|during which the petitioners remain fully aware as they are devoured, feeling nothing but excruciating pain for centuries.]] Being destroyed in such a way completley undoes the soul in question and cannot be brought back in any way. Every soul devoured this way heals Ahriman's wounds a bit more, and when he has fully healed Ahriman will break free of his prison and cast the multiverse back into the primordial chaos it came from. Nobody, not even Jazirian would be able to stop him, and he would remake the universe to his liking. And this is a Bad Thing.

===[[3.5e]]===
In 3.5 Asmodeus got a new backstory and became a magnificent bastard of massive proportions. In the ancient days the Gods were troubled by mortals because they would do bad things over and over again. Asmodeus, one of the smartest people ever, pointed out it was because there was no consequence for doing this and invented "Punishment" which took the form of a rod with which to strike the guilty. The Gods liked the idea and so Asmodeus and his followers went about punishing mortals that did wrong all over the heavenly realms. Well the Gods of Good that they served got disturbed by this; sure there were results and mortals were being less of a collection of dicks because of it, but they didn't like evil souls being tortured in their herb gardens. Asmodeus had a solution. He wrote up a giant contract that would make him and his followers separate from the Gods, give him his own realm (a little one-layerer called Baator), and he and his followers would get energy from those they punish, leaving the Gods free from having to manage the thing. It was such a good idea that all the Gods signed it. When Asmodeus and his followers arrived at the dirt hovel plane after imprisoning its former ruler Zargon, they thought he had gone mad. Then he explained the rest of his plan.

A few millenia later, the Gods started to notice something was up with the number of souls they were getting. Investigating, they found that Asmodeus had been a productive bastard. 9 layers of hellscape, legions of devils, and innumerable tortured evil souls. Except some of those souls had been bought or corrupted by Asmodeus and his followers.

St. Cuthbert the God of Retribution drew forth his mace and shouted "You fiend! You are only supposed to punish the wicked, not tempt them into acts of evil!" Asmodeus smiled, held out the contract alongside a novelty oversized magnifying glass, and said "Read the fine print."

In this edition we see why Asmodeus re-installed Levistus to his former position as leader of the 5th layer of hell ''without'' freeing from his iceberg prison and more importantly, not providing the traditional promotion makeover.

===[[4e]]===
Talking about Asmodeus in 4e gets complicated, for a very simple reason: there are ''two'' of him in that edition. One is native to the [[Nentir Vale]] setting, the "core" of 4e, who is functionally a brand new individual in terms of lore, and the other is native to the [[Forgotten Realms]], and is supposed to be the same one who's been plaguing the Realms from the very beginning of D&D, resulting in the need to "build on from" his lore from at least 3rd edition.

The Asmodeus of the Nentir Vale was once the most powerful [[archangel]] of a goodly god, but during the [[Dawn War]], he became convinced that his master was holding back the forces of the gods with his "virtuousness" and that harsher, more ruthless behavior was required to win. This may have something to do with his claiming a shard of the Seed of Evil from the [[Abyss]], something that also sparked the [[Blood War]] of the [[World Axis]]. He spread his beliefs amongst his fellow [[angel]]s like a poison, swaying them until they were able to rise up en masse and murder their former master. So thoroughly did Asmodeus obliterate even the memory of his former master that only the fact of his prior existence remains in the world today, resulting in this god being called only "He Who Was". Filled with paranoia that if his old master's name is ever rediscovered, the god could be brought back, Asmodeus stops at nothing to scour for any clues he might have missed.

Did this Asmodeus get what he wanted? Well... yes, and no. It is hinted his taking charge of his old master's troops actually did help boost the gods in their war effort, and he was accepted amongst the gods... right up until they realized his treacherous rat-bastadry and ambition wasn't sated yet, at which point they backed off. Plus, He Who Was cursed Asmodeus and all his followers as he died, transforming [[Baator]] into the current hellhole that it is, warping them into their present devilish forms, and forcibly binding them in Baator as an inescapable prison until Asmodeus figured out a loophole or two.

Incidentally, this is what defines the devils of the Nentir Vale setting; whilst any angel can serve an evil god and still be considered an angel, devils are ''fallen'' angels, marked by a divine curse for their treachery and deicide.

As a god, Nentir Vale Asmodeus has the portfolio of Power, Domination and Tyranny, and his associated [[Cleric Domain]]s in "Divine Power" are Civilization and Tyranny. His three commandments are:
* Seek power over others.
* Repay evil with evil, and exploit the kindness of others.
* Show neither pity nor compassion for those caught underfoot on your rise to power; the weak do not deserve compassion.

