While the vast majority of the angels who re- belled against God still languish in Hell, a goodly number have escaped in the ensuing millennia. A few of the more active demons, their plans and their cults, are detailed here.
Belial
Save perhaps Satan himself, no demon is more powerful and more unspeakably evil than Belial. He is Leviathan, the Great Beast, defiler of all that is holy; and his power beggars human comprehension. If he were to join Lucifer in the crusade to wrest Heaven from God, then the Apocalypse would be no more than a handful of years away. Fortunately for the sake of humanity and all Creation, Belial is obsessed with his hatred of Lucifer, and cares far more about finding and destroying his former lord and master than for anything else, even usurping the throne of Heaven. In order to destroy Satan and claim his power, Belial would give up mastery of all Creation, or indeed reduce Creation to ashes.
Belial is an immensely powerful demon of pride, whose arrogance will not allow him to ever accept Satan’s pre-eminence in the infernal order. He has the capacity to cause and control all manner of natural disasters, especially storms and earthquakes. He is also a creature of darkness and rage, who can control shad- ows and awaken uncontrollable anger, terror and madness in human minds. Because he only maintains small cults, though, Belial rarely expends his precious resources with such black miracles. Instead, he prefers to act through his thralls and pawns, saving overt displays of strength for emergencies.
Cults
Because he focuses solely on stalking the Devil, Belial’s cults are small and scattered. Every new worshipper, while a useful tool, requires manage-
ment and precious resources; so Belial maintains only a small number of insular, secretive cults, who rarely seek new members. What his thralls lack in quantity, though, they make up for with quality. Belial seeks out mortals who are obsessed with se- crets and the arcane, sorcerers and pagan wizards who already possess some control over the divine power within their souls. He promises them power and knowledge in return for their service, and the chance to use that dread power against their en- emies. (Such important individuals always have enemies, and Belial speaks to their hunger for power and their arrogance in their own skills, for he is a demon of pride.) After supplicants join Belial’s ser- vice, he “blesses” them with dreadful powers and Taints, in exchange for absolute loyalty. Should one of his cultists turn against him, no matter how powerful or trusted, Belial instantly kills him and devours his soul.
One of the largest, and most abhorrent, of Belial’s cults is a druidic order called the Children of Myrrdin, which haunts the forests of Wales and Cornwall. While once part of the Old Faith, these mages split from their Fellowship centuries ago to follow Belial’s teachings. Through the years the Children have maintained their numbers, recruiting new appren- tices when existing members become too old and insane to continue their worship. The Children perform blasphemous, obscene rites of cannibalism, rape and torture, twisting the magic of earth and tree to create deformed servants and unnaturally extend their lives.
First and foremost, though, the cult seek to plumb the secrets of the ley lines that criss-cross the world, conduits of mystical power that the angels laid into place eons ago to aid in their creation of all reality. The Children use the lines to see things from afar, and to send magical energies to blight and twist remote locations. Belial’s chief desire is that the Children use the ley lines to scry the location of Lucifer, so that Belial may finally find and destroy his hated foe. The Children do not understand the true nature of the quarry they seek; all they need know is that a rival power to their master exists, a black divinity that must be found and destroyed. To do this, the Children need to gain access to a major ley line nexus, such as Stonehenge, but most of these sites are already controlled by the mages of the Old Faith or by Garou septs, who will resist any attempt by the blighted demon-worshippers to usurp their places of power.
Activities
Unlike the other archdukes and most lesser demons, Belial’s soul resides in a small, portable
reliquary, an twisted statue of black stone that dis- turbs and unsettles all who see it. This makes him far more mobile then his kin, and he uses this to his advantage. After the fall of Rome, Belial’s reliquary was moved across Europe and Asia Minor, trans- ported by one cult into the care of another.
Centuries ago, Belial decided to cease his wan- derings and develop a stronghold in a place of power, a place to direct his minions and keep watch for his hated rival. That place was Jerusalem, the nexus of all three Abrahamic faiths. Belial’s thralls secretly carved out a temple beneath the streets of the Holy City, placing his dark statue upon an obscene altar. From this secret redoubt in the Middle East, Belial’s tendrils of control reach out across all of Europe and Asia, from the Children of Myrrdin in England to the Gaki-Daishi cult of Japan and everywhere in between. His power is subtle but omnipresent, and his reliquary remains safely removed from the atten- tions of his rivals.
In the wake of the Sixth Crusade, Jerusalem re- mains a city of tensions and intrigue, with Crusaders and Saracens still clashing sporadically under an uneasy truce. While Belial has no interest in mortal society or the fate of Jerusalem, he recognizes the significance it holds for European civilization — and the interest other demons have in it. Because other demons seek to control the armies of both Christianity and Islam for their own plans — plans developed in part by Satan — Belial seeks to worm his way into the power structure of those armies, as well as the diplomatic and mercantile forces of the city. With agents watching for signs of demonic involvement, he will be able to attack any demon who dares surface in Jerusalem, and rip any knowledge of Lucifer’s whereabouts from the doomed monster. Belial is thus unusually active in seeking worshippers in the Holy City; and his thralls are actively seeking new candidates, men and women consumed by arrogance and greed, to serve their dark lord.
