Uaziezuhr, Dark Patriarch of the Dddhacact Assembly.
Race:Corrupted Human.
Strengths:Uaziezuhr is an
elite spymaster in many respects, with a developed passion and skill in the ways of intrigue. The existence of his cult alone is but an old legend to most, and even then, the existence of a dark patriarch is only a rumor held in disdain all but his four Dark Cardinals: his mysterious hands and will. Through the means of the watchful eyes of his cultists, the talented
shadowsingers: the spies and assassins of the cult, and the daemonic dopplegangers summoned by the former, little information evades his elusive grasp; even the likes of nations may come to bend to his will, with his shadowsingers tactfully disposing of councillors and heads of state and replacing them with dopplegangers if he would will it.
Uaziezuhr is
incredibly intelligent, having spent well over a human's lifetime as a scholar and de facto political leader. It's not uncommon for him to spend his time away from his eternally rotting throne reading varied tomes and books, or furthering his understanding of magic theory and the dark arts; admittedly, there's little else to do when you're a living myth. As both a mage and a leader, this makes him an adversary not to be underestimated: whilst he normally acts in mysterious and deceitful ways, his battle plans of old during the first reign of the overlord were truly devastating.
Uaziezuhr is one of the most, if not the most potently
powerful mage the realm has to offer. For the span of generations, he has been a studying the likes of magic theory and the dark arts, all the while being thoroughly augmented by the will and power of the overlord and daemonic rituals alike. His power extends to the point that not even the mortal plane may contain him: he may walk between hell and the material world through the means of dimensional rifts - effectively functioning as both personal portals and a means to open a gate for masses of daemons to flow and pillage, if he were to ever favor a less methodical method of open warfare.
Uaziezuhr is
blessed by the likes of daemons - so much so that he was offered ascension to daemon prince, which he declined as to not potentially displease the Overlord on grounds of possible defection. He often flirts with the beings of hell, and is considered a lord by lesser daemons, a leader by greater daemons, and a peer by daemon princes. As such, he is capable of summoning a wide array of daemons and summoning to his will, and is granted permission to pass unholy rites to select follower so that they may do the same. Additionally, his magical power is multiplied through daemonic means, and his phyiscal form is altered to be strictly functionally speaking, much superior; his build is unnaturally large and he is clad in grand daemonic armor which is merged with his flesh and muscle bar the helmet, which may as well be if it didn't strike him of a number of his senses at this point.
Flaws: Whilst Uaziezuhr is functionally augmented by the gifts of daemons, he is
disfigured and mutilated beyond humanity in practice. His skin is pale and in a permanent state of part rot, he is incapable of growing a hair on his body, his eyes glow a bright and imposing red, his form is unnaturally shaped and figured, and his face permanently bears various hideous scars and other injuries. In his form, he may never walk among his former peers again, and his presence alone would rally Inquisitors and Exorcists of all degrees and origins against him.
As Uaziezuhr's cult revolves around the employ of mages and daemons,
anti-mages and exorcists make a naturally effective counter to his will. To be worth more than a meat shield to the cult an initiate requires magic affluence, and the rank-and-file in warfare is filled with demons, a mass mobilization by an Inquisition could easily raze the cult, if not take it out at the roots - himself and his Dark Cardinal's - under the command of a talented Grand Inquisitor.
Uaziezuhr
flirts with both the likes of daemons and the overlord, creating a potential conflict of interests for a particular superior. He's welcomed among the court of daemon princes in the planes of hell below, and acts as the forward commander for the interests of hell's lords - all of this on top to his apparently superior commitments to the Overlord, which is easy to draw into question with his known skill in the ways of intrigue.
Opinions:"My thoughts on the other Lieutenants? Oh-hoh-hoh, you are brave, aren't you? Very well then, I see no harm in it - I would expect my Cardinal's to be on the same level of understanding as me in order to interpret my will.
"Let's begin with...
Bastian Wenderuthweiler, the claimant 'Emperor and King of Kings'; such a credit his title pays when he is exiled from his own government: he could not even manage something as petty as a rebellion, let alone had himself stoop down to the level of having to deal with it himself. Even after all that, he allowed himself the humility of living to be chained like a degenerate plebeian. He lacked even a contingency plan - if it weren't for his skills as a swordsman and his uncanny mind control abilities, he wouldn't even be worth the scheme to make him a pawn. But to his credit, he did manage to cheat the dark gods themselves, he is of noble blood - rare enough among the Lieutenants, there has been much time for revision and hindsight in the absence of our Overlord, and his mind control abilities are nothing to be underestimated. I shouldn't be rash, and should reevaluate his value when I meet him again; mass mind control could be useful into gathering sacrifices and subjects for daemonic possession...
