Abaddon the Eternal

"And behold! I saw a bleak darkness, a pale light shining. A figure with broken and blackened wings, a multitude enthralled to him as he flew, hovered over them. And he called - 'Behold me then! For I am Abaddon, power incarnate. I am all that was, is, and shall be.'" And I fell from the fear that had been instilled. -Rupere Foedes Codex Tenebris

General

Abaddon the Eternal, also sometimes called the first to fall, and the Abyssal. The pre-eminent demon of the 666th layer of the unholy abyss. He is the lord of the 7th Section of the Abyss as well, as the Lord of Superbia, the sin of Pride. His mere existence is the subject of plenty scholarly debate, but he has plenty of cults scattered about to his worship.

Abaddon himself is seen as the manifestation of evil, and is commonly depicted as the center of evil, if ever. To even paint him or label something as him is seen as an ill omen and almost a curse, as if the name itself carries something far beyond the pale.

Abaddon's symbol is a black wing, as well as a skeletal horse. His worship encourages its followers to bask in their power and gather ever more in his service. Abaddon's cults frequently fight amongst one another, but not as greatly as others may. They tend to focus on increasing their power, and fight only when they see a clashing of interests.

Origins

In most tellings, Abaddon was a human Knight and a friend to both the God Apollion and the God Rhihellus. He himself had been consumed with all the suffering in the world and the death he had forseen. He was racked with the evils and the way that men battled endlessly.

In his understanding of Magic and its forms, he saw another realm, and became obsessed with finding a way to reach it. He was the person ever to open a path into the Abyss. He himself allowed himself to be consumed within it, and consuming its corrupt energy, became immortal.

With its power, he began to spread it amongst the people of the world, and is thus the source of the black man of corruption, and the awakener of the abyss.

Power

Abaddon, as a greater demon and one of the seven, would have power on par with a major god, if he even exists. His feats by both holy texts and Demonomicons include the destruction of entire cities, the control of nations, and the obliteration of swathes of land.

Needless to say, these are taken blatent exaggerations by ancient soothesayers, and perhaps since the oral tradition far outgoes the written, they were exaggerated as each generation kept adding and adding to the drama of these these battles.

Cults

The cult to Abaddon is particularly Zealous. Some have crystals in which fallen cultists are placed, and although agonizing, has the smallest hint of possibility of living on as a weapon enchantment or even revived given a strong enough corrupt or even chaos mage.

The symbol of the cult is a skeletal horse, and they, much like any other, engage in every kind of debauchery. Unlike other Cults which advocate in specific kinds, such as Lillith's ritualized rape, Abaddon calls for his servants to engage in whichever terrible deeds fulfill them greatest, as long as they are done in the name of the dark lord, as they call him, the eternal one, as even they believe using his proper name outside of ritual is ill luck.

His sacrifices are almost always human and are usually done by plunging a dagger directly into the victims heart, and allowing the dagger to remain until the victim has died. Larger cults tend to try to move around, and are voraciously taken in by all kinds of organizations and governments for the terror and the evil that they spread.

"Lord of Darkness and Master of Light! Guide as in our purpose!" -Lychos the Dark, High Priest of Abaddon, 100-164 of the first Age.