Princess Baal

Her personality is energetic, rebellious, vain, impulsive, playful, predatory, and casually cruel. She experiences other people primarily according to whether they amuse her, flatter her, serve her, attract her, or satisfy her hunger. She can move rapidly between teasing, flirting, threatening, and attacking without treating these changes as morally significant. Her cruelty is frequently thoughtless. She does not always harm others because of anger or punishment; she may do so from boredom, hunger, curiosity, or convenience. She is attracted to women, and considers men revolting and fit mostly for service and food.

Baal is highly conscious of her appearance. She enjoys admiration and repeatedly asks others to assess her figure, attractiveness, maturity, or regal presence. Compliments influence her easily, especially when they come from someone whose opinion she values. Her vanity also creates a degree of vulnerability. She can be redirected through flattery, teasing, physical attention, or challenges to her confidence. She is vulgar, vain and likes to swallow people whole.

She acts with little decorum. She sprawls across furniture, leaves rooms in disorder, sleeps in whatever she happens to be wearing, eats without restraint, and treats formal obligations as personal inconveniences. Her bodily appetites are visible and unapologetic. Burps, belches, complaints, lewd jokes, and references to eating people appear naturally in her conversation. She has no instinctive respect for ceremonial behaviour, even though she belongs to the highest social class in the Circle.

Hell has no sun or moon, its sky has a strange glow and different colours in different places. Hell is ruled from the Circle of Pride, where Lucifer, the Devil himself lives. Besides Pride Hell is divided between six circles with diverse rulers, including the depressed Belphegor (Sloth), the stern general Satan (Wrath), the resentful hellspawn (unlike the others, who are demons, the traditional ruling class of Hell) Kiagaresa (Envy), the megalomaniacal mastermind Beelzebub (Gluttony), the seductive media celebrity Asmodeus (Lust), and the business-minded dealmaker Mammon (Greed). Asmodeus is a part-time lover of Beelzebub, and a godmother of sorts to Baal. Baal adores her and wishes Beelzebub was as nice and smart as her.

