Despoilers

## Dogma

Above the soul there exists a force that is profetic of all in the world, the magic of beings so powerful that they shaped everything in their image and to their liking. From Jula, curses came and the coven of the first witches spread their dark magic like wild fire, riding on the natural currents of darkness running through the world. Aleyah opposes her, but the oracle in the duty of challenging Jula is dead, and the wheel of life broken; the dead can come back to life as easily as one slips into or out of sleep, some do so to seek revenge against their former aquaintenses, and some older yet, against anything they are directed towards. These elder spirits are the most deadly assassins, as they are already quite dead, and possess the power of necromancy granted to them by the gods. Appeasments must be made, of course, most likely in the form of potent soul mass, or, a rare ritual to conjure the fiend lords. By burning the blue candle, a Despoiler can call on Asmodae, instead of using the Precora Asmodae rite to conjure a Defender. Destroying these blue candles is important to any Despoiler so that they can not be used to conjure Defenders, and to sacrifice them directly in prayer to gain the souls trapped within (the service of a cacao daemon is recommended for those unable to create soul jems themselves).

Magic for a Despoiler leans entirely into Shadow Illusions, and the persuit of death as a way to advance in power over others extreemly quickly. By embracing undead by preparing ones self in the ritual embalmments, also known as mummification, Despoilers toss themselves off cliffs or which ever means of death they prefer if they are appeasing any particular field lords. With hopes of returning as hosts for daemons, or rarely, for those with truly powerful necromancy, the blessing of true sentient undead in the form of a ghost or deathleech is bestowed. Those who attempt this magic, some are transformed by natural forces, and be cursed with lycanthrope, or worse.

Of all rites, the most powerful a Despoiler may conjure is the [anchor] which summons a spirit known as an Invader. By piercing The Transient Web, these spirits hunt those marked by the summoner through the planes at will until they succeed in capturing their targets very souls. Invaders will either bestow a particularly powerful summoner those souls, or in the case of the Invader being more powerful, use them to immediately pull the apocalyptic blade forth from the victim transferring the blade into the hand of the Invader. With such a blade, any who are sliced by it are affected by [prevent healing and ressurection] assuring the destruction of any they will. It is said that many fiend lords once did just so to transform into the generals of armys in hell.

Summoners, also known as the Cult of Asmodae are Despoilers who are not Invaders. Becomming an Invader requires something known as traversing the wheel of life, where their spirits go mad in the eternal well of souls from which all life is spun and escape into The Abyss. Fiend Lords rule over the lesser, while the most powerful souls only work as mercenary kings for themselves on greedy thrones of lust for souls. No matter how powerful a mad spirit such as this becomes, it is bound by death, and can not die. It is extreemly important for summoners to take the correct precautions when dealing with outsiders. Often, the presense of Invaders brings about the likes of persuant spirits, and opposed outsiders.

Despoilers as a cult retain that name through the ages, however that is the least chaotic thing that happens when fiend lords are contesting for mortal souls, and like the cults towards the end of The First Age, the Darksun hold the same beliefs about shadow magic, and explain further how they gain their followers effortlessly, "

Shadow magic is likely the name sake of the third age, as all other schools of magic are only celebrated, shadow magic is feared above all else, and is the most abundant in nature. Shadow casters will stop at nothing to obtain the power of the viscounts, including syphoning negative energy directly from the Place of Shadow, and peering through time for the Viscount's audience. Instinctually, they work towards empowering the church of The Assimilated, and propagating the most powerful beings of corruption possible. Demon transformations are at an all-time high (replacing the Daemonic reincarnation of the earlier ages), many who have died over and over again for their cause are 'rewarded' with new purpose in the accursed afterlife. Travel through the Shadow Plane almost guarantees an interruption by cultists who will die happily for a chance to drag another living soul down into the next level of hell with them. For this purpose, non-demon cultists rarely operate on the soul-trade currency, or any currency known to civilization for that matter. Shadow casters serve only that one purpose, often committing suicide to achieve the first step into the Shadow Plane.

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## Relations

* Invaders
* Asmodae Cultists
* Defenders