Banned Literature
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A Treatise on Evil
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Theories on Undead
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Vade Mecum Atrocitas
Excerpt from ” A Treatise on Evil: The Nether Races”, by Azemar Tangus. Unknown circulation era, due to this work being considered illegal.
The daemonic creature, as we have referred to as “the Dae’” earlier in this lexicon, represents one of the most powerful creatures of not only their native realm of Hell itself, yet of the Mortal realm as well. They are beings of pure, unadulterated evil, whose biggest pleasure come from indulging in the suffering of other creatures and races, namely that of the human kind. The Dae’ are an ancient and mysterious creatures, its origins believed to date back to times before even our own human kind walked the surface of Eden. While divine cannon from the Church of Decus define the Dae’ to be creations of the Thirteenth Archangel, the true origins of these diabolical creatures remain a mystery to many. What little we as humans know, collectively, is veiled and kept hidden from public knowledge, no doubt locked away in clerical archives and libraries. It is my duty, however, to relate as much information as I possibly can about the mysterious creatures that dwell below us by providing to you information and facts never before released to the general citizenry of the Republic.
There is little that is known for sure of the creature dubbed “The Daemon”. Some speculate that the creatures we know of as demons, daemons and Dae’ are simply physical manifestations of true daemons, with their true essences being limited to their native realm, that of Hell itself. Others believe that these daemons are, in reality, flesh and blood creatures whom roam the far reaches of the Eden. Whatever the differing opinions of experts and scholars may be, not one can dispute the ungodly power that such a creature wields. Ancient reports of Templar happening upon rogue daemons during the early expanses of our Republic detail epic encounters. Battles between early clergymen and these foul beasts often resulted in numerous casualties. Described as wielding colossal strength, a wide library of magical powers, and the ability to sustain true fight, it is thought that a daemon is a worthy match for any army of decent size. It is with this power that many speculate they rule over both their enemies along with their kindred with an iron fist.
Opposing viewpoints aside, a somewhat concrete perspective of the origins of the daemon’s power has been accepted in nearly all research circles since the founding of the Venerated Republic. It has been a widely accepted theory that the Dae’ draw their power from, surprisingly, our own Mortal realm. How is this possible? It is through the commission of certain actions and deeds by those within this physical domain of existence that is thought to actually strengthen the Dae’. Many scholars and priests within the Church of Decus have defined these actions and deeds as vices, polar opposites of the Virtues in which the Decusian faith is based upon. Per Decusian cannon, it is believed that with every action and deed performed by we as men that goes against the sacred eight virtues of the Decusian faith, we inhibit ourselves as a race from “ascending” to a new era of existence. Some within the Church believe that these misdeeds not only inhibit ascension, but also work to fuel the denizens of Hell (namely daemonkin) with the sustenance they so lustfully crave and require.
It is through the commission of certain actions and deeds by those within this physical domain of existence that is thought to actually strengthen the Dae’.
These misdeeds, or vices, have long been the object of study by many of priest and clergymen. The most modern and common belief currently within the circles of the Decusian Church is that these misdeeds can be literally defined, specifically as thirteen separate ideas and beliefs that the Dae’ gain power from. Curiously enough, these commissions usually come in the form of spiritual ideas rather than physical acts, as do most of the eight virtues of the Decusian Church. The process of Daemon empowerment through the commission of vices is more complicated than I would lead you to believe, dear reader. The commissions of these thirteen vices, in fact, is thought to only fuel a particular breed or classification of daemon. How does this work? As mentioned previously, the vices in which daemons gain power from are separated and classified into thirteen specific ideals. Rallying behind each one of these ideals is a collective of specific daemons whom draw their power from the commission of only the specific vice that they are bound to. A commission of the act of murder, for instance, may “feed” one daemon of power, but not another. It is this precarious balance and ordering that we now take a closer look at.
