Hetzudoxiel

Many millennia ago, before he became a Demon Lord, served his master, the Demon Lord Azeoziel. Azeoziel was the Demon Lord of Divination, communicating with the dead. Due to many mortals' obsession with attempting to contact their ancestors, often for guidance, Azeoziel had a substantial number of followers thousands of years ago, in the first age of Menune, many of whom not knowing they were under the tutelage of a Demon Lord,
though the influence of the Demon Lord would gradually lead the followers to
become worshippers living and operating in cults devoted to Azeoziel and his
kin.

Hetzudoxiel
was a senior Azeozian, though his actual role is unknown as the politics of
demonic circles remains a mystery. Hetzudoxiel eventually began experimenting
with conjuration, attempting to imbue spirits into vessels. In Menune, Azeoziel had a cult within  the Great Expanse, a
large desert area to the south of Narador, led by a rogue wizard by the name of Wethzad, with whom Hetzudoxiel communicated. Hetzudoxiel promised Wethzad power
like he had never seen if he facilitated him, starting with summoning him into
the mortal realm. Wethzad, under Hetzudoxiel's guidance, built a summoning
portal in the cult headquarters and began the lengthy process of summoning him.
When the summoning completed, Hetzudoxiel demanded Wethzad sacrifice 5 of his
followers, which Wethzad agreed to. Hetzudoxiel then raised them as undead and,
pleased that his experiment was successful, put them under the control of
Wethzad, but did not teach the wizard the arts of reanimation himself.

Hetzudoxiel
continued to experiment with undeath, creating the school of magic called
Necromancy, eventually becoming much more powerful than his master, Azeoziel.
Hetzudoxiel began to teach fellow Azeozians the art of necromancy and even
gifted it to a small number of his human followers, starting with Wethzad.
Furious that his lieutenant was seemingly usurping his authority, Azeoziel
confronted Hetzudoxiel leading to a battle in which Hetzudoxiel struck down
Azeoiel, refusing to show mercy to his master. As a final display of power to
his Azeozian kin, Hetzudoxiel tore off Azeoziel's head, ripped off the flesh
and imbued it with his own soul, immediately transforming himself to the first Lich. In an act of servitude to their new master, the Azoezians renamed
themselves in his honour, becoming Hetzudoxians. Hetzudoxiel then contacted
Wethzad and taught him how to become a lich making him the first mortal to
achieve Lichdom, though the process takes much longer for mortals than it did
for him, and the phylactery is much more volatile and fragile, needing to be
under constant guard, whereas the skull of Azeoziel is near indestructible due
to its power.

Since then,
all Azeozian cults became devoted to Hetzudoxiel, the new cults being much more
aggressive in their demeanour and behaviour, since they strive for power much
more than before and indeed are much more powerful themselves. Like Azezoiel
before him, Hetzudoxiel has a substantial following on Menune, with cults
having existed on the majority of known continents. Recently, reports of
suspicious and dangerous activity have been springing up across Menune,
concerning those with the knowledge of the cults. What sinister goal could the
followers of the demon lord be trying to achieve?