Byhatzael
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— Byhatzael
Prying, spiteful, and sadistic, Byhatzael is the youngest of The Throne and Castle's seven sons. A possessor of men and edifices, he inhabits the role of The Castle's spymaster and saboteur. He is a voice who whispers from the walls, sowing paranoia and discord wherever he is allowed to take root, and seeks to reveal the evil he believes sleeps in the hearts of all men.
Table of ContentsBackstoryIn the layers of Hell there stands a nation and a great demon Pantheon, and they are one and the same. She is the lands and the sea, the fields and the fortifications, and she is — perhaps most of all — the Throne and Castle. She is the shell of that which once ruled the world of men and gods alike; the trappings of royalty it shed as what it was burned away into what it is now.
From Her hateful heart of flame were seven sons born. Beings of brass and smokeless fire, they are the inheritors of Her will to blister and burn all who resist Her, seeking to judge and punish the kingdoms of men.
SPOILERSKailios Arescotti is a falsehood; a convenient lie crafted by Byhatzael and his disciple Delim to allow him easy entry into the Bifrost Terminal. Here, they plan to conduct a ritual that, if successful, would allow the demon to slip into the skin of the building, putting it under his possession and — if Delim's theory is correct — every world it touches. |
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Personality
✦ On the Surface
When stripped of a cover to hide behind, Byhatzael is just as nasty a piece of work as one might expect. In his eyes, no love, no loyalty stands in the face of mortal desire. To him, the world is a cruel and ugly place, and driving it to its own self-inflicted destruction is something he takes great satisfaction in. Compassion and trust are largely foreign concepts to him — so antithetical to his nature are they that he is completely incapable of experiencing them in most circumstances. His dim view of humanity is informed both by what he is and the abuse he has been witness and subject to over the millennia of his existence. As such, shows of guilt or kindness are just that — a show, and one he will continue to put on even when his true identity has been revealed. He never stops trying to catch people unawares, and never stops plotting their downfalls.
✧ What Lies Beneath
In truth, Byhatzael knows well what he is: A mirror held up to humanity, a reflection of all its treachery made manifest. He loathes himself as much as he loathes mankind for the cruelties it inflicts upon its own. He is a miserable and lonely creature, desperate for the world to prove him wrong but incapable of ever recognizing true selflessness should he bear witness to it. Only his connection to The Throne and Castle supersedes the cauterization of his ability to connect to others, and as such, only Her subjects might ever see another side to his personality — one even he is likely unaware of.
In spite of his nature as a god of betrayal, Byhatzael is intensely loyal to his Nation and Her people, and though he will complain endlessly about his brothers when given the chance, he would lay his life down to avenge them were anything to happen to them. And in that same vein, though he has had very little opportunity to ruminate on it, Byhatzael also cares deeply for Delim. For better or (almost certainly) worse, the demon essentially raised him to be the man he is today.
He loves to gloat when given the rare opportunity to do so without consequence, and will take it whenever presented to him — a mistake one might potentially exploit to bring about his downfall.
✦ Socializing & Relationships
✧ Outside Looking In
A master manipulator, Byhatzael is whatever he needs to be to get what he wants from people. He knows just the right words to say and buttons to press to have them dancing on his strings. With few exceptions, his relationships are measured in how useful he finds an individual. He doesn't really think of people as, well, people; to him, they're pawns to be played as needed and discarded just as quickly. Even when his true identity is revealed, he will attempt to prey on people's sympathies, pretending that he's simply a wounded soul who can be brought around to their side with enough time and patience.
✧ Inside Looking Out
Only other members of The Throne and Castle ever see Byhatzael's true self. Playful but volatile, and with a deep mean-streak, he has never felt the need to curtail his impulses to please others. To his brothers, he's bratty, needling, and whiny, his inferiority complex becoming painfully obvious around them or when speaking about them. But to Delim, he's playful, chatty, and genuinely helpful, though he still has a mean sense of humor and can be moody and bitter.