In short, it is believed that the daemon’s most important task in life is to simply manipulate and persuade those of the Mortal realm into committing these acts in order to fuel their “breed”, or similar daemonic entities that draw power from the same sort of vices and misdeeds. How does a daemon manipulate and persuade we of the living breathing world, you ask? This idea is a heated and debated subject amongst all professional circles. Per the cannon of the Decusian Faith, it is believed that our universe as a whole is protected by a series of rules, known to us as the great Doctrine. Within our lore and religious liturgies, it is said that those of both other-worldly realms, Heaven and Hell, cannot directly influence our own mortal realm due to the rules set forth within the Doctrine. The idea of free will, the freedom of our kind to make our own conscious choices, is the principal rule of our universe as defined by the Doctrine. Those within the Church that view the story of the Doctrine to be an unquestionable truth argue that it is for this fact, and this fact alone, daemon-kind cannot and do not affect our will and decisions as human beings. If the dae’ cannot physically alter or manipulate our own realm, how does it ever conceivably gain power from us? The most accepted theory amongst most all professional scholars and priests is the rather disturbing belief that we, as humans, both inadvertently and purposefully provide the denizens of Hell power with every vice we commit. The murder of an innocent person, for example, works to fuel the powers of Hell, even if the murderer took the victim’s life out of simple spite and without intention to strengthen an unseen deity of another realm. On the flip side of this, it is believed that other individuals of our world and race purposefully commit and manipulate others to commit vices to fuel the legions of Hell. Be it a warped belief they will be somehow compensated for their actions, or otherwise, it is a known fact that such “devil worshippers” exist
Within our lore and religious liturgies, it is said that those of both other-worldly realms, Heaven and Hell, cannot directly influence our own mortal realm due to the rules set forth within the Doctrine"
]Representing each of the thirteen vices which empower the Dae’, a disciplined order stand as symbols of their significance and power. Each of the thirteen vices are represented by either a matriarchal and patriarchal system of rulership, or simply a “Throne”. These Thrones serve to fulfill two roles; they act to classify each of the thirteen vices from each other, and the ideas in themselves, and to also offer a form of command and subjugation amongst the Dae’ races. This is achieved through the mythical “Throne Bearers”; daemons of immeasurable power and control who claim absolute dominion over the rest of their race and kind. Each Throne Bearer is responsible for both all Dae’ under their specific vice, or “throne”. For example, a Dae’ commissioned under the Throne of Murder would be strengthened from a murder committed by an inhabitant of the mortal realm. This particular Dae’, for all intents and purposes, would be considered a “Daemon of Murder”. While not ever specifically executing the actual murder of another living creature, the Dae’ none the less draws power from the misdeed.
As we have mentioned numerous times before, it is believed that the thirteen thrones represent that of thirteen ideologies, polar opposites of the eight virtues in which the Decusian Church is founded upon. These ideologies are known as vices, and are listed and precariously defined below.
Falsehood
(the telling of untruths, unfaithful actions and deeds)
Hatred
(feelings of intense dislike, anger, hostility, or animosity, and the acts committed from them)
Cowardice
(lack of courage, or behaviors that shows such a lack; a father leaving his son to die out of lack of courage is a prime example of this vice)
Enlightenment
(the enlightening of somebody or a cause of the enlightening of somebody through the means of dark pacts with the throne bearer of this vice itself, i.e. the signing of one’s soul for monetary or other gains)
Sacrilege
(the disrespectful or irreverent treatment of something others consider worthy of respect or reverence, i.e. the defacement of a holy symbol by a follower of its faith)
Covetous
(having a strong desire to possess something that belongs to somebody else, and deeds committed out of this desire)
Shame
(negative emotions that combine feelings of dishonor, unworthiness, and embarrassment)
Pride
(haughty attitudes and actions shown by those who believe, often unjustifiably, that they are better than others)
Murder
(the committing of murder, tried and true)
Chaos
(a peculiar vice, one whose deeds are most often than not dictated by the throne bearer itself)
Wrath
(the vengeance, punishment, or destruction wreaked by somebody in anger, and the fury often marked by a desire for vengeance which causes such other deeds to be committed)
Lust
(the strong physical desire to have relation with somebody, without associated feelings of love or affection, i.e. the conductance of adultery or forced acts)
Hubris
(inordinate pride in oneself or one's achievements above the Eight Virtues, Decus, and Creation.)
