Ruziphash

### Gate Quantity/Quality/Output

Transcendence has caused his Gate to no longer be measurable in mortal standards

### Throne

"Ahm'irush Tak-izh" (The Endless Furnace)

**Ruzipash** is a Sabragash, and the entity that has taken the role of the Satanic devil in Abrahamic religions through the power of Sabragash mantling human beliefs and myths. Once a powerful mage-lord in the now dead Sabragash civilization, Ruzipash has consumed souls of his own people, now extinct magical entities of his era, and to an enormous extent, souls of what he deems "lesser beings". Suspected to be the one responsible for transforming a portion of his people into spiritual entities during the great disaster, he is hated by other Sabrgash, either due to him condemning them to a fate that relies on the consumption of souls or binding to a mortal or other lynchpin for continued existence, or simply for his hunger for power and souls during the course of human prehistory and history. Before the rise of Abrahamic Tradition, he has also influenced multiple ancient cultures as a demonic or evil entity who was fought by other Sabragash who opposed him, creating the idea of a "War in Heaven" in the archetypes of human beliefs and myths. He is worshipped by many who call themselves Satanic cultists, with the most prominent one being the "Qlipoth", the group he constantly interacts and provides power for in exchange of souls. His feats as a magus have also resulted in him becoming one of the few known who achieved a "Throne" level of magic, his being "The Furnace", which has also greatly influenced Christian depictions of Hell.

## Background

The true origins of Ruziphash has been lost to time, and he certainly does not tell his past to who he views as lesser beings, from his human followers, to even his fellow Sabragash. What is certain is that he was a mage-lord when their civilization still stood, and was a powerful practitioner of Soul Manipulation He has unapologetically declared that the transformation of his entire race into spiritual entities was his doing, and has stated that he did it to preserve the Sabragash's legacy, although many started doubting his actual motives. While he neither confirms or deny it, he was also suspected of luring the meteor to Earth in the first place, disaster causing enough deaths to fuel the ritual that turned him and a portion of the Sabragash population into spiritual entities. The aftermath of the Great Disaster resulted in the Earth lacking any surviving sentient beings and therefore the Sabragash were forced to sustain themselves with animals who had lesser souls. However, Ruziphash was the first to show surviving Sabragash that they can also sustain themselves through the souls of their own kind, resulting in those who prioritized survival over morals to kill their fellow Sabragash and consume their souls, which provided drastically more sustenance than animals. Over the course of these millions of years, the Sabragash cannibalized themselves or hid and sustained themselves through animal souls and remaining inactive and almost dormant for thousands of years just to be efficient with their energy. Ruziphash on the other hand feasted on the souls of his kind and what he called lesser beings. Through careful consumption, he made sure that a sentient race would evolve eventually and after patient anticipation, Humanity eventually evolved from primates to more intelligent beings, and after millions of years of watching them become more and more intelligent, he finally hatched his plan and began consuming human souls, and as a side effect creating the very first Demonic Spirits, the souls of humans that he did not fully consume but were transformed into more malevolent and equally soul-hungry entities. The first spread of Demonic Spirits resulted in retaliation from other Sabragash, who took pity and aided the prehistoric humans, or were simply just against Ruziphash and his reign of terror over their kind. What humanity would latter depict as a "War in Heaven" motif in their stories was greatly influenced by the hostilities between the Sabragash. While a majority fought against him, a good portion of the remaining Sabragash sided with Ruziphash throughout the thousand-years of conflict, either through legitimate loyalty or in fear of what he might do if they opposed him. The War came to an end when despite the others' efforts, Ruziphash has accumulated enough power from the souls throughout the millions of years of planning, and he quickly reached Dominion, Authority, and eventually Throne level magic after a final ritual in which he severed what he deemed as the "Weakness" in his soul, separating the last remaining remorse, hesitation, and empathy from his very being. After "purifying" himself in flames and his very soul free from the burden of conscience, he transcended physical existence and became one with his Throne, the Ahm'irush Tak-izh or "Endless Furnace". His Demonic Spirits began to draw power from his Throne, granting them the ability to reach their own version of ascension, becoming more powerful with each soul they consumed. His physical body burned away but Ruziphash's being was seared into the World, and his Endless Furnace became the destination of all the souls of every living being that his power and thus his minions killed. What the others might have seen as his goal was actually a means to an end as Ruziphash, as he continues to once again patiently gain power throughout human history. He gladly influenced human myths and stories as an evil god or spirit, and how humans interpreted his presence in the world evolved overtime, the most well-known being Satan/Lucifer from Abrahamic religions.

