Balan is an archdevil duke of the Nine Hells who serves the Lord of the Fourth, Belial. Wild, crude and little liked, he maintains a feud with his former ally and peer Bathym over their allegiance to rival masters.[1]
Description[]
Balan appears as a nine-foot-tall, yellow-skinned man with rows of six to eight inch spines running from his elbows to the backs of his hands; his body darkens to a bright scarlet about his legs and forked tail, while his hooves are gray. He has eyes that belch out small, red bursts of flame, visible from some distance, fierce, black eyebrows, and a beard that grows in tufts, comparable to the lower barbels of a catfish in appearance. He grin was idiotic and drooling, and his hoarse voice let out crude, bellowing laughs.[1][2]
Personality[]
Given over to lustful rages and violent sport, Balan is a belligerent, boisterous, cruel, aggressive and roaring devil. He loves a rough-and-tumble battle with those he believes weaker than himself and never backs down from a fight. He ruthlessly, arguably recklessly, hurls himself into the thick of combat with incautious abandon, seeking to strike as much as possible and hacking apart whatever stands in front of him. Such tactics are more demonic than devilish, and some regard his behavior as chaotic, but he did have some hidden depths and a method to his marauding.[1][2]
Balan is, despite outward appearances, incredibly intelligent, being particularly adept in deceiving others and deciphering their motives. Despite his unwillingness to yield when challenged, where superior enemies are concerned, he is shrewd enough to avoid getting drawn into such encounters in the first place. His sense of humor is coarse but strong, and he is notably witty, even if few converse with him in a friendly context long enough to discover this fact. He explains his approach to combat as a means to ensure the reign of absolute order—death. After bellowing his battle cry he charges the biggest opponent, preferring demons first, women second, and anything else third.[1][2]
Powers[]
Balan is incredibly strong and fearsomely fast, in addition to having good reach and regenerating from injuries. His arm spines pierce and rake, and release a poison that immediately causes a burning rash which slows down his enemies, hindering recovery from the poison with every new delivery of toxins. He can periodically let loose a terrible roar that leaves enemies shaken at best and panicked at worst.[1][2]
At will, Balan can use a number of spell-like abilities create undead, greater dispel magic, greater invisibility, greater teleport, fulfill someone else's limited wish, see invisibility, telekinesis, and wall of fire. One per day each he could use a symbol of pain, cast transmute rock to lava, and summon a group of bearded devils, which works about half the time. Balan had telepathy.[1][2]
Possessions[]
Balan shuns armor, typically wearing nothing but a girdle and belt. The belt is a thick leather made from the faces of those he has killed, upon which was a badge depicting his own head next to a bull's and a ram's, signifying his brutality and lust respectively. The belt functioned as a belt of storm giant's strength, and he also possessed bracers of armor. He had a preference for large axes, blades, and halberds, and was specifically known to dual-wield well, if not specially, enchanted battleaxes. Other possessions of his included a horn of blasting.[1][2]
Relationships[]
Respected at best and tolerated at worst (and most she-devils would rarely even do that), few are fond of Balan even in Phlegethos. Furthermore, because he sided with Belial in the Reckoning of Hell, he inherited his enemies, and there were plenty of fiends who would see him destroyed or defeated just to get back at the Lord of the Fourth. More than any other baatezu however, his greatest enemy was his former comrade Bathym, who sided with Fierna when the noble house of Phlegethos was divided.[1][2]
Balan remains a loyal supporter of Belial, following the lord who had long helped him fulfill his unspeakable desires.[1] Notably, he showed his master's late consort, Naome, civility and respect. He commands forty companies of bearded devils into combat, soldiery that shared their commander's brutal and violent personality.[2]
Worshipers[]
Balan has no mortal worshipers.[1]
History[]
During the Reckoning, Balan served Belial well, leading his armies against the Lord of the Fourth's enemies to expand his demesne. Yet when the Reckoning ended in failure, he was defeated like the rest and cast back to Phlegethos to cower in fear and await the judgement that would befall Belial. They watched Naomi be destroyed by Asmodeus[1] (although this may not be fully accurate)[3] and saw as Belial thrusted his daughter on the throne to divert attention from his role in the civil war. The gambit worked and Asmodeus left, but the cowardly act divided the household, Balan choosing to remain by the side of the ex-lord of Phlegethos.[1]
Balan did not lost much of his personal status and influence in the Hells, but the unexpected shift in the hierarchy set him and his old ally Bathym at odds. At first the tension was civil, as they only sent the periodic assassin devil after each other, but as Fierna continued to assert herself, Bathym acted more against his old ally. It was believed the pair would soon come to blows,[1] but their fate since Belial and Fierna came to their own understanding is unknown.[4]