Caeos Essence

"*邪教已經墮落 / 但是大師站了起來*

*Xiéjiào yǐjīng duòluò, dànshì dàshī zhànle qǐlái.*"

**Caeos Essence**, better known as the Grand Master *Chao'sri'p'jaw*, is the practically mythical leader of the Disciples of Crizox, one of the Five Tigers of Crizox. It was he who directed the Second Campaign of legend. It is his name whom the various Disciple warbands still fear.

## Background

### Origin

Caeos is descended from a secret society known only as the "Five Families," whose branches' coats of arms include the Dragon, the Ferretiger, the Flying Fox, the Great Antlered Elk, and the Mermaid. He is currently being hunted by Velageance (Elegant Vengeance), a member of the Flying Fox branch.

(*Author note:* There are rumors that the four Sirens are connected to the Mermaid branch, the same branch Caeos himself comes from.)

Caeos Essence is said to come from the central branch, that of the "Mermaid" family. It is believed that he was trained from birth to fight, though no one knows for sure, as the Families are shrouded in secrecy.

Based on his garb, that of a Shadowslayer (the ones who combat the undead and the supernatural), it could possibly be said that he was in training to become a Shadowslayer.

But his budding talent caught the eye of the wise and powerful daemon, Crizox.

### Disciples of Crizox

No one knows for sure what was the deal that transpired between him and Crizox. But the growing power that was the Disciples of Crizox suddenly gained a Grand Master: ChaosRipjaw.

Enemies of the cult known as the Disciples of Crizox are always stunned to find that the Grand Master, for all his legendary status and power, is that of a young man with hardly any sign of corruption.

Under the power and guidance of Caeos Essence, he led the Disciples on a quest to conquer the world.

It is not known if Caeos was aware of it at the time, but it is widely believed that he knew full well Crizox's plan to break a hole of his prison in Hell, destroy the Earth to unleash all the beings trapped within so he could take revenge on the powers which imprisoned him.

Nevertheless, Caeos did as he was ordered, which was to take the Disciples and terminate any and all organizations that could pose a threat to Crizox's plan.

It is assumed that during this time Caeos collected all manner of skills, magicks, and abilities to add to his growing roster of skills, which would eventually become the Hellfire Archive.

The Disciples, with their cultists, summoned daemons, fiends, and other dark creatures and servants initially triumphed over most of the world's forces.

But their campaign slowed after several wars ran afoul of Demonslayers and other powerful warriors determined to stop their war of conquest. Eventually the fighting drove to a standstill.

The Grand Master ChaosRipjaw suddenly made the decision to withdraw all forces to the Disciples' home base, an extra-matter land conjured from daemonic energy now referred to as the Tombs of Crizox

### Disciples' End

Everyone believed that the Disciples were planning one final attack that no one could stop, when quite suddenly, light broke through the dark clouds surrounding the Tombs, and what could only be described as the Forces of Heaven came down and smote the Disciples to rubble.

There were hardly any witnesses so no one knew exactly what happened, save for perhaps Caeos Essence and his trusted servants.

Although that day the Disciples were "destroyed", the debris that was left scattered like chaff upon the wind. The various "breeds" and "tribes" of Disciples that survived split up and formed their own groups. The great cult empire that was the Disciples of Crizox had been destroyed.

### True Disciples

Of that small group, Caeos Essence and his band of loyal warriors, the "True Disciples", made their way to the Northern Mountains, where Caeos discovered a "hidden" part of the Hellfire Archives.

The martial arts detailed in this archive were vastly superior to anything Caeos himself had learned, including the forbidden art Way of the Hellfire.

When this happened, many many years had passed and the world had long since recovered from the onslaught that was the Disciples of Crizox.

### Attack on the Northern Mountains

At some point later, the Demonslayers catch wind of the location of a major concentration of Disciple remnants, aka the Northern Mountains. So Sariel Shadowlight, a by then notorious and legendary member of the Demonslayers, the one who spearheaded (pun intended, as his signature weapon is a spear) the rebellion that began the fall of the Disciples, the main enemy of Caeos Essence, takes an attack force to kill Caeos Essence.

In the fierce duel within the Mountain, Sariel manages to blind "Caeos" in one eye and knock him into the valley below. With Caeos's "death", that seemed to be the end of the Grand Master.

After that operation, the True Disciples simply retreated. The Demonslayers attempted to hunt them down but the strange nature of the Northern Mountains prevented the hunt from being very effective. So the Demonslayers called it a win and left, satisfied that their main target Caeos Essence is dead.

### The Three Masters

However, some months later, they found that Disciple activity had neither ceased nor even slowed.

It turned out that the person Sariel was fighting was not Caeos at all. When Caeos was Grand Master, under him were three "Masters."

The First Master (speculated name Fiorentine da Vincus), is the master of knowledge; The Second Master (placeholder name Illusion), is the master of psyche and art; The Third Master (aka the One Eyed Swordsman), is the master of combat. As Grand Master, Caeos has mastery over all three fields.

The First Master "lives in a workshop and tinkers with automatons, war machines, death traps, and weapons."

The Second Master is "rumored to be merely a manifestation of the mind, brought to life by sheer belief. Uses puppets, dolls, masks, and fear as weapons"

The Third Master "lost an eye in battle against the Demonslayers, and has an affinity for gore, violence, and torture as well as honor, technique, formality, and dueling."

And yes, the person Sariel fought was actually the Third Master, who had rejoined his superior along with his group of followers, the Shinobi Cultists. At the time gossip spread that Caeos Essence had lost an eye in battle, but this was actually the Third Master.

### Velageance

When the Demonslayers attacked, Caeos was away in an unknown location, presumably looking for his origins, that of the Five Families.

Caeos found pretty much nothing, but gained something he wasn't looking for: another enemy. That enemy is Velageance (Elegant Vengeance), a member of the Flying Fox branch.

At the moment Caeos's status is "being hunted by Velageance", but this plot point has not been covered yet.

### Present

In the current timeline right now though, Caeos Essence is no longer an enemy -- though he's not exactly a friend either -- of the other immortals, including Sariel Shadowlight, Rukan Shikura, and Dao Yulan.

## Appearance

ChaosRipjaw has no stubble and just past shoulder-length dark brown hair that is mostly wavy, but is straight over his left eye. His longcoat has split tails and follows the attire for Shadowslayers, but has since had demonic accessories added. The straight part often goes over one eye, although he doesn't usually keep it this way. One notable feature is his signature hairpin, which keeps the hair on the back of his head up.

His eyes' irises are white, and his eyes glow completely white when he's angry or accessing power.

He is physically quite young, like most Terraeans who eat healthy. However, with his stubble on he looks more his age.

He has a great physique although not overly large and is well proportioned, and is actually quite handsome. One of the four bishounen of the West, alongside Rukan, Sariel, and Nero.

He wears dark green Shadowslayer clothes and a blunt warlock hat. Sometimes, he wears a neckwarmer that covers his face except for his eyes; emblazoned with the "Eye of Crizox." ChaosRipjaw generally uses the Sliiker as his basic weapon, though he occasionally uses an ordinary sword, ninja stars, revolvers, dart blowers, and rarely, crossbows.

His gloves are bulkier than the slender, form-fitting gloves of Rukan Shikura.