Today is President's Day. Since we just got rid of the President from Hell, let's talk about a President of Hell. One of the things that I always found interesting reading demonology texts was the term President of Hell. One, in particular, is the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, The False Monarchy of Demons.
One of the first Presidents mentioned was Buer. Here is what is said about him.
Buer is a great president, and is seene in this signe [*]; he absolutelie teacheth philosophie morall and naturall, and also logicke, and the vertue of herbes: he giveth the best familiars, he can heale all diseases, speciallie of men, and reigneth over fiftie legions.
Kind of cool really. In this case, a President is someone that runs a government. The Pseudomonarchia Daemonum lists 14 such Presidents. How they fit into the Gygaxian vision of the Nine Hells and the Archdukes remains to be figured out; likely two presidents per layer of hell.
Buer also appears as a President in the Ars Goetia of The Lesser Key of Solomon.
Buer then would be classified as a devil in the Gygaxian taxonomy.
Buer
Large Fiend (Diabolic)
Frequency: Unique
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic [Lawful Evil]
Movement: 120' (40') [12"]
Centuar: 180' (60') [18"]
Spirit: 240' (80') [24"]
Armor Class: 3 [16]
Hit Dice: 15d8***+45 (113 hp)
HD (Large): 15d10***+45 (128 hp)
Attacks: trample, bite, spells
Damage: 1d6+2 x5, 1d8+2
Special: Devil abilities, spell casting
Size: Large
Save: Monster 16
Morale: 12 (NA)
Treasure Hoard Class: XXI [B] x3
XP: 4,200 (OSE) 4,350 (LL)
Buer is a great President of Hell. He controls fifty legions of demons (a legion is 6,000 demons). He will appear to mortals as a great red centaur. His true form is that of a lion's head with five goat legs radiating from this central head. His whole body is aflame.
Buer can cast spells as if he was a 13th level magic-user. He can cast any spell dealing with fire (produce flame, fireball, etc) twice per day with additional memorization needed.
He is a great patron of witches and warlocks, in particular warlocks. The familiars he grants can heal their warlocks once per day for 1d6+ hp of damage and cure disease once per week.
Buer is summoned by demonologists and malefic witches for his knowledge on logic, moral philosophy, and the sciences, of which he is particularly knowledgeable on. He can grant a familiar to those that summon him. These will be imps but can appear as a natural animal. These familiars will work to bring their master to greater and great acts of evil. If the magic-user (or witch or warlock) dies while they have this familiar their souls will be sent to Hell where the familiar becomes the new Master and tortures the former magic-user for eternity
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So a few things I have to consider. Buer is a President, one of 14. I need to figure out which ones go where. I am still thinking two per levels 2 to 8, with none for the 1st and 9th levels. I also want to come up with new names for the levels and the rulers, more or less.
Now I know that Buer was featured in Dragon Magazine's famous "The Nine Hells Revisited, Part 1 and 2" and there is some written about him there. While it is all good stuff, I want to reorganize these as I like.
I am certainly going to do a lot more with thses.
Oh, him.
ReplyDeleteI always wonder what happens if he falls over. I mean, he has to move pretty much like a rolling tire does, right? Can he even get up on his own, or is he stuck flailing around helplessly like an inverted turtle?
Think I recall an urban fantasy novel that spoofed the "President" thing by assigning modern positions to other devils and demons as well - specifically a Postmaster General of Hell who was responsible for only letting bad news, bills, and junk mail arrive in a timely fashion.