Hadrianus

Hadrianus was a Valdevichi Elder and influential Presbyter of the early Diabol, he is also considered a Founder of the Diabol as he lead the remains of the Shadow Court into the Dominion from Hestia with his sire, Valdevich, who was paralyzed from suffering severe wounds at the hands of a horde of barbarians who destroyed his haven and exposed him to sunlight. Hadrianus and the remaining Valdevichi marched through the rapidly collapsing Julian Empire hauling a sarcophagus carrying Valdevich in it as well. Once the Empire fell for good Hadrianus and the Shadow Court had made it across the Julian Mountains separating the now independent Dominion from the Empire. Like nearly all demonic clans during this brief period of time (2 BU to 2 AU) known as the Great Migration when all the demons who at the time were only active in the Julian Empire crossed the mountains and began travelling across the world, Hadrianus went to Ulthima originally. A lot occured during the time nearly all demon clans were amalgamated in the tunnels beneath Ulthima (that would later become Katopoli) and the Unbound, lead by the Marbatian Cassius Cor made an alliance with the Shadow Court of Hadrianus, the Asmodai Clan lead by Basilus, (Basilius and the Asmodai were also in charge of the Cimerians and the Sarsuka at that time) and demanded that Octavius and the Tower agree to a new Remulan Convention to determine the course of demon society in this new world. On the advice of Prisca Octavius reluctantly agreed and the Ulthiman Convention was set to begin but it failed before it started as while the Unbound were preparing their philosophical arguments for the end of the Tower Basilus and Octavius got into a very big fight when Octavius learned through Prisca's scrying that it was the Asmodai who inspired the Mountain Barbarians to invade Julia and the Cimerians who used hell magic to cause riots in every Julian city on top of the invading Mountain Barbarians. Octavius seized full control of Ulthima for the Tower and kicked out every non-Tower demon and vampire from Ulthima. The Asmodai ended up sort of leaderless as in the chaos Basilus turned into a giant fleshy bat and flew away. (Ancient Demonic History has a tendency for these dramatic acts.) To this end, the refugees from Ulthima settled in nearby Kalpura which Cassius Cor declared to be the seat of the Unbound and he formally invited the Shadow Court and the Asmodai to join the Unbound and for awhile there was an easy truce. Hadrianus met with Cassius and then met with the new leader of the Asmodai, the childe of Basilus, Primus. Primus introduced Hadrianus to the Basilian Declaration and urged him to lead the Valdevichi back under the smodai fold. In an intereaction now famous among the Valdevichi Hadrianus declared to Primus

> *"There will be no Clan of Shadows under the wing of any other clan. There will be no Masters by blood; only Masters by proven strength."*
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He then spent a few nights in Kalpura writing his own philsophical declaration, the Hadrian Declaration, which alongside the much older Basilian Declaration would form the two main tenants of what would become the Diabol's ideology. The Hadrian Declaration, unlike the Basilian Declaration, did not focus on the case for demonic supremacy and self-responsibility, rather it presented a view of an Ideal Fair Demonic Society that Hadrianus called "*Kratocracy"* which said that in an ideal Demonic sect Elders would only rule as long as they could hold power through strength and their would be official traditions to challenge the Elders and people in power that are not avoidable. It also called for the creation of the Festivals that the Diabol celebrate today saying within the Declaration;

## The Hadrian Declaration

> *"It is self-evident within the petty intrigue of the Tower and their masquerade that no one in the Tower values a thing beyond themselves and beyond their titles; it is inefficient and foolish for a society to be so divided by nature, yet, that is the game of the Radilus as Octavius displays. Divide and manipulate the members of your sect so that while they destroy eachother and fight over scraps the true self-proclaimed Prefect holds all the power. In an ideal demonic society a Demon will know loyalty to their faction for their faction shall provide them with the same opportunity to rise to power as every other member; if you can wield the might to destroy your superior you deserve your superior's power, for power is not to be hoarded like coins, power is to be claimed by Ambition and Might. Through this, only the worthy and the continually proven capable and strong hold any say."*
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This Declaration was quite a leap from the Days of the Shadow Court and the Abyss Worshipping Progenitor of the bloodline. The Hadrian Declaration sent sparks through young Valdevichi and they rallied around Hadrianus who once again met with Primus and they debated for according to legend 6 days. On the 7th morning they had written the Canon, which would become, though rarely talked about, the only real binding code of law in what would become the Diabol. The Canon contained 4 books in total. The 1st book was the full Basilian Declaration to present a religious and spiritual argument for demonic supremacy and rule of might in the words of Basilus after the Remulan Convention. The second book was the full Hadrian Declaration to present a political and social case for the Rule of Might, Adsumo Potentia, Clade Tyrannis, Diablerie, and Packhood in the words of Hadrianus. The third book of the Canon was the Diabolical Commandments, which was written by a Council of Valdevichi, Asmodai, Cimerians, and Hadens detailing a basic creed and ethic code for demons to follow. It goes as follows:

> *1. Never Surrender.*
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> *2. Never Submit.*
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> *3. Never Betray.*
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> *4. Never Hunger.*
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These 4 codes have been up to much interpretation over the years. There will be a different wiki entry about that when I have the time to delve deep into the ethics and moral codes of the Diabol. The final book of the Canon, the Diabolical Traditions, establishes a theoretical government or society of demonkind governing with the last 3 Books of the Canon in mind and it establishes many of the traditions such as Clade Tyrannis, Adsumo Potentia, the Festums, and even the system of the Convocation down to the concept of Packhood. Though it never mentions the term "Diabol" it is fairly clear that the Canon was simply the first written down version of it. With these new alliances established, Hadrianus, Primus, the Cimerian and Sarsuka elders and various rabble Quasimodo, Marchrosians, and a few Valefari leave Kalpura declaring the Unbound of Cassius Cor to be weak and human-fetishizing for their love of Freedom and this group became one of the first groups to sail across the Jade Channel and land in Varasia, which at the time was no incredibly developed.

## Varasia and the Formation of the Diabol

While on the way across the plains and forests of the eastern side of Varasia the Diabol packs picked up a reputation for chaos raiding and embracing freely as they went as Valdevich rested in stasis in his sarcophagus the leaders of the roaming band began to debate on a subject touched upon vaguely by Basilius in his declaration and touched upon quite heavily by Hadrianus's declaration; the subject of Elders and the Reign of the Primogenitors of the Bloodlines. Asmodai privately held this belief and had killed off Asmodeus long ago but the Valdevichi and Cimerians had their Ancients walking around. While approaching near what in modern times would be Allstadt and Moer they heard of a large range of snowy mountains to the far south of Varasia on the Volgy Penisula that reminded the travellers of their homes at the Asmodai Conclave in the Julian Mountain Range so they trekked there as debates continued. Eventually, the leader of the Sarsuka amongst the soon-to-be founders of the Diabol quietly confided in Primus and Hadrianus that they had received a vision from their mysterious God and they must eliminate the Progenitors of their lines and become "Orphaned" lines for the Diabol to succeed. Hadrianus, still relatively young having only been turned around 15 years before the fall of Julia agreed believing that Valdevich as soon as he was awake would resume his Abyss Mystic mind control over all other Valdevichi that trapped them at Hestria