Aside from killing He Who Was and creating the devils, and possibly orphaning [[human]]ity - some believe He Who Was used to be humanity's patron god, but then again, others claim that humanity's patron was a different god who was murdered by [[Zehir]] - the most notable influence that Asmodeus has in the [[Nentir Vale]] is being the creator of the [[tiefling]]s. Long story short, the nobles of the waning [[human]] empire of [[Bael Turath]] made diabolic pacts with Asmodeus for the survival of their empire, transforming them all irrevocably into the first tieflings. Even though Bael Turath fell in a mutual-kill with the empire of [[Arkhosia]], scattering tieflings and [[dragonborn]] alike across the world and breeding a strong distaste for their former master in many tieflings, the heirs to Bael Turath are still stereotyped as Asmodeans by default in the present.

As for the Asmodeus of the [[Forgotten Realms]]...

Basically, this version profited hugely from the [[Spellplague]], seizing advantage of the death of [[Mystra]] to murder & consume one of her divine underlings, [[Azuth]]. This not only propelled him to godhood, but allowed him to tap into the [[Spellplague]] just long enough to reshape the very structure of the planes themselves, forcing the [[World Tree]] into the [[World Axis]] and decisively ending the distraction of the [[Blood War]]. At least, he ''claims'' reshaping the multiverse was his doing; he may just be lying. The lord of all devils does that, you know.

Also, he supposedly used his new power to "claim" all of the tieflings in the Realms, mutating them into their 4e canon forms as a side-effect of marking them.

===[[Pathfinder]]===
Like in 4ed Asmodeus is a God, though rather than a Devil who worked his way up, he was either a God from the start or one of the oldest ascended Outsiders, and is one of the biggest players among the Gods. The Book of the Damned claims him to be one of a pair of primordial first gods with his brother Ihys, until the two had a falling out on the matter of law vs chaos, gathered allies among younger beings, and in the first act of deific treachery, Ihys was slain by Asmodeus. He then gathered his celestial followers and marched them to Hell, a far more empty place back then, and took it over, sculpting one of his Archdevils, Mephistopheles, out of the plane itself in his image. The 'primordial first gods' story could be BS, other accounts paint him as an ascended Celestial, but he's old enough regardless that only the later conflict and Hell parts can be confirmed by the other Gods.

As the god of tyranny, hierarchy and order, he places law as paramount and is surprisingly easy to deal with for an evil, at least if you yourself are a god. Even the younger and more hot-head good gods have consulted him on occasion. Most famously, when Rovagug the Rough Beast went to war with all the other gods, the Empyreal Lord Sarenrae forced it into a prison in the center of Golarion and Asmodeus provided the key, locking it away hopefully forever, but making his position to the Gods indispensable. Aside from typical evil nuts, his worshipers include lawyers and other legal professionals.

Asmodeus believes the entire multiverse will move past this whole 'free will' thing and fall under his tyranny eventually, but as such an ancient being he is willing to be supremely patient about it, make deals with everyone, and wait for the inevitable.

He's sexist, but primarily regarding outsiders as what a damned mortal soul looked like in life has no effect on what devil it can become. Unlike outsiders such as [[Angel]]s, who have male and female individuals of the same type, male and female devils are effectively separate species, or at least life phases. [[Erinyes]], the most common female devil, are factually one of the weaker types of devil.

===[[5e]]===
In Fifth edition, things are hazy. The forced re-organization of the Planes back into the old Great Wheel means that the Blood War restarted without Asmodeus wanting it to, but he's technically still a true God. Azuth, the god he ate, is now back as well, and Azzy is now weaker for it. In addition, he has now been noted to have in fact been controlling the cults of several other Archdevils all along, including his lesser rival and Fallen Angel, Mephistopheles. His raw power has diminished, but he has a new plot, one which is actually working. He has started to open legit churches in [[Forgotten Realms|Toril]], and possibly other worlds. By explaining in clear detail to sinners that they will be tortured for all eternity if they're captured by any form of fiend (including Mezzoloths or worse, Tana'ri) or if they go to the Hells without some form of leg up, they just tell the sinners outright that worshiping Asmodeus will let them start partway up the fiendish hierarchy in Petitioner form... which is ''absolutely true''. That annoys the Good churches to no end, because it's enough to get some desperate old sinners to throw their lot in with Asmodeus right away. To others who aren't ready to sell themselves to him, the churches instead offer services to people who want to conceal things, apologize for their lesser crimes but can't do it elsewhere, or otherwise cover up sins, which may actually absolve those sinners under some circumstances... or just give them a sense that they can escape all their problems through prayer, and thus encourage them to misbehave more. Asmodeus has actually been able to get several Waterdhavian nobles to buy his Holy Symbols and '''wear them around,''' which even fiends which became Gods before he did like Orcus never managed.