Abaddon
Another of the archdukes who were the first to escape Hell’s confines, Abaddon is a blighted canker on the face of Creation, a being of sickness and pestilential might. Like Belial he has few rivals in power, but unlike the Great Beast he is willing to work with his fellow demons and Lucifer. With Asmodeus, Abaddon took control of Rome and worked to make the city into the sick heart of a corrupt Empire, commanding lesser demons and taking tribute from them in the form of followers and faith. The days of empire have vanished now, and Abaddon has little trust for his fellow demons; but he can tolerate the presence of his inferiors, and is
prepared to work with them once again if it brings greater devastation within his grasp.
Abaddon is a lord of the flesh, and of its corruption and degradation. Disease and plague are his to com- mand, as are poisons, cancers and sores. He can reshape the flesh of his thralls, or of helpless innocents, with a whim, bursting them apart with tumors or ripping them to shreds with muscle spasms. He is a demon of wrath, although he tempers his constant rage with an inhu- man intelligence, so that his true target is always the first to fall before his unstoppable rampages. He often gifts his thralls with inhuman strength or resilience, as well as both immunity to disease and the ability to spread it to others.
Cults
When Rome fell, Abaddon fled to northern Europe, and established a power base among several tribes of degenerate Viking raiders. Clustered in the desolate wastes of Norway, these tribes worshipped Abaddon in the guise of Loki, and massacred neigh- boring villages in unspeakably savage attacks that even their fellow Vikings found abhorrent. With the coming of Christianity to the North, though, these tribes began to dwindle in power and number; and now only a few hundred Norsemen worship Abaddon and his weyrs of sickness. Called the Black Blood tribe, they are massive and deformed warriors, and they live only to destroy.
The nomadic tribe moves across Greenland, Norway and Scandinavia in raiding parties, keeping a low profile as they travel only to erupt in savage violence on isolated villages and sometimes larger towns. Their main purpose is simple destruction, glorying in rape and murder unfettered by reason. In their wake, diseases spread throughout the survivors, and the land is left corrupt and tainted, a breeding ground for horror. Several septs of the Fenrir have come into contact with Black Blood raiding parties; the werewolves see them as servants of the Wyrm, not realizing the true nature of the evil that drives the half-human warriors.
Another cult worshipping the Lord of Filth is less overt and violent, but perhaps far more dangerous. The Tainted Saints are a loose cult of lepers, spread across the face of Europe, who worship Abaddon and the diseases that ravage their flesh. Members of the cult preach that leprosy is the Great Leveler, a divine judgment being visited upon the ruling classes and lords of Europe. When the disease infects everyone, then everyone will be equal, and the ones who have suffered the longest will rule their fellows in a kingdom of pestilence and decay. Leprosy afflicts all the great kingdoms of Europe, and leper colonies fester and rot across the Dark Medieval. The message of the Tainted
Saints, whispered from ear to rotting ear, is tempting and powerful; and Abaddon’s cult grows larger and larger in the darkness.
Activities
Abaddon knows the ways of men and their civilizations, having worked his corruption upon Rome in the past. But Rome fell, and the demonic empire Abaddon had constructed rotted away. The demon lord has learned something from that, and from the failed attempts at empire building that littered the Dark Ages. He still desires to bend empires to his will, to spread his contamination throughout the workings of human society, but he does so carefully now. He is hampered by his rage, which forces him into impetuous and ill-considered atrocities, but he reins that rage in as best he can and directs it away from the prizes he seeks to win. His pawns hold rank and power in the armies of the Sixth Crusade, and send their troops to massacre inno- cents and commit dreadful crimes upon prisoners, allowing their master a measure of catharsis.
Over the last century, the Lord of Filth has become increasingly interested in Cainites and the empires of blood they control. Cursed by God, vam- pires do not possess the divine spark living humans have, and thus they can provide demons with no faith or divine strength. But while other demons ignore Cainites as irrelevant for this reason, Abaddon sees a different potential in the unliving, especially in their need for blood and their immunity to disease. If he were to gain Cainite followers, they could spread his plagues for eternity without faltering, corrupting the blood and flesh of all humanity. Early attempts to convince vampires to worship him have been unsuccessful, though, for he has little to offer them as an incentive to become his typhoid angels. Currently, Abaddon conducts hideous experiments with the blood of his thralls, hoping to make it both infectious and addictive to the palates of Cainites, and plans to unleash the results in the streets of Paris and London.
