Vasal of the Seal

Teleria stood empty, and from the Waters of Life the gods created their Firstborn, Vasal among them. Immortal, ageless, with advanced and inscrutable intellects, these Firstborn took many forms and had innumerable dispositions. Each and every one was powerful beyond reckoning, and when the peace between them was shattered, the conflict that ensued was one of mind-boggling scope and incalculable misery. The war of immortals known as the Great Divorce was the result of the irreconcilable difference between the two creator deities, Lumaya the Light and Siroth the Darkness. Lumaya was slow and cautious during the Dances of Creation, obsessed with details and meticulous in observing her creations. Siroth was wild and unrestrained, forever seeking the ecstasy of new creations and experiments. Siroth would have Danced until the roil of creation undid everything the gods had made already, tearing Teleria apart and dooming all their previous creations to perpetual chaos. Lumaya felt obliged to protect what they had already created, and came to refuse to Dance with Siroth. Siroth would not be denied, and pursued Lumaya to take her by force. The Firstborn felt the echoes of divine fear and desire, and division spread between them. Thus the Great Divorce brought war to the Firstborn, and it was a horror unlike any other. The Firstborn could not die, but could feel pain. They could not tire, but could still feel disgust and anguish. Their battles lasted for months or years, limited only by the reserves of their mighty wills. Vasal fought and fought, and became strong. Even raging dragons felt fear for the first time upon hearing Vasal’s name. But the reason for Vasal’s great success was his insight and his ruthlessness. He knew that there could be no victory in a conflict of immortals without a way to deprive the enemy of a resource, and that the currency to do this with was pain. With pain comes fear, and the destruction of the will, and that was what it took to turn the tide of a battle and to ultimately win the war. So Vasal, in Lumaya’s name, committed himself and his warriors to relentless torture and enforced submission, attempting to isolate specific foes and then abduct and excoriate their captive with holy scourges and lances of light. Even Siroth’s most devoted servants, when presented with absolute despair and eternal torment, could be made to give up. Vasal could not inflict such egregious violence without tainting his immortal soul. Perhaps he knew this, or perhaps not. Regardless, every atrocity he visited upon his sanctioned foes made him feel ever-greater pride and perverse glee. The Goddess and the Arbiter watched the progress of Vasal’s armies and the success of his terror tactics with mixed emotions. It could win them the war, but blacken the hearts of all who prosecuted it. Siroth saw Vasal’s corruption and smirked, for he knew all along that a reign of pain and torment was the inevitable outcome of the war of the immortals – and any who came to revel in this state of misery would become susceptible to his influence. When he saw Vasal was ripe for his taking, Siroth projected his will across Teleria and searched for the troubled champion of Light, and found him as he rested. Vasal’s twisted and vengeful dreams were like a beacon to the lord of Darkness. That night, Siroth placed a great seal upon Vasal’s chest, a mark of what lay within displayed without. When Vasal awoke from his troubled sleep he saw it, and Siroth’s will flooded his mind. In an instant Vasal relived every cruelty he had inflicted, while Siroth’s silken whispers promised him more of the same: more power, more violence, more suffering for all who opposed him. Vasal emerged from his chambers and tore through his own comrades, rampaging and cackling, the Seal pulsating with his heartbeat that hammered faster and faster the more he ripped and excruciated and mutilated. While the fall of Vasal – but a single Firstborn – could not turn the tide of the war in itself, it did herald the turning of the tide against Lumaya, and soon the Goddess had no choice but to end the conflict with a great banishment spell. She and all her servants were sent to the Halls of Eternity, and Siroth and his minions, Vasal included, were sent to Siroth’s fractured domain of Anathraad, stripped of the last lingering Light in their souls. Vasal awoke in Anathraad twisted in mind and body, a Demon, along with the other Firstborn who had let Darkness come to rule their hearts.