Editing Blood War (section)

==In AD&D==
In the 2nd edition the Blood War cast a massive shadow over the Planescape setting, and thus over the greater D&D meta-continuity as a whole. The Tanar'ri and the Baatezu, two infinite armies of evil outsiders (though the former is generally [[What|more infinite]] than the latter), wage a bloody war of mutual destruction over the definition of Evil; with demons firmly believing that evil is pointless if it doesn't arise from a place of passion and spontaneity, devils arguing that evil is pointless if it doesn't constantly keep long-term plans in mind. Essentially a philosophic argument between total and organized chaos.

The Blood War covers the entirety of the Lower Planes to one extent or another, five infinitely vast planes devoted to pure evil, and untold millions of Prime Material worlds. It is the source of both fiendish races' interest in corrupting and damning mortals, to have an infinite supply of resources and cannon fodder to continue to fight the war with. Another race of fiends known as the [[Yugoloth]]s participate in the Blood War but don't owe allegiance to either side.  All the denizens of the Upper Planes secretly feed and support the Blood War, bartering weapons and services to whichever side is currently losing; they know that if the war wasn't keeping the fiends at each others' throats, they would inevitably fall before the onslaught of pure evil. What they don't know is a stalemate is even worse; if neither evil side loses then the outcome would be just as bad.

The Blood War has always been a contentious aspect of the overall meta-setting. Support for it has only increased as the editions have advanced and pushed Planescape further and further out of the spotlight; fans have developed nostalgia for the concept. While there have always been individuals who disliked it (some thought it was ridiculously oversold as a setting element, some thought it was a real one-trick plot hook) a ''lot'' disliked the emphasis on the Blood War because it really made the cosmic forces of good seem like useless pushovers incapable of fighting evil themselves. Many hated it because it tended to take over the story whenever it got introduced.

Complicating things is the secret mastermind of the cosmic stalemate [[Asmodeus]], king of the devils himself. This asshole wants the war to continue, as he is just using the whole thing as one huge distraction. Asmodeus is actually a decoy/avatar/persona created in order to give the illusion that the ruler of hell was a devil of near-godlike power, and thus ''less threatening'' Asmodeus is one of the twin serpents who created the planes, most likely older and more powerful than the gods themselves. If the good and probably even neutral gods knew what he really was, they'd first shit themselves and then immediately team up to wreck his shit forever which would of course unmake the universe. In his prime he might be a match for them, but the catch is that he's [[Not as Planned|terribly injured]] from his fight with his lawful good equivalent long ago, and he needs to hide for as long as it takes to heal. 

However the big catch is the blood war not as even as it might appear. If not for asmodeus directly causing the devils to fight in the blood war the demons would have destroyed the entire multiverse a long time ago as the demons are truly an infinite force of chaos. So Asmodeus not only does not want to win the war until he has healed his injuries from his fall but cannot lose the war for fear than everything would be destroyed. And if any of the gods of good were to intervene in the Blood war they would become corrupted  so only the devils can keep the abyss in check. 

So the most conniving devil in hell, who is also the ruler of hell, doesn't actually want to win his own war. Combine this with the complicity of the upper planes and the fact that the Yugoloths almost certainly want the War to stay in a stalemate so they can keep getting paid, and you have almost every power in the multiverse secretly conspiring to keep the Blood War going forever. Status quo is god with the Blood War, but there's a damn good (and evil) reason for it. This also creates the truly bizarre situation where basically the only side doing the right thing are the psychotically evil demons. But that's a stretch of logic too taut to put consideration on.

There's a whole boxed set for this in Planescape: [[Hellbound: The Blood War]]. Not for the faint of heart.