Exploring Nessus 

That picture of the Angel and the devil talking to one another inspires so much in my mind. Be at the origin of a player character or the start of a campaign there's just so much that could be said there that we could never understand

Ruby Rod? I loved him in The 5th Element!

We're friends?! I've never had a friend before, this is so exciting!

Here is an idea. The pact primeval essentially is a treaty between the hells and heavens. So long as the greater threat exists heaven will not move on the hells. A cold war uncounted eons long. The lawful nature of both sides making it almost trivial in the grander scheme of things. But this is why Asmodeus allows the Blood War to continue even though he should just use his various powers and armies to rid himself of the abyss. He and devilkind are safe so long as they act as a bulwark against the corruption. It isn't that the heavens and the god have to allow the hells the souls they steal away. It is that the treaty doesn't allow any way to bring retribution for the act. Any effective action to retrieve the souls would free the hells from the pact and thus they would no longer have to fight the demons.

What I like best about AJ's videos is that they make the brain and imagination juices flow! Lots of story plots are sprouted.

The ice devil with the human head got me! Well done.

I liked the story in Guide to Hell. Asmodeus is the avatar of Ahriman, his real form which is still recovering from his fall at the begin of creation. His goal? Destroy the planar order by spreading atheism, thus depriving all the other planes of their energy. If a mortal dies truly believing that the gods do not exist, his soul will go to Nessus to be consumed by Ahriman. Yes, the god of atheism. Probably was deemed too scary for the general playerbase of today.

Love this! To paraphrase Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, Hell is a dark mirror held up to Heaven

AJ was in fact murdered 24 hours after this video was up, he was then replaced by a devil named chuck. Chuck happens to like the lore of his world and making videos.

Starting off the vid with welcome home by coheed and cambria....you are now officially my favorite DND lore youtuber.

I like to imagine that the page turning we hear throughout AJ's videos are him literally turning the pages of whichever of his various tomes (read: his field journals) he's got in his lap or on the desk. I also like to imagine that, about as often as not, this casual discourse on alarmingly intimate subjects is being held with someone who's simply been tied to a chair and made to be talked at by the Loremaster for some minor transgression or other. He may or may not even be aware of the presence of his auditors.

*ASMODEUS - MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE*

"Whoops!" Haha, that was awesome.

Perfect intro! 🤘

Great job once again A J ! Thanks for the awesome video.

weolcome home of coheed and cambria !!!!! amazing jajaja

Thanks, I appreciate this video 📷

Listened to that intro 3 times, dope as HELL 😂 GET IT?

that shot of hasselhoff makes me think of a whole new direction for the knight rider show

You have an amazing music choice for all your videos man lol

More of these!!

I often wonder what the Nine Hells would think. Of how some of their lore, is told by mortals in our world. Especially the Arch Devils, who have many secrets.

Never clicked faster on a notification.

I love all the smite art you use in your videos

well Clearly Asmodeus is Tim Curry from Legend, i cant think of him in any other way

Tickles my bones when thinking about a Devil saying a "yo'mama" jokes in an ancient tongue, whose words spoken make the very ground shake, cause all mortals in the area have to roll a dc 21 wisdom saving throw or feel deep demoralisation despair. On a save, you feel deeply innate disgust and rightous fury... wholely not knowing what the devil said to the Angel

That Coheed entry music! Good choice sir!

Have you done a video on sentient weapons, such as the wand of Orcus or Asmodeus' ruby rod? I would love a video on sentient weapons. Thanks for these, you're the best!

Great stuff AJ

Congrats on 5k!

An adventure in nessus would be epic

A.J. Pickett-------"I consider you friends at this point"......" Let's go to hell!" 😂😂😂

Thumbs up and subbed at intro music.

lovely video. specially liked the cultists analysis.

Thanks for the vid sir.

If I ever meet Asmodeus in D&D Im gonna pull out a "Homer Simpson move" and give him my soul for eating a donut, then eat almost the entire donut and just leave a little piece untouched. And then lol and mocks at his face. I wanna see a DM and players react to that. :)

could you make a exploring the nine hells playlist? for quick reference , a playlist with this and the other devil ecologys in which you talk about the different layers

Thank you for this video. I just sent my dnd group here.

perfect intro music, imagine it tearing through Avernis on a freshly stolen Devil's Ride right after casting Wish on it: "permanently magically animate this so it doesn't run on souls" a rooster tail of fingernails spraying in your wake

Wew lad, great intro song.

the realm of lawful evil. i like the sound of that

I'd love content like this for other locations in Baator too like the cities of Dis or MInarous

A.J., you would love Keith Laumer's work called "A Plague of Demons"

Epic intro

Awesome video. Love this series. Whats the into song? I really dig it!

If the forces Law broke up into Lawful Good and Evil, did the forces of Chaos do the same? Were there any demons in the planes which turned Chaotic Good as opposed to the some of the Celestials which turned Lawful Evil and became fiends?

This video has inspired me to create a band in the abyss called Cpheed and Cambion.