Vassago
Called the Seer of Scorn, Vassago was called from Hell by an insane Jainist cult in Golconda, India, and bound into a massive diamond of unpar- alleled value. From this glittering prison, he led his Saffron Eater cult to prosperity and power over their neighbors in the Chalukyas region. But Jainism began to wane, battered on three sides by Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, and the cult’s power dwindled. In an attempt to rekindle his power base beyond Golconda, Vassago ordered his cult to cut away
fragments of his diamond reliquary, which he im- bued with his own dread power. Cultists transported many of the fragments out of India and into Asia Minor; over the course of centuries, they were bought and sold and traded, finding their way into the treasure houses of kings and popes. Each fragment is a conduit to Vassago’s spirit, allowing him to per- ceive and manipulate mortals in the diamond’s presence. Many have been set into jewelry, rings and crowns worn by wealthy and powerful mortals, who hear the whispers and temptations of Vassago in their dreams and nightmares.
Vassago is a demon of envy, who takes a sick joy in seeing the dreams and hopes of mortals turn to ashes and wormwood. His powers are subtler than those of many other demons, but no less effective despite the lack of bloody, flaming spectacle. He has the power to foresee the future, in rough terms, and can perceive the fates and destinies of mortals (and how to prevent such destinies from being realized). He has power over dreams and nightmares, visions and portents; he can read the thoughts and memo- ries of mortals, and plague them with curses of misfortune and madness.
Cults
Not for Vassago the public and flagrant heresy and sin of some demonic cults. He is a subtle mon- ster, and so are those who worship him. As well as the Saffron Eaters of Golconda, he has a number of secretive, influential cults scattered across Europe. Most of these cults focus around one wealthy or powerful individual, a man (or occasionally a woman) who owns a diamond of exceptional color and value. The cults preach not just greed but vengeance; the acquisition of power and the humiliation and de- struction of any who would dare compete with the members of the cult. Most are independent cells, but a number of groups in Western Europe interact and cooperate in their master’s service.
Political and economic power are the weapons of Vassago’s cultists, rather than overt sorcery or military might. Led by visions, his thralls invest wisely and gain further monetary wealth, while their enemies die or weaken as a result of unfortunate accidents and mishaps. Such bending of the patterns of fate leaves a mark on the fabric of reality, and several members of the Order of Hermes have de- tected the presence of something interfering with the natural order of things. The wealthy Cainites of the High Clans, while blind to such magical power, nonetheless see rivals taking over parts of their financial empires and are moving to shut out the thralls of Vassago — but they are opening them- selves to far greater dangers than they realize.
Activities
Vassago’s reliquary still resides in India, protected by fanatical cultists. But the cult is increasingly under attack by the caliphate of Qutb-ud-Din, who sees it as a repellent and unwelcome sect of blasphemers. In order to remain safe, Vassago wishes to transport his vessel out of India, most likely to Europe. While the diamond is relatively small, the suppression of the cult makes it difficult to transport the diamond in safety; and the lack of established trade and travel between India and Europe is another major barrier. Vassago’s primary desire in Europe, then, is to open up trade relations with India, so that his European thralls can collect his reliquary and transport it. His thralls in Paris and Brussels are working towards this aim, and a cargo ship — crewed entirely by thralls, a hideous temple con- structed at its heart — may be ready to sail within the year. The other primary activity of Vassago is to in- crease the size and power of his cults in Europe, to ensure he has many followers if and when he finally arrives.
Orobas
A warped, primal force of gluttony and physical lust, Orobas manifests as a grotesque, toad-like figure, at once slightly comical and deeply, viscerally repellent. Summoned millennia ago and bound into a statue of wet, slimy sandstone, Orobas has spent much of the last 500 years dreaming in stasis, his cult destroyed, his worship forgotten. It was only 30 years ago that a too- inquisitive Waldensian scholar, after reading ancient church documents about an abhorrent sect, discovered the demon’s reliquary buried in a German bog; his descent into madness was the trickle of warped faith the demon needed to return to unnatural life once more. Now Orobas looks upon a world vastly changed from the one he recalls, but he cares not for such petty details. All that matters is his desire to feed.
Orobas is a demon of gluttony, and not a complex or subtle one. Obsessed with the pleasures (and horrors) of the flesh, he burns with insatiable and inhuman lusts. His infernal powers pertain mainly to the gross physical aspects of nature, and the appetites of humans and beasts. He is the Master of Toads, and can conjure up swarms of toads, rats, flies and other vermin. He also controls poisons, pollution and bodily waste, and can awaken uncontrollable hungers and lusts in mortals. His presence drives away most non-verminous animals, but leaves others deformed and aggressive.
Cults
Orobas currently only has one cult, but it is wide- spread and quite visible. Called the Luciferians by outsiders, these degenerates lurk within the villages and towns of the Mainz archdiocese in Germany. The cult
preaches nothing more complex than the supremacy of the flesh and the right of its members to indulge every gross and sickening desire. The cult started as a group of Waldensians, a heretical Christian movement similar to the Cathars of France, but Orobas’ influence dragged them into degeneracy and madness over the course of two decades.
Most inhabitants of Mainz know of the Luciferians, of their mass orgies and toad-kissing rites. The cult makes little attempt to hide its existence (although members keep their involvement secret); in these times of hardship and hunger, Orobas believes mortals will come running to a faith that actively encourages them