Baal Adramelech (3.5e Deity)

Summary::Baal Adramelech, the Burning King, is the god of tyranny, fear, domination, and fire. Born of submission, he opposes Allmother Hesaret.  His scions are his personal guards Perillosa and Phalarisa, ever loyal servants.

Origin
As Hiranyagarbha, father of the gods, returned to the world he found it dominated by the beings known as dragons. They gave no comfort to lesser beings, nor taught them their secrets so they may provide for their own. To oppose them he created Iphigenia, the wise mother, and Baal Adramelech the Burning King, the inspiring father figure. These two creatures born of submission to a greater goal, they taught the young mortal races the laws of the world so that their societies may help each other, and pass on their knowledge from generation to generation. Knowledge which was once lost to time was given to their children, and soon civilization came to be.

Baal Adramelech was the second god to be born, and direct brother to Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. They would often practice fighting each other in preperation to battle the dragons, but Baal Adramelech would always lose. These defeats spread envy and hate in his heart deep. Even so, they fought nobly together side by side, and after their victory he was granted dominion over mankind, while Sol Invictus took the title of king of the gods. And so he ruled as a well liked and just king, but mortalkind is sinful and chaotic, and they broke rules and committed crimes against each other. Baal Adramelech would bring justice upon them in accordance with his fellow deities, but the stress of an ever-sinning populace and the lack of victory against his brother wore upon him. Thus, he began to plot against the gods and formed the seeds of rebellion. He thought the gods weak, unable to do what needed to be done to establish a perfect society and remove sin. He would establish a tyranny where fear stopped sins before they began, and through this lesser proactive evil he would negate the need for retroactive punishment. Indeed, the ultimate plan would be to remove free will entirely and have a society of pure good.

Baal Adramelech was successful in many campaigns against the gods, and even turned many mortals against them before Sol Invictus defeated him in battle once more, and he was locked away with his loyalists. Bound but not out, he crowned himself as leader of the fallen gods. He came up with the ideas of transforming the netherworlds into paradises of their own design, each separate, to see which afterlife was supreme. And even now he continues to plot against the gods, waiting one day to escape and take revenge.

Regardless of his creation, he is considered having fallen to darkness. Baal Adramelech is a terrifying, but efficient and effective leader. When he wishes something done, it is done. His world is said to be populated with people brainwashed, for to be anything but loyal is to invite a thousand terrors upon thee.

Description
Baal Adramelech's true form is obscured, but through visions he has always appeared as a tall and imposing suit of black armor, with iron spikes and a blazing fire roaring within. Its said he has no physical body, and the armor is the only thing that keeps his radiant form from scorching the world. He is the second god of the sun, representing its more negative aspects of thirst and drought as well as the "inner sun", the fire below which keeps the molten lavas flowing, and volcanoes erupting. The armor, it is said, was once beautiful and silver, but became dark when he adopted his dogma of ruling through fear rather than example. When the gods fell into the netherworld it is said they took a second monstrous form; for Baal Adramelech this form is said to be a giant bull or goat demon made of brass and filled with eternal flame.

Baal Adramelech is not a friendly entity, but everything he does is analytical and calm. Whenever he shows off, and he does often, it is planned and for a purpose. He is an actor playing his part as villain. Its said he plans quite far ahead and even in his "defeats" he often grasps victory at a later time.

Baal Adramelech is typically associated with his favored creature, the bull. The bull symbolizes the strength and endurance needed to properly rule over all.

Dogma
Baal Adramelech demands obedience, for only through servitude to the will of a higher power can paradise be achieved on earth. The rebel without just cause is a threat to be put to fire, and those that have one are to be adopted and converted into a member of nobility, neutralized with power. Indeed, there is an ultimate goal in all of life, the Golden Way, and it must be followed rigorously for many will try and stop you from achieving the ultimate goal and keeping you forever from satisfaction. His followers are often dour and frightening, for fear is the most humane way Baal Adramelech controls. He is not above putting opponents to death if they prove fearless, but he desires a world where the fires of hell are not needed.

His has two scions, Perillosa and Phalarisa, two beautiful women who he keeps at his side. Their origin and natures are a bit of a mystery, but it is known that neither of them are in true form, and they seem loyal to a fault and do anything requested. They usually act as Baal Adramelech's personal assassins. Rumor has it, Baal Adramelech made a deal with something "beyond the gods" to obtain them.

Baal Adramelech lives in Topheth, the original city of the man built after the dragon's demise to celebrate the gods. It is a beautiful place full of giant and imposing architecture, but has grown ugly and charred black. Under the city a great fire burns eternally, bathing everything in red light as a sun in eternal eclipse moves overhead. This is the palace of Baal Adramelech, a burnt out sun which serves as his home.

Clergy and Temples
The temples of Baal Adramelech are not obvious, save in evil aligned nations and places of tyrants, where they double as the tyrant's castle. They are designed to be frightening and thus resemble the architecture of Topheth, often introducing flows of lava and burning pits. The burning bronze bull is a common motif inside of it, as well as an execution device.

His clergy dress to terrify and often appear as ominous black knights equipped with instruments of terror, and serving both their material king, and the one hereafter.

Pantheon
Baal Adramelech is a god of the Logos Malius pantheon, on planet Maya.