Letters from Baator 6: The Perfection of Tactics

Department of Humanities

Psychology/Sociology Section

For: Chief Engineer

Subject: Baatezu military protocol

The Baatezu do not spend much of their time focused on war. As they enjoy politics for the sake of politics, they have devised a system to govern their military as well. The stratagems used by the Baatezu reflect their society and their desire to conquer the mind before conquering the body.

As they have come to learn over their long existence, the mind is the key concept in all things. If the mind believes it cannot win, then it will make itself lose. If the mind believes what a Baatezu has to tell it, then it will believe it based upon the strong rational arguments the Baatezu makes. If the mind is defeated, the body will not fight.

The tenants of the Baatezu military protocol should more correctly be termed the Baatezu Protocol as it covers all aspects of their culture. Baatezu are mind masters through their extensive training and the cunning they must show in order to be promoted. To this end, they must learn how to cause pain. Baatezu are aware of various levels and types of pain and must master each. These pain techniques are what truly make the Baatezu so horrid.

The lower-ranking members of the hierarchy enjoy causing the pains of the flesh because that is all they have mastered. On the other hand, the high-ranking members enjoy causing the pains of the mind because the damage done to the psyche is more powerful than that done to the flesh. These Baatezu have learned the subtleties that allow them to cause severe damage to a victim's psyche without breaking it - at least not at first.

Knowing that disobedience to a high-ranking member of the hierarchy will result in pain and punishment, the Baatezu do as they are told to avoid having pain inflicted upon them. 'Course, the fact that disobedience done artfully enough will get one of these poor sods promoted causes them to go out of their way to do whatever they can to get one over on their superiors that they see their suffering as the price they must pay for promotion.

On the battlefield, the tenets of the Baatezu Protocol govern their fighting style. Since the Blood War is for the control of all that is evil, the Baatezu have a law some say is as old as the Dark Eight. This Protocol states that "no Baatezu shall attack another during a period of contention under threat of pain and punishment of the highest order." Some have taken this to mean that even a pit fiend attacking another pit fiend on the field of battle can result in demotion to a lemure for either if it can be proven that one or the other was attempting to subvert their "great cause."

The Baatezu Protocols are something I have yet to glimpse. I can guarantee that each Protocol has its own volume unto itself. The Baatezu are nothing if not thorough. As the Baatezu Protocols are to govern their society without question, they have had to write extensively to cover any possible loopholes that might have occurred due to the attempts some have taken in order to get out from under their superiors.