That said, he's still nowhere near as strong as he was when Mystra was dead and Azuth was in his belly, and the fact that he now has to defend against attacks from every direction thanks to the planar shifts (from Carceri not so much, but from the Abyss, you bet) means he's far less free to act covertly, even if his open worship is drawing in souls at a shocking rate. For now, he's collecting cards to his hand, and only time or a new edition will tell what he does next.

==Followers==
Yeah, anyone lawful evil basically. There are a few who worship other beings, but most of them go to this guy. He's ''very'' convincing. They're all gonna go to Hell. And while he might promise you something nice once you get there, read the fine print. It ain't worth it.

{{D&D-Greyhawk-Deities}}
{{D&D4e-Deities}}
{{D&D5e-FR-Deities}}
{{Pathfinder-Deities}}

Whore Queens

2019-02-15T11:25:14Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:7188:7BFE:DF8F:3B4D: unfinished =/= stub necessarily

The '''Whore Queens''' - also known by the more polite moniker of "The Queens of the Night" - are a group of four female [[archdevil]]s and demigoddesses native to the [[Pathfinder]] version of [[Baator]].

Each of the Whore Queens is a female figure who entered the Hellish hierarchy, believing that she would attain greater power and respect in Hell than in the other realms they had once dwelled in - all bar one, Mahathallah, were originally [[archangel]]s who came to believe Heaven's strictures were too much for them to bear. Unfortunately for them, [[Asmodeus]] in the Pathfinder cosmology is a shameless misogynist, and as such each found their possibilities for political advancement sharply curtailed.

Thus, none of the Whore Queens is one of the "true" powers of Hell, having no planar layers to call their own. However, they have scraped together physical power enough to shame all but the mightiest of [[Infernal Duke]]s, and their cults easily approach those of the Archdukes in size and prominence. They don't really "get along," per se, but none of them find the others too distasteful to work with, and none of their goals are mutually exclusive. Also, only one of them puts out, but only one of them actually cares enough to feel grumpy at being called "Whore," so...

The Whore Queens were first detailed in "Princes of Darkness", the first of the three "Book of the Damned" splatbooks, and focused on the [[Devil]]s. They were subsequently reprinted in the singular Book of the Damned hardcover.

