Orcus

Orcus, also known as Tenebrous, is a demon prince and purported primordial that serves as master of the undead from the depths of the Abyss. Returned from undeath but not technically alive, the Demon Lord of Undeath is the realms' staunchest advocate for stagnation, seeking to exterminate all life, to darken and desolate all worlds, until all that remains in his static reality are undead moved only by his will. The Blood Lord is believed to be one of the mightiest demon lords, one that inspires dread in the hearts of gods. The Shadow That Was is among the powers of the Abyss most often worshiped as deity by the mortals of the Prime Material plane, and even more than the Prince of Demons himself, is close to obtaining true divinity.

Description

Orcus was the very picture of demonic, an imposing figure of vaguely humanoid form standing some 15 ft (4.6 m) to 20 ft (6.1 m) tall. His frame was immense, a twisted fusion of corpulence, muscle and rot-bloated flesh. His physique was marked by bestial features: the horned, dessicated head of a ram, thick-furred legs and cloven hooves of a goat, massive, black wings of a bat, a great maw filled with tusks, and a long, thick, constantly moving tail, poison-tipped and covered in spines.

Foul and hideous, Orcus seemed to walk the line between life and undeath. His wings stirred clouds of reeking, diseased air and his body was riddled with sores, suggesting he was alive, albeit sickly, while his skull-like head, nearly bereft of flesh, and the glowing red eyes within hinted he was undead.

Personality

Orcus is wholly misanthropic and self-absorbed with his hatred of all things, a nihilistic and brooding being who seeks to put an end to all hope. He cares for nothing save himself—not even his devotees and undead servants—and focuses only on spreading the evil and agony that reside within him. Despite his all-consuming hatred towards existence itself, Orcus is not an aimless force of chaotic destruction. Rather, he is an exceedingly brilliant strategist, wholly consumed with inflicting agony upon those he despises. Interestingly enough, Orcus does appear to find some modicum of joy and appreciation in the misery he causes.

Several aspects of Orcus' personality are paradoxical. In spite of his close association with undeath, it is said by some that he holds no true affinity for the undead. He is believed to merely tolerate his hordes of once-living minions, considering them tools to strike out at his rivals, and that he even detests the mindless creatures. Yet, other scholars maintain that Orcus truly hates the living, the mere presence of most driving him into a rage, that he sees their activities as crude, sense-raking noise, and that his ultimate goal is to spread undeath across the planes of the multiverse. At least one theory links these driving forces, postulating that Orcus seeks to exterminate those he believes guilty of creating the very existence that he so despises. Only when all are dead will existence finally know true peace.

While undead typically do not require food for sustenance, for much of his existence, Orcus has a gluttonous hunger that can never be satiated. His servants gather food from across the planes of existence in the ongoing futile attempt to sate his cravings. Throughout his existence he tastes among the finest delicacies originating from myriad worlds across the multiverse. Only when the Blood Lord drinks the blood of the living does he feel satisfaction.

Divine Realm

Orcus' realm is Thanatos, believed to be the 333rd layer of the Abyss. It is a barren landscape dotted with shattered necropoles and hordes of undead that roam its surface. Orcus rules from his palace of Everlost in the bone-meal desert of Oblivion's End.\r
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The Prince of the Undead currently courts within the fortress city of Naratyr, which sits within the Frozen Sea, fed by the River Styx. It later becomes the seat of power of Orcus' one-time slayer, Kiaransalee. Her taint can still be found in Naratyr, as well within the so-called Forbidden Citadel in the city of Lachrymosa in the Final Hills.

Activities

Much of Orcus' existence is spent in an ongoing war with rival demon lords, Graz'zt and Demogorgon, the Prince of Demons. The mutual hatred shared between Orcus and Demogorgon is legendary and the two battle against one another for millennia.

He shifts his focus over time however, later seeking out the means to slay a god of death and supplant them in divinity.