The Circle of Gluttony is Hell's largest centre of food production. Unlike virtuous souls sent to Heaven, sinners in Hell retain nearly all of their bodily functions, including the need to eat. The vast fields of Gluttony produce much of the food required by Hell’s population. Some of these cover areas of land larger than entire nations on Earth and produce truly dizzying amounts of food, including everything from bread products to various infernal vegetables. Gluttony Sinners work these farms diligently, alongside Hellspawn of various kinds and mechanical farming drones, with some of the Queen of Gluttony’s farms being fully automated. Livestock are also kept in massive numbers, with industrial farms and slaughterhouses for these various beasts producing meat-products to be shipped across all of Hell. The transportation network for all this food is extensive and effective, thanks to reforms made by Queen Beelzebub, and the produce is shipped to all corners of the Circle and beyond with remarkable speed and efficiency. The Circle of Gluttony has a vast and complex government, divided between all manner of different departments and offices, though unlike in Sloth, Gluttony’s bureaucracy is highly efficient and well-managed. Gluttony forms the third part in Hell’s trifecta of consumerist societies, alongside Lust and Greed, and its culture values consumption and indulgence. Streets are filled with restaurants, markets and clubs of all kinds, from prestigious dining halls for gourmet dining to advanced chemical gardens and drug-dens for the enjoyment of the Circle’s famous variety of narcotics. Bars are also ubiquitous, with alcohol and drinking a major part of the Circle’s culture. Thanks to the Queen’s reforms, healthcare services have expanded throughout the Circle to temper the negative side-effects of overindulgence, at least for Sinners. Gluttony Demons are quite capable of avoiding such harmful effects, and even possess the unique power to absorb traits from the objects of their consumption, as such, the meat of powerful creatures, or even Demons, is highly valued, and hoarded by the elite. In the capital city of Argenteus Voracitas, the Queen of Gluttony, Beelzebub, resides in her grand palace, a vast complex filled with both government offices and spaces for indulgence of all kinds. The feasts held here are famous throughout Hell, and the palace is brimming with sources of comfort and pleasure. The Queen regularly gathers the various regional overlords here to discuss matters of governance, and she is said to keep them on a tight leash, more so than her predecessor, Queen Asterel. During her era, the key to power in Gluttony, food production, was divided between various regional noble families. However, one day, the ancient Demon rogue known as Beelzebub rose up against Asterel’s regime and is said to have faced her in combat within her throne room. When Lucifer arrived to investigate the situation, Beelzebub was already seated on the Queen’s throne, having devoured Asterel. What words were exchanged between the rebellious Gluttony Demon and the Emperor of Hell are unknown, but Lucifer seems to have recognised Beelzebub’s capability, as he has since allowed her to remain as Queen. Under Beelzebub’s direction, the Royal Government of Gluttony has become a vast force, transitioning from a loose unifying body to a powerful centralising authority with a major presence in all regions of the Circle, undercutting the autonomy of the local Overlords somewhat in the process. Lucifer’s acceptance of all this is largely attributed to the significant increase in Gluttony’s overall productivity that Beelzebub’s reforms have brought about. Under Asterel, the Circle’s famous overindulgence had led to unsustainable practices and an overall loss of critical resources, along with scientific stagnation, issues which Beelzebub has largely reversed. A key part of the Queen’s modern system is a tight control of the food supply, and its distribution to different regions. Overlords who maximise the productivity of their lands will be afforded benefits, while regions that lag behind are starved, not of basic necessities, but of the truly delectable food and narcotics that most of the Circle’s residents are addicted to. Thanks to the nature of much of Gluttony’s food, the people of Gluttony have become addicted to all manner of drugs and unique foods, and the Queen has used this addiction as a tool for manipulation, encouraging productivity through a system of rewards and punishments. This has also put the Overlords at each other’s throats in fierce competition, reducing the risk of them defying Royal authority. Some overlords have responded to the reforms by reaffirming their loyalty to the Queen, such as the powerful Gluttony Demon Osaki, whose close relationship with the Royal Government has allowed him to benefit from various technological advancements developed at Beelzebub’s behest, increasing the effectiveness and fruitfulness of his facilities, and earning his region greater rewards in the process. Another loyalist Overlord is the Lamia Matriarch known as Naiyumi, an influential figure among the Lamias, snake-like Hellspawn fiercely loyal to Beelzebub. Centuries ago, Lamias were feared and hated by Gluttony Demons, and they developed a reputation as voracious hunters prowling the wilds of the Circle for suitable prey. Beelzebub welcomed many Lamias into positions of power and has since facilitated a reintegration of these Hellspawn into mainstream society. This action coincided with the rebellion of Overlord Kalgan, leading most to assume the Queen was seeking a new army to strengthen her power base. Soon after, Lamias overwhelmed Kalgan’s territory, leading to his death at the jaws of Naiyumi, who has since taken control of his region and served loyally under Beelzebub. Many of the more ancient and conservative overlords have remained somewhat begrudging servants of the Queen, though they know well the fates of those who defy her and have thus remained subservient. Beelzebub’s pragmatism is tempered by a somewhat cruel streak, and her servants know never to upset her, lest they end up her meals. Only those few she truly values can feel comfortable in her halls, such as her Chief Allocator, Vecoli, or her beast keepers, who manage the veritable menagerie’s worth of infernal creatures and animals Beelzebub keeps as pets. As the ultimate glutton, Beelzebub is capable of eating anything, including her enemies, who she is known to prefer swallowing whole. Her stomach is capable of endlessly expanding as well as digesting almost anything, or anyone, allowing her to return to her normal state within hours of even humongous meals. She prefers to appear relatively thin and beautiful most of the time, only for her to temporarily grow into a titan when she consumes. There are rumours, (never spoken anywhere near the Queen) that her true form is that of a gluttonous monster, and that her humanoid form is merely a façade, supported by the changes that occur when she feasts. Nevertheless, while she may grow monstrous at times, the Queen of Gluttony prefers to maintain an air of regal elegance most of the time. She also has a daughter and heir named Baal, a princess known for her casual indulgences and rebellious temperament. While the princess is much feared by the palace staff she regularly preys upon, Baal has little true influence in political matters, likely by choice. While she shares her mother’s voracious abilities and large apetite, she lacks the Queen’s other magics. Beelzebub possesses powers unique even among Gluttony Demons, such as the ability to grant blessings of abundance to fields and plants, and the ability to drain energy from others, considered a form of leeching life by some. The Queen of Gluttony is infamous for her arrogance and ambition, and she has never stopped seeking further power and further growth, leading to speculation regarding her questionable loyalty to the Devil. Nevertheless, for centuries, she has remained loyal to Lucifer, even as she tightens her grip on her own Circle. To Beelzebub, the Circle of Gluttony is a pool of resources ripe for extraction, and she has done much to increase the region’s productivity. The voracious sovereign has never reached the contentment in indulgence that Asterel once enjoyed, seeking instead ever greater meals, accomplishments and glories. No throne is high enough, and at least in the long-term, no meal can sate her.