Paladin Worldbuilding: The Circle of Archdemons (Patreon)

Hi guys!

I was doing some worldbuilding and fleshing out some of the Paladin of the Sigil universe.

I'm pretty much done with my draft of book 2 and need to get book 3 fully outlined before I can do anything else. But before I can do that I want to get a little worldbuilding done, both as a bit of a mental break to help me distance myself from the content I've already written and for a bit of fun.

I usually do quite a few of these things, both for Spellheart and for Paladin. Normally though, I don't share them. This time, I am. Let me know if they're interesting enough to read and if you'd like to see more.

Today's worldbuilding session was fleshing out a group of potential villains for book 3.

The Circle of Archdemons:

The Circle of Archdemons is the second most feared organization of demons throughout the hells. Well, maybe the third, if you count the Lady of Darkness on the Seventh Layer. But she hasn't left her infernal palace since the war with the heavens was in full swing.

This is often considered the most dangerous group in all of Hell, even more so than the Prime Sins. Though the Prime Sins might individually be more powerful, they are constantly bickering amongst each other, and their ability to fight is limited. They can't afford to overextend themselves lest one of their rivals take what they hold dear. Even when the materialize in an avatar on the surface, much of their power must remain in Hell to maintain their interests and rebuild their bodies should their avatars perish.

In contrast, the Circle of Archdemons has no rivals. It is the most robust organization of Fifth Order demons, bar none. They make their headquarters on the Fifth Layer of Hell, where powerful Archdemons hold sway over vast armies and nations of lesser creatures and administrate the territories on the higher levels of Hell.

Most of the demons at this rank of power are ancient and have existed since before Hell solidified. However, there are a few crucial figures among them to be wary of, including:

Melquart, the Demon of Sacrifices. He is behind most human kidnappings on the surface, and many of the most profitable human cults operate in his service.

He was the original inventor of soul stones and why they became the one actual currency throughout Hell. No other commodity could beat the convenience or value of a soul stone, and making them is the reason Melquart needs his cultists to kidnap so many humans.

Each soul stone contains the majority of a human's soul. Initially, making one of them required sacrificing an entire human so that their soul did not dissipate and could instead be solidified into a convenient square-shaped object.

Melquart pioneered a new method of harvesting human souls though; extensive torture.

By causing a captured human unending and ceaseless suffering, he could extract the majority of their soul, leaving just enough for them to survive and heal from what little was left. A bit of rest and an environment of dense demonic aura would allow the human to eventually recover, allowing the extraction to begin all over again.

Thus, under Melquart, the extraction of human souls and refinement into soul stones became an industrial practice. Large warehouses on the third layer exist to do nothing but torture humans endlessly, extracting their souls over and over.

Eventually, these prisoners will have pumped enough Demonic Aura through their bodies that they cease to be humans and instead transform into demons. Most are entirely insane by then and are released on the surface world to cause chaos and destruction. The existence of these demons is essentially what created the human perception of demons as savage, animalistic monsters.

Another vital member of the Circle of Archdemons is Astarte, the Succubus Queen. Many female cultists come under her sway at one point or another. She has mastered control over the transformation process between humans and demons to a degree no one else has. Her talented succubi can ensure a human transforming under their care takes a form of ravishing beauty.

In fact, it's said that her skills are so excellent that her people can create demons that look almost indistinguishable from human women and that she is the secret ruler of the mortal world, puppeting thousands of human lords and kings through the ears of their beautiful wives.

Her presence is felt in Hell as well, as demons have no shortage of lust. Her succubi can quickly skyrocket in power if they're willing to extract Demonic Aura from other demons, and many of them become quite powerful. But deception and intrigue is dangerous work, and her succubi are killed more often than not.

Though, the death toll isn't enough to explain her sparse presence throughout the hells, considering there are just as many female cultists as there are male ones. Some suspect that Astarte consumes the majority of women who come to her in the hopes that she can join the ranks of the Prime Sins.

Others have seen her agents slipping outside the confines of the Sacred Seas and into the lands ruled by other pantheons of gods. Perhaps she is planning something bigger than anyone ever dared to dream before...

Another demon from the Circle of Archdemons is Taautus, the Experimenter. As far as demons go, he is something of a scholar. While he did considerable work for Melquart in the early days of refining humans into money, now, he focuses his efforts on the finer points of controlling Demonic Aura.

Originally, all the skills demons possessed were dark reflections of abilities created by the seraph. Taautus changed all of that. With dedication and perseverance, he created unique abilities that only demons could use.

The tokens of corruption, which all the Prime Sins now possess, were his original creation. Through them, he distributed many of his skills to humans on the surface and into the hands of humans.

However, his goal in this wasn't altruistic. Many of these corrupted sigil wielders were humans needing the power he offered them. Little did they know, they were just one more part of Taautus' experiments.

Bit by bit, Taautus figured out how to siphon away their souls and replace it with his own, allowing the demon access to every skill in the possession of one of his corrupted sigil wielders. While many of these abilities are quite weak, there are many others that synergize well in combination, and even the Prime Sins steer clear of this demonic scholar.

Let me know if you have anything else you'd like to hear about in the Paladin universe. I might already have something written out, or I might be interested enough in what you want to know to do a worldbuilding session on it. Comment with your own ideas!