Before his transformation, he betrayed every Sabragash that sided with him and used their souls as fuel for his ascension. And while he viewed it as a victory, surviving Sabragash continued defying him by targeting his Demonic Spirits and followers. Three particular Sabragash continued to lead the fight against him, two becoming what the Heavenly Hosts would later call Michael and Metatron, and the third was the "weakness" Ruziphash burned away from himself. What he thought of as discarded and unneeded still had the will to survive and joined the Sabragash in what would become a very long campaign to subvert his power in the Earth, this third would don the name of Lucifer of the Heavenly Hosts. Along with other Sabragash, the "Seraphim" allied themselves with the human hosts, and would wage a prolonged unconventional war against him, as they cannot directly kill him physically, which Ruziphash amusingly saw as a challenge to his power. Cults worshipping him for a fraction of his power became prevalent throughout the Classical and especially towards the Middle Ages, when Christianity began demonizing him even more, and thus spreading knowledge about him and inadvertently leading to others worshipping him due to the temptation of power he could give them. Countless cults and groups formed throughout the centuries, but only one became prominent enough that Ruziphash would answer their prayers frequently, a group known as the "Qlipoth" or the "Husks", a name earned from their intense zeal that they are willing to turn their very bodies into husks just so their souls could be granted power from the Endless Furnace. Although highly decentralized, the Qlipoth has become notorious as a Satanic cult across the globe, expanding their membership and sacrificing victims in ritualistic and depraved killings, rituals that are not necessary but were amusing to Ruziphash that he commands the Qlipoth to do. Up to the present, he continues to answer the prayers of Qlipoth and other cultists who seek his power in exchange for souls, and the previous centuries of combat with the Heavenly Hosts has resulted in the further deaths of multiple Sabragash, to the point where the majority of survivors are part of the Hosts, while those who hide independently become more and more of a rarity.

Due to him become a "Crown" thanks to his transcendence to Throne Magic, Ruziphash could no longer be physically destroyed, and instead a powerful Throne-level magic must be used to sever his connection to his Eternal Furnace, an isolated reality that he considers his own domain and realm that is separated physically from the Earth but still connected or "seared" into the planet's very soul. The surviving Sabragash emphasize that he must be defeated before he could further advance his goals, as they believe that The Enemy becoming a Throne is just the beginning of something more sinister.

## Appearance

Due to his transcendence, he no longer has a distinct physical appearance, and instead what he looks like depends on how mortals imagine him to appear as. The Sabragash who knew him prior to transcendence and even before their spiritual transmutation describe him as a tall, muscular, and ugly mage whos obsession with power scarred and burnt his body from all the battles he fought in pursuit of wealth, influence, and personal prowess.

The Qlipoth use Ruziphash's old Sabragash Clan sigil as their own sigil, and would sometimes depict him as that sigil with demonic features.

## Abilities

### Soul Mastery

The tool that Ruziphash used since the very beginning was the manipulation of the mortal soul, which led him to learn the secrets of altering its intricate nature to the point where it can change the very essence of a being, resulting in the mass etherealizing of a portion of his race during the Great Disaster that wiped out the rest of the Sabragash civilization. Manipulation is not the only way he could violate a soul, he also learned how to consume another's soul, not just store it in a container but literally absorb it into his own soul and increase the potency of his own magic. He earned the name of "Ruziphash" or "Midnight of Souls" because of the grizzly fate his enemies saw after he defeated them and consumed their souls.

### Demonic Conversion

A side effect of Soul Consumption was the creation of violated and imperfect spiritual entities, which modern Heavenly Hosts and Martyrdom agents call "Demonic Spirits". Ruziphash discovered this when he did not fully consumed the soul of a Sabragash, turning it into a shade of its former self and into a ravenous soul-hungry entity who cannot fully consume a soul and therefore create more Demonic Spirits in doing so. He used this as a method of enslaving not just Sabragash, but also animals, mortals, and even magical entities that came forth from human mythmaking. All of those who became Demonic Spirits are bound to Ruziphash's control and cannot defy his orders. After he achieved the Endless Furnace as a Throne, the Demonic Spirits also were given a form of pseudo-apotheosis and were now capable of consuming souls fully and thus be able to gain more power and evolve into stronger beings, which were later called "Demons" and "Devils" by the Qlipoth's primary enemies, the Hosts and the Martyrdom. Other magi from different cultures would also be acquainted with these Demonic Conversion entities, and were called different names, such as a "Shadow Fiend" in Balete nomenclature.

## The Endless Furnace

Unlike how Abrahamic religions describe and sometimes create elaborate depictions of Hell, the Throne that inspired it is a simple domain in terms of appearance. What would have been a vast void of black space is covered in intense and blinding flames that span for what seems to be eternity. People would sometimes depict Hell as Lucifer's own kingdom, but the very notion is redundant as Ruziphash does not have a physical body and instead he has become more of a concept forcefully seared into the Earth's own consciousness and soul. As a Throne, the Endless Flame is the repository for all of the souls Ruziphash has collected and is the place where they are "refined" and converted into mana which fuels his what Sabragash suspects as the next step to his plan.

The existence of The Endless Furnace allows Ruziphash's Qlipoth and other cultist to draw magic directly from the Throne, specifically those that summon "Hell Fire", which is intense fire that burns physically and spiritually, with the burned soul being sent directly into the Furnace for Ruziphash's consumption. This magic also includes transforming and twisting souls to the point where their natures are transmuted, typically into demonic entities with supernatural capabilities. Another ritual with the magic, although requiring intensive preparation and mana, is to directly banish an entity into the Endless Furnace directly, resulting in their bodies burnt to ashes very quickly and their souls easily consumed by the Ruziphash in his Domain. This Throne also violates the natural process of how souls are recycled. Normally, an untampered soul from a recently deceased person would flow back into the Origin Point of everything, but Ruziphash intervenes in this and anyone killed by those who serve him, the Qlipoth and other cultists, or even those who just use magic drawn from The Endless Furnace, will be sent directly to him instead.

The surviving Sabragassh state that the only way to permanently defeat him is to sever his connection to the Earth, but no proper method has been found yet.