==Ardad Lili, the End of Innocence==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Ardad Lili, the End of Innocence
|Symbol = Wings Made of Snake Tails
|Alignment = Lawful Evil
|Divine Rank = Demigod
|Pantheon = [[Golarion]] [[Archdevil]]s (Whore Queens)
|Portfolio = Seduction, Snakes, Women
|Domains = Charm, Evil, Law, [[Scalykind]] '''Subdomains:''' Devil, Dragon, Love, Lust
|Home Plane = Hell
|Worshippers = Evil Artists, Grifters, Manipulators
|Favoured Weapon = Dagger
}}
A fallen angel once assigned to inspire nascent poets, sculptors and songwriters on behalf of [[Shelyn]], only to become outraged and disgusted by the way that so many of them fell in love with her. Arrogance pride in her self-perceived supremacy to mortals caused her to begin manipulating the mortals she visited into promising their souls to her in exchange for (unfulfilled) promises of carnal bliss, murdering those who resisted her blasphemous temptations.
{{clear}}
==Doloras, the Lady of Pain==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Doloras, The Lady of Pain
|Symbol = Halo of Tears
|Alignment = Lawful Evil
|Divine Rank = Demigod
|Pantheon = [[Golarion]] [[Archdevil]]s (Whore Queens)
|Portfolio = Detachment, Dispassion, Pain
|Domains = Destruction, Evil, Law, Repose '''Subdomains:''' Catastrophe, Devil, Rage, Souls
|Home Plane = Hell
|Worshippers = [[Kyton]]s, Kyton-summoning Diabolists, Merciless Torturers, Sadists
|Favoured Weapon = Kukri
}}
'''Not''' to be confused with the ''other'' [[Lady of Pain]], although her name and title are blatant homages to her. Originally, Doloras was a planetar angel serving in the armies of Erastil. But, when a demonic incursion saw several solar angels captured and dragged off to the [[Abyss]], including her three brothers, Dolaras followed them on her own, hoping to rescue her kin. Losing track of the raiders, she stumbled upon a lone demon and took it prisoner, whereupon she began questioning it about where her kin had been taken. Ultimately, she resorted to torture... and became fascinated with the process of inflicting pain. Even though she realized the fiend legitimately had no idea where her kin were, she kept on torturing it for the sheer sake of doing so. Three times, angels came to find her and tell her that her brothers were safe... and each time, she killed them and resumed torturing her victim. It was only after she accidentally ended the demon's life after murdering the third angel that she finally realized she'd fallen from grace and become a fiend herself, and at that point, she no longer cared - even learning the gates of Heaven were barred to her forever didn't faze her, so emotionless she had become.
{{clear}}
==Eiseth, the Erinyes Queen==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Eiseth, The Erinyes Queen, Hell's Valkyrie, She Who Defies Limitation
|Symbol = Horned Longbow
|Alignment = Lawful Evil
|Divine Rank = Demigod
|Pantheon = [[Golarion]] [[Archdevil]]s (Whore Queens)
|Portfolio = Battle, Revenge, Wrath
|Domains = Destruction, Evil, Law, War '''Subdomains:''' Blood, Catastrophe, Devil, Rage
|Home Plane = Hell
|Worshippers = Bitter Nobles, Disgruntled Diabolists, Evil Generals
|Favoured Weapon = Longbow
}}
Once a movanic deva, Eiseth was arrogant and proud, consumed by the belief that she was frustrated, even held back, by the perceived failings of other angels around her. She grew obsessed with the idea of becoming an empyrean, that she might command her own legions, and then with the idea of becoming an empyreal lord of duty and vengeance. Her envy festered, until finally she murdered her own commander and the most trusted advisers of her commander after she was given an order she felt was intolerably foolish. Courtmartialed, she proudly boasted of her reasonings, expected to be lauded; instead, her former kin were horrified. Sensing that they would punish her, she fled before they could lay down her sentence.
{{clear}}
==Mahathallah, the Dowager of Illusions==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Mahathallah, Dowager of Illusions
|Symbol = Monstrous One-Eyed Face Surrounded By Runes
|Alignment = Lawful Evil
|Divine Rank = Demigod
|Pantheon = [[Golarion]] [[Archdevil]]s (Whore Queens)
|Portfolio = Death, Fate, Vanity
|Domains = Death, Evil, Law, Trickery '''Subdomains:''' Deception, Devil, Thievery, Undead
|Home Plane = Hell
|Worshippers = Alchemists, Drug Users, Embittered Dreamers, [[Illusionist]]s, Outcasts
|Favoured Weapon = Net
}}
Of all the Whore Queens, Mahathallah was never an angel. Instead, she was a psychopomp usher - for those unfamiliar with [[Golarion]], psychopomps are the [[angel]]-like servitors of [[Pharasma]], Goddess of Birth and Death, who are charged with ensuring the smooth procession of the cycles of death by calming the souls of the deceased and protecting them from soul-eating monsters, whilst ushers are their equivalent of [[archangel]]s. Known as the Maiden of Mists, Mahathallah guided the passing of whole worlds worth of spirits, and came to be worshipped as a demigoddess of the dead for her devotion and her skill at piercing the veiled paths of fate. But she was tormented, because there was one fate she couldn't see: her own. Ultimately, this drove her to beg a boon from her goddess; to be allowed to see her ultimate fate, the moment of her death. Pharasma tried to warn her off, but Mahathallah would not be swayed; she went to the mortal realm, awaited a portentous moment, and followed the last soul to die at that moment, allowing her to traverse the River of Souls, the one act that entitled any being to perceive its ultimate fate. For this, Pharasma had no choice; she showed Mahathallah her final moment.

The Maiden of Mists, an immortal who had served Pharasma for generations beyond counting, was unprepared for the reality of seeing her own death. She finally learned firsthand why mortals feared death, and could not bear the experience; she fled from Pharasma's court in terror and never stopped running, butchering anything that dared stand in her way, until finally [[Asmodeus]] calmed her. What lies he told her to convince her that he could change her destiny, none know, but the end result was that she came to serve the legions of hell with her prophetic abilities, no longer the Maiden of Mists, but now the Dowager of Illusions.

