Balam

Siblings: The Dominions

**Balam** is the 51st spirit of the Ars Goetia and a great and powerful king (to some authors a duke or a prince) of Hell, commanding over forty legions of demons.

## Overview

The demon of avarice, idol worship and immorality. Balam is a nocturnal demon who is most powerful during the month of December. His Zodiacal sign is Sagittarius.

He was once in the heavenly order of Dominion.

## Appearance

Balam is depicted as being three-headed. One head is the head of a bull, the second of a man, and the third of a ram. He has flaming eyes and the tail of a serpent. He carries a hawk on his fist and rides a strong bear. At other times he is represented as a naked man riding a bear. His voice is hoarse and harsh.

## History

### Fall from Grace

Balam was among the many angels that resided in Heaven and as among the order of Dominions. He joined Lucifer's cause in rebelling against Heaven and God only to be defeated by Michael's Heavenly Host and later banished to the Abyss which became Hell. After the establishment of Hell's hierarchy and kingdoms, Balam was appointed as a king of his own dominion within the Inferno and was a great and powerful king among his forty legion of demons.

### The Exorcist

Balam was once ensnared, in Yamsay, Oregon, by a mortal named Eustace Coupland, who made a deal with the demon. For his freedom Balam would show him where the riches of the Earth were in Yamsay. In addition Eustace would provide the demon with a fresh soul for him to feed on as a tribute once a year. Eustace was suppose to free the demon until the end of his days, however the man took his life before completing the task. Thus Balam was forced to remain imprisoned, however Balam had enough power to manipulate Eustace's daughter to bring him more sacrifices, even after her death. It was his intention to absorb enough souls to free himself from his prison.

Then Balam began to hear whispers from Hell, the death of the Devil and the imprisoned soul uprising. Realizing that the many lords of Hell had fled to regain power through the Qliphoth Tree, Balam began to quicken his pace for freedom so that he may walk the Earth once more. He compelled his slave to gather more children for him to devour.

Eventually his activities caught the attention of Ashley Strode of the B.P.R.D. She found him in an underground chamber beneath the Coupland's estate. Due to the cage he was in, he was compelled to reveal the truth to her. He attempted to claim her as his vessel so he may escape, however Ashley used her spiritual sword and slayed him ending his threat to the world at the moment.

### The Devil You Know

It later revealed that Balam was not sent back to Hell but merely sealed. As the gates of Hell were shut he was thus bond to the Earth. Yomyael released him along with many other demons encountered by the exorcist intending to carve her place on Earth once more. He was defeated by Hellboy in New York, who killed the demon and sent him back to Hell.

## Powers and Abilities

**Animal Manipulation:** Balam can create, shape and manipulate animals, multicellular eukaryotic organisms that form the biological kingdom Animalia. They can command, speak/understand, evolve/devolve, merge with, possess, etc., with all forms of animal life.

**Answer Inducement:** Balam can induce answers to anything that does not have an answer, even if it does not make sense.

**Chimerism:** Balam either is or can fuse genetically with other species, Balam is able to shift between several or any species they want. Exact effects vary by individual and the species they fuse with.

**Fallen Transcendent Angel Physiology:** Balam either is or can transform into a Fallen Transcendent Angel: a leader of a group of angels who rebelled against God and were cast into Hell. Strangely, Balam not only keep their power but still have access to angelic powers as well as demonic ones even though Balam is not a full-fledged demon. Furthermore, Balam's angelic essence could be different than just plain angel like Transcendent Hybrid of possibly Transcendent Dragonborn (Angelic Dragon),Transcendent Cyborg (Angel-Machine), Transcendent Nephalem (Fallen Transcendent Angel/Ascended Transcendent Demon), Deity (Angelic Deity), Transcendent Nephilim (Fallen Transcendent Angel/Transcendent Human) , etc which in turn could push Balam's potential and all other abilities far beyond normal transcendent angels.

**Power Bestowal:** Balam can give superpowers to others, either permanently or temporarily.

**Precognition:** Balam can perceive the future through various means, which can be broadly separated into two categories: Supernatural and Analytical. Balam can see into the far future, effectively being Seers that can foresee outcomes of major decisions or the triggers to catastrophes and the like.

**Retrocognition:** Balam can discern the past and past events using various means, usually entering a trance while seeing and hearing a noted past event, whether it be concerning themselves or of an unfamiliar lineage in a past occurrence. Balam can recall any event that happened in the past, even obscure, intricate events. Occasionally spontaneous. This ability shows who did what at that particular time; similar to the psionic/extrasensory ability of Clairvoyance but only seeing anything from the past, despite not being there.