I'd have gobbled this up earlier but I saw you drop this vid right in the middle of me DMing a game lol. Do you think you could add the spelling of the various hell-dukes and important "people" you list at the end? Some of them sound like colossal fun to work with but those rarer names are tough to google without spelling. Thanks as always for your work! I never walk away not having learned something.

Considering same goal, angels should respect baatezu

Sounds like Azmodeus is ki da like Hunson Abbadeer from Adventure Time

"Through it runs a river of forgetfulness. Where it starts and where it runs I do not know... or do i?" This is in the top 5 jokes you've ever made. 10/10 will use on my players

So Asmodeus is basically the Phantom Stranger

666 likes.. can't mess that up.. so here's a +1

Ok sooooooo welcome home is my absolute favorite coheed and Cambria song, but I've got to be missing something as I have never heard the awesome opening to this video anywhere near that song, as epic as they both are. Please help me. O.o

9:47 thats a suspiciously shaped ruby "rod" you got there.

Will you do a video on Gargauth, the Tenth Lord of Baator?

Have you done anything on the lords of ravenloft I would really appreciate you considering a series on strad and the other dark lords

I don't expect a reply, but... does anyone know what that opening guitar is from? Inquiring metalheads would like to know.

How did I miss this!? Damnit!

Poland have a legend about deal between Asmodeus and wizzard known as Pan Twardowski (almost literally "mr. Toughguy"), who had to retreat to the moon in hope of escaping inevitable

29:00 Ooh, a high ranking devil with sense of humor and comradery? I wish i could search more about him, Zag does look like someone devils would like to work for if you put in perspective the other options.

You always hear about the corruption of angels but never once do we get a story about a redeemed devil.

28:48 I HAVE BEEN LAUGHING FOR FIFTY YEARS

29:00 Fiendish Bro

What was that intro music? Loved it.

hahahaha the hasselhoff face hahahaha

AJ, your videos are amazing but the number of ads on them are rediculous.... this one alone had 5 full video ads.

I like city o doors bub.why no vid on volo himself or xanathar himself or mordinkainin hisself.everyone themselves lol

What is intro song bite? Very awesome

can you make a vid on the Lady of Pain?

Say, what was the music at teh into t this one? I'd like to hear more.

13:57 Creepiest Pic EVER!

David Hasslugon... That is fucking terrifying!

Maybe an odd question but I'm not sure I get the implication of the devil looking at the dagger and chuckling. Could the devil sense that you didn't follow the god of the Paladin that used to own the dagger and thus it wouldn't be as effective, or was it just supremely confident in its ability to destroy you if you acted up?

Zagun, literal meme lord. 29:00

What music was in the intro?

What if you where such a nasty physical beast, that Asmodeus was like "You're my go-to guy, the guy that I "go-to" when I need a problem solved", like "Dude, you're so hulked up a shredded, that I have no choice...but to put you in command of a division of Erinyes" Now that said, I hate everything Asmodeus is and what he stands for...BUT, you have to admit, and even to yourself, that when you have someone like that, with that level of Panache, that level of Jena se qua, that level of X Factor as we say in the sales biz...even you would be like "woh, Asmodeus needs me?...okay...I'll do it, I'm going to bat for you Asmodeus! I got your back!" - Sam Hyde in Devil occupied Avernus

Yooo what's that intro song

11:57 why not just worship an evil god? even tho the god may be evil its still better than being at the mercy of Devils n demons

It also says he's a giant serpent hundreds of miles long and that he sits in the lowest depths of the nine Hells and he consumes those who had no faith the atheists of the Dungeons and Dragons World those who outright rejected the Gods he consumes them eternally and in this way seeks to heal his wounds

Coheed and cambria

Video on Xvarts? They're like such an underrated low level creep

What was that opening???

.Nothing about Serpent's Coil?

04:53 -- "...Malsheem. It was once in earlier editions a ????? of blasted rock..." I hear you using the word sphere, but I'm thinking I'm wrong. The automated captions state fear (also probably wrong). Can you let me know what word was being used?

How do you spell the name of the "Inquisitor of hell" sounds like faungore?

When you ask a ghetto dude what is the most popular p.c. game modding website.

Asmodeus is the police.

8:40 I see what you did there, Ahmed ibn Fadhlan, ibn Al-Abbas, ibn Rashid...

What's the name of the song at the beginning?

This intro is Nat 20.

So asmodeus could destroy the universe if he really wanted to lol

Huh. It doesn't seem all that bad. I guess that's just it being lawful evil and not _evil evil_.

The mighty gluestick

Hasselhoff! Hahahaha

"No gods, no masters" is an Anarchist slogan. Anarchists are not great lovers of draconic laws and oppression, nor do we live in "rich mansions." If you/they want to compare our beliefs to evil outsiders, demons would have made more sense.

And things were not always thus. - Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan.

Try saying "CAT ASS TROPHY"!

Lol NesSUS

There’s something funny about hearing you fail to say catastrophe 3 times and just go screw the script “that disaster.”