SPOILERS - Orsovis, the First Demon Lord

I figured I would finally hammer out the specifics of the first Demon Lord given how vital it is to the background. Granted, the barebones of this document was already finalized in my head a long time ago, only now I explored it in much greater detail and I believe it's in a fairly finalized state.

As for what I'm working on next, it's an overview document of Sam's life until the beginning of RotGM. I want to have a much better foundation to start with. Shouldn't take long. I hope you guys don't mind that I'm primarily working on fluff and background/lore details at the moment. My mood and motivation has been in flux lately.

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Orsovis, the First Demon Lord

The Original Shadow, Firstborn of Darkness, The Pinnacle King

Appearance

Tall, demonic, very traditional-looking Toriyama-esque Demon Lord. Wears rich clothes that still show off his large muscles. Fairly human in appearance aside from monstrous features and blue skin.

Ultimate Form

A colossal demonic being who towers over all but the Goddesses themselves. Smothered by darkness, has gigantic wings, similar to Disney’s portrayal of Chernabog or a Balrog. Lots of scarlet fire.

Powers

Immense strength, high invulnerability, a threatening presence that can sap the willpower of those who defy him and force them to bow, power over demonic flames that refuse to be snuffed.

Weapon

Trident of the Darkest King

History

When Tenebris Primis first created the race of Demons, Orsovis was the progenitor. He was to rule the Endless Hells while she was off doing whatever it is Goddesses of Chaos do, and she made him as her masterpiece. For hundreds of years, he oversaw the development of his Realm like an undying God. He created the sprawling capital of Gehenna, where the Demon King rules, he appointed the first Demon Princes and gave them lands to rule over, and established guidelines and principles on the treatment of mortal souls sent to the Hells.

He was a just King, as fair as it was possible for a Demon to be, and powerful beyond measure. Many tried to usurp his position, none succeeded. Orsovis crushed his opposition continually and began to resent and eventually look down on his peers for being baser and less perfect than himself. This change in attitude expanded toward the souls of the damned who flooded his realm. Karnalle was in a dark age where kingdoms were founded every other day and war was an inescapable part of life. Orsovis began to focus less on how to punish these souls and make them repent and more on how he could stop the tide of sinners himself.

The solution was obvious. He’d done such a good job ruling the Endless Hells that it only made sense for him to extend his will on the world above. Orsovis figured that under his rule, there would be unity through fear- all mankind would be too afraid of their terrifying overlord to ever sin again.

He proclaimed himself as something greater than the King of Demons, establishing the title of Demon Lord before proving his might in a way none thought was possible at the time. Orsovis took flight on wings of darkness and burned a hole through the rocky ceiling of the Endless Hells, then tore open a fracture in the barrier between realms. He held this portal open with his own body and demanded that those who would join him in his conquest make their intention known and do so now. Powerful demons flew up through the portal while lesser winged demons ferried those who couldn’t make it on their own. Once Orsovis had a sizable host, he at last joined his army and the tear closed behind him.

Orsovis and his army emerged from the tallest mountain in all of Karnalle, known in that bygone era as Mount Montbrand but has since been changed to the Forlorn Palisade in honor of the gigantic castle the Demon Lord constructed atop it. Here, in what would later be named the Rhoivan province, Orsovis sat atop a tremendous throne, looming over the entire realm from the roof of his fortress.

More so than any other Demon Lord, Orsovis absolutely dominated the chaotic Realm of Karnalle. He darkened the skies, set fire to the countless kingdoms and created towers in every region where he stationed Demonic Overseers who enforced his laws and ensured the Humans who accepted Orsovis’s rule lived without sin while culling all who stood against him. He mobilized his forces to an absurd degree, micromanaging every last demon under his control because he believed none of them were capable of following orders or accomplishing things without his oversight.

As his stranglehold on Karnalle tightened, Orsovis was pleased with his work. Bit by bit he became complacent as he ruled the Realm, believing that his well-oiled machine of a system was flawless and required less oversight on his part. It wasn’t that he trusted his minions, but that he had blind faith in his decisions.

Defeat

The seeds of Orsovis’s defeat began with the birth of a boy named Rhoivandis(Roy) Lundreame, who was blessed by the light of Lux Ultima. At the time, the Goddess was quite irritated that one of her sister’s whims grew so out of control that it threatened everything she’d created and made her break her policy of minimal interference. Her actual involvement in this crisis has been incredibly exaggerated by the Luxist Church over the millenia, when the most she did was give Roy the standard chosen one power and acted as his vague spiritual guide who helped him max out his potential.

There are conflicting reports about Roy’s origins and where exactly he came from, but what is agreed on is that after incurring the wrath of an Overseer, his village was destroyed and the boy set out on a quest to free mankind from its oppressive dictator. For many years he traveled the Realm making allies and growing in power all while avoiding Orsovis’s forces at every turn. He visited hundreds of kingdoms and inspired the hearts of many, getting them to fight back against the Demons until Roy became something of a folk hero. Along the way, he picked up six special noblewomen who pledged both their love and their kingdom’s resources to the young warrior. Legends say he forged a sword of great power to top it all off, and then he led a combined assault on the Forlorn Palisade with the strength of six armies at his back.

It must be established why exactly the Shadow on the Mountain remained unaware of the threat to his rule. Simply put, his ‘loyal’ and incompetent retainers, vassals and overseers did not tell Orsovis about Rhoivandis and his exploits. Why? Because they rightly assume he would have killed them for failing to put down a single human jumping about the place and threatening his kingdom.

