Will/CrimsonEmperor

Crimson Emperor Ascendant, Deathlord

Appearance

The Emperor himself is a suit of superheavy plate made of soulsteel and red jade, with a soulsteel crown that appears after donning the plate. The suit is incredibly well-made, with red-jade bones covering the underlying soulsteel construction like a skeleton. In the center of the chest is a massive skeletal face made of soulsteel, with glittering fangs of starmetal. The secondary material in the armor always matches the prospective wearer, and the Emperor hopes that it will one day be glorious orichalcum instead of yet another kind of jade.

His current host is a middle-aged outcaste Fire Aspect. The Dragon-Blood's family lines were carefully manipulated to produce a high-Breeding host of a suitably martial nature. The Fire Aspect was once Oucawa Jyzalis, now a stately older man with graying black hair and a fatherly appearance.

History

Crimson Emperor Ascendant, in his first incarnation, was a furtive and secretive Eclipse, relatively unimportant among his peers. He was forced to shoulder all of the unwanted tasks that were too minor for his fellow Celestials but too important for a Terrestrial to handle. A peerless bureaucrat, his Curse manifested in the form of seething hatred and the desire to dominate all.

Slowly, he used his abilities to penetrate the Deliberative, corrupting a Terrestrial here and a mortal there. Soon, his stature grew as his opponents were undermined and banished. And, on the eve of his final triumph, the Terrestrials struck. The Usurpation was made all the more effective by the Eclipse's corruption of the system, as Solars found their escapes hindered by poor communications and a malfunctioning system. The Emperor himself died at the hands of his fellow conspirators, burned alive by those he sought to manipulate.

He was one of the first Deathlords to accept the Malfean offer, ignoring their cryptic warnings of "sacrifices". They soulforged the proud manipulator, brutally crafting him into black-iron plate armor, forever denying him the glory of personal power and forcing him to always work through another. He spent many long years alone in his Underworld tomb-castle, contemplating his errors and how they could be corrected to attain a perfect victory.

Crimson Emperor Ascendant emerged from his centuries-long ruminations with a strategy, a plan to dominate Creation once more through a perfect mixture of outside forces. While his peers focused seperately on warfare, religion, politics, and pleasure, Emperor decided to unify all of these approaches and attain a balance that would topple the social order of Creation and set him atop a new one.

Now, the Emperor uses his deathknights and other resources to wage a risky multi-pronged war. His resources are spread thin across many varied plots, but if he successfully pulls this off it will be a victory that encompasses all of Creation.

Titles

Bloody-Handed Lord (common epithet)

King of Endless Night (religious title)

Voice of Oblivion (religious title)

Holdings and Forces

Ashscream Islands (trio of Southwestern islands)

Citadel of Hatred's Triumph (volcano-Manse on the biggest island)

Empty Heaven Army (warriors, alive and dead)

Sightblinders (spies and counter-spies)

Plans

Consolidate power in the Southwest.

Acquire more Abyssal and Solar sparks.

Spread the Order of Endless Night across Creation.

Obtain a Celestial host.

Develop a ritual to transfer his soul out of the armor.

Cripple Heaven.

Annihilate his peers.

Destroy the Malfeans and Yozis.

Dominate Creation.

Powers

Incredible prowess with traditional melee weapons and bows.

Terrestrial Circle sorceror.

Void Circle necromancer.

Whispers projection over great distances.

Can possess any that dons him willingly, entirely suppressing their minds and taking full, unrestricted control.

Capable of generating numerous kinds of weapons.

Can animate the face on his chest, which is capable of draining its targets of their Essence at a rapid rate through a vicious, burning bite.

Religion, Order of Endless Night

Basics

The Order of Endless Night is based primarily out of the Ashscream Islands, and is the only accepted religion within the trio. It is based heavily around standard ancestor cult rules, but differs in a significant way: it venerates the Deathlord and his deathknight as well. Crimson Emperor is the earthly representative of Oblivion and the Malfeans, and his word is law. Below him are the Abyssals, each performing a task and minor deities in their own right. The Abyssals are the right hand of the Deathlord and thus holy by association, one step from true power.

Purpose

As every self-respecting savant knows, worship is power. The living and the dead, through their beliefs, can exalt the lowliest peasant with strength beyond his means if only they communicate their belief ritually. To this end, the Crimson Emperor has created the Order of Endless Night to provide himself and his Abyssals with an edge that not even the Bishop has, a stable religious base. The religion supplies him with fanatic-warriors and infiltrators, and the power of worship may very well be his key to victory.

Ranks

The Emperor's Malfean is considered the embodiment of the Void and venerated as such. This pleases him to no end.

Crimson Emperor Ascendant is the Voice of Oblivion and King of Endless Night. His word can even contradict the Empty Heaven Tome, and a rewrite generally follows.

Below the Crimson Emperor are his deathknights, each with individual titles and the collective title of Lord / Lady of the Vermillion Fist. They carry out the Emperor's will and enforce the Tome's laws, and are generally considered objects of worship along with the Emperor and his Malfean.

Nemissaries and ghosts make up the normal priesthood, and are not worshipped. Only undead may be priests.

Finally, below them, there are the disciples. These can be humans or weak dead, but they have no power and are basically prayer-fodder.

Literature

The Empty Heaven Tome is the single source of the cult's knowledge, traditionally taking the form of a simple leather-bound book with a blank cover. It was written by the Crimson Emperor and his literarily-proficient Abyssals, and is simultaneously a book of law and religion.