| Domains | Death, War |
|---|---|
| Aliases | The Blood Lord, The Shadow that Was |
| Plane | The Abyss |
Orcus is the Demon Lord of Undeath and lord of Thanatos, the 333rd Level of The Abyss. He is the current owner of the Wand of Orcus which he keeps on his person at all times.
Description[edit | edit source]
Orcus is the very picture of demonic, an imposing figure of vaguely humanoid form standing some 15 ft to 20 ft tall. His frame is immense, a twisted fusion of corpulence, muscle and rot-bloated flesh. His physique is marked by bestial features: the horned, desiccated 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 seems to walk the line between life and undeath. His wings stir clouds of reeking, diseased air and his body is riddled with sores, suggesting he is alive, albeit sickly, while his skull-like head, nearly bereft of flesh, and the glowing red eyes within hinted he is undead.
Personality[edit | edit source]
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 resides 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 despised. Interestingly enough, Orcus does appear to find some modicum of joy and appreciation in the misery he causes.
Several aspects of Orcus' personality were paradoxical. In spite of his close association with undeath, it was 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 maintained 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 linked these driving forces, postulating that Orcus seeks to exterminate those he believes are guilty of creating the very existence that he so despises. Only when all was dead would existence finally know true peace.
While undead typically did not require food for sustenance, for much of his existence, Orcus has had a gluttonous hunger that could 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 has tasted among the finest delicacies originating from myriad worlds across the multiverse. Only when the Blood Lord drinks the blood of the living did he feel satisfaction.
Worshippers[edit | edit source]
Worship of Orcus has spread across numerous isolated cults that operated independently of one another. They operate within the shadows of society, often congregating in locales linked to the dead, including graveyards and secluded tombs.
His worship often attracts malevolent humans, orcs, ogres, giants, and goblinoids. His cults also attract twisted creatures with a morbid fascination undeath. Notable among these followers are necromancers and others deliberately seeking the path to unlife via lichdom or vampirism. Among the undead that dwell within Orcus' palace or otherwise joined his armies were were zombies, wights, shadows, nightwalkers, phantoms, and death knights. Leaders within the various cults of Orcus are known as Skull Lords.
Possessions[edit | edit source]
The relic most-often associated with the Prince of the Undead is the artifact known as the Wand of Orcus, a skull-topped wand with the power to slay any living being. The wand believed by some to be the only means to nullify Orcus' power, and was highly coveted across the planes. It was occasionally left available for mortals to seize, in order grant them the power to wreak chaos and evil across their worlds.
While the Wand of Orcus had been destroyed on several occasions, it could be rebuilt by Orcus over the course of one hundred years. Despite this, the wand has reappeared throughout the plans numerous times after being destroying, within a single century's time. Orcus himself was greatly weakened during the decades when his wand was vanished from existence.
Realm[edit | edit source]
Orcus' realm is Thanatos, which was believed to be the 333rd layer of the Abyss. It is a barren landscape dotted with shattered necropolis and hordes of undead that roamed its surface. Orcus rules from his palace of Everlost in the bone-meal desert of Oblivion's End.
History[edit | edit source]
During the Demonic Infiltration, Orcus and his forces took control over a majority of the continent of Amusa with his Demon hordes. He was eventually expelled when the dark warrior Esau made a pact with the Archdevil Asmodeus to summon an army of Devils to fight back against Orcus. Even though he was expelled, Orcus still holds influence over the land of Amusa, and some believe he still has access to the land through both Abzcar Canyon and the Fog that permeates Amusa's coasts.
