Iasestus, the Arbitrator of Doctrine
Demon of the Third Circle
Second Soul of the Principle of Hierarchy
Upon the nineteenth layer of Malfeas, a sprawling expanse of marble and lakes of silver consumes an area comparable to two Directions. This place is built to a scale greater than mortal men, for even the least doorway reaches into immensity. The smokes and rains of hell have sullied this place, leaving the walls streaked with soot and stranger substances, but along certain streets the marble is fresher and cleaner. A great scar stretches across the marble land, where Adorjan in her whimsy blew through thirty years ago. There, great demonic workgangs labour endlessly to restructure the land. The streets of the Demon City have been remade in this place, and now they loop in labyrinthine circles and spirals, always slowly curving inwards to the spire at the centre of this land, where sits its master.
Sprawled on his throne is Iasestus, the second soul of She Who Lives In Her Name. Standing thirty times the height of a man of the North he towers over lesser demons. His feet shake the earth, splitting it assunder. His flesh is a pale marble which makes snow look sullied and dirty by contrast. From his back, four wings of living molten metal grow, casting a white-hot light over his surroundings. His build is heroic and well muscled, giving him the strength to casually tear down a citadel wall or crush a man within his grasp. When his strength is not enough, he draws a bident from his wings. When he throws this weapon, it can destroy armies and level fortresses in torrents of molten silver. In the Primordial War, he took great pleasure in flooding the caverns of the People of Adamant with that substance, and many rich deposits of silver within Creation mark the graves of those he has slain.
Once his features were stern-yet-fair, but now they are marred. In the time before the Incarnate Rebellion, he would hear appeals from lesser devas and even gods that felt their place within the plans of the Principle of Hierarchy did not make best use of their skills to serve her designs. They would make their case before him, and if it had merits, he would petition his greater self for a reconsideration. Such mercy no longer exists within him. When he along with the other Demon Princes was chained within Malfeas, he looked around and saw the mutilation of the Demon King. He screamed and carved out his own eyes - and much of his face, too - so that he would not have to look on such a horror against the way things should be. Now he can no longer see that which does not conform with his vision of how the world can be - and for that he is thankful. Thusly, he acts to reshape the Demon City and Creation alike into a form which he perceives in his blindness, for then he knows that the perfection of the former days is whole once more. In his unsight, he sees that which should not exist within his perfect world as blackness and filth blocking his view of the world, and acts to purge it.
When Iasestus walks upon the streets of the Demon City, the streets tear and fracture. From under the basalt and brass, marble rises, toppling tenements and casting down castles. This pains Malfeas, and thus Iasestus does not willingly walk far afield, lest the Devil Tyrant crush two layers together to scratch this itch - just as he has done in the past. He has tried to build his perfect world within the depths of the Endless Desert, but Cecelyne drowned his streets in sand. Within each of the world-bodies of the Yozis he has attempted to recreate his remembered perfection and within each one he has been thwarted. To that end, he broods within his jailing perfection and turns his eyeless face to Creation and the dream of a world which will not reject his efforts, a weaker world where few can oppose him.
The Arbitrator of Doctrine is a proud tyrant. His oratory echos across his marble wasteland, chaining the minds of demons who hear the words and driving them to great architectural projects where they work until they weary and so cast themselves into his lakes of silver to escape their lives. His martial skill allows him to crush foes who stand against him and send waves of fanatics to cast down those who oppose his efforts - though in Hell, only his Unquestionable peers and the Yozis themselves do so and the latter swat his efforts without thought. To this end he cares for the visionaries and ideologues of Creation, for while their vision is flawed at least they understand how broken and ruined the world is. All he must do is exert his dominion over them, and their visions become the one he grants them.
This Demon Prince may shuck the chains of hell when a great leader despairs because of his inability to carry out his life's work because of the flaws of his followers and so sheds his blood with silver. During such times, he assumes the form of a pure white maimed bird, for by flight he may conceal the marble which would rise from the ground and so resist the eyes of Heaven which would banish him once more. When a demagogue of matchless skill tries to raise the populace against a perceived impurity or taint in their society, Iasestus may cast his senses from the depths of Hell and listen to their speech. If their dream is potent enough, his silver seeps into their mind and coats their tongue and they speak their words with all the prowess of a Demon Prince. Milky cataracts swiftly claim the sight of ones so blessed and their thoughts become one with his.
Notes and abilities: Sorcerers call upon the Arbitrator of Doctrine to cast down their foes and drown their cities in molten metal, or to create and control. Though his blindness hampers him, with guidance he may still cast his bident to destroy a city or a fortress. His step creates Pyrian marble, which rejects the Wyld violently and weathers changestorms with ease. He is a skilled architect, though his styles are strange to the eyes of Creation and the streets he builds given a choice are spiralling prayer-mantras to the Principle. Given command of a great project or an army, he may force men to work - untiring and uneating, enthralled by his words - until they long for death. At that point his control is broken and they wander off to seek an end for themselves.
It is a pernicious lie in many books that Iasestus is the true progenitor of Octavian. None know where it comes from and it is false, yet it gets repeated. To hear it drives Iasestus into a terrible rage where he will do many rash things. Wise sorcerers will not bind both demons - or at least will not bring them into proximity - for Iasestus has sworn upon his marred face to slay Octavian for some unspecified insult. The blindness of the Demon Prince hinders him. In areas which have been warped to his dreams of perfection, he may act as if he possesses sight for he can discern the impurities in his vision. In other places, he must rely on his sense of hearing, which is sharp but not perfect. The clanging of loud bells or the stamp of an army may confuse him, though he often reacts to confusion by destroying the source of the noise.
