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So, I came up with a great idea for a campaign, or at least an adventure or series of adventures, which sprung from a parody piece I could never quite get around to finishing. Here’s how it goes:
This led to the creation of marks of mortal durance, which revolutionized the efficiency of Hell’s ledgers.
In exchange, to placate Abadar’s desire for fair trade, a creature who signs a pact with a devil is only bound to damnation if the devil provides the promised benefits
Now that the infernal ledgers no longer require as great an effort to maintain as before, more contract devils are freed to acquire souls on the Material Plane, and energy from souls already captured becomes far easier to harvest efficiently. The ledgers of the Nine Hells swell, and Duke Malthus the Five-Beaked proposes expansion of Hell’s infrastructure to put this influx of power to good use.
Barbatos builds dozens of portals to locations previously considered too remote to justify the expense.
Moloch builds vast foundries, powered by hellfire, to create infernal constructs, siege engines, and magical arms and armor for his warriors in their battles against the Abyss, and for the ranks of the devils that enforce civil order.
Dispater’s iron city grows ever greater in its grim magnificence.
And of course Mammon and Belial reach new heights of ostentation and debauchery.
It is here that Titivilus, the Scrivening Count, conceives an idea of profound consequence.
Up to that point, devils only received credit for souls they had damned when the mortal in question died. This left many devils vulnerable to prolonged droughts wherein no contracts were maturing. Though immortal, devils do not have infinite patience, and the demands of their masters can be harsh and unpredictable.
To mitigate such dire consequences, devils could trade the rights to multiple contracts they had signed in exchange for an extant damned soul already in Hell. The other party would of course scrutinize the contracts carefully, and put whatever efforts of their own were necessary to ensure collection when the time came.
But this process was long, and fraught with risk, and its small scale limited its usefulness. And it was to address these issues that Titivilus devised Dark Assurances.
His court bought up contracts of individual souls en masse to create a corpus damnatorum. Unlike souls, a corpus damnatorum was divisible, and when in bulk, the specter of mortal redemption became a matter of percentages, rather than leaving the owner in an all-or-nothing position.
A Dark Assurance gave the bearer the rights to a specified portion of the soul energy released from the corpus each month by the contracts that matured during that time. Purchases of Dark Assurances could be made with gold, magic, services, or trading in existing petitioners or contracts.
Now, devils are not swift to trust, and are fond of hierarchy. So, to appease them, the infernal brokers of Dark Assurances made another alteration: the corpus would be divided into three circles: Damned, Doubly Damned, and Thrice Damned. A bearer of a Thrice-Damned Dark Assurance would be first in line to receive the soul energy released that month, proportional to the size of the Dark Assurance they had purchased. If any was left over, it went to repay those who purchased Doubly-Damned Dark Assurances. Any left over after that went to the Damned.
With the reassurance of these new divisions, greater devils and the courts of Infernal dukes purchased Thrice-Damned Assurances, drawn by the fact that over time their investment was rewarded without taking any significant risk, while devils seeking the potential for great reward for great risk purchased the deeply-discounted Damned Assurances. The undesirable Doubly Damned Assurances were left for lesser devils to purchase.
Now that these innovations had brought about, demand for contracts to fill every corpus damnatorum resulted in incredible pressures laid on the contract devils to make quota. Faced with such demands, the contract devils, now scattered far and wide across the planes and beyond the power of Hell to oversee them all, began to do what devils do best: scheme and lie.
Some devils began to offer mortals the “Pact Uncertain.” This involved letting the mortal know up front that if the devil did not come through with the promised benefits, the mortal would not be damned, and the devil would intentionally provide less than what the contract promised (but more than nothing) merely to make the sale. And unless a signatory radiated an evil aura, the devil would mark them as good in the ledger, even if they were in fact evil or neutral.
The contract devil would then pass this poor-quality contract up the chain, where they would be mixed in with other contracts in the corpus damnatorum.
Many years would pass before the sudden drop in the quality of contracts became apparent. But after a few decades, during which the Nine Hells experienced explosive growth fueled by loans using Thrice-Damned Assurances as collateral, the contracts began falling through.
Titivilus’s web of deception was so complex that blame was laid scattershot all across the Inferno, and typically laid on the lower rungs of the hierarchy. But some Dukes well understood where the problem lay, and began plotting in secret to damage or destroy the Court of Titivilus and the various other brokerages.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the crisis, numerous lesser devils were demoted, some all the way to lemures, the soul energy that powered them stripped to meet sudden shortfalls. Many of those stripped were guilty of the “Pact Uncertain,” but the shortage of soul power was so severe that a great many were blameless.
In desperation, contract devils have turned to the greater devil Atropopsyche, whose ability to cast trap the soul at will was exploited to the full. Each waking round, he enchants a soul trap with the name on a contract and hands it to a contract devil, who then travels to the Material Plane and forcibly collects the soul, regardless of their current alignment. They even steal souls that signed a contract that contained errors rendering it invalid by Hell's own rules, and occasionally even souls that had never seen a devil before, simply due to honest mistakes caused by poor recordkeeping.
