Orcus

Orcus is a Demon Lord and one of the few denizens of the Abyss to become a true deity although that power is long lost to him. Orcus is the master of undeath, and the ruler of the 113th layer of the Abyss which he has named Thanatos, after his blood-brother Thanatos whom he had slain in an earlier life. Orcus leads the legion of the Death Knights, and most serve him in undeath. The resurrected form of Orcus is weakened, searching the planes for his Wand of Orcus so he can regain strength.

### History

The history of Orcus is confused and muddled, as most Abyssal history is, but by all accounts starts with his existence as the lesser deity Horkus, who was the executioner and torturer of those who broke the highest level of vow. He was feared by many for his cruelty and creative punishments, which were encouraged and prolonged by the Erinyes (most of whom would also end up exiled within the Abyss). In one such story Horkus presented himself to an oath-breaker, telling the man that he would not end his life on that day, explaining to the man that he came to that city once every thirty years. The man proceeded to wrong his business partners, stealing hundreds of pieces of gold in the process. On the next day the man returned and Horkus had come from behind him, explaining to the man as he was stuck dangling from his ankles over the cliff-side that vengeance could make exceptions to the normal rules.

This spirit of rule-breaking he had come to follow violated his former lawful path, and he began to embrace chaos, finally targeting the god of death Thanatos as an oath-breaker. He was exiled for the murder of Thanatos and in his exile came upon the Queen of Chaos.

The Obyrith were fascinated with the creature that stood before them, exceptionally powerful despite being stripped of his godhood, he was chosen as one of the first to undergo the transformation into tanari'i, a tester for each iteration of the beasts. His form was turned from larva to dretch to manes, forced over and over again to experience the pain of deconstruction and reconstruction until finally he had come to be a powerful balor. He forged for himself a sword that was a mockery of the one he once held as a god of law and order, and dedicated himself to being a general of chaos in the Dawn War. He stood against Aurom and Nerull and nearly won the battle, before purposefully falling back after Aurom became injured. He had heard of Nerull's new form of magic and wanted to see firsthand how it worked. He became inspired. After slaying the undead form of Aurom, ripping his skull with the spine still attached from the former god, he set to work fashioning the pieces into a makeshift 'wand', a strange and unwieldy instrument that was weighted more like a mace than a magic stick, and was reinforced with black obsidian and blackiron from the pits of the abyss. With the Wand of Orcus in hand, Orcus became one of the greatest necromancers in the multiverse and a true god once more. He ascended a mortal to lichdom (their name lost to time) and made the lich his avatar, allowing it to hold his wand. This proved to be a mistake.

A group of adventurers, manipulated by the Drow goddess Kiaransalee, destroyed his avatar and his wand, scattering its pieces to the multiverse. Kiaransalee struck out at the exact moment Orcus's power had been lost, killing the demon god. Kiaransalee collected the pieces of the wand and had it sealed away where it would forever be out of the hands of those who would compete against her as the master of the undead.

Orcus was not destroyed, at least not entirely, and the Drow goddess's attempt to erase his name from history proved futile. The true master of undead was raised back to life, adopting the name of 'Tenebrous' and setting himself to work in order to regain his power. Tenebrous discovered a power unlike any other, a magical curse known only as 'the last word'. The curse had the power to kill any mortal or god with a single utterance, but over time the caster too would die unless they had godhood themselves. Tenebrous killed demon lords like Bwimb, mortals, and even lesser gods, but managed to avoid using his new weapon in fear that he would be destroyed. Tenebrous became forced to use his new weapon when confronted by the high Primus, god of the modron, and it worked spectacularly, but he hadn't counted on the ripples it would create throughout the cosmos. A cabal of gods had gathered to discuss the problem of Tenebrous, and in short order he was bound until the Last Word could kill him, and in the process destroy his knowledge of the Last Word entirely.

### The Vestige of Tenebrous

The Vestige of Tenebrous is still called upon by binders, but the form of Orcus has since been resurrected in a weakened state. Tenebrous exists almost as a manifestation of his own fears and insecurities.

### Terms of Binding

The seal of Tenebrous must be drawn in darkness, at night. He appears as a celestial, impossibly gaunt with his hands coated in dripping blood with its limbs splayed out at odd angles. His voice is whisper-quiet, always soft and almost incomprehensible.

### Abilities of Tenebrous' Vestige

Deeper Darkness: You can cloak an area in shadows as though using the deeper darkness spell (caster level equals your effective binder level), with the following exceptions. The effect is always centered on you, it has an unlimited duration, and you can shift the range of the emanation (within the normal range) up or down 10 feet as a move action. You can suppress or activate this ability as a standard action.

See in Darkness: You can see perfectly through darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell (or your deeper darkness ability).

Touch of the Void: As a swift action, you can charge a melee attack or melee touch attack with cold energy. Your next melee attack deals an extra 1d8 points of cold damage, plus 1d8 points of cold damage for every four effective binder levels beyond 7th that you possess. When you attain an effective binder level of 11th, you can charge your weapon for an entire round. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.

Turn/Rebuke Undead: You can turn or rebuke undead as a cleric of your effective binder level. As with a cleric, you turn if you are good and rebuke if you are evil. If you are neutral, you choose whether to turn or rebuke upon binding with Tenebrous and cannot later change your mind. If you have the ability to turn or rebuke undead from other classes, your levels in those classes stack with your effective binder level for the purpose of determining your turning ability. Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds.

Vessel of Emptiness: You can use the flicker shadow magic mystery (see page 146) as a supernatural ability once per day. At 13th level, you can use this ability two times per day, and at 19th level, you can use it three times per day.