Fossyi, the Necrophore King
Demon of the Third Circle
Fourth Soul of the Shadow of All Things
Upon the border of the blasted plain where Oramus lies eternally chained, a demon prince makes his lair. Amidst broken white stone, a granite stepped pyramid rises. It is covered in scars from the omen weather that rolls off the Dragon Outside the World. Its towers are squat and sheathed in lead, and its lower levels delve deep into the Malfean catacombs. Those who venture into the tunnels that riddle it will find golems that resemble the dead and a prodigious collection of ghosts, human and otherwise. This is the domain of Fossyi, the shunned demon prince who dabbles in the abhorrent secrets of death and so is rejected by his peers.
Broad shouldered and a good three metres tall, Fossyi cuts an imposing figure. His blue-black skin has the sheen of an insect's shell, and he habitually decorates himself with red warpaint in intricate patterns. His preferred weapon is a razor-edged club and his hair - which resembles dreadlocks from a distance - is revealed to be a mess of antenna. When the urge strikes him he can cast off his cloak made of flesh-eating insects to devour a settlement that has offended him, leaving a stripped-bare wasteland. His semblance is marred by milkiness that spreads over his left eye and withering in his left arm and leg that means his club has become a crutch. He is sickened by his studies, but still he persists.
Once the Necrophore King was primarily a collector of souls, one who recorded his greater self's love of the damned and dying and kept eternal memoirs of those now departed. Through his efforts he managed to obtain examples of many species long-since eradicated by the victorious Exalted or wiped out by negligent titans - examples of the alluyan, era'teen and salmanyek exist within his catalogue among more common humans and beasts of Creation. Some might argue that it is in some way 'cheating' to re-create a long extinct species just so that one can collect their souls, but the Necrophore King disagrees. Though such things are the prize of his collection, he also possesses ancient texts, artwork and preserved corpses from extinct species.
One summoning changed his nature, however. His binding by one of the Black Nadir Concordat was what introduced him to the fell art he studies. His cooperation was at first grudging, but the discovery of that forbidden art was something he embraced wholly - indeed, certain among the Deliberative blamed his influence for the actions of the young Solars who profaned the tombs of the Neverborn. He claims credit for devising their scheme, but he lies. They had already set their goal - all he served was as a source of knowledge about long-dead races and on the former nature of the slain Primordials.
Still, he took what he considers to be his fair share of the prize and damned the cost of the blight that took root in his left side. Fossyi was the first necromancer of Hell and is probably its greatest practitioner - a comment which would be somewhat more meaningful if he had more rivals for the title.
His forbidden knowledge is an affliction and despite his pretences Fossyi loathes his withering. He will not give up the practice of the magic that causes it, however. At heart it comes from his natural inability to handle necrotic essence. He must drain it from ghost-slaves and draw it from the sacrifice of living beings, containing it within lead and bone, and it poisons his Yozi-spawned nature when he shapes it. He seeks a cure - or at least a way to better protect himself - and he has had treatings with the moon-witches of Luna which have given him tools that slow its progression. Perhaps, he wonders, the returned princes of the sun and the rumoured dead princes may be able to aid him with the next step?
In the meantime, the Necrophore King has thousands of years of experience with the necromantic arts. He cannot attain its true depths, but he has breadth on his side. He has dabbled in necrosurgery - viewing it inferior to demon-breeding - though before he gave up his hobby he wrote several great tomes on the reanimation of demon flesh that have never yet made their way to Creation. After the Contagion he purchased countless ghosts from the Underworld when they were glutted with cheap slaves, and a few of those Shogunate ghosts have not yet been rendered down for one experiment or another. Some strange magics have been devised which use the bulk of Oramus as a focus for workings with the dread numerology of the Labyrinth, but so far Fossyi has not been able to divine an escape from Hell through impossibility himself.
The laws of Hell forbid much of what he does, but he considers himself beyond them. Orabilis does not agree, which is one of the reasons that Fossyi hides himself in the wastes around Oramus and slays the spies that come to watch on him. The Priests of Cecelyne dog his agents and slay them whenever they find them. He himself escapes censure because he is Unquestionable, but his servants are not so lucky.
Such a convention might be broken if his darkest secret were discovered. He has set up a school of necromancy within Hell, and teaches first circles - mostly to spit in Orabilis' eyes. His school is mostly notable for the aspects of that dread art it is ignorant of - deprived of access to the Underworld, most of the fruitful aspects of research are cut off leaving it largely focussed on the manipulation of slave-ghosts and matters of the soul and highly theoretical. When the Necrophore King casts necromancy his affliction worsens, thus he must carefully limit his exposure to necrotic essence and seek to be as efficient as possible with his workings - and his knowledge there might be valuable for one who wishes to advance the art.
Fossyi wriggles loose from Hell upon the death of one beloved by a nation who dies from slow wasting over many years. Such a release lasts only until their burial ceremonies are complete, and he solemnly aids in the proceedings. Otherwise, he can escape whenever the remains of an extinct species are dug up during the hour past midnight, though he is forced to disguise himself as a one-eyed mortal to avoid the eyes of heaven. Then he will challenge the finder to a game of chance, wagering obsidian coins for ownership of the newfound relic. Regardless of the outcome, he will attempt to bet more and more, until the stakes include the soul of the finder. Once the hour ends, however, Fossyi departs - dragging everything he won back to Hell with him.
Notes and Abilities: Sorcerers call upon Fossyi for his knowledge of extinct races and his mastery of the soul. He cannot bring a deceased spirit back to life, but he can flense a sacrifice of their memories of the dead and create a golem which serves as a testament to those recollections, acting as the recollections without creativity or the spark of true life. The desperate and bereaved might be willing to accept such an imitation as their lost love.
He can also extract the living souls from a host and store them within a jar - though not reattach them. The Black Nadir Concordat made use of such trapped living souls as tools in their dark delvings. Much to his annoyance, the souls of the Exalted merely scorch his hands and do not respond to his touch.
When bound, Fossyi will seldom willingly use his necromancy unless forced, because he fears the worsening of his affliction from too-casual use of necrotic essence. Should the sorcerer also be a necromancer, however, he is an excellent source of Iron Circle spells and has studied some Labyrinth Circle workings. He has found that he can dispel necromancy as if it was sorcery using his natural Ophidian essence, however, and thus a summoner may make use of him to break workings of a hostile necromancer - reaching even the Void Circle, though Fossyi will suffer tremendously from the backlash.