When Roy and his armies showed up, Orsovis was beside himself. Not only was the idea of humans working together on such a huge scale previously unthinkable, but the treachery of his cowardly minions was brought to the forefront of his attention. He announced to his army that they were to meet this threat head on and die in war, otherwise, he would kill them himself. This scared most of his forces straight, getting them to defend the mountain from the assault. Others took their chances and fled to the darkest reaches of Karnalle, hoping Orsovis would lose and set them free.

Orsovis wouldn’t so much as help his army as they battled the humans. He didn’t care one way or another who won, because he planned on starting anew afterward. He merely watched as the war broke out on his doorstep, only taking vague interest in the fighting below.

It was a long, grueling slog, but Roy and his army pushed through after months and months of continual fighting in a conflict now known as the Resurgence of Light. Many lives were lost in the war, but when the last of Orsovis’s demons were put to the blade, the united forces cheered and began to celebrate. It was at that moment that Orsovis rose from his throne and the cheering came to a screeching halt. All it took him was raising a single finger to shoot an annihilating beam of flames onto the battlefield, genociding the vast majority of what was left of the human army.

Orsovis was impressed that some of the ants remained after this devastating attack before congratulating Roy for being the first mildly interesting thing to happen during his reign. He then descended onto the battlefield. Although their numbers were small and they were weary from battle, there was no other option for Roy, his wives and his remaining forces but to fight to the last breath.

The battle began and Orsovis amused himself by swatting the flies, but he found himself taken by surprise by the teamwork and tactics of the hero and his partners. He tried all sorts of things but they refused to die, dragging things out and whittling the Demon Lord down slowly and steadily. Things were made worse for Orsovis when the humans received the support of an unlikely source of reinforcements- a contingency of Demons led by Orsovis’s own daughter, Prisvynia, an Overseer who had developed something of a strange, sexually-tense rivalry with Roy after years of hunting him.

The reinforcements were enough to push Orsovis to the brink. He was brought to his knees- the greatest humiliation he’d ever experienced. Enraged, he stood and transformed into his towering ultimate form. Although at first all hope seemed lost thanks to the monumental boost in his power, the pride of Orsovis rendered him blind and stupid with stubbornness. They were able to use this against him, fighting back against him until at some point the giant was toppled.

He fell backwards, the mountains themselves impaling him from behind and dealing the final blow. The Demon Lord couldn’t conceive of what had happened. As he lay dying, Orsovis observed the sky. He mused how it was impossible for someone to stand taller than him, to which legends say Rhoivandis replied with some sappy bullshit about standing on the shoulders of others.

Legacy

I believe it goes without saying that Orsovis had the biggest impact on the development of Karnalle out of any of the Demon Lords. His death led to the foundation of the seven provinces and the establishment of the Lundreame monarchy.

In the aftermath of the final battle, Rhoivandis declared his intention to unite the Realm and create a single kingdom out of the hundreds which were now free from Orsovis’s terror. Although their armies were reduced, he had the backing of six such kingdoms. There is a dark spot on the legends of Rhoivandis the Hero from this point on, as he was forced by necessity to become Rhoivandis the Conqueror.

Many kingdoms submitted to the hero of Karnalle and agreed that a unified kingdom was the only way to prevent further Demon Lords from incurring such tragedies again, but many others resisted and had to be forced to bend the knee. Some ancient Kings and Queens had their heirs, banners and names lost to the annals of history during the Unification Wars, but the positives of Rhoivandis’s campaign are taught rather than the ‘necessary’ evils he committed in the sake of solidarity.

After several years of fighting, the Realm was united and the provinces were carved out, six of them named after his wives while the central one was named after himself. The wives were named Duchesses, and their lines would rule the provinces. As for who would rule the newly built capital of Imperalis by Roy’s side, that is a matter hotly debated by historians. The truth of it is that the answer was scrubbed from history by anti-demon extremists, given that his Queen was none other than Prisvynia herself.

The main line of Kings and Queens thus has the cursed blood of Orsovis running through their veins, which has corrupted many monarchs across the ages. Demon blood never fully dilutes no matter how many generations pass, and it has the uncanny ability to ‘activate’ in certain individuals with demon-like tendencies and increase the percentage said host possesses. The blood is stubborn, just like its source.

After Orsovis was defeated, a radical faction of Luxist extremists was founded known as the Sunlit Templars. They took it upon themselves to hunt down what remained of the Demon Lord’s armies, and while they earned praise from the common folk there was much tension with the Crown given that the Queen was secretly the daughter of Orsovis and that they were hunting some of the peaceful Demons who just wanted to live on the surface. The monarchy neither endorsed nor decried their activities, considering it had more important things to deal with at the time. The faction would prove controversial from that point onward, serving as heroes in times of peril and domestic terrorists in ages of peace.

Orsovis left behind a large physical impact on the geography of Karnalle as well. The remains of his Overseer towers can still be found in every province, and the site of his death has been changed permanently into a wasteland known as the Plains of Pride. Here, the earth is scorched and one can look up and see the colossal skeleton of Orsovis in his true form impaled on Mount Montbrand. The fires of his pride still burn on parts of the skeleton, the mountains, and the plains.

The ruins of his castle, the Forlorn Palisade, are still a gathering place for Demons and adventurers alike looking to secure the former Demon Lord’s treasures for their own, and it serves as one of Karnalle’s most difficult dungeons.

Within the Endless Hells, Orsovis and his legacy are often ridiculed by the Demons who succeeded him but the truth of the matter is that for all his faults, he really did run the place as well as it ever could be. In the thousands of years since his death, the plane of torment has never been as united or powerful as it had in his day. Although many of his cities still stand, little remains to honor him. Subsequent Kings and Lords have a habit of replacing all the statues and works of art depicting their predecessors with their own countenance, as is to be expected of the vain, petty race of infernals.