Liber Exsilii

Known as the Book of Exile, this book is a compendium of knowledge relating to Demons, and how to banish them. In addition, this book makes mention of the strongest Demons that the Order has faced, including any relevant information on how to "effectively" combat them.

## **Identification/ Classification**

There are three known greater sources of demonic taint on the mortal plane, and 3 more which are suspected because of the differing presentations of lesser demons

**Shadow-** A creature that lives on the eastern half of the continent, and may or may not have influence in all wild areas. From your recent report, theorized to be Beleth or its mysterious master.

**Frost-** The demon Valefor, who the winter faerie and the Desert Stars derive their origin from

**Mutative-** A demon whose true form was lost to history, contained and bound within Gustavus, the God of the Machine Court of the Gnomes

### Other Sources

**Life-** The demonic essence of Life is either deep in the forests, or in the astral plane. Relates to The Worldwood.

**Corrosion / Corruption-** Killed and bound within the Vengrian mountains, then taken piece by piece to the four Great Crusader Cities.

**Venomous-** Unknown origin, possibly deep within Solaris or Hyperborei, likely in one of the kingdoms closed to the Order

*-From the Greater Key of the Witch Vassago, Demonic Scholar*

Corrosive (corrupted) demonic essence- those demons that appose structure and permanence. Want to corrode connections.

Frost demonic essence – Frost demons appose peace and stability. Desire conflict and weaken those that would impose them. (Valefor)

Venomous demonic essence – Oppose restoration and unification. Create a poison of some kind that would injure someone.

Mutative demonic essence - Progress, technology, and magic. Create something strong in of itself. Alternative to progress to make it unnecessary ( buffing). (most likely in Gustavus – the country).

Shadowy essence – Opposes knowledge (Dantalion, Beleth, Egine)

Living essence – Opposes endings and resolution. Useful for creating healing potions. Specifically opposed to death. (most likely in Astral Plane or perhaps the Worldforest)

These categories are known as “quires”. Implies angels might not like living things. At least one angelic essence would be death. Visit crusader kingdoms to get in contact with angels or celestials.

## **Binding and Banishing**

**Binding**

Binding a demon requires its opposites. One example is from a member’s experience with Beleth, a Shadow Demon. Light, Salt Water, and Solid Lines were used to trap the creature within a library. The held knowledge of the library was believed to weaken the demon as well, due to Shadow’s association with the obscuring of knowledge.

Binding is generally considered the safer option when confronting a True Demon. Solid lines and other examples of physical reality are often effective against a broad spectrum of demons, save for Living and Venomous demons, which violate most other rules in this book and should be avoided at all costs. Rock, metal, and other trappings of civilization are especially effective against Mutative demons. Fire, light, and conceptual representations of safety, home, and hearth are effective against Frost demons, as is salt. Corrosive demons are difficult to parse, in that they by nature eventually decay and defeat their prisons. Contradictorily, a changing series of objects representing stability and growth, such as history textbooks, magical implements, and scientific instruments, can be rotated on a regular basis to enforce continuous containment. See entry on entity Ahriman for more information on containment procedures.

**Banishment**

Banishing a True Demon is much more difficult than simply trapping it, and can be considered a kind of death for the entity *if* the captured True Demon known as Ahriman is to be believed. Banishing a demon is unlikely for any but the most powerful, such as Angels, Greater Dragons, and other Demons. Mortal agents should seek assistance from one such benevolent entity before undergoing such an attempt. If no such entity is present and a binding is not feasible, it is possible to defeat a True Demon in a game designed by the mortal which opposes the Demon’s nature. The Midnight Game was developed by accident in Tarnovo, Leng, and was used by the Penumbra Syndicate to banish a Greater Demon +Note - Contact is not encouraged with this entity, four agents lost themselves to religious delusion after speaking with it, and six more were forced to retire due to cognitive collapse. The 112 agents that were sacrificed to bind the Entity, codenamed Ahriman, are to be learned from.)