"Next... Ah, ugh... The Orc Warchief,
Ukdur Hellhammer. Ukdur and I have had our.. differences in the past: he arrogantly lacks appreciation for the finer things in life, such as court and worship. He seems... naturally predisposed against the dark arts and the likes of daemons, which is a shame as his might and the might of the united orc clans is nothing to be underestimated; if only he would come to bend the knee and accept the power of the dark gods, I could bestow such unimaginable power upon him and his clansmen. A ground force of daemonically augmented orcs would have no equal, and under the command of the likes of my dark scholars - the very plane would bend to my will within the year, and he would have his rewards. I should scheme carefully.
"I'm missing someone.. oh dear, how could I ever forget? The pleasant
Serikul, the appropriately titled 'Spider Queen'. What a pleasure it is: she's simply wonderful to work with, bends nature itself to her will, and understands the necessities and pleasures of transhumanism, and command over direct combat; like me, she's abandoned her defective body of old and has been reborn superior. She's one of very few worthy of the title of consideration by our overlord. I need not scheme with her - she's a peer and equal, and deserves fair negotiation and trade. With a bit of cooperation, and perhaps a bit of 'dark influence', I can't help but wonder if her brood would make unmatched cavalry...
"Unfortunately, the dragonkin
Skrall still lives. By the will of the dark gods he should be dead and his grave rotted and forgotten, but so he lives, with his company of Deathguard at his back. I had briefly considered working with the dragonkin - the dark gods willed the dragonkin's death eons before the rise of our Overlord, and his specialist infantry company would make a fine set piece for the board - but he is ultimately unwilling, and his attitude is nigh unbearable. If it weren't for the blessings of his patron god, I would simply have him assassinated and install a doppleganger in his place, but in the name of our Overlord I shall tolerate him for now. I should scheme carefully so that I may, perhaps, bring his company into the fold. In the case he is as stubborn as he is ancient, then there is an alternative to death available..."
Backstory:Uaziezuhr, born Levi of the lesser noble house 'Arcenia' of a nondescript dime-a-dozen kingdom, was raised as a mage in a family in which magic had died out 3 generations ago. The family has subject to a bloodline revival effort, where they were provided a female mage by their liege to bear children with; Levi was the only child born of this experiment, and became the hopes and dreams of the house as result. He was expected to grow up to become a court mage for their liege, from which position he could elevate their houses influence and make them a great house once again; as such, he had a rigorous regime of magic studies and the elusive ways of intrigue from a young age. Regardless of how much he tried, he was.. never very good, simply because the magic in the family was barely revived and not given the time to flourish once again, given some genetics and accepting strictly mages as wives for a few generations.
Despite Levi's valiant and relentless efforts, he simply wasn't genetically capable of reaching the standards of a court wizard. He failed in his trials a total of 4 times, where his liege told him that it wasn't worth pursuing. He was borderline excommunicated by his family for his failure, who - by standards of their arrogance - had no choice but to place all faith in his success. This gave him endless determination: determination that would turn him cold and cunning by nature, and drive him stubbornly on even when encountered with total failure. Needless to say it was doomed to fail, but luckily enough, he was offered an alternative: at the mere cost of his soul, he could become one of the greatest mages of his land, and he could make his family not just a great house, but place them on the very throne at the top of the kingdom. Whilst he was reluctant, well educated against the likes of such deals and bargains, his determination left him no choice but accept.
When the court wizard refused to trial him to become his apprentice once again, Levi invoked the right to a duel. The rules were simple: only one spell was permitted, a spell that harmlessly knocked back an opponent, and the first mage to be knocked outside of a large circle lost. Levi, with the dark power of the overlord augmenting him, easily won the duel, much to his lieges surprise. He was controversially accepted as the new Court Acolyte, where he furthered his studies much further and began enacting the will of both his house and the overlord. After the passing of 2 years, in a bid to get more power for the Overlord's upcoming crusade on the world, his master encountered a 'terribly unfortunate accident' and was killed in an abandoned iron ore mine, where he was then named Court Wizard granted the skills to do so.
