Hi! n Dragon Magazine 361 there is an article on the Infernal Aristocracy. There is an interesting part that is not well explained:
It was at the court of his old master that Tartach met and was seduced by Glasya. The daughter of Asmodeus had a reputation for caprice and working against the wishes of her father by consorting with his enemies and rivals. She had been Mammon’s lover and had been teasing Baalzebul, all in the hopes of supplanting the Lord of the Seventh and claiming the layer for herself. She saw in Tartach a kindred spirit and convinced him to throw in his lot with hers. Before her plots would bear fruit, Malagarde’s aborted effort to ascend to godhood created a vacuum in the hierarchy of the Nine Hells, one Asmodeus was quick to fill by elevating his own daughter to become the new Lord of the Sixth. She left Maladomini, but before she did, she invited Tartach to accompany her and serve as her chamberlain.
Did the hag Countess really try to become a goddess? Has someone some ifos on this topic?
A single passage from theLegions of Hell.
"One morning, the Hag Countess ... she was wracked by terrible spasms. She collapsed to the eternal slope, shrieking in agony, and for a moment it looked as if the Lord of the Sixth would simply roll off the layer and into the devouring void just past its edge. .... Then the infertile soil of Malbolge seized the countess herself by the wrists and ankles and held her fast while she underwent a transformation even more shattering than the one destroying her land."
So did the mighty Hag Countess turned into the land itself. After Glasya's ascension, Malbolge lost its slope shape and turned an organic looking place, devouring the Countess in the process. It is said Glasya used the Countess to "decorate" the layer. Nothing is mentioned about the Countess' attempt to ascend to godhood in the text. I guess they made that up on the go?