After getting one over on the Red Dragon Duchess, Soren felt thoroughly refreshed!
Still, he felt he needed to give the matter of the ancient gods some serious thought, because anything connected to them was simply too **. Their average challenge rating was above 25, and could even reach a terrifying 30 or higher. Back then, even true gods had met their downfall over matters involving ancient gods. Although the corpses of dead ancient gods drifted through the Astral Plane, their deaths were no reason to let down one's guard. They were the oldest beings in the Multiverse.
First, the [Lord of Hell]—Asmodeus—had to be mentioned!
He was a creation of the ancient gods. Asmodeus had been around longer than many of today's long-established deities. Perhaps the only one who could compare was Lathander's previous incarnation, the ancient deity once known as the [Sun God]. The Sun God had fallen in a great catastrophe, and his soul had been reincarnated as the [Lord of Morning]—Lathander. Then, after the destruction of the Arcane Empire, Lathander had ascended to become the [Lord of Radiance]. On closer examination, all the sources of this deity's power were interconnected.
An inscription had survived from the Silver-Earth Era.
It described Asmodeus as follows:
"In the earliest days of the universe, chaos was everywhere. Demons arrived uninvited—they were the very embodiment of chaos. Time did not yet exist, and driven by their chaotic nature, demons slaughtered one another throughout the universe."
"The entire universe could no longer endure such chaos, and so another force arose to oppose it—order. The war between order and demons began."
"These newborn gods of order donned armor forged from the pure power of order and took up arms for their ideals. Then they launched a fierce assault on the demons. This war