Creatures/Oramus

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Oramus, the Dragon Beyond the World

Corruption, Exile
Progeny Count: 3:10:3
Back to /ATaxonomyOfMadness

  • Remondin, the Misconstrued Counselor (Quendalon)

This puissant entity advises the rulers of the Demon City, whispering to them her endless knowledge of possible futures. She most often takes the form of a child with sweet, guileless eyes, scarlet-lacquered nails and a forked tongue; she has other shapes, but her nails and tongue mark her in every form. Sorcerers call upon Remondin to learn of perils that may yet come to pass, for she knows the stars of Creation as well as those of Malfeas, and her keen strategic mind may unravel even the most complex and subtle of dilemmas. Yet her subtlety makes her counsel perilous, for her malice may lead those who rely on her wisdom into far greater troubles. She may also call forth the shades of others’ possible future selves, either to converse or to do battle on her behalf, and meeting such shades can be disquieting indeed.

    • Esprevere, Expressive, the Vernal Aviatrix (Quendalon)

Esprevere has a passion for life. She is tall and slim, gleaming with oily scales of orange and yellow, and great dragon’s wings unfold from her shoulders. Wherever she passes, strange life burgeons: unearthly seedlings and shoots rise from the earth, while the existing greenery swells and blossoms with unknown flowers and fruit. Pregnant mortals and animals that fall under her shadow give birth instantly, sometimes to perfectly formed children, at other times to bizarre prodigies and abominations. Though Esprevere normally leaves such things to whim and chance, she can choose the form such new life takes, and sorcerers often call her for this purpose.

Primitive men of verdigris sprung from the passing of Esprevere through Hrotsvitha, the Marcule's will is to strive against their surroundings. Within every moment, the world strikes flakes of tainted metal from them, and between every moment they find a new path down which to grow in their struggles. The touch of their tarnished flesh is agony upon mortal skin, as it strives against their fragile nature; few survive, but those few are remade ever stronger until the spark of mortality is driven from their brazen flesh, and they join the ranks of the Marcule.

    • Janequin, Indulgent, Fortune's Fool (Quendalon)

Fox-faced Janequin dances blithely through the wars and intrigues of the demon city, clad in rich furs and silks of aquamarine and rust. Strange coincidences and improbable circumstances follow in her wake. Fortune smiles upon Janequin and her doings, conspiring to spare her from the consequences of her whims. This makes her a masterful swordsman, for her blade often penetrates even the most brilliant defense through blind chance. She sometimes finds her way into Creation in those places and times where mortals make love to the Fair Folk.

At first glance, these frail, exquisite creatures seem to be little more than exceedingly large butterflies of violet, gold and crimson. Closer examination reveals a strange glassy translucency to their wings and an oddity of geometry that distorts angles and perspectives in their vicinity. Demons rightly fear their coming, for the Ruinous Butterflies feed upon good fortune as the insects of Creation sup upon nectar. Disaster always follows in their wake, and any large gathering of these creatures presages an inevitable, cataclysmic doom. Sorcerers may force them to disgorge some of the luck they have consumed, which issues forth in the form of honey, smoke or jewels.

  • The Broken-Winged Crane (FourWillowsWeeping)

The Broken-Winged Crane projects warped versions of itself, the First-Circle progeny of its seven Chapters, into the world from its prison Beyond, deep in the centre of Oramus' Cage of His Wings. They can only be discovered by one willing to take the step into darkness, to forego the paths of virtue and goodness to ascend the double spiral of madness and power. The Broken-Winged Crane has a dark palace in the centre of Szoreny, where a part of it holds court surrounded by its seven councillors. Those who are brought to Malfeas by its power are brought here to debase themselves at the font of forbidden knowledge. Here, it appears as a white crane with a single broken wing, with which it paints bloody calligraphy on the palace floor.

    • The Book of Sweet Words, Messenger, the First Chapter (FourWillowsWeeping)

This Chapter instructs the reader in the nature of demons and how they may be summoned and bound, and the many things which tempt, appease, and frighten them. In the Palace of the Crane, it appears as a man with a robe woven of sugar, with demon marionettes hanging upward from his gnarled hands.

