probably the most interesting thing dungeons and dragons official lore does is the blood war - more specifically, that if you fuck around with demons (chaotic evil), it's Devils (LE), not angels, who are going to try to reem you for it.
The shrieks of the damned reverberated throughout the heavens, and the flowers in the gods’ idyllic gardens dripped with blood. The deities of law tried to shut their ears, but they could not abide the horror. So they put Asmodeus in chains and again charged him with high crimes against them. “I have merely done what I said I would, under the laws you drafted,” said Asmodeus. Again, the gods had to admit he was right. “But I have a proposal for you,” the grim champion continued. “You wish to see the law upheld, but you do not care to witness its ranker consequences. So to preserve your delicate sensibilities, my followers and I will take our project elsewhere. We will build a perfect Hell for you. You will gain from its existence but need never lay eyes upon it."
“It is to your benefit to ensure that we, who labor for you in a place you will not venture, continue to carry out your will. This agreement specifies the fate of damned souls. In exchange, it allows us to draw magic from these souls, so we can fuel our spells and maintain our powers.” “I'm not sure I like the sound of that,’ said the flinty Moradin. “Your concerns are entirely understandable, O Maker of Dwarves,” said Asmodeus in his most reassuring tone. “But since we will be separated from you, we will not be able to draw our powers from you, as we always have. You would not wish to make us gods independent of yourselves, would you?”
(Fiendish Codex II, page 4, pub. December 2006)
'Hell' as a prison colony / torture blacksite / slave society / buffer state, established with full endorsement of the Powers That Be, has so much more texture to it than the usual 'random place evil angels got exiled to'.
"The good gods are actually evil" is the most trite seen-it-before bs.
Somewhat agreed – I mean, it makes sense in Forgotten Realms, what with all the Wall of the Faithless nonsense and whatnot, but it's fun to fantasize about benevolent forces greater than your character and if all the good gods are secretly awful it's harder to do that.
