This is where the PCs come in to clean up the mess.
Sounds like a great campaign, or at least a great series of adventures, right? I actually haven't gotten any further in development than this, since I haven't read any of the Cheliax adventure paths and thus don't know enough about it to extend this idea beyond the background circumstances.
If you're wondering what a mark of mortal durance is, here are the game stats:
A mark of mortal durance does not actually store souls. It merely stores the infernal energy released by souls as they are tortured in Hell.
Each mark of mortal durance carries a unique identifying sigil that is stamped upon it at the moment of its creation and can only be changed by Asmodeus or Asmodeus's Master of the Purse, and even then only in Nessus. It also bears a mark identifying its current owner, which is unique to each devil. This mark cannot be changed to that of another devil (which causes transfer of ownership) by any force other than the will of Asmodeus or the conscious decision of the devil whose mark it bears (who must physically touch the artifact to make this change). Only creatures with the devil subtype possess unique marks suitable for inscription, and the devil changing ownership must have learned the recipient devil's mark (either by consulting records or contacting the devil). When first forged, they bear the mark of Asmodeus's Master of the Purse, who distributes them throughout Hell as needed, with corresponding changes in the mark of ownership.
The mark infallibly senses when its bearer is being subjected to violent or magical coercion and will automatically refuse to change ownership or transmit energy to another mark of mortal durance while its bearer is so harassed. The mark does not consider blackmail, orders by lawful superiors, and similar circumstances as coercion and does not interfere.
By performing a 10-minute ceremony, the bearer of a mark can swear fealty to another devil it can see that is willing to accept the oath. This devil can then employ physical violence and magical compulsion on the devil that swore fealty to them without interfering with the mark. If a devil to which other devils have sworn fealty chooses to swear fealty to another devil in turn, that devil also receives the fealty of the devils that have sworn oaths to its new servant. This chain of command responds instantly when a devil two or more steps below swears fealty; a devil's immediate underlings do not have to swear fealty again to transfer the fealty of their own underlings.
By touching the mark of mortal durance and concentrating, the current true owner can transfer some or all of the infernal soul energy within it, or copy of some or all of the transaction history of the mark, to another mark of mortal durance it can see within 30 feet as a move action. This does not automatically alert the bearer of the other mark.
The devil whose unique rune is inscribed upon a particular mark of mortal durance gains the supernatural ability to retrieve it from almost anywhere in the multiverse as a standard action. They can use instant summons on the mark of mortal durance at will, and do not need to have touched or even seen the item, nor performed any special preparations. However, the owner must know the mark's unique identifying rune to do so, and thus it must typically be informed by another party when a mark changes ownership to them in order to summon the mark.
A mark of mortal durance retains perfect record of all its transactions and changes of ownership from the moment of its creation. This includes the unique mark of the owner at the time of the transaction, the unique mark of the new owner in the case of a change of ownership, the exact time each transaction or change of ownership occurred, the location of the mark at the time of the transaction (with the same level of detail as discern location), the exact amount of soul energy transferred, whether the transaction was a debit or a credit, and the unique mark of the other party in the transaction, if any. Most transactions also feature a brief mental note or label attached by the owner for accounting purposes as a free action at the beginning of the transaction or change of ownership.
Any creature that can read Infernal can mentally search these records so long as they are holding the artifact, and can copy selections from the records in indelible ink by running the mark of mortal durance over a suitable writing surface at the rate of one page per round. Copying out these records with any thoroughness or searching through them for a specific transaction, type of transaction, or transactions with a party of interest can take anywhere from a few seconds to several decades, depending on the age of the artifact, the nature of the information that is being retrieved, and the perusing creature’s amount of existing knowledge of and familiarity with a given transaction, type of transaction, and the individuals in question, as well as with Infernal accounting in general.
If the bearer of a mark of mortal durance dies permanently, the artifact's mark changes to match the devil closest in rank and to which the bearer has sworn fealty, typically its immediate superior in the hierarchy. This is considered a change of ownership for the purpose of transaction history, and the mental note "possessor deceased" is automatically attached. The superior is not informed of the death of an underling by this change.
If the bearer had sworn fealty to multiple devils of equal rank, ownership reverts to the devil physically closest to the mark at the time of its death. If none of its superiors are on the same plane as the mark, ownership reverts to the last superior the bearer had communicated with verbally or telepathically.
Creatures with the devil subtype are never adversely affected by the aura of these items when using detect magic and similar abilities. Other evil outsiders receive a +5 profane bonus (+10 for daemons, night hags, and any with trap the soul or soul bind as a spell-like or supernatural ability) to caster level for determining whether the mark adversely affects them.
Aura: Overwhelming conjuration, divination, and necromancy
Minor artifact, caster level 30th.
Destruction: A mark of mortal durance can only be destroyed by Asmodeus, but he can do so to any number of marks of mortal durance anywhere in the multiverse as a free action. When this occurs, the physical coin suffers no obvious damage, but can now be harmed like any other piece of iron. Soul energy stored in the mark is immediately transferred to him, even across planar boundaries or areas of dead magic, and he can thereafter recall the entire transaction history of the mark at any time with a photographic level of detail.
