Perditioners

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The Perditioners are an order of semi-mortal warriors and priests who descend into the Abyss, specifically Hell, and patrol its streets looking for people who can still be saved.

The Oath

I will walk Below in search of my kindred.

I will broker peace with the Lords without kneeling.

I will cleanse wickedness with mercy.

I will cleanse wickedness with blood.

I will hold my kin tight and raise them from Perdition.

## The Method

Everyone who dies and ends up in the Abyss belongs there, at least at the time, and some of them even made deals to get there. Certain individuals, however, experience genuine spiritual growth when confronted with the results of the lives they lived. These people can serve a greater purpose if given a way out of their damnation. The Perditioners look specifically in Hell because it is relatively stable - the souls outside that the demons have not found tend to be in an even worse state due to the depredations of the chaotic and actively malevolent realm. Whether their subjects have become demons or have not yet been converted the Perditioners are endowed with a mystic sight that can find this potential for redemption. If they find such a person, whether demon or simply condemned, they give that person a chance to swear the Oath of the Perditioner and return to the Material Plane. If they accept, the Perditioner brokers a deal for their release with the Lord of whatever District they happen to be in. The deal is always the same: one or more condemned people executed and sent below. The Perditioner then takes the soul of that individual and places it in a specially prepared flask full of a magical liquid and ascends back to the Material Plane using a rite that only works for members of their order. Then they track the individual or individuals in question and give them a chance to mend their ways, or else (this is part of the deal - true repentance must be met with a new name to replace theirs). Assuming they do not repent, and no one ever has, the Perditioner then completes the deal, ensuring the death of those condemned. Afterward the Perditioner installs the soul in one of the bodies. The body must be intact, so the Perditioner typically uses poison for that kill, and then uses the liquid in the flask to nullify the toxins while placing the soul inside. The newly raised being, alive again, is now a Perditioner too, and will die again and return below permanently unless they remain in good standing. To do so, they descend into Hell at least seven times in a year and make the search below. Success is not required, but effort is. Most Perditioners become quite committed to the task, and go much more often. Perditioners are forbidden from making any other sorts of diabolical pacts, from harming the innocent, or from attempting to carry back a soul that has not accepted their deal and sworn the Oath. Doing these things also voids their status as a Perditioner and lands them back in the Abyss.

### The Results

Perditioners are initially identical to the people their bodies belonged to, but in time almost all become grim looking grey or sallow skinned individuals with haunted eyes and progressively thinner frames. Heat seems to shimmer from their bodies as though a fire is eating them up from within in. When a Perditioner in good standing dies their soul cannot go to Paradise (or at least none of them have made it yet), but neither will they be drawn back into the Abyss.

Origin

The first Perditioner's real name is lost, but the one who raised her up was Verufiel the Harrower. That particular Lord of Heaven would descend into Hell periodically to court the fallen their toward repentance and a return to their former state, though it never worked. A Malak has to be truly corrupted to fall. They attempted to corrupt or kill Verufiel more than once, but she is both powerful even by the standards of the Lords of Heaven and (by Malak standards) slightly insane. It was far easier to let her remain and fruitlessly preach redemption. Then she found a woman who had been converted into a minor demonic servant. This woman, known now only as The First to Rise, still possessed her own memories and deeply regretted her past actions. Many in the Abyss regret their pasts, but she genuinely felt remorse. Verufiel read her soul, and offered to help. At first the Lord of that realm laughed in her face, and tried to throw her out of his district. Verufiel refused to leave, killed his entire staff as he sent them after her, and he was then demoted to imp by the other lords for failing and embarrassing them. His name has been blotted from all records. His replacement was much more accomodating, requesting a single wicked soul to replace the demon. That man's name is not remembered either, but in his case it is because he had killed most anyone who ever knew it and showed no signs of stopping. Verufiel reached out to suitable priests and paladins on the Material and gave them a nudge in the right direction, and soon, though he had been given a chance to repent, the killer was in the Abyss. Verufiel then ascended with her freed soul in tow, only to be called before the Precursor. Rubbing his temples in frustration, the Precursor made it clear that she had come extremely close to violating his Edicts and also she had upset the delicate balance of the planes. He requested she put back the soul she had taken, but she refused. Then he threatened to unmake her. She still refused. Realizing this situation would only get worse, the All-God chose to make a deal of his own: No more trips below for her, and the soul at her side could return from death and do the work for her. Verufiel would then return to Heaven and act with more reserve. This deal satisfied, Verufiel placed her newly reconfigured demon into the body of a woman who had just died of a wasting disease, and the Perditioners have been doing their work ever since.

Abilities

In addition to the rites that allow them to travel too and from the Abyss and their ability to see into the souls of the beings there, the Perditioners have certain gifts as a result of their status. They are unusually hard to kill, being able to heal from most seemingly mortal wounds (although the process is slow if not aided with magic). One Perditioner actually survived decapitation when another put his head back on his shoulders within a minute of its severance, though he had to wear a brace for a year afterward. They are also completely immune to toxins or diseases that are not supernatural in nature. Each also possesses some remnant of the twisted power of the Abyss, though it is purified by the divine power that birthed their order and translates into minor a greater attunement to divine forces and some Primal abilities.