72 Pillars

**72 Pillars**, also known as the **Goetial Authorities**, are the noble houses of pureblood devils who are the aristocracy of the Netherworld.

While their number were originally 72, only 32 houses remained while the remaining 40 houses went extinct in the Devil Civil War.

## Overview

The Latin term *goetia* refers to the evocation of demons or evil spirits. It is derived from the Ancient Greek word γοητεία meaning "witchcraft" or "jugglery". While the text is more properly called "Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis, or, The little Key of Solomon". The title most commonly used, "The Lesser Key of Solomon," does not in fact occur in the manuscripts.

In medieval and Renaissance Europe, *goetia* was generally considered evil and heretical, in contrast to *theurgia* (theurgy) and *magia naturalis* (natural magic), which were sometimes considered more noble.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, in his *Three Books of Occult Philosophy*, writes "Now the parts of ceremonial magic are goetia and theurgia. Goetia is unfortunate, by the commerces of unclean spirits made up of the rites of wicked curiosities, unlawful charms, and deprecations, and is abandoned and execrated by all laws."

## Summary

The 72 Pillars were founded in antediluvian times, long before the birth of the primordial gods, though no one, not even the first head, realized this after a very long time afterward. They descended from the original demons, soldiers who fought alongside Lucifer against the heavenly host during the Heavenly War, and thus, were banished to the Underworld as punishment.

The original heads of the 72 Pillars were all created from the blood of the demons using Lilith, the first cardinal devil, as an artificial "womb", thus making them the pseudo-offspring of Lilith and the original demons, thus earning her the epithet "Mother of All Devils".

After their birth, each of them was given a large piece of land within the First Ring of the Underworld, where, prior to the devils' birth, was mainly inhabited by the numerous daemon and other demonic beasts created by the demons as mockeries of the numerous animals created by God in Tellus Mahte and the Garden of Eden. In the ring, they began to build their own territory, each with their own culture and traditions that were only connected to each other by the fact they were all demonic civilizations.

Millennia afterward, after becoming tired of ruling by themselves, the 72 progenitor devils came to their "mother" to ask for a consort to keep them company and to procreate and widen their lineage. They then each took turns becoming Lilith's lover for a night, and after 6 years 6 months and 6 days, she gave birth to their children who the 72 progenitor devils then took as their consorts.

With their consorts, the reproduced and found noble houses in their name, and with the blessing of the demons, took on noble rankings such as [King], [Duke], [Prince]... ranking based on their power and the order of their birth, though several of them have noted that this only applied to one-fourth of them and the rest were randomized.

Many years later, King Solomon gained a favor from the Celestial Prince Michael and was given an enchanted ring that allowed him to summon and control the 72 progenitor devils. With its power, he used their powers to build the numerous pagan temples for his 700 wives and 300 concubines.

After these events, King Solomon wrote all the knowledge and information he gained from the 72 devils into several sets of grimoire, all of which would later be collected and rewrote into the Clavicula Salomonis, or the **Key of Solomon**. Because of this infamous grimoire, the 72 progenitor devils also gained their most infamous and well-known alias: The **Ars Goetia**.

During the Great War, the Four Great Seraphs created the Ouroboros Barrier in an attempt to defeat the Underworld's army by sealing the majority of the demons within the Underworld, but in the process, a shockwave of its power accidentally severed the first ring of the Underworld where the majority of devils, daemon, and demonic creatures inhabited, resulting in them floating amid the Dimensional Gap for hundreds of years before they were linked into the Realm of the Dead by Leviathan and became the Netherworld.

After the Great War ended with the death of the Four Great Satans, the Netherworld was filled with chaos and entered dozens of continuous wars among conflicting factions as well as against foreign gods who opposed the idea of devils and daemon inhabiting the Realm of the Dead. Seeing this, countless young devils from the 72 Pillars rose up and gained for themselves reputation as war heroes such as Baelor Belial, Zeoticus Gremory, or Aerion Sitri.

Later on, during the Devil Civil War, the 72 Pillars became divided into two factions: The Anti-Satan Faction who supported the disposal of the Second Satans and the Old Satan Faction who supported the reign of the Second Satans and their plans to restart the Great War. Because of this war, 40 of the 72 houses went extinct and only 32 houses remained.

## Trivia

* Unlike in the human world, the title "Lord" is generally used to describe the head of a devil clan rather than an actual title.
* The first 15 houses are considered to be the most powerful among the 72 houses.
* Many houses went "extinct" due to economic bankruptcy or due to them no longer being pureblood.
* Higher-ranked houses are typically more traditional and old-fashioned, often looking down on Low-class and reincarnated devils.
* Many houses are considered "relatives" due to their progenitors being created from the same demon's blood, such as the Vassago Clan and the Astaroth Clan, or the Zepar Clan, the Ipos Clan, and the Asmoday Clan.
* Several houses originated from the Seven Deadly Sins (Beelzebub - Bael Clan, Satan - Belial Clan, Asmodeus - Asmoday Clan...), and thus, can be considered "true royalty" in the devils' eyes.
* Despite popular belief, many of the 72 Pillars' progenitors can also be considered daemon or even Daimon Kings.