Mahathallah experiences a constant cycle of regeneration, changing from the form of a youthful yet cadaverous angel wearing a dusk-hued burial gown to that of a rotting crone's corpse with shattered wings clad in trailing tatters, and then reverts to her youthful guise to start aging once again. This cycle is erratic and unpredictable; she may change from youth to corpse over the course of a day, or over a minute, but she shifts constantly. Although typically cold and dispassionate, her state of mind seems to affect her appearance; youth masks her fear-kindled fury, whilst age comes when she embraces her nihilistic wisdom.

She is close to the other Queens of the Night; her most complex relationship is with Doloras - dispassionate and distant, but mutually beneficial - whilst she is has the least in common with the action- and emotion-driven Eiseth. She often counsels her fellows, and their cults are considered allies.

Ironically, the cult of Mahathallah is all but indifferent to [[Pharasma]], and instead is most strongly hostile to the church of [[Desna]]. Her temples are hidden in caverns, graveyards, and even in mindscapes, and she is served predominantly by fallen psychopomps and by the [[undead]]. Conducting Mahathallah's Obedience requires a cultist to spend an hour in deep meditation, reflecting on the nature of the cosmos and their own exceptional place within it. This is preferably done whilst under the influence of a perception-altering drug. Mahathallah's faithful depict her as either a vaguely feminine figure cloaked in somber mists, or as a glaring eye surrounded by an assortment of occult sigils.

[[Category: Pathfinder]] [[Category: Monsters]]

Mordian Iron Guard

2019-02-15T00:01:15Z

2600:1700:19C0:2760:7188:7BFE:DF8F:3B4D: Undo revision 554152 by 198.7.58.104 (talk)

[[File:Mordian_Iron_Guard.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A planet of soldiers wearing [[Commissar]]-level hats. Let that sink in for a second. Note the [[Judge Dredd|Dredd]] pattern frown.]]
{{Topquote|Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.|George Washington}}

The '''Mordian Iron Guard''' are an army of the [[Imperial Guard]], hailing from the planet of Mordian. They are renowned throughout the [[Imperium]] for being right [[Warboss|hard]] bastards, never backing down and prepared to die to the last man as necessary, as well as being from a planet with an adjective for a name (the Earth equivalent would be if Italy were named Italian).

[[Awesome|TL;DR 18th-19th century Prussians mixed with WW1 Italian Arditi in space!]]

They are also renowned for wearing spiffy dress uniforms, although they're not as classy as their equivalents in the [[Praetorian Guard]].
[[File:MordianArmored.jpg|300px|thumb|left|A squad of mechanized Mordians charging from a [[Chimera]]. Also one of the few images of a Mordian with facial hair, looking suspiciously like Union soldiers of the American Civil War.]]
== Tactics ==

There are Imperial Guard regiments that rely on using well-planned strategies and combined arms tactics to overcome their foes. Then there are those that don't rely so much on strategy so much as throwing hordes of guardsmen into the fray, although said guardsmen are often some of the most badass motherfuckers in the entire galaxy. Then there are the Mordians.

The Mordian Iron Guard technically belong in the second category, but are so far around the curve that they start veering back into the first category. The first thing to consider is that they hail from Mordian, a world that actually has two classifications; half Death World, half Hive World.

Normally these two types of worlds are mutually exclusive, since a planet where everything is trying to kill you would put a lot of people off the concept of actually erecting massive towering cities on it. Not so for the Mordians. The planet spins at the same speed it revolves (tidal locked), so one side of the planet is constantly bleach-roasted by the Mordian sun, and the other side lives in zero degree dick-freezing perpetual night, much like the planet Mercury (except that Mercury isn’t actually tidally locked). Additionally, the absence of strong winds on the planet creates a thick and oppressively dark atmosphere (which makes no sense, because temperature differentials that large should cause huge winds as the hot air rises and the cold air sinks -- living in the twilight zone would be like living in a permanent hurricane). The Hive Cities are built on the night part.

Thus, every Mordian native is also a hiver, with years of experience ducking and killing inside narrow corridors where hive gangs exist on every level, and crime is rampant in the places where the sun-don't-shine (i.e. that entire side of the planet). Unsurprisingly, this has earned Mordian the dubious honor of having the highest suicide rate in the Imperium after the destruction of [[Night Lords|Nostramo]]. It got so bad that up until recently there was a notorious chaos uprising and the Mordians had to fight tooth and nail just to keep their semi-hospitable half of the planet from being overrun. Between that and the extremely strict rationing that leaves the planet on the verge of rebellion at all times, the Mordian Iron Guard has learned to practice iron hard discipline (hence their name) and constant regimental routine as part of their secondary role as military police. Nearly every citizen on Mordian has served in the planet's military, as it was the only way to maintain global discipline.

