Letters from Baator 2: The Power of Manipulation

Department of Humanities

Psychology/Sociology Section

For: Chief Engineer

Subject: Twisting of the mind.

It is almost too much for me to bear. The Baatezu are masters of the mind. They make our Shaper 1 look like a child. If one isn't prepared to deal with a Baatezu, they become a victim rather quickly. The Baatezu will crush your will and your desires by making you sell them, and ultimately, your soul to them willingly. Their caress is gentle and sweet at first, but therein lies the deception and the masterful manipulation that only a Baatezu can achieve.

The core of the Baatezu way relies on three concepts: stroke the id, impale the ego and smash the superego. Though not truly psychology, as we have come to term it in our department, the psychoanalytic theory works well enough to give a basic insight into how the Baatezu way works.

Stroke the idThe id is the subconscious area of the mind that only cares about pleasure and getting its way. The Baatezu know this. In their dealings with mortals, they have learned which techniques work the best on the ids of various races and use it to entrap them all. By pitching an offer the mortal wants to hear, the Baatezu have found a way to control their victim. Feeding the id its desires and dreams corrupts the mortal and brings them closer to the Baatezu pulling their strings.

Impale the egoIt is the job of the ego to find realistic ways to obtain what the id wants. If the Baatezu can sufficiently twist the deal and stroke the id enough, the ego will become worthless to the victim. With the mind being fed delusions of what they want and "easy" ways to get it with no strings attached, the Baatezu has imprisoned its victim by their own mental poisonings. This leads to the victim not wanting to care about anything.

Smash the superegoThe superego is the moral standings of the victim. If the superego is smashed through the failure of the id and ego to obtain the id's desires, the superego, after seeing what has become of the victim begins to crack and fall apart as the id becomes frustrated at the failure of its delusions being fulfilled by the ego and becomes counterproductive to the superego and coaxes the ego to repress and eventually destroy the superego. The ego by this point has become poisoned by the id to the point that it doesn't realize it is destroying the body while the id is being satisfied.

Then reality comes crashing down upon the victim when it's time to pay the price of the contract(s) the victim made with the Baatezu. This is when even the greatest paladin from Mount Celestia sinks to new depths of depravity and loses his or her way. The paladin may realize it after they hit this point, but it will be a mighty struggle for them to ascend out of the Nine Pits and climb to the foot of their sacred Mount once again.

Xavierra Tempeste, Shaper 2.