    • The Manual of Efficacious Surgery, Expressive, the Second Chapter (FourWillowsWeeping)

This Chapter tells of the atrocities that Infernals have subjected themselves to in their quest for power - the golden needles of the anima transformation, the clockwork heart of immortality, and so forth. In the Palace, it is a maiden with steel fingernails that drip with blood, and who always has insects crawling up her back. She holds all the Infernals' knowledge of internal magic.

    • The Tome of Bound Tongues, Wisdom, the Third Chapter (FourWillowsWeeping)

This book tells of things better forgotten - the world before the Primordial War. It tells of the nature of demons and the deep workings of their minds; even the agatae are conprehensible to one that has mastered this book. In the Palace, it appears as a man in ancient armor, orbited by a constellation of eyes. He has a great many legs, but it is difficult to tell the precise number.

    • The Scroll of Bright Secrets, Indulgent, the Fourth Chapter (FourWillowsWeeping)

This book is full of the joys of corruption; inside it catalogues the victories of the Yozis over the past millennia and longer, and tells of their exultations. In the palace it appears as a delicate, naken maiden, pouring wine out of a human heart.

    • The Mirror of Her Mind, Reflective, the Fifth Chapter (FourWillowsWeeping)

This Book of the Broken-Winged Crane is said to be the journal of the first person to plumb its depths - or perhaps the last. It takes that person's form: a young lady, armoured in feather-mail and armed with a bow like a branch of the cosmic tree. She teaches the consequences of the Long Step into darkness.

    • The Diagrams of Effortless Geometry, Warden, the Sixth Chapter (FourWillowsWeeping)

This Chapter tells the secrets of the warlike magics of the Infernals, detailing many styles of combat in its pages. In the Palace it is a shaven-headed man dressed in only a loincloth, covered with arcane tattoos. He is armd with every weapon that can be imagined, flickering in and out of his nine hands.

    • The Memory of Transformation, Defining, the Seventh Chapter (FourWillowsWeeping)

This Book tells of the death of Adrián's fetich soul and her subsequent change into Adorjan, and other sufferings of the Primordials as they fought the Exalted for dominion. To read it is to understand the pain of having one's soul die, and yet to survive. It is the knowledge in this book alone that triggers the change, for the worthy, into Exalts of the Yozis. All the others but prepare the reader for the darkness to come. The Memory of Transformation appears as a figure robed in burgundy silk; only its six hands can be seen inside, spindly and pale as marble. They each hold aloft a broken crystal sphere.

Legends speak of a chill, scouring wind that scatters armies and breaks nations as it passes. This wind is Xerysis, the evoker of self-preserving fear in mortals, the fear that drives soldiers from their ranks, men from their friends, and nations from their allies. In ages past, entire armies were routed by Xerysis, who struck fear deep into the private hearts of each soldier. When it chooses, the cold wind coalesces into the form of a hairless, alabaster-skinned man, wearing a sharp-angled toga spun from mirrored glass. Any who look into the reflection in Xerysis' toga see only themselves, and not the reflections of any allies nearby.

In the void between Oramus' wings, Oshymitus is a thin web of capillaries and blood vessels covered with eyes, forming a vast constellation in the emptiness. When summoned into Creation, Oshymitus coils up into itself, forming a ball of pulsating veins and shifting eyes roughly six feet in diameter, which bobs in the air when materialized. Oshymitus is always watching, extending his capillary-eyes far away and through tiny cracks to view activities unseen. This demon is typically summoned to protect the paranoid, as a spy and interrogator bound to root out conspiracies and uncover hidden dangers.

Occasionally, during Oshymitus' spying, those being watched, paranoid themselves, spot the capillary-eyes and cut them from the body of the demon from which they spring. These dismembered pieces of Oshymitus sometimes grow into Ashteri, blood-red snakes whose hissings spread ideas of imaginary conspiracies, plots, and schemes to those unfortunate enough to hear them. On very rare and ominous occassions, Ashteri rain upon the city of Malfeas from above, and the schemes they place in the minds of demons lead to catastrophic events for years to come.


Comments

I don't know if I'll use this version of the Broken-Winged Crane, but it's very well executed. I particularly like the writeups for the Scroll, the Mirror, and for the Crane itself. I'm curious though about where the Crane is actually located; is it inside Oramus' cage, or in the forest Szoreny? - Quendalon

Edited - "a part of it" lives in Szoreny, but its essential heart is in Oramus. Thanks for the compliments! - FourWillowsWeeping

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