As a collective, the thirteen thrones are referred to as “The Pantheon of the Thirteen”.
Excerpt from ” Theories on Undead”, by an unknown author. Unknown circulation era, due to this work being considered illegal.
There are two methods in which the Undead can arise; naturally and artificially. Examining the natural method of creation, the Undead are the byproducts of a combination of an environment’s latent magical energy with one or more moriums of an unrighteous or tortured soul (known as a “dimsoul”). Essentially, the Undead are a byproduct of one or more moriums that have a portion of a dimsoul “leaking” its will upon an area that is either naturally receptive to the creation of magic or an area in which has been saturated with the heavy use of magic. Additionally, in order for the “creation” of Undead to occur, raw humanoid materials (such as corpses or skeletons) are often necessary, but not always required; the type of Undead that can result from the interaction of a dim soul morium and its environment can vary based upon a number of factors. For example, a mass grave site will most assuredly produce Undead that are created from human remains, while a less corpse riddled area may in fact create perverse spiritual entities derived from the nightmares of the dimsoul in which it was spawned from
...in order for the “creation” of Undead to occur, raw humanoid materials (such as corpses or skeletons) are often necessary, but not always required; the type of Undead that can result from the interaction of a dim soul morium and its environment can vary based upon a number of factors.
The process in which a dimsoul spawns Undead creatures is completely autonomous and is not in anyway a sentient act by the soul that inhabits the morium. Rather, it is a peculiar and extremely rare byproduct of a small remnant of a tortured or unrighteous soul that invariably extends its willpower over latent magical energies within an area, thusly resulting in the dimsoul extending its misery, hatred or fear into the mortal realm via. the use of magical power. The larger portion of a dimsoul that a morium holds stored within it will invariably lead to the faster and more plentiful creation of Undead, and coupled with an area rife with previous magical use, can result in a single dimsoul morium creating up to a dozen undead. The actual act of a dimsoul morium creating an undead is but a single spark; a brief but violent infusion of the dimsouls’ misery, contempt, hatred or violence into a suitable host made sentient and whole through the latent magical energies coalescing into a creation spell of sorts. Larger dimsouls invariably create more sentient Undead, but a dimsoul will never pass along it’s former soul's consciousness or memories; only the driving emotions behind what makes it a dimsoul.
Areas that are saturated with Undead through non artificial means are normally the result of numerous dimsoul moriums extending their will into environment (which, for areas such as battlefields, hospitals, mass graves or site of mass casualties, a single human could potentially create dozens of moriums from their passing). It appears there is some sort of resonance effect with multiple moriums in an area in which Undead are actively being created, as other dimsoul moriums are far more likely to infuse the spark of unlife into human remains if the process is already underway nearby.
The process of creating Undead within an area can be manipulated artificially through many different means and methods, the most common being seeding an area with extremely strong dimsoul moriums and casting various high power magnitude spells within an area. It is believed there are also spells that can also help jump-start the “leaking” process of a dimsoul morium, thus creating a chain reaction within a suitable area to saturate it with undead. Furthermore, it appears that through the use of these sorts of artificial seedings, the undead spawned forth are sometimes controllable (to a minor extent) by the necromancer responsible for such a heinous and unnatural act.
Brief explanation of the history and origins of the fabled Atrocitas…
The Vade Mecum Atrocitas is a publication that has been in circulation in various forms for nearly a millennium. Thought to have been originally translated from recovered texts of the Collatian Dynasty, the Vade Mecum Atrocitas has subsisted through both ancient and modern Decusian culture despite repeated attempts to scour it from the annals of history. While no modern scholar could accurately surmise what texts or ancient knowledge may have originally served as the basis of the present-day Atrocitas, it is inferred that these recovered Collatian works had been centered around the occult and paranormal. Modern day editions of the Atrocitas, as it is most commonly referred to as, most likely resembles little of what Collatian literature it may of been based upon, simply due to it’s nature of being a collaborative work stitched together over literal centuries. Contemporary versions of the Atrocitas consist mostly of the accounts of first-hand experiences and observations of and with various metaphysical and paranormal entities that are purported by the Atrocitas to have or have had existed within Vitaveus. Ascribed to a plethora of different authors over a varied period of time, the present-day editions of the Atrocitas is a sprawling compendium of information covering a large range of topics and ideals, all of which share common underlying themes relating to that of the paranormal, the metaphysical, the esoteric and the occult.
