Titivilus

Titivilus(The Letters portion of the magazine clarifies that the official pronunciation is from Dragon magazine 93 and not the version from Dragon magazine 91) was an archdevil duke of the Nine Hells who served the Lord of the Second, Dispater. The Nuncio of the Iron Tower was the viceroy and ambassador of his lord, and held increasing power over Dis and its populace as the Iron Duke retreated deeper into his Iron Tower.
==Description==
Titivilus resembled a satyr with pale skin and slightly ruddy cheeks. The fur on his goat legs were black, as were the twin horns protruding from the front of his bald head. He also had small, black, bat-like wings sprouting from his back, and yet despite this was somehow more human-like than a satyr; something was compelling about him, and feelings of kinship were invoked among those who perceived him.
==Personality==
Titivilus was not particularly big, strong, or otherwise powerful in the conventional sense, at least by the standards of archdevils, but this physical weakness was more than compensated for by his great cunning and cleverness. He was notorious for his skill in twisting words to confuse his enemies, leaving all those who used them befuddled. Charming and pleasant, Titivilus was an archdevil who had so mastered the art of negotiation that his victims could end up believing him their friend.
Like a contract lawyer, Titivilus always looked for any and all interpretations or loopholes in things said or sworn. And like a politician, he rarely gave definite answers or had a clear stance, yet always appeared to through the tactical use of words and phrases that left ambiguity or deniability. He delighted in puns, cryptic messages, circular arguments, philosophical debates and other methods of verbal bewilderment. He would use jargon and archaic phrases, re-use adages with new meanings, and even invent his own sayings. Furthermore, he might protect his deception under the guise of a polymorph or other misdirection, such as by taking the form of a sage or even impersonating a deity to provide meaningless or outright false prophecies. In any event, what Titivilus said and what his audience thought he meant were typically two different things.
Titivilus's shrewd and calculating ways extended to how he treated combat. He was careful to never engage in confrontations that could not be easily won, and outright avoided the unnecessary ones. Even when facing a weaker opponent he was as cautious as paranoid Dispater in battle.
==Powers==
Titivilus's claws were not particularly dangerous, but touch was one of the ways he caused fear. He moved on land quickly, but even faster in the air, and well at that. He regenerated unless chilled or harmed with radiant power. He also had a high chance of summoning 4-8 erinyes to himself once per day.
Titivilus had access to many spell-like abilities, including but not strictly limited to alter self, animate dead, bestow curse, charm person or mammal, chaos, confusion, crushing despair, emotion, forget, fumble, hypnotism, illusion, illusionary script, know alignment, major image. message, misdirection, miser's envy modify memory, non-detection, polymorph self, protection from good, sending, suggestion, teleport and whispering wind, all of which he could cast at will. He could also cast greater invisibility and mislead three times each day, and feeblemind and symbol of discord or symbol of sleep once per day (and even then resisting the sleep still resulted in the targets nodding off.
Yet fittingly, Titivilus's most unique abilities laid in his power over words. He could speak all languages, always had the tongues and ventriloquism spells on himself (allowing him to throw his voice), and could communicate telepathically. To those nearby he could utter a frightful word to send them running from his presence, and his word twisting could be so potent as to be supernatural, literally charming his victims (although this would not last long and once resisted it would take time for a foe to be susceptible to him again).
Perhaps most devastating however was when Titivilus used his skills to corrupt his targets, coercing them into following their suggestions. At its worst, the blasphemous torrent of damning words Titivilus could unleash, supernaturally whispered to a single, intelligent foe, could turn even stalwart champions to lawful evil, at least for a few hours. For those whose powers or resources required adherence to some sort of code, this corruption could lose them their abilities, forcing them to atone if they violated their way of life while under Titivilus's baleful influence.
When put into combat situations, Titivilus first turned invisible before creating illusionary walls of iron to give himself time to prepare. Once adequately readied, he summoned his dire maidens - a —a flock of erinyes—to soften up his foes while he manipulated his enemies from afar using psychological spells. Only when his enemies were on the brink of death did he engage in melee, carrying himself well in combat, although should things go wrong he resorted to misdirection following by hasty teleport.
==Possessions==
Titivilus possessed a +5 bastard sword of wounding with a silver blade and hilt adorned with three expensive rubies, although he typically used his powers and words rather than his weapon. He also had other treasures, like his telepathic crystal ball.
==Activities==
Titivilus could be found in the Iron Tower of Dis, where Dispater dictated his wishes to him.
==Relationships==
Befitting his skill with words, Titivilus was Dispater's messenger. For whatever reason the otherwise paranoid Lord of the Second placed great trust in his nuncio, allowing Titivilus to represent his interests in nearly all matters. But while Dispater rightfully feared the enemies that surrounded him without, the otherwise distrustful duke's great mistake was allowing himself to be seduced by Titivilus, who manipulated and reinforced his master's anxieties for his own gain.
Titivilus's role in Dispater's court gave him such power and influence that he could rouse the legions of Dis with a word and send pit fiends fleeing from his person. Though many resented him for his closeness to Dispater, most also feared him, and even the ruthless rivals that would leap at the chance to undermine him were terrified by the consequences of failing in such an endeavor. The only member of Dispater's court who showed no fear of Titivilus was Dispater's enforcer, the Iron Avenger Arioch, who would descend upon anyone he suspected of treachery against his master. Titivilus regarded Arioch as a peer and treated him as such, but that in no way meant they liked each other, and both would destroy the other if given the chance.
==Worshipers==
Titivilus's few mortal servants consisted of scribes, theologians and defrocked priests, all of whom worked tirelessly to corrupt sacred texts in goodly churches they were (and could still be) affiliated with. The efforts of these figures who venerated the nuncio were important, for every errant word was a potential inroad by which the baatezu could manipulate and mislead mortals down the path to damnation.
==History==
Titivilus clawed his way up the hierarchy of devilkind to become the second-most powerful fiend in the 2 layer of Nine Hells. Notably, he did this entirely with his words, by saying just the right thing at the right time to get what he wanted. He manipulated everyone along his path to power, either to win them to his side or remove them altogether, until he beguiled his way into his position as the primary advisor in Dispater's household.
Since he obtained his position, Titivilus had been deepening Dispater's paranoia, convincing the Iron Duke that countless machinations were underway to unseat him, with none other than Asmodeus himself among the many conspirators. It was his nuncio's poisoned words that saw Dispater retreat into his Iron Tower, leaving Titivilus with the authority to govern his layer of Dis and negotiate with mortal supplicants while he focused on finding new ways to protect himself.
Titivilus played a dangerous game in doing this, a fact he recognized. It would only take another plotter revealing his duplicity to make Dispater reject the words of his advisor, and so Titivilus had gone about insuring his status. He recruited outsiders, (adventurers in particular proving well-suited to his needs) to deal with problematic devils, insulate himself against critique, and above all, create complications for him to solve. Pawns could be recruited directly or through intermediaries, perform his tasks and be expended as needed to reinforce his importance in his master's eyes.
==Rumors and Legends==
Titivilus was allowed to to represent his master so often that there were rumors that he was actually just Dispater in disguise, or that Titivilus somehow disposed of his master and had replaced him altogether. If either of these were true, the treachery was hidden behind the smiling veneer of the gentile Nuncio of the Iron Tower.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===References===
Category:Archdevils
Category:Inhabitants of Dis
Category:Inhabitants of the Nine Hells
Category:Inhabitants of lawful evil alignment
Category:Males
Category:Diplomats