Archons

The **Archons** are the reigning deities who represent and preside over the fourteen major regions of **Hell**. Each archon is associated with a specific element and an ideal, by which they form their nation's borders and environment based upon their methods of governance, ideals and elements.

The **Original Thirty-Six Archons** were the archons who reigned prior to the outbreak of the First Archon War, yet after the First Sino-Anglo War, with the former occurring a century prior to the main story and the latter occurring over four millennia prior. At the time of the main story, only around twenty of the original thirty-six archons remained, causing catastrophic disputes between the current archons, eventually leading up to the Second Archon War as more archons begin to surface, along with the resurfacing of previous omnipotent archons who have slumbered for millenniums. Out of the current archons, Tae'ob has reigned for the shortest amount of time, reigning for only 82 years as of the main story.

If needed, two or more archons can synergize their elemental powers to form a combined elemental entity.

## **History**

Around 2 million years ago, The Empyrean created what was known at the time as "A constructed formation of impossible possibilities, concepts and comprehension." This creation would become what is now known as The Heavenly Principles. During the formation of this creation, the Empyrean would give birth to the new generations of the Demiurges, now known as the **Twelve Demiurges**. The Twelve Demiurges would begin to manipulate the way of life on Earth, later reconstructing the Earth's core and birthing a new dimension from this reconstruction. The Twelve Demiurges would name this new dimension "**Hell**."

With the creation of Hell, the Twelve Demiurges believed that the new dimension needed a new form of self-governance while they governed life on Earth. They would eventually jointly agree to create two new groups, the Thirty-Two Apprenti and the **Archons**. The Empyrean would begin to manipulate life as a whole, eventually creating the concept of the "afterlife" where they finalized a theory of sin. Their theory would surround the idea that a sinful denizen would descend to Hell whilst a pure and innocent denizen would ascend to the Heavenly Principles. Despite the occurring chaos surrounding Hell, the apprenti and the archons had managed to coexist without conflict, even to the point where some apprenti such as the **God of Dreams**, Øže and the **God of Moths**, Baalzebub, would eventually begin to give birth and reconstruct their own archons through the process of ōtomatization, with some being successful whilst others unsuccessful.

Although despite this "harmony" between the groups, the archons would eventually begin to turn on each other, with the first major conflict being the First Sino-Anglo War over 3,000 years ago where the previous Old World Dendro Archon, Buer, contracted a disease known as the "**Calamity**." The disease would eventually manipulate and drive Buer mad, causing him to attack his "siblings." Eventually infecting the Old World Anemo Archon Focalor, Purson and Sabnaocke would intervene whilst Ambduskciyaas would tend to Haagenti, who was terminally ill with an unknown disease. This would eventually spark tensions and fear between the archons, although even with new archons gaining power such as Ashmodai and Andras, conflicts still managed to arise without second thoughts. As a result, only 20 recognized archons survived these conflicts 2,500 years later, now known as the Original Twenty Archons. For the next 300 years, the archons would finally coexist with one another without conflict until the **First Archon War** broke out due to an abundance of new archons gaining power, such as Gymoria, the **Raijin Twins** and Flauros. During this time, Flauros would step down and his successor, Allocer, would gain control over the New World Hydro nation of Kuhio and Nebenfluss. As a result, Flauros' parents, Vepar and Sephar, would self-exile from the nation as they refused to coincide with the new archon. As the war came to a close, the Heavenly Principles would decide to eradicate the existence of the Noctilucent Empire, leading to the death of the original **God of Light**, Phoenyiex. Although, the **God of Eternity**, Paymon, has claimed that Phoenyiex's original soul still lingers around in the Plane of Rosas Eternas.

Nearly a century later, the Second Archon War would finally break out after nearly a century of tensions between many nations, eventually becoming one of the most deadly events to occur in Hell's history. During this time however, Tabibito Gentō would managed to find himself wounding up in Hell. Yet, although he was originally unaware of the archons when he first arrived, the archons were very much aware of his arrival.

## **Powers and Abilities**

Despite what most denizens of Hell and even some archons believe, the power of an archon does not derive from an archon's governing control over their nation, instead deriving from a combination of their determination and sheer will. Due to this Ang Leraíjkhaj, who refuses to govern their nation of Ang Anarkiya due to their ideal of anarchy is the weakest archon, even with their gnosis. Although in contrast, archons such as Paymon, Ashmodai and Gymoria are some of the strongest archons due to their determination and ideals.

### **Elemental Control**

Each archon presides over a certain territories that corresponds to their respective element and have the ability to control and manipulate the landscape, geography and climate of their respective territories. Unlike most demons who primarily rely on the use of their mōsō to manipulate the elements, most archons were already affiliated with the elements prior to their ascension to their divine status such as Flauros, Ashmodai, Ashmaimon and Andras.