Using disjunction to destroy a mark of mortal durance likewise sends the soul energy and transaction history directly to Asmodeus, who instantly and infallibly learns the name, history, and location of the creature responsible as by discern location and the most specific possible results of the legend lore spell (regardless of the target’s level). The mark’s owner also learns the name, history, and location of the perpetrator in the same fashion, (though effects like mind blank can hide this from them) and can instantly teleport there as if the mark were the trigger item of a reverse refuge spell (though the devil can choose not to appear, and this teleport fails if the destroyer of the artifact has hidden their location from them).
I hope the joke isn't too obscure
Damn, I guess the joke was too obscure.
dot for later perusal
I found the idea to be both interesting and well-written. I do not, however, get the "joke" or even see it. This may have something to do with just waking up and not having had my first cup of coffee or it may be too obscure.=)
Edit:
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The joke is that it's precisely what led to the 08 meltdown, only it's happening in hell and with souls instead of money.
Essentially, the Board of Directors at Goldman Sachs are the Court of Titivilus, the Scrivening Count.
The PC's quest is essentially to stop fraudulent foreclosures caused by robosigning.
But in the context of a battle against Hell, it is no longer the stuff of boring high finance laws allowing people to get away with fraud. The fraud mortgage broker is evil incarnate stealing the souls of the innocent, and will be smote.
Wish fulfillment at its best.
EDIT: The fact that nobody saw through the parody before I spelled it out means that this might make for a better adventure than I thought. I assumed that the parody would be too on the nose for players to take seriously, but it seems the disguise is strong enough to withstand a certain degree of scrutiny.
The joke is that it's precisely what led to the 08 meltdown, only it's happening in hell and with souls instead of money.
Essentially, the Board of Directors at Goldman Sachs are the Court of Titivilus, the Scrivening Count.
The PC's quest is essentially to stop fraudulent foreclosures caused by robosigning.
But in the context of a battle against Hell, it is no longer the stuff of boring high finance laws allowing people to get away with fraud. The mortgage broker is evil incarnate and will be smote.
Wish fulfillment at its best.
Now I /really/ feel dumb. Once I read "08" I knew exactly what you were talking about.
By the way, can anybody think of an interesting scam, plot hook, deception, or other abuse using the mark of mortal durance posted in the OP?
Story of my life.
Jokes being too obscure for people to get, or dealing with (literally) soul-draining bureaucracy?
So, I got the inspiration (before seeing it explained). Not sure that the PCs would ever understand what was going on, or if it would just appear as "devils got (more) greedy for souls?" (which might make it more interesting - the PCs having to deal with a bunch of events whose cause is far away and unknown to them).
i dunno, some people might like the idea of chopping their way through countless legions of bankers, lawyers, and accountants to solve the GFC
Yeah, it's kind of obvious once I read it. This leads to mixed feelings since I'm playing an escapist fantasy game to get AWAY from this reality where the Bad Guys win.
How is going to a fantasy world where the bad guys get pasted to the wall with a Big Damn Sword not an escape from this reality?
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The joke is that it's precisely what led to the 08 meltdown, only it's happening in hell and with souls instead of money.
Essentially, the Board of Directors at Goldman Sachs are the Court of Titivilus, the Scrivening Count.
The PC's quest is essentially to stop fraudulent foreclosures caused by robosigning.
But in the context of a battle against Hell, it is no longer the stuff of boring high finance laws allowing people to get away with fraud. The fraud mortgage broker is evil incarnate stealing the souls of the innocent, and will be smote.
Wish fulfillment at its best.
EDIT: The fact that nobody saw through the parody before I spelled it out means that this might make for a better adventure than I thought. I assumed that the parody would be too on the nose for players to take seriously, but it seems the disguise is strong enough to withstand a certain degree of scrutiny.
I got the joke! I imagine that due to Golarion's outer planes having multiple powers, there would be trouble for Hell and perhaps for Abadar.(I imagine Abadar would try to figure someway out of the mess, but if everyone's worshippers are impacted by the scam, he may want to hide in the First Vault.)
So, I got the inspiration (before seeing it explained). Not sure that the PCs would ever understand what was going on, or if it would just appear as "devils got (more) greedy for souls?" (which might make it more interesting - the PCs having to deal with a bunch of events whose cause is far away and unknown to them).
Yeah, the idea is for the Initial Incident to be a repossession of a character with an extremely similar name to a particularly egregious jackass (who may or may not have actually signed a contract, but the suspicion will be there).
If they catch up to the devil and ask what in the Hell (heh) they're doing, have him point out that if he doesn't do this he'll be turned into a nearly-mindless mass of pain-wracked jellied flesh for all eternity. The party starts picking up hints from there.
So, basically, Hell goes to hell. I'm not sure, but wouldn't there be trouble trying to get soul energies from those who are not evil?
Innocent suffering might cause some devils alignment drift.