Tyranny

Well-known for his early acts of brutality and the methodology behind them, Tyranny is the origin of the concept of autocratic regimes and the pressure those societies place on those lowest in the chain of command. Though he's since changed his name and appearance to fit in with mortal society and worked towards the betterment of others after seeing the suffering cause by his work, he remains a controversial figure both on the mortal plane and the divine planes.

## History

### Early Life

The son of the Horseman War and Taurakis, the word Tyranny meant nothing save for his name in the early ages, before his work on the mortal plane began. Tyranny was born in the horseman's domain, Cavallia, and spent his childhood there, as Heaven was far from accepting of Taurakis's son. Despite the opposition of many around him, his father still managed to bring the young daemon to Heaven and introduce him to many of its lawful ideals. Tyranny latched onto Culpireal's methodology of leadership through absolute control, carrying it with him and attempting to apply it onto the daemons and other denizens of Cavallia. By the time he was an adult, Tyranny had a sizable group of daemons serving beneath him, curious to see where his plans would lead. Among them were Selluoxialed, Nydorislanxoam, and Yrolslpals who became his first apostles.

### Bishopdom

After acquiring the remaining requisite apostles, including being given Ternsoavbivib by Pestilence in a failed effort by the horseman to acquire him as a bishop, Tyranny became one of War's bishops and formally became a member of War's Host. He quickly carved out territory for himself within her domain, with his organization and power structure proving a nearly unstoppable force for the other, otherwise unorganized bishops in Cavallia. Though the other bishops often pled for War to stop him, Tyranny's expansion seemed absolute. Tyranny was given the apocalypse horse Mandate of Heaven, descended from Selarka's own mount.

#### The Battle of Famine's Crossing

At The Battle of Famine's Crossing Tyranny's efforts were contested by his elder half-sibling, Conquest, as he attempted to take land from her that bordered Stixspine in order to take the horseman Famine's land as well. The battle was ultimately a slaughter and is considered Tyranny's first great victory, as the bishop defeated both Conquest's warband and Starvation's swarm. Tyranny's choice to celebrate the victory with his men led many of Conquest and Starvation's apostles to join him, nearly doubling the size of his warband in the process. Because of this, Tyranny was now viewed as both an enemy of the other horsemen and as an enemy and competitor of all of War's Host despite being a piece of it.

#### The Knight

After more successful battles such as The Battle of Bonfire Hill and The Battle of Cindermere, Tyranny was granted the place of The Knight in War's Host, a newly created position of ritual significance. The bishop treated this new title with reverence, making sure that its responsibilities were carried out above his other tasks. This served to slow his expansion across Abaddon, curbing the exponential growth that was suddenly threatening all else on the plane.

In this role the horseman Death took interest in Tyranny, seeing his new place in dealing with ritual as a way to forge a more concrete bond with War. Death managed to convince Tyranny of the boons of a dialogue, and the bishop orchestrated two yearly meetings between the horsemen with the aid of Death's daughter and bishop, Martyrdom. The two bishops were ultimately displeased with their resultant obligation to attend these meetings, despite the success of their actions.

#### First Marriage

After a long courtship, Tyranny wed his first wife, the bishop Grief, but they lived separately as they served different horsemen. Death, as the horseman who held claim over Grief, offered to allow Tyranny to move into Calcifex as his bishop to remain with her if the pair were to have a child. They were unable to have children due to Grief's poor physical state after years of abuse, and thus unable to complete Theabis's requirements for Tyranny's move to Calcifex as a result.

Tyranny's work in subjugating other realms slowed significantly during this period as a result of his focus being on Grief's recovery, and largely was uninvolved in much of history during this time aside from territory squabbles with creatures like Slaughter, and personal grievances with Hastur over the treatment of his younger sister, Panic.

##### Impact On Minor Daemons

The unique circumstances of Tyranny's relationship with Grief often led him to be seen as a sympathetic figure to lesser and minor daemons, a role he remains venerated in. Because of this, Tyranny was considered to be a threat to the power of much of Abaddon, as the majority of lesser and minor daemons attempted to flee into his home realm, Dominus, if they could not make the journey to Calcifex or were otherwise prevented from being claimed directly by Death. Many lesser and minor daemons who escaped Abaddon began to serve his armies on other planes, leading to many of the half-breed races born of daemonkind.