Consequently, [[Commissar]]s find a tour on Mordian as rather boring, and a little intimidating as the Mordians themselves will penalize Commissars that falter in their duties. Again, absorb this for a moment. In [[Krieg|almost]] every other part of the Imperium, Commissar shoots you for lack of discipline or cowardice. On Mordian, You shoot the Commissar for lack of discipline or cowardice. This is then reflected in their form of battle tactics. Rather than ride [[Chimera]]s or wear camouflage, Mordian guardsmen march into battle in brightly-coloured cloth uniforms and bearing equally flashy banners. They then form up into neat firing lines or squares and shoot at their enemies in disciplined volleys. They don't break formation, they don't take cover and they never, ''ever'' retreat. While this is incredibly ballsy even by Imperial Guard balls-of-steel standards, it is also incredibly stupid because on the battlefields of the 41st millennium there are ''oh-so-many ways'' to wipe out massed formations of infantry out in the open. These sorts of tactics were on their way out in the American Civil War (appropriate as Mordians look quite a bit like US Army from that era) when ''caplock minie ball rifles'' and ''rifled muzzle loading cannons'' began to appear. Even [[Space Marines]] will take cover whenever they can. But, somehow, the Mordians still survive their battles and keep going. Considering the horrors the Imperial Guard fights, you have to wonder how their training conditioned them so well. Then again, maybe you ''don't'' want to know.

[[File:Mordian Guardswoman.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Women serve with the Iron Guard as well, and are just as [[-4 Str|hard]] as any of their male counterparts.]]

Although a few sources note that this baffling lack of common sense causes their adversaries to underestimate them, it still doesn't really make up for employing infantry tactics that have long been redundant. That being said, the Mordians do have a few tricks up their sleeves, like flak and carapace armour actually sown into their rigid uniforms (which makes it both elegant AND protective), as well as having heavy armour companies with ''over a dozen'' [[Baneblade]]s '''each'''. They also have 'veteran' companies who wear the incredibly-more-badass darker uniforms who do actually observe real infantry tactics and perform the scout work.

However, one must note that the fact that they're never taking cover means that they're not spending any time not aiming or not firing, meaning that relative to other armies, they could keep you pinned a whole lot more easily. So while they might die off really quickly, they'll do a hell of a lot before they drop. Since their armor has both flak and ''carapace'' armor woven into it, the Mordian Guardsmen are well protected against concussive force, shrapnel, and even against direct fire. So, not only is it a wall of lasers shooting at you, shooting the wall has about as much effect as spitting on a tank. Besides, they probably don't stand in a row, they probably have the first row go prone, the next row squat, the third row crouch, and the fourth row stand. Then they have four rows of lasguns firing in a concentrated barrage at the same target. Supported by a Leman Russ's battle cannon plus sponson and hull-mounted weapons and probably a pintle-mount. Then remember how long and deep the gun line is, given how numerous the Guard is. That isn't even accounting for man-portable mortar teams, vehicle-mounted mortars, basilisks, manticores, and the armored companies of over a dozen baneblades each.

That's scary and is the perfect tactic for the Guard because their reserves have reserves. It also happens to be the perfect tactic against Tyranids and Orks. The Tyranids are simply that numerous and the Orks are specifically stated to miss anything they aim at, so bunching up into a single target is the best defense against them. Maybe good against Necrons, too, since cover really won't protect you against their weapons. Firepower will.

The planet Mordian along with the entire [[Stygius Sector]] was invaded by Chaos Forces led by warbands loyal to Tzeentch. The Iron Guard held their ground as reinforcements arrive, but there were too many heretics and slowly the Imperial defenders are being bled dry. (Didn't help that the dead are being raised as zombies or that the Warp claimed several Imperial ships and an entire planet during the conflict.)

Further reinforcements came in as an Eldar Strikeforce from Craftworld Ulthwe aided the Imperium. Being the cryptic pricks they are, they tell the defenders that they can't win and advised them to leave the sector. (Seeing as the Chaos Invasion is led by the [[Thousand Sons]] under [[Magnus]] as well as [[M'kachen]], they are kinda right). Even though the discipline of the Iron Guard kept them from being overrun, they agreed to retreat, and evacuated what they could. It probably stung, but you'll never see a Mordian getting mopey about it.

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