Infernal fortress of Bel, Ruler of Avernus and defender of Hells

[HoboKnight]

Hey guys,
for one of my future sessions, I need to flesh out an infernal fortress, ruled by Bel, archdevil of the Nine Hells who acts as the Archduke of Avernus.

Here is what I have so far: For fortress itself, I leaned upon floating fortress, described in Descent into Avernus. 120 levels, floating, can be piloted by a single attuned creature. Populated by 300+ devils, armed by dozens of improved ballistas. Bel has a small pretorian guard.

Given that Hell is full of entitles that want to dethrone Bel, occasional demon surges and a number of other threats (armies invading from material realm): what other precautions would such a super-intelligent creature put in place? I'm asking from lore perspective as well as mechanical perspective.

thanks!

[Unoriginal]

Hey guys,
for one of my future sessions, I need to flesh out an infernal fortress, ruled by Bel, archdevil of the Nine Hells who acts as the Archduke of Avernus.

Here is what I have so far: For fortress itself, I leaned upon floating fortress, described in Descent into Avernus. 120 levels, floating, can be piloted by a single attuned creature. Populated by 300+ devils, armed by dozens of improved ballistas. Bel has a small pretorian guard.

Given that Hell is full of entitles that want to dethrone Bel, occasional demon surges and a number of other threats (armies invading from material realm): what other precautions would such a super-intelligent creature put in place? I'm asking from lore perspective as well as mechanical perspective.

thanks!

Bel is characterized by a lack of imagination.

If he's the Archduke of Avernue, that means Zariel left the job one way or another, and he's no longer relegated to making dure the Avernus forges runs on time.

So basically, take a regular flying fortress and give it more of everything. More armor, more durability, weapons that do more damage, more speed, more redundant systems to take over if the main ones are damaged. Them make any teleportation effect or intengibility effects impossible within the fortress. Maybe just add that the pilot can decide to close off areas using reinforced doors.

IMO it should reflect the person who came up with that may be smart and have a lot of means, but simply can't come up with ideas more daring than "standard, but more".

[Envyus]

Bel is different from Zariel in that he is far more defence minded. So I imagine he would also have devils setting up new choke points, walls and forts all over Avernus.

[HoboKnight]

Such contributions may seem small in scale, but I have to say, they really help me shape the environment. Thanks, guys!

[Gurgeh]

Bel's in the odd position for an archdevil where he has a straightforward path to job security: success in the Blood War will shore up his position immensely because none of the other archdevils really want to dirty their hands with it and his notional subordinates, the Dark Eight, have a hotline to Asmodeus and are actively invested in keeping him in charge of Avernus. As long as he can produce results in the Blood War, he can also rely on political and material support from the more senior archdevils, since he's freeing up their time and energy to meddle in the mortal realm and plot for advancement in the infernal hierarchy.

On the flip side, failure on that front will inevitably be fatal for him; he's risen from the ranks and can't draw on the huge patronage networks and layers of ancient schemes that can work as padding for Mephistopheles or Baalzebul or the other "establishment" archdevils. He might not need to worry (as much) about being backstabbed, but he knows he's one serious failure away from oblivion.

He's a pragmatist even by Baatezu standards, so there's room for him to employ non-Baatezu outsiders or even mortals as mercenaries or even retainers in one scheme or another. He's evil but he's not dogmatic, and is generally able to keep his eye on the big picture and choose the path that will produce the results he needs, even if it runs against his inclination (i.e., - more likely than most devils to present mortals with a fair bargain, assuming he sees more value to be gained from their services than from their souls).

So there's definitely room to mix his forces up a bit and throw in some less typical elements (evil or even non-evil mortals, modrons or yugoloths on contract, Abishai on loan from Tiamat, etc.)

[Kane0]

I'm a fan of bringing in more obscure devils from previous editions, like the Bezekira (hellcat) and merregon (legion devil)

[Unoriginal]

Bel's in the odd position for an archdevil where he has a straightforward path to job security: success in the Blood War will shore up his position immensely

[...]

On the flip side, failure on that front will inevitably be fatal for him;

I agree with the rest of your post, but on that point, it's worth noting that the best success a Devil can get in the Blood War is "we're not losing ground, we're not losing too much troops, and it's not draining our ressources too much", and that 5e Bel already lost his position as ruler of Avernus once because his "all defense" strategy displeased Asmodeus (presumably because it involved letting the Demons run rampant while the Devils sat in fortified spots while doing nothing).

I'm a fan of bringing in more obscure devils from previous editions, like the Bezekira (hellcat) and merregon (legion devil)

Merregons are in 5e. They can make for pretty interesting devil encounters.