### War's Reign (3800-4300 AC)

Tyranny is informed of Grief's death by Pestilence, who is the first to try to return to Abaddon. After a lengthy effort to enter Heaven, Tyranny first attempts to fall back to his father, Taurakis, but finds that the angel wants little to do with him or with War, having split from the horseman after Culpireal's mandate against children between planar races. Inconsolable, and unable to return to retrieve his wife's body, the bishop begins setting his sights on other planes.

Tyranny previously learned of the mortal plane from Martyrdom, and soon set out with his warband to see what of it could be taken and reshaped. The disorganized and often at-war races of the first generation of mortals prove to be an easy target for the bishop, and using the sizable army he is able to raise from their shattered forces, he decides on his next victims: the Dwarves of the southern sea. Tyranny decides on the Dwarves as his primary victims after coming to the conclusion that Death must be her killer, as only his mother, War, and Death knew her whereabouts.

Tyranny's conquests over the Dwarves continued throughout this period, most notably ending in the capture of the Dwarven homeland from Krovangar, and the murder of Krovangar and Glorbrynd's first son, Rhaegar in the first Dwarven genocide. This rendered Tyranny the first and most notable enemy of the early Dwarves, and - as Taurakis's son - made the Dwarves look poorly upon the angel as well.

Tyranny also began culling reapers as he saw them, placing Timaern's attention squarely on him and allowing the angel to learn much of how his army operated and how he kept control over such a large and diverse group.

### The Third God War

During the third war of the gods, Tyranny acted as an agent of radical change and killed several gods of freedom - Lytheria, Mirdo, and Ophtrosil - before he was summoned elsewhere by Martyrdom. The summons saved his life, preventing Slaughter's plot to kill the bishop during the turmoil of the time. The pair then conspired to kill Slaughter, disposing of his body within the demon's path.

#### The Order of Bastards and Turncoats

Tyranny was encouraged by Martrydom to seek out non-combative roles, and was directed towards The Order of Bastards and Turncoats: a True Neutral cult of Death that sought to embrace tradition and ritual in daily life through agricultural practices. Tyranny followed this direction, and found that he fit in well with the group, permanently joining the organization. There he met his soon-to-be lifelong friend, Avran Pavone. The man was an unlikely friend for Tyranny, being Neutral Evil and wholly indifferent to the law and order the bishop championed, but the pair's shared views on the protection and benefit of family made them fast friends within a society that often seemed to champion solitary action.

### Integration Into Hell

After The Fall of Heaven, Tyranny attempted to reunite with his father Taurakis, finding that he'd fallen to Hell along with Beathal. Tyranny also found Timaern there, and, after being pulled aside by the newly fallen angel, he was convinced of serving under Hell's banner instead of solely War's. He was put to service with the devil Lilliad, who became his second wife. This marked the beginning of an unusual period of silence from Tyranny, but only because he was now operating under a new name: Alexander Crowley. Under this name and new leadership, Tyranny worked to undermine Heaven's control over lawful regions of the material plane, using force to drive out current Heaven-aligned forces to allow Lilliad's soft power approaches to win over the population.

This led him to serve as the general of both Highcross under Cynesige, though the bishop struggled with feelings of guilt for his perceived deception.

#### Durg and the Kingdom of Spades

Tyranny was asked by Beathal to aid the Dwarven god Durg in the formative years of the Kingdom of Spades - a task originally given to Lilliad. After being informed that he would be allowed to take his son, Edgar, to the mortal plane with him, Tyranny agreed. He was given the role of spymaster, and though he thought poorly of this assignment at first, Tyranny grew to find the work and many of the relationships he built fulfilling. He was once again reunited with Avran Pavone, and served alongside him in this role. Tyranny was counseled by Aeryn Venandi about considering redemption during this period but refused, seeing his time among the good-aligned folk of Beetlewood as a temporary oddity rather than a permanent fixture in his life.

Tyranny was in Beetlewood when The Darkscar was formed, but did little in reaction to its formation. This is rumored to be because of an affair with Echamrao, and the ties to demonkind that would inspire, but in truth the reason was more self-serving. Tyranny remained in Beetlewood in order to lengthen the period he would be out of Lilliad's direct control, taking the time to rest and recover.

#### Razlorkis and Hellknight Service

Tyranny was asked by Timaern to serve as general of Highcross under his son, Razlorkis. Tyranny accepted under the condition that his son, Edgar, would also be allowed to move to the material plane and into the service of Razlorkis - freeing his son from Lilliad. He found service under Highcross's banner to be particularly rewarding now with a king who shared much of his beliefs about how society and particularly the military should be run. Taurakis - glad to see his son's quick uptake into Hell's plans - awarded Tyranny with the role of lictor over the Order of the Nail.

