Ruling over this hierarchy are the supreme beings that dwell in the depths of the Seventh Circle, which is at the very bottom of the Abyss – they are the 27 Wicked Ones, kin to the Father of Lies, bound by the power of Domivar never to leave the Abyss, and yet ever plotting and scheming to exert their will onto the mortal realm.
It is said that the Wicked Ones live in the Eternal Dark, inimical to life both mortal and Abyssal, and yet these godlike beings endure, their power manifest in every corner of their realm.
The Wicked Ones each carve out domains of unmitigated evil upon the magical plane of the First Circle.
Each realm is as unique in appearance and workings as it is possible to be, and as the fortunes of these dark gods ebb and flow, so too do their domains expand and shrink, sometimes clashing into each other, resulting in war and intrigue between the Wicked Ones themselves.
These domains defy mortal description, although crazed seers have sometimes written forbidden texts describing cities made of writhing, pulsating flesh, or great plains of precious stones that shine as far as the eyes can see.
They rave of kingdoms where the air is thick and noxious, and shadowy denizens shuffle about the feet of their dark lord, dragging plague-ridden souls behind them.
They speak of a kingdom of dog-headed spiders, and of palaces of bone, and the endless forges of Ariagful, whence cursed artefacts are forged and remade over and over, before being sent out into the world to taint the hearts of mortals.
Some of the Wicked Ones may never recover the power they enjoyed before their fall: Akshun’arha, Mother of Vampires, for instance, is little more than a wraith – a sliver of the god she once was. Most of her divine power was bound into the hearts of mummified Ophidians in a bid to escape banishment to the Abyss, but most of these were destroyed.
And yet the other Wicked Ones are ever jealous of their weakling sister, for some shards of her power live on in the mortal realm, in the form of the first true vampires.
Only Garkan the Black can truly say that he has unleashed such a darkness upon the wider world, in the form of the brutish orcs.
Other Wicked Ones reign over vast kingdoms, and the names of Ju’bilex, Barglurath and Vraz’zt are feared – and worshipped – in the mortal world. Kyron, the Dark Smith, has recently grown in prominence, for the very oceans of the mortal world answer to his call; and yet his power ebbs and flows as surely as the tides, and even he pales in comparison to the lord of all evil, Oskan.
From hell’s heart, Oskan plots and schemes, always looking for a way to exert his malign influence over the mortal realms, whilst keeping one eye on the many intrigues of his 26 Abyssal Lords.
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