It's taken me too long to get back to this, but I am here to start on the second half of Hell's consorts. Maybe I'll do a post for Tiamat's consorts; I haven't decided.
Glasya is difficult to write about if you stick to 1st edition sources. She has the shortest writeup of any of the consorts, but was done by Gygax himself. She probably should have been used as the basis for the other consorts, but Greenwood stuck to his template.
Mechanically, her unusual abilites are animate dead, charm monster, polymorph self, and a once a day finger of death. She can also summon 1-2 malebranche with a high (70% chance) of success. Malebranche are listed as "very rare" on Minauros and not even Mammon, the archdevil of the plane, can summon them as part of his regular abilities. Clearly, these are bodyguards from dear old dad. Her abilities are also as if a 20th level magic-user cast them, making them more powerful than that of the other consorts. It should be noted that all of the Monster Manual 2 unique devils are this potent, meaning some of them are overpowered compared to Greenwood's devils, and the archdevils are almost certainly underpowered. She has exceptional intelligence, putting her in the middle of the pack for unique devils.
From a background perspective, she may be one of the consorts with more possibilities. She is not only the consort of Mammon, but also the daughter of Asmodeus. None of the other devils in 1st edition have parents listed. She is noted as being behind the events in Talakara (from Dungeon #25, thanks rasgon!) by giving the skeleton warrior's circlet to a wizard.
Let's consider Glasya as a relatively young devil, only a couple millenia old. She was raised among the powerful at Asmodeus's court and saw how her mother manipulated those there. Lacking her mother's experience, her attempts at manipulating the court were seen at clumsy and ineffective. Whispers about her incompetence followed her. She became Mammon's consort, whether because she chose or was ordered to, one can only speculate. Effectively trapped in Mammon's palace while he hunted and tortured, she had little to occupy her time.
However, Mammon is the Lord of Avarice and has a gigantic hoard. Instead of trying to manipulate an entire court, Glasya instead focused on individuals. She found she was much more successful. Petitioning her father, she was granted permission to tempt mortals on the Prime Material Plane. She had a knack for picking the right people to tempt and the right object to make her temptations irresitable. She is Hell's Princess of Corruption.
Out of all the consorts, Glasya is the only one that had success in later editions. Arguably she had too much success, as she was behind the Reckoning and was eventually promoted to be the Archdevil of Malbolge, the sixth Hell. Possibly she killed her mother too. Honestly, it's all a bit of a mess and feeds into the whole Asmodeus/Glasya are the smartest ones in existence movement that I dislike.
I should also note that while Glasya is listed as Asmodeus's daughter, there is nothing to say that she is Bensozia's daughter. It was not uncommon for men to remarry to give their children a mother, and it would make sense that Asmodeus wooed Baazebuul's consort away to raise his daughter.
It's taken me too long to get back to this, but I am here to start on the second half of Hell's consorts. Maybe I'll do a post for Tiamat's consorts; I haven't decided.
Glasya is difficult to write about if you stick to 1st edition sources. She has the shortest writeup of any of the consorts, but was done by Gygax himself. She probably should have been used as the basis for the other consorts, but Greenwood stuck to his template.
Mechanically, her unusual abilites are animate dead, charm monster, polymorph self, and a once a day finger of death. She can also summon 1-2 malebranche with a high (70% chance) of success. Malebranche are listed as "very rare" on Minauros and not even Mammon, the archdevil of the plane, can summon them as part of his regular abilities. Clearly, these are bodyguards from dear old dad. Her abilities are also as if a 20th level magic-user cast them, making them more powerful than that of the other consorts. It should be noted that all of the Monster Manual 2 unique devils are this potent, meaning some of them are overpowered compared to Greenwood's devils, and the archdevils are almost certainly underpowered. She has exceptional intelligence, putting her in the middle of the pack for unique devils.
From a background perspective, she may be one of the consorts with more possibilities. She is not only the consort of Mammon, but also the daughter of Asmodeus. None of the other devils in 1st edition have parents listed. She is noted as being behind the events in Talakara (from Dungeon #25, thanks rasgon!) by giving the skeleton warrior's circlet to a wizard.
Let's consider Glasya as a relatively young devil, only a couple millenia old. She was raised among the powerful at Asmodeus's court and saw how her mother manipulated those there. Lacking her mother's experience, her attempts at manipulating the court were seen at clumsy and ineffective. Whispers about her incompetence followed her. She became Mammon's consort, whether because she chose or was ordered to, one can only speculate. Effectively trapped in Mammon's palace while he hunted and tortured, she had little to occupy her time.
However, Mammon is the Lord of Avarice and has a gigantic hoard. Instead of trying to manipulate an entire court, Glasya instead focused on individuals. She found she was much more successful. Petitioning her father, she was granted permission to tempt mortals on the Prime Material Plane. She had a knack for picking the right people to tempt and the right object to make her temptations irresitable. She is Hell's Princess of Corruption.
Out of all the consorts, Glasya is the only one that had success in later editions. Arguably she had too much success, as she was behind the Reckoning and was eventually promoted to be the Archdevil of Malbolge, the sixth Hell. Possibly she killed her mother too. Honestly, it's all a bit of a mess and feeds into the whole Asmodeus/Glasya are the smartest ones in existence movement that I dislike.
I should also note that while Glasya is listed as Asmodeus's daughter, there is nothing to say that she is Bensozia's daughter. It was not uncommon for men to remarry to give their children a mother, and it would make sense that Asmodeus wooed Baazebuul's consort away to raise his daughter.
On one hand, I feel that the Scarlet Brotherhood is too regimented to fall prey to Glasya's manipulations. She might manage the odd agent here and there (I want to say that the low level monk in Greyhawk Adventures would be a prime target, I forget her name, but she strikes me as ambitious enough to draw Glasya's attention).
I do have the thought that she might have been involved in corrupting the last Emperor of the Suel Imperium and responsible for the Twin Cataclysms. Another thought is that if Baftis and Baazebul are working on the Great Kingdom, then she might move to support the SB to block their influence.
In campaign use, I see Glasya as a source of items that the party's opponents use. Ones that are unique or have a malign intelligence that influences the user would be my preference. Details of a beautiful woman that approached and encouraged them on their path might lead back to her, but ultimately, like all of the consorts, she should remain on the Nine Hells. Defeating her schemes is the point; doing so would cause a loss of confidence in her, and the whispers about her being the talentless daughter of Asmodeus would return.
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