Tyranny over doubled the size of the order within his first year, having recruited men from his armies spread across the planes with the promise of being "saved" from Abaddon - though it meant a lifetime and an afterlife bound to Hell instead. Tyranny's subversion of the horsemen's claims served to turn the four against Highcross's interests, slowing its progress with consecutive and sometimes concurrent disasters such as the Livestock Crisis of 239, First Strix Genocide, Venberian Plague, and the Igei Panic.

He built their headquarters, Citadel Langtree, in the city of Tigsburg to pay homage to the city's importance to his army as the provider of its horses, and to be able to more directly access the front lines of Highcross's northern expansion. The citadel soon expanded to encompass a large portion of the city's center, with some remarking that the fortress serves as a compass rose for the nation. Tyranny was also gifted the ironclad Langtree by high engineer Gloomgrind to serve as a naval fortress for his order during Razlorkis's efforts to find diplomatic and colonial opportunities in Nèilóng-Tǔ and Essian.

During this period Tyranny gained a brief rivalry with his mother, War, over his retrieval of Grief's body. By retrieving his late wife's body, Tyranny upset a brief and tenuous friendship forming between Selarka and Theabis, due to Selarka's hatred for her son's mourning of his wife and Theabis's support for the grieving process. Grief was reburied beneath Tyranny's quarters in Citadel Langtree.

### Kyozo

Tyranny was approached by Longbrow (a prior colleague from Beetlewood) and Lys (the current king of Essian) for his help with Kyozo's collapsing civil state after the killings of much of its noble class. He sought Razlorkis's blessing to do this, and was granted it due to Cerise's friendship with the king. Tyranny used his hellknight order to create a military-enforced peace in the nation, and to route many of its enemies away from the kingdom during the Kyozan Imperial War. In return for this service, he was able to secure a short-term peace treaty between Highcross and Kyozo, serving as the source of introductions between Razlorkis and Dũng Liang Heng, Kyozo's new emperor. Tyranny's time with Lilliad came to an end during this period due to the repeated influence of Longbrow, Avran, and Lys in ushering him away from the abuse he experienced.

Tyranny was also asked to aid in the freeing of and redemption of the daemon Kirimati by Longbrow, Lys, and the king's son, Sakuya. Despite being discouraged from partaking by Avran, Tyranny sought out texts of daemon autopsies and associated diagrams for Lys's efforts to remove the mentimycena that the daemon Cruelty was using to control Kirimati, and also aided in holding Kirimati down during the surgery. Tyranny's choice to aid in freeing Kirimati resulted from a desire to see the younger daemon separate himself from his father Croushikra's abuses, remembering him from his time married to Grief in which the pair often were a place of refuge for Croushikra's children.

#### Herald of Death

Kirimati's redemption led to the daemon killing Theabis, the prior horseman Death and becoming the horseman Death. As this was wholly unplanned and risked backsliding for the daemon he'd just worked so hard to free and redeem, Tyranny stepped into service as Kirimati's herald, exercising War's claiming ritual to seal himself to the new horseman. The subsequent contact with Theabis's trapped consciousness informed Tyranny that his beloved wife Grief's death was at the hands of War, not Theabis as he'd assumed. Alexander fully divorced himself from War's domain, giving up his land holdings in her domain but moving the fortress Steelstar into Calcifex to keep one of her other bishops from claiming it.

He was captured from Lys's palace soon after by Cannibalism in a plot against Kirimati by Cruelty, though not before delivering mortal wounds to Famine and several of their bishops. Cannibalism tortured him, trying to break him down to animal-like tendencies through starvation, beatings, and involuntary ritual cannibalism. Tyranny was later rescued by a group including Longbrow and Sakuya - which he can only assume is as repayment for his earlier help.

##### Return to Avran Pavone

As he no longer had Lilliad preventing him from spending his attachment periods elsewhere, Alexander began spending them with Avran Pavone again for protection. This happened in spite of being invited to spend them with Kirimati and the horseman's partners. Tyranny turned down the offer in order to avoid close proximity to his mother, War, though Tyranny never gave the reason for this to the horseman. In exchange for the safety the god provided to him during these attachment periods, Avran requested that Alexander would find the remainder of Zudri's siblings in Calcifex.

Alexander found that many of Croushikra's children had been killed, save for Avkalira, Tremors, and Cylonipor, the last of which quickly joined him as an apostle - something the herald was sorely lacking after his denouncement of War.