Enacting the will of his helpless family, having the ability to serve his overlord: the power was blinding for Levi, and he needed more. He began to experiment with the dark arts in secret, starting with the crude blood magic and eventually proceeding to the likes of forbidden ritual magic that allowed interactions with hell and it's residents. Although he was unable to sell his soul to the daemons, this was something of a blessing: some lesser daemons saw him as a much of a monstrosity as they were, and offered to lend him their power in exchange for a suitable sacrifice. His family would fit the bill. His family... oh, the disgusting leeching rats: not even the head of the house had to rely on his son for his status as a noble simply being maintained. They were only holding him back, after all - so conducting a lesser ritual to summon a pact of willing lesser daemons into his family manor so that they may drag them into the planes of hell and torment them for a time to come so that they progress their own careers wouldn't be a problem.
As his power grew, both daemons of hell and the overlord used Levi to more gain. The daemons would come to taste the blood of a King, the overlord gained a Kingdom a doppleganger loyal to his subject installed in a prior King's place, and with the Orc clans united plus another Kingdom brought into the overlord's fold, the realm would begin to fall to the overlord's will. Kingdom's and eventually Empire's would eventually fall, either overwhelmed by daemons and possessed warriors who thirst for blood or their leaders replaced with dopplegangers and their resources added to Levi's powerbase. Greater Daemon's and eventually Daemon Prince's would share their unholy power and secrets through bargains, trades and agreements, and the Overlord would reward his success; so much power, that he became endlessly disfigured to the point he forgot even his name and family, where his affectionate daemonic nickname "Uaziezuhr" - translating approximately to "Lord Summoner" - would act in its stead. In the end, Uaziezuhr became one of the reliable contributing Lieutenant's to the Overlord's cause, aiding to secure his iron rule over the realm for a time.
Uaziezuhr's a smart man(?) - what if the Overlord's reign were to be dismantled by a set of veteran warriors as if it were
child's play, or his own powerbase was taken out from under him? Tactfully, he started a cult in the case something disastrous were to pass: the Dddhacact Assembly. He would name himself Dark Patriarch of the Dddhacact Assembly, and after bringing 4 Dark Cardinal's into the fold - talented mages that would become his future will and voice within the order - he would simply vanish, to all but the likes of daemons, the overlord, and his fellow black lieutenants. Uaziezuhr and his Cardinal's established a rigid chain of command consisting entirely of mages through which the cult would be ruled:
- Under the Dark Cardinals is the
Dark Prelate, who acts a the 'figurehead' of the cult to the rest of its members. With this, even the existence of the Cardinals would be doubted, let alone the Patriarch.
- Under the Dark Prelate are the
Dark Exarchs, generals and leaders of the cult. Generally, they managed operations in great areas of territory such as nations and acted as generals for armies.
- Under the Dark Exarchs are the
Dark Archbishops, who acted as regiment commanders and governors.
- Under the Dark Archbishops are the
Dark Archpriests, who acted as company commanders and local cult leaders.
Initially, Dark Archbishops acted alone through the ways of intrigue and summoning; they raise and lead companies of demons in battle, and use them to carry out their will. Later, due to the need of more influence and unit diversity, non-mages were entitled to 'enlist' into the cult - even if they were used as little more than pawns and meat shields.
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Dark Bishop's are the non-commissioned officers of the cult, and is the highest a non-mage cultist can be. They ensure the enslited cultists are being managed and are doing their jobs, and are held accountable for their men's failures.
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Dark Priest's are simply initiated members of the cult, and generally blend in to society to gather information and silence any who would oppose the rule of the Overlord or become aware of the cult, and run other miscellaneous tasks such as extortion, rackets, worship, gathering sacrifices, and dying en masse as meat shields.
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Dark Acolyte's are uninitiated recruits, who have yet to pass their trials.
Alas, long after the rule of the overlord was cemented an enforced, Uaziezuhr was the third black lieutenant to fall. A band of pubescent heroes would liberate his governed territory, learn of his contingency when enacted, and then smite the Dark Prelate to rid of the cult from the face of the realm. As far as the world was concerned, the cult was dead and Uaziezuhr had long since had his sins and blasphemous acts catch up to him. Uaziezuhr and his Cardinals retreated to the dense and unwelcoming swamps of the east; their discretion regarding their existence had paid off, and in turn, they could begin to rebuild the cult from the ground up in preparation for the overlord's return.