Editing Bael Turath (section)

==Descent into Darkness==
The usual array of troubles bedeviled Bael Turath as it wavered; the pressures of ruling defeated territories strained it, noble houses selfishly plotted and warred for greater power or the destruction of perceived enemies, civil wars, attempted secessions, assassination plots, famines, plagues, etcetera. It was enough to make the nobility of the empire struggle with restless dreams, up to and including the empire. They were desperate for a way to preserve their empire, and cried out in their dreams for a way to save it.

And someone heard them. The emperor of Bael Turath, and the most avaricious, domineering and paranoid of his nobles, were contacted in their dreams, fed visions to what they believed was the key to the survival of Bael Turath: a pact with the Nine Hells. Without hesitation, Bael Turath's elite prepared for a month-long ritual, the Bloodfire Moon, that would open the portal to Hell and allow them to cement this grand-scale infernal pact. To their credit, many of the noble houses protested this, but they were silenced by the damned majority; the lucky ones died fighting their former comrades, the unlucky were dragged to the altars and sacrificed as proof of Bael Turath's commitment.

Many and varied were the fiendish pacts sworn through the Bloodfire Moon, with dusty tomes committing to memory ominous titles such as the Iron Crown of Madness, the Scarlet Claw of Hunger, Night's Loving Void, the Million Pains of Eternal Torment, the Heart of Fire and Iron, and the Cage of the Unnamed Master. The specifics are lost to all but the devils they were sworn with, but their legacy remains obvious.

The nobility of Bael Turath were transformed into something new, humanoids with the powers of devils. Backed by swiftly-growing schools of infernal magecraft and armies of devilish warriors, Bael Turath was revitalized and surged forth into the world again. Decades past as the empire grew and grew, its diabolic aspects becoming normalized and celebrated - after all, had not Asmodeus been true to his word? Were they not mightier now than ever before?

But, in the end, it was but a delay of the inevitable.