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Originally posted by questing gm

On infernal/cosmic laws to sell someone else’s soul without their knowledge/consent

Spellslamzer — 08/16/2024 2:43 AM

Hello @Ed Greenwood. I noticed in Waterdeep Dragon Heist, the Cassalanters are trying to buy back their children’s souls from Asmodeus. But I’m curious as to how they were able to sell their children’s souls. What infernal/cosmic laws allow a person to sell someone else’s soul without their knowledge/consent? And under what circumstances is one able to sell another’s soul? Also, is such a contract still valid if a signatory, such as a young child, is unable to comprehend the terms of the contract, and how are the Cassalanters able to send their “innocent” sacrificial victims to the Hells without them signing a contract? Does the same also go for infernal weapons that send their victims to the Hells, like a narzugon’s or a fire hellion’s?

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Ed Greenwood — 08/19/2024 4:18 AM

One of the laws enacted by Asmodeus since becoming ruler of the Hells enables parents to sell the souls of their children, infants and the yet unborn, to “Princes of the Nine Hells” (in practise, to the ruler of one of the Nine Hells, or their immediate family such as consorts and children).

Anyone who has had “sex capable of producing offspring” (i.e. intercourse, with or without impregnation) with another being is no longer a child whose soul can be sold by parents (or slavers deemed guardians, such as an orphan enslaved by a ruler of the Nine Hells); such “mature” individuals can only sell their own souls. This applies to children too young to actually bear or father children, so long as they can perform the sexual act, willingly or otherwise.

Trickery in obtaining a signed contract (and it must be signed in the blood, tears, or spittle of the soul-seller; twisting a verbal promise is NOT obtaining a contract) usually makes the contract invalid; the intent of the soul-seller at the time of signing (not later, when regret is usual) is paramount.

“Sending” souls (beings) to the Hells through sacrifice isn’t a matter of contracts, but is a matter of infernal powers being enacted on the victims thanks to magical preparations (i.e. the ritual of sacrifice being performed on an infernal talisman or “dark consecrated”/profaned altar or spot, or the enchantment on the infernal weapon). In such cases, there’s no binding and no contract, just a plane shift that can go awry (i.e. to the wrong planar destination, or an unintended locale in the Hells), or be disrupted by the right magical pre-preparations on the sacrifice, or protective items borne by the sacrifice, or disrupting third-party magic.

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