Throughout the millennia, Orcus is believed responsible for creating the rituals and curses used to create the first of several types of undead, including ghouls, zovvuts, death knights, and dream vestiges.

Worshippers

Worship of Orcus was spread across numerous isolated cults that operated independently of one another. They operated within the shadows of society, often congregating in locales linked to the dead, including graveyards and secluded tombs.

His worship often attracted malevolent humans, orcs, ogres, giants, and goblinoids, along with at least one line of lineage of red dragons . His cults also attracted twisted creatures with a morbid fascination undeath. Notable among these followers were necromancers and others deliberately seeking the path to unlife via lichdom or vampirism. Among the undead that dwelled within Orcus' palace or otherwise joined his armies were were zombies, wights, shadows, huecuvae, nightwalkers, sheet phantoms, and death knights.

Leaders within the various cults of Orcus were known as Skull Lords. To attain this title, Orcus' followers were tasked with taking control of a horde of undead from the Plains of Hunger and setting them loose upon in an invasion upon the prime material plane. Those that failed were slain and raised as liches, doomed to dwell within Thanatos for eternity.

Clergy

Orcus had cults dedicated to his worship all across Faerûn, including the realms of Vaasa and Damara. In the Bloodstone Lands, Orcus' worship was coordinated by the Cult of the Goat's Head, and in the Neverwinter Wood, by the Hunt Lords. Despite its transformation into a realm of undeath, Orcus viewed Thay under the Szass Tam as a mere petty fiefdom.

Temples of Orcus could be found throughout the many plans of existence, including at least one on Toril in the caverns of Deepearth.

His influence was not limited to the Abyss and the Prime Material Plane. Many of Orcus' dark servants spread out across the Shadowfell, determined to commit horrific deeds in his name. In the Shadowfell, Orcus' cultists took over the dark settlements of Moil, and Evernight, the dark echo of Neverwinter in Faerûn. Several Shadowfell cults even banded together for a time to raise up Orcus as a new God of Death, to take the place of the Raven Queen, going so far as to scour the Plane of Dreams for clues to their quest.

Relationships

Enemies & Allies

Orcus was one third of the triad of demon lords―including Graz'zt and Demogorgon―that engaged in ongoing war with one another.[note 2] He viewed Graz'zt as a self-aggrandized narcissist, and was believed to have warred with Demogorgon for hundreds of thousands of years. Their conflict predated the Days of Thunder if not the formation of Toril itself.[speculation]

The Prince of the Undead developed strong enmity with the Raven Queen, the goddess of death that dwelled within the Shadowfell. Followers of the Raven Queen vehemently opposed those that venerated Orcus due to their conflicting views on undeath. At one point, Orcus and his minions carried out a series of schemes in an ongoing effort to strip her of her divine powers.

For a brief time, he forged a tenuous alliance with Yeenoghu the Lord of Savagery, and Iggwilv, the mortal daughter of Baba Yaga. Orcus and Iggwilv became involved in an elaborate scheme to overthrow Demogorgon as Prince of Demons.

Orcus was a patron of sorts to the Oerthian mage Vecna, and was said to have offered him the ritual by which he which he became the first lich. He was even pleased with the work of Vecna's one-time follower Acererak, who traveled the planes in search of new and horrific ways to slay innocents. Acererak even turned to the worship of Orcus for a time.

Offspring

Orcus sired a number of half-fiend children with women of the Darakh Dynasty of Narfell, in the centuries leading up to Dale Reckoning. Among his near-mortal sons were Jesthren Darakh, born to Larnaeril Darakh, as well as Heldakar Darakh, Yannos "the Slayer" Darakh, Garthelaun "the Goreclaw" Darakh, and Ilithkar Darakh. Nearly all of their mothers said to have been sacrificed to Orcus following their births.