Likes
- Watching people's lives fall apart
- Sour food
- Gossip
- Cheating at cards
- Delim
Dislikes
- Being touched
- Self-righteousness
- Losing the upper hand
- His real brothers
- Everyone else
Abilities
✦ Edifice Suborning Adornment
Byhatzael wears buildings as a human spy might wear a disguise. From a one-room hovel, to every building within a walled city, there is no structure too humble or grand for him to control. Once in possession of a building, his command over its structure is absolute, allowing him to twist its insides to suit his needs. From ground floor doors that lead off rooftops to ever-shifting labyrinths, he is able to mold spaces he possesses to his own design, making them infinitely large and complex on the inside.
Byhatzael may gain control of a building by placing his mask upon its "heart". What constitutes the heart is different for each building, but he will be instinctively drawn to it upon entering. Once placed, he is considered to be “possessing” the structure, taking up residence within its walls. There is no limit to the size or complexity of the structure he is able to possess.
However, in order to leave a building he is possessing, Byhatzael must relinquish his hold over it, retrieving his mask and placing it on his face once more.
Byhatzael’s mask is really the skull of his demonic form. If his mask is ever stolen, be it off his face, or plucked from the thing he attached it to, he is forcibly ejected from any building and people he is currently possessing, and trapped in his human form until he can retrieve it. The mask cannot not be harmed by mortal weaponry, but can be damaged by magic. Destroying it will instantly banish him back to Hell.
✦ Of Brass and Smokeless Fire Made
Byhatzael's true form is that of a giant, horned brass skeleton animated by a green flame from within that leaps from his three sockets and between his ribs, as though seeking to spread beyond its malformed metal cage. He has no lower half in this form, instead sprouting from the wall of a possessed building like some sort of monstrous growth. He rarely takes this form as it leaves him exposed to attack and unable to move freely.
Byhatzael may only take his true form when he is in possession of a structure. It is much more durable than his human form, [giving him a new Stamina stat of 5 (+1), and a new Health score of 12.] In either form, Byhatzael is fire retardant and won’t be harmed by normal fire of any type. Fire created by supernatural means may harm him, however, he is still highly resistant to it, and it will do less damage than other forms of magical attack. Being within 5 feet of Byhatzael’s true form causes [characters to take damage each “turn”, or every minute or so. The damage taken from this effect compounds, and is approximately equivalent to receiving first degree burns across a decent sized patch of skin each tick.] Characters immune to radiation, fire, or both take decreased damage. His human form is [exactly as squishy as a real thirteen year-old, but he can take far more damage and keep going for longer than a real human could.] Byhatzael’s true form is made of brass, and takes damage accordingly.
✦ The Shape of Her Hate
The Throne and Castle’s hate is multifaceted. But it is foremost obvious, bold, and indulgent; a manifestation of viridian flames that shreds matter to the smallest particles possible. A paroxysmal firestorm tearing across the fields and townships, slaying the unwelcome envoys of other nations outright and kilning the clay skin of her huddled citizens as they chant “Not upon us, oh Queen, not upon us."
From within, Byhatzael burns with a flame that [he may use to add a +1 bonus to his any melee attacks, or as a magic attack that can take the form of a projectile or a 20 foot AOE centered on himself.] In addition, these flames are highly radioactive, and [do 1 damage for each turn an opponent remains within five feet of them.] These flames can be put out as you would a normal fire, but if left unattended, will burn for 7 days before snuffing themselves out.
✦ No Stars Will Herald Him
Divinations for the precise presence of Byhatzael fail. The Deceiver of Fools is announced instead by subtle omens. Divinations by tea tealeaves, coins, drawing bones, or casting lots done in his presence all scream to all bystanders about the tragedy to befall them.
✦ No Gates Shall Bar Him
Byhatzael spites the notion that any fortification raised or gate lowered may halt him. Sometimes this takes the form of him flawlessly lockpicking the door or revealing that it was never locked at all. Even magic circles warded to repel demons do nothing to stop him. His ability to bypass barriers is a categorical truth of his existence.