*-Excerpt from Ordo Exilium, Defeating Keter and lower class threats*

## Ahriman

### Chapter 2: Later Conflicts and Binding

The third time the Order fought Ahriman, it did so with the help of the Golden General, Ogedei, a leading figure in Baghatur before their retirement and subsequent disappearance. Ogedei provided fire support against the True Demon, and although Ahriman escaped, the Order only suffered 200 casualties, over half of which were non-lethal, and all 1,576 members of the Gray Church were exterminated.

The third time the Order fought Ahriman, it did so quietly, hiring the Imaghizheni Snake Pit to serve as infiltrators. It found Ahriman still wounded from its encounter with Ogedei, and about to devour the corpse of a long dead celestial of light, Karna. Ahriman was pursued beyond the tracks of reality, Karna’s corpse was recovered and partitioned within the Archives of Koln, and eventually, despite the loss of over 100 brave members of the Order, Ahriman was destroyed and bound within the Library of Murcia. Since then, it has been the solemn duty of the 12 assigned Inquisitors and any assigned Heralds to rotate the binding of Ahriman.

### Chapter 3: The Visitor

A lone woman is also known to visit Ahriman from the city above, but this entity is considered non-hostile, and seems to be immune or highly resistant to Ahriman’s madness inducing speech. The entity is classified as the Whore/Hero of Antioch, after a legend supposedly written about a woman who the entity passively resembles. It is believed the entity shares no common history with Ahriman, but instead with one of Ahriman’s victims. She is known to taunt the True Demon for its failures, and occasionally assists with its bindings. No known methods have been successful at keeping the Whore/Hero from entering the Library of Murcia, and in the opinion of this writer it is better to keep her around. She catches things the Order misses. It is estimated that without her presence, Order designate Grandmaster would be forced to spend 325% more time within the confines of the Library in order to keep Ahriman secure. Order designate Grandmaster already spends roughly 4 hours a day attending to its bindings.

\*\*Binding Strategies\*\*

The following strategies have been most effective in keeping Ahriman bound and should serve as examples should the need ever arise to bind a different demon of corruption. Four squares, each larger than the last: mercury contained within glass tubes, handwritten notes about a cookbook, Karna’s feathers, and scale models of various cities. Three overlapping triangles which form a three-pointed star, one composed solely of metal farming tools, another composed of alternating alchemical concoctions and railway spikes, and a third composed of pens, pencils, and other writing implements. The Whore/Hero walking in a circle mocking the demon and drawing lines of chalk as she walked required no maintenance for a period of three months. Ahriman refused to speak during this time, even to its jailors. After the bindings were changed, it immediately killed forced three retired jailors to commit suicide, confirmed by scrying and their time/cause of death. A magic mouth blaring noise from an auction combined with solid lines drawn in cow’s milk and sheep’s wool, connected in a hexagonal shape. Designate Grandmaster was particularly proud of this one, which lasted longer than the Whore/Hero’s tongue lashing and came with no tantrum after it wore off.

## The First

Many lesser and greater demons report allegiance to a higher entity whose name is [Redacted], *class A cognitohazard protocols*. Little is known among this entity, save that a splinter of it once ruled the Kingdom of Dark Sun (currently the Hyacinth Cities of Porphyros), and that it was the source of no less than 3+ Crusades. The entity appears to be convinced of its status as the origin of all life. Its connection to the Demonic Conclave, a group of militant-minded fighters from various nations, is believed to be tenuous, a remnant from one of its previous hosts.+

+Crusades concerning the Azure Horde are suspected to be connected to the influence of the entity, codenamed Dark Pharoah.

+The entity is not parasitic as previously suspected from the use of Hosts. Instead, it is partially imaginary, relying on knowledge of its existence and belief to infiltrate this reality. It is believed Dark Pharoah originates from an area it calls Nowhere. The order refers to this place as the In-Between, and it is known colloquially in various places as the Gray. Nowhere is theorized to be a paradoxical prison created to trap Dark Pharoah, although whether it is one designed by another powerful entity or created by Reality itself is unknown. There are three known incursions from Nowhere in this reality: the Dreaming Bog, Sjoodur’s Tail, and the Deepest Dark, the lowest layer of the Abyss.

*- Excerpt from Ordo Exilium, Thaumiel (World-Eater) Class Threats*