History

Rise to Power

Like many of the most powerful demon lords who struggled for power in the Abyss, Orcus started his existence as a mortal on the Prime Plane. He was apparently a wicked spellcaster of some sort, most probably a priest to some dark deity. After his death, his soul journeyed to Pazunia in the Abyss and Orcus began his afterlife as a lowly larva.Orcus proceeded to climb through the demonic ranks over the next several thousand years, going from larva to mane, from mane to dretch, from dretch to rutterkin, from rutterkin to vrock, from vrock to glabrezu, from glabrezu to nalfeshnee, and eventually in the form of a balor.

There existed for Orcus a different origin, stating he was one of the primordials present during the Dawn War and was older than the Abyss itself. Along with fellow primordials Baphomet and Demogorgon, Orcus was said to have brought down the then-current Prince of Demons, Obox-ob. Obox-Ob had attained the shard of pure evil ventured out to the Astral Plane, to gain ultimate power over the entire multiverse. While in the midst of attaining their demonic forms, the trio cast the Prince of Demons down into the point form which the Abyss first formed. They then rode along the Blood Rift and ascended to the ranks of full-fledged demon lords.

However it began, Orcus became the Prince of the Undead and took dominion over Thanatos, the Belly of Death. Ever hungry for more power, Orcus sought to dethrone Demogorgon as the 'Prince of Demons', a title also coveted also by Graz'zt.

Gaining Worship in the Realms

In −1025 DR, a servant of Orcus named Thargaun Crell became the first Nentyarch of Tharos, the realm that later came to be known as Narfell. Some 50 years later, circa −970 DR, Prince of the Undead bestowed upon Crell the Crown of Narfell, a powerful artifact that would corrupt the royal line and their descendants for centuries. His dynasty would rule until −633 DR, when the lich-king Belevan was slain by the twin sons of Graz'zt.

At some point in their history Orcus managed to capture his long-time foe Baphomet, and imprisoned him within the dungeons of his lair in Thanatos.

Orcus became the patron of the Red Wizard Zhengyi in the 10th DR, aiding him in his quest to become a lich. Priests of Orcus supported Zhengyi in the Year of the Bright Blade, 1347 DR, when the lich created the Castle Perilous and gained control over many undead creatures. Zhengyi attacked Damara the following year and finally brought it under his control after nearly a decade of conflict.

In the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, the duergar of Deepearth attempted to summon an avatar of Orcus to the Realms. They were thwarted by the future king of Damara Gareth Dragonsbane and his company of adventurers. Following their victory, the adventurers defeated the Witch-King Zhegyi and banished the Lord of Undeath's influence over the region by stealing the Wand of Orcus. They traveled to Orcus' domain of Thanatos, stole the wand away to the Astral Plane, and destroyed it upon an altar of the dragon goddess Tiamat, With Orcus' wand destroyed, the Witch-King was defeated. Castle Perilous and his undead army disintegrated. Deaths & Rebirths

By this time in his existence, Orcus achieved some form of actual divinity. He also however had grown indolent and no longer concerned himself with the eternal conflict between himself, Demogorgon and Graz'zt. His realm became a hushed desolation of idle undeath, considered a humorous oddity among planewalkers of the multiverse. Orcus' sloth and carelessness made him vulnerable within his Abyssal palace, and he was slain by the drow demi-goddess Kiaransalee. She then took over rulership of Orcus' realm of Thanatos in the Abyss and reshaped it in her own image. Despite its apparent recent destruction, Kiaransalee decreed that the Wand of Orcus be hidden away in Pandemonium and Orcus' name be erased from all recorded existence.

Despite the drow demi-goddess' efforts, Orcus was restored as a burst of negative energy named Tenebrous and struck out to reclaim power in opportune moments. Upon his return, Tenebrous discovered the Last Word, one of the words of power. This utterance so powerful that it could destroy deities, including the being that uttered it, unless they were themselves a true deity. Tenebrous sought out the lost Wand of Orcus to attain this divinity and restore himself to power.