The Atrocitas, as other works like it, have been a subject of controversy within the Decusian culture since the original publication and distribution of the work. The Atrocitas’ various chapters and treatises cover a wide variety of themes and ideas deemed heretical and even blasphemous by the Venerated Church of Decus, and thus, has been considered contraband for nearly as long as it’s existed in published form. Originally declared to be an illegal work of literature by the Inconcessus Accord of 917 A.S., mere possession of a copy of the Vade Mecum Atrocitas remains illegal to this day. In more zealous periods of the Republic’s history (of which ebb and flow much unlike a unsettled lake), the mere possession of the Atrocitas begot the ire of the Venerated Inquisition, often resulting in outright execution. While it is evident that the Atrocitas is the work of an innumerable amount of authors over various periods of time (notably, both before and after the widespread adoption of the Decusian culture upon Vitaveus), individual works within the Vade Mecum Atrocitas are often attributed to one of a select few recurring individual names and characters. This peculiar form of attribution can be for one of many reasons; the most obvious being the inherent danger of being attributed as an author of inherently illegal literature. Some scholars believe that this peculiar authoring method is a form of recognizing and even honoring the most early collaborators to the Atrocitas, and has transformed into a tradition of sorts. Yet there are a select few that, beyond any logical reason, favor more mystical explanations, particularly that the small pantheon of authors attributed to the Atrocitas are in fact immortal beings, inexplicably adding to the Atrocitas over the course of a millennium.
The Atrocitas’ various chapters and treatises cover a wide variety of themes and ideas deemed heretical and even blasphemous by the Venerated Church of Decus, and thus, has been considered contraband for nearly as long as it’s existed in published form.
Mysticism and paranormal explanations aside, it cannot be disputed that the Vade Mecum Atrocitas carries with it a plethora of unanswered questions regarding it’s very nature. While obtaining a copy of the Atrocitas can usually be done without an exorbitant amount of difficulty (especially within less regulated areas of the Republic, such as the Midlands or even the Western Territories), the sources of the Atrocitas’ publication are often a heavily guarded secret. One could deduce that a centralized and organized establishment is behind the publication of the Atrocitas, as nearly every decade, a new edition of the work is distributed among the Republic. Yet do to the very nature of the works the Atrocitas purports to document in sometimes meticulous detail, one can never assume that a copy of the Atrocitas is truly genuine, if one can even attribute such a word to a work such as the Atrocitas. Incidentally, simply due to it’s nature of documenting and detailing creatures, events and occurrences that simply do not exist in modern-day Vitaveus, many look upon the Atrocitas as fantastical nonsense. Many present-day scholars have even petitioned the Venerated Church to add the Atrocitas as an exception from the Inconcessus Accord, under the premise that the work represents a masterpiece of Decusian folklore. Despite all of this, the Vade Mecum Atrocitas remains an illegal piece of literature within the Venerated Republic of Decus, whether it be due to superstition, long-standing ecclesial traditions, or simple tried-and-true bureaucracy. Yet in spite of it being considered a work of fiction by the majority of educated, rational members of society, the Atrocitas is considered canon to many elements of our culture. Certain sects and orders of Orthodox Decusian traditionalists look upon the Atrocitas as evidence to the existence of the “Ill” throughout ancient and modern history, and often use the Atrocitas and works akin to it as evidence to support their zealous ideologies. In other parts of the Republic, such as the under-developed Western Territories, the Atrocitas is almost a staple of life, often heralded to be as vital to one’s survival as water or the blade.