### Return to Beetlewood

Tyranny returned to Beetlewood after settling Kirimati's new arrangement of bishops and altars, going back to a good friend with a score to settle. He drove Tiamat off of the mortal plane and into hiding with Abzu (though Tyranny did not take part in the driving of Abzu from Heaven), effectively freeing Durg and the kingdom's other gods. Unfortunately, Durg's joining of the Dwarven Pantheon caused a reiteration of the conflict between Tyranny and Krovangar, as the herald was still in possession of the Dwarven homeland, and the remains of Krovangar's firstborn son. It came as a shock to Krovangar that Tyranny returned both without issue, giving the Dwarven homeland back to several families of Dwarves still located in Highcross to skirt around the nation's requirements that all landholders be citizens and bringing back Rhaegar's remains intact with his armor and weapon, wrapped in a shroud Tyranny had made out of respect.

It was an echo heard around the Dwarven world, and one Tyranny came to regret as Dwarves flooded Highcross's immigration system in an effort to move into the newly returned homeland. With Razlorkis's policies preventing nearly all of them from gaining entry into the nation and with those who came in illegally being rejected by their Highcrossian Dwarf counterparts, Tyranny both became the source of blame for the resulting rift and one of the only methods by which any could enter the country as the lictor of a hellknight order that operated outside its borders.

## Personal Life

### Romantic Relationships

#### Grief

Tyranny's first and perhaps most beloved wife. Grief and Tyranny met and began their courtship in the same day, getting married after a lengthy thousand year courtship during which Tyranny made great efforts to change himself to fit into Death's court so his presence there would be uncontested. Though it was a requirement for Tyranny's permanent move into Calcifex, Tyranny and Grief were unable to conceive for the majority of their relationship due to Grief's poor health from decades of abuse followed by centuries of neglect.

It was during his time with Grief that Tyranny became beloved by the majority of lesser and minor daemons, both because of his open adoration of his wife despite her culturally beneath him, and because of his open acceptance of all of her children as his own - going as far as contesting Theabis's claim over Mourning when she expressed fear at his claiming process. These actions also unexpectedly brought him Theabis's approval which later, during Tyranny's early days as Kirimati's herald, would be voiced to Tyranny alongside regret for not having made it easier for him to immigrate to Calcifex.

Tyranny ultimately found it easy to forgive Theabis for this, as the late horseman also provided Tyranny with closure for his wife and a new way to honor her. Theabis revealed that it had been War, not him, to have killed Grief, giving Tyranny the final reason to separate himself completely from War which saw him give up dozens of apostles and claims. After being rescued from Cannibalism (and after Theabis was rescued from Cruelty), the late horseman also revealed that Grief had been pregnant when she died, carrying twins but unable to tell her husband due to the separation inflicted by the First God War. Tyranny also quickly forgave Theabis for not informing him of this sooner, agreeing that it would likely have led to his suicide at the time rather than his move into Hell.

Tyranny finally made peace with her death after being given her mausoleum as his realm within Calcifex, moving her body a final time in order to inter her there with her children. He placed her body - along with her severed wings retrieved from Slaughter's mass graves - in the crypt closest to his room, wrapped in a shroud made from the collection of dresses he'd once had made for her from each region of his empire - her wedding gift remaining with her in death. Thousands of yellow dahlias have since been interred with her - one each year until her crypt overflowed with them.

#### Lilliad

Lilliad and Tyranny's relationship was the continuation of a power arrangement made by Timaern in the early days of Hell, with both Tyranny and his second wife initially pursuing one another for the power it would bring them. The relationship was frequently marked by fights, abuse, and varieties of slavery levelled against Tyranny, with few understanding the depth to which it was occurring or why Tyranny put up with such an arrangement. The pair had a single son together, Edgar, before splitting up when Tyranny became the herald of the horseman Death.

##### Abuse and Manipulation

Tyranny's emotional attachment to Lilliad led to several important changes in his physicality, and several changes in his modus operandi. Tyranny was magically manipulated via a devil deal with Lilliad into revealing his true form, allowing her to make changes to his physical body. Tyranny's wings were punctured in a multitude of places in order to accommodate the installation of metal "feather" plates onto them, causing a long-term physical disability due to the nerve and spinal damage that occurred. Tyranny's jaw and skull was also punctured in several places in the process of Lilliad having a hellengine muzzle installed to prevent him from speaking about the abuse. Lilliad also manipulated him in other ways, such as by using their son Edgar living in Hell with her as a method to threaten him for perceived disobedience, and by forcing Tyranny to be alone during his attachment periods, only granting him company if he agreed to do tasks he otherwise would not consider.