Letters from Baator 5: The Perfection of Manipulation

Department of Humanities

Psychology/Sociology Section

For: Chief Engineer

Subject: Baatezu training

Baatezu are naturally strong. Well, if you consider manipulating the system natural. The forms the Baatezu take emphasize form and function as one. As I have already stated, the Baatezu aren't as proficient as the Acheronian militaries. However, this by no means indicates incompetence when faced with such actions.

See, the Baatezu are inherently disciplined, unlike the hardened hearts of the Acheronians. The Baatezu make psychological attacks their priority. The Baatezu know their strengths and weaknesses and how to exploit them on the field. Through preparation and careful calculation, the Baatezu work to play their enemies like a harp. Baatezu tactics are based upon the principle of feigning weakness when they have overstrengthened and strength where they are weak.

Baatezu warfare follows their political style. Decoys, probes, lies and misdirection are at the fore. The Baatezu see war, politics and negotiations in the same light. They are problems requiring solutions with psychological equations and simple quantification. After untold millennia, the Baatezu have refined their psychology and warfare tactics to perfect their methods. However, the chaotic patterns of the Tanar’ri and their sporadic ways still have the chance to defeat them.

Baatezu trained their numbers by promoting their values in ingenuity, scheming, political maneuvers and their contracts. They cull the herds and winnow out the weak to promote their standards. Those Baatezu who fail end up on the front lines of the Blood War. Baatezu are psychological monsters. They prey upon those who leave themselves open to such things.

The pleasures the Baatezu bestow upon their victims as "recompense for services rendered" are as ghastly and perverse as the Tanar'ri and even worse than that. To the Baatezu, everyone is a potential victim, whether mortal or Power.