While most denizens strongly believe that archons are the ones who grant mōsōs, Paymon and Øže have confirmed that archons have no right, control nor say in distributing mōsōs, but instead, the Heavenly Principles and the Empyrean who distribute mōsōs. Although, Paymon and the Yzaguirre Family can distribute delusions. However, within their Plane of Rosas Eternas, Paymon can enact the "Mōsō Hunt Decree" which prioritizes the full disabling of Texarkanan mōsōs. Despite this, as the Plane of Rosas Eternas is Paymon and the Haborym's realm of consciousness, there is insufficient evidence to prove whether or not Paymon or the Haborym can enact this effect outside of the Plane of Rosas Eternas, or how exactly effect works as Paymon refuses to disclose such information due to the realm's direct connection with the Plane of Rosas Transitorias.

## **The Chess Piece Theory**

The Chess Piece Theory is a theory made by Paymon and Øže that the gnosis of an archon correlates and corresponds with the purpose of the game pieces used in chess. As of now, it is unknown what the reasoning of their correlation is, but it has been observed throughout centuries that the archons all have chess piece based gnosis'.

 **King** | Ashmaimon・Furcalor・Baal

## **Trivia**

* The names of each archon are based off the names of demons in the Ars Goetia.
* Whenever an archon uses some form of elemental manipulation, a portion of their hair will glow in the color of their corresponding element
	+ This is most visible if a portion of an archon's hair is colored, such as the ends of Paymon, Byleth and Beliall's hair or the strands of Allocer or Ferther's hair.
* The gnosis' of each archon corresponds and corelates to chess pieces
	+ This also ties into Paymon and Øže's "Chess Piece Theory"
* Baal is the only active archon who does not have a humanoid appearance, instead appearing as a biblically accurate angel.
* Although not related, Focalar, Purson, Ambduskciyaas, Buer, Haagenti and Sabnaocke saw each other as siblings.
	+ This unfortunately came to end during the Calamity of 3000 B.C.

### **Development Trivia**

* Not all of the archons have unique names, in fact, most archons share related names with one another based upon alternate names of their Ars Goetian counterparts.
	+ Paymon and Paimonia share their name with **King Paimon**, Ōzmoudyez, Ashmodai and Ashmaimon share their name with **King Asmodeus**, Viné and Vinéa share their name with **King/Earl Vine**, Beliall and Belthor share their name with **King Belial**, Ashtorath and Yshtaroth share their name with **Duke Astorath**, Focalor and Furcalor share their name with **Duke Focalor**, Vepar and Sephar share their name with **Duke Vepar**, Tae'ob and Gaap share their name with **Prince Gaap**, and Baalzebub and Byelzebul il Leviathan share their name with **Prince** **Beelzebub** and **Prince Leviathan** respectively.
	+ However, many archons with similar names do not share the same Ars Goetian counterpart with one another. Baal, Baalzebub, Baalphegoure, Baal-Berith and Baal-Haddād'iškur all share the name 'Baal' despite being based off separate demons. Baal shares his name with **King Baal**, Baalzebub shares his name with **Prince Beelzebub**, Baalphegoure shares his name with **Prince Belphegor**, Baal-Berith shares his name with **Duke Berith** and Baal-Haddād'iškur shares his name with **Lord Hadad(Iškur)**.

## **Notes**

1. ↑ Out of all known ideals presented by the archons, Deception is one of the most commonly justified ideals, being used approximately 5 separate times by different archons.
2. ↑ Ang Leraíjkhaj's status is currently a mystery, nearly a day after he changed his ideal to "Anarchy," he disappeared entirely and his whereabouts have not resurfaced since. The Heavenly Principles have stated that he is indeed alive, but refuses to make his status present.
3. ↑ Formerly presided over the region of **Ïl'Ïnka**, **Jīnzī Dynasty**.
4. ↑ As of the current story, Vanaphula is current visiting the Heavenly Principles, leaving the title of ruling archon to Paymon.
5. ↑ Originally named by The Haborym himself, the origins of Roku Cryo's name originally came from it being the sixth variation of Cryo. The color used to symbolize Roku Cryo has an extreme similarity to Mauve Cryo with the only difference being Roku Cryo having a slight lilac color.
6. ↑ A 'nonexistent' plain of pure monochrome void, the **Limbo Ring** serves as a chastisement for those who had committed the worst crimes known to mankind, with their punishment being the piercing sound of a never-ending nightmare...
7. ↑ Based upon the calling codes in each nation '666' followed by an extension representing that nation, it is canon that the PROJECT.ΛＶΞＬI Λ main story takes place in the Wrath Ring.
8. ↑ As of the main story, Ăzrā'īël currently rules the Necro Ring due to O Thanatofágoi's absence.
9. ↑ Although commonly pronounced as "Pro-kol," Prockell has admitted that her name is pronounced as "Pros-kel."
10. ↑ Baalzebub's name, Dantalion, is also the name of one of the demons in the Ars Goetia, **Dantalion**, who was a powerful Great Duke of Hell.
11. ↑ Prior to the Gymoria-Era, most denizens who lived in the Grand Duchy of Moskva viewed Sabnaocke as the only true God, and worshipped him as their maker. Practices like these have gone extinct, but are commonly talked about within Zamorozitskiy.