In his quest for the Wand of Orcus, Tenebrous manipulated one of the Great Modron Marches to gain access to the planes of the Great Wheel. He outright killed several gods, including Primus, god of the modrons, and Maanzecorian. Unfulfilled with his divine power, Tenebrous sought to reincarnate himself as Orcus the divine. His efforts were stymied by a group of adventurers from the Prime and the entity once known as Orcus was destroyed by the power of the Last Word. The Wand of Orcus however manifested into existence once more.

However, Orcus was resurrected by Quah-Nomag, one of his foremost high priests and thralls, in a blasphemous ritual carried out in the Astral Plane. Orcus then reclaimed his name, his kingdom of Thanatos, and proclaimed himself Prince of the Undead once again. After his second death and resurrection, Orcus retained his status as a demon lord and was no longer content with remaining in the palace within his Realm. He immediately sought to claim the realms of his two most hated rivals and dispatched his hordes of undead and demons to claim their powers.

The lost divinity of Tenebrous existed as a wandering essence of the planes, a vestige that could be called upon by warlocks.

At some point after his restoration as a demon lord, Orcus orchestrated a complicated plot to steal power from the Heart of the Abyss and used it to attack the Raven Queen at her palace in the Shadowfell. He was thwarted once again by a band of intrepid adventurers, and unsuccessful in claiming the goddess' divinity.

Plots on Toril

In the Year of Rogue Dragons, 1373 DR, the Moonsea region was plunged into chaos as the mysterious Order of the Crippled Fang rose to power under leadership of Archmage Maganus. The wizard harbored a grudge against the Zhentarim and against Fzoul Chembryl, the father the organization who was to blame for the deaths of Maganus' parents. He developed a plan to destroy Zhentil Keep and spent a decade putting the events into motion. This plan resulted in the Archmage's trading his soul in exchange for summoning Orcus to the Prime Material plane.

The Order of the Crippled Fang crisis culminated in a full-blown demon attack on Zhentil Keep led by Orcus, his lieutenants Quah-Nomag the Skull-King, vampire lord Kauvra, and lich Harthoon. While a pirate blockade led by a mysteriously returned Avagard, a legendary pirate and enemy of Zhentil Keep (in reality, an agent of the Unseen). The conflict cost many lives of the city's defenders and citizens as well as many structures destroyed or damaged. Eventually, the battle culminated in a battle between Maganus and Fzoul Chembryl, while the Hero of Daggerford, Beirmoura, Lyressa, and Sharalyn Lockleaf stood against the demon lord. When the dust settled, the demon hordes were sent back to the Abyss alongside their master, while Maganus faced Zhentil Keep's justice, a very slow and painful death.

In the late 15th century DR, Orcus found himself summoned to the Underdark of Faerûn along with other demon lords. There he used his necromantic powers to raise and take control over a dead elder brain named Cyrog. A short time later, Orcus was cast back down to the Abyss by the Prince of Demons Demogorgon. The Wand of Orcus was once again left in the Realms to corrupt some mortal foolish enough to claim it for themselves.

When the death curse afflicted Toril some years later, and fewer souls were sent down to the River Styx, Orcus and the other demon lords of the Abyss took immediate notice. Graz'zt managed to waylay both Orcus and even Demogorgon himself, by the Prince of the Undead outmaneuvered his rivals in the end. Orcus managed to open a portal within the land of Chult, so that his minions could recover the source of the death curse, the artifact known as the Soulmonger.

Orcus

Demon Lord

Basic Information

Titles

Lord of the Undead
Prince of the Undead
Prince of Undeath
Blood Lord
Lord of Specters
Master of Vampires
The Shadow That Was
The Goat-Horned Demon

Pantheons

Archfiend

Attributes

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Symbol

A black, skull-topped mace

Realm

Infinite Layers of the Abyss/333rd Layer

Portfolio

-

Favored Weapon

Morningstar

Following

Worshippers

Domains

Evil (Demon)
Death (Undead)