The only exception to this rule he knows of is wards made with him targeted as a singular entity that bar no other. Such wards explore his lonesome role as the pariah, as such a ward welcomes all others besides him.
Beyond that one singular limitation, no wall or gate can stop him… Which is why the fact that the Bifrost Terminal’s sealed gate constitutes a second exception to this rule is profoundly troubling to him.
✦ The Liar's Kingdom Come
As a god, Byhatzael exerts a constant thematic gravity that pulls reality towards his center. A sort of narrative force that contorts the world to be more like him, to manifest his themes, reflect his dismal worldview, and draw all the nations of man into his web.
In his presence, promises are broken, relationships conclude, secrets are kept and shared only when they can do the most damage, and the best-laid plans go astray.
✦ Laughing at the Damned
Byhatzael's place is as witness to the atrocity of the human condition. Every lie, every betrayal, every failure of humanity to live up to their potential for goodness, he gazes upon from the godplace. To witness the infinity of atrocity and nurture it by existing as the locus of the Mana of Deceit is a torturous existence. But Byhatzael takes cold comfort in watching people suffer from their own mistakes. Watching from afar as someone sows their own demise and reaps it gives Byhatzael an enormous boost to his mana, and so he pursues opportunities to orchestrate and observe such passion plays wherever he can.
✦ Separation and Isolation
Byhatzael is a statement from the goddess that forged the universe to her human subjects that they may never truly know each other and they will find only pain in the attempt. Thus does Byhatzael rule over lies and secrets and the schism and isolation between people that they create.
✦ Sealing Lips With Flames
Byhatzael observes somebody as they learn a secret. As soon as the weight of the information they learned sets in, Byhatzael appears beside them and hushes them with a chuckle. In that moment, they know that if they speak the secret they have learned, they will die in a spontaneous pyre of green fire.
✦ Keys to the Oubliette
Byhatzael may banish people into an empty netherworld where they are beyond the reach of their friends and exist in total sensory isolation. Each time he does so, he leaves behind a single hot brass key. The temperature of the key ranges from uncomfortably hot to the touch to inflicting third-degree burns, depending on how much disdain he felt for the target of this power. This spells certain death for most mortals, but anybody who holds one of the Oubliette keys may free the person that key corresponds to. Furthermore, much to his frustration, this power doesn’t seem to be perfectly effective, and history is replete with individuals who, through trickery, willpower, clever magic, or other means, managed to break free from the oubliette.
✦ The Secretmost Secret
During the closing days of a great civil war between the gods to decide the fate of the universe, the Eternal Empress struck her most beloved daughter with a spear that kills with certainty, dooming her to certain, eventual death. As she fell, she imagined the fate her daughter would face, and she dreamed a grey world of mourning for her daughter to rest within and a perfect Lead Prince to rule over this sunless and starless realm. Before the dream could be finished, she landed within the pit and kindled the fires of Hell with her own rage, and it burned and kilned whatever she once was away until she became the lesser thing she is today. She birthed six sons to punish and scourge the world that would dare make her dream such a bleak dream.
Her daughter is yet to die, but one day she will.
That portrait of a sunless land is yet to be completed, but one day it will be.
And that Lead Prince who was to be her first son is yet to be born, but one day he shall be.
Until that day, Byhatzael bears a grim secret: the name the Lead Prince of the Underworld, Byhatzael’s eldest brother, will one day have.
Until that day, the word itself is the secretmost secret, a syllable of destruction that contains the Void within it and destroys the souls of those who hear it.
Skills & Stats
What does it mean to be a god? Ask a god from Alaia and they may tell you that to be a god is to dwell within your works. Ask someone less poetic and they will tell you the same thing more sensibly: “Gods are facts of the world.” They are not people — they are ideas made manifest, concepts given flesh. "Demon" is more a political distinction than a literal one. They are the losers of a cosmic civil war between the gods, punished and trapped in Hell for the rest of eternity.
To speak Byhatzael's true name is to invoke all that he is: the act of deceit, of betrayal,
Each of her sons is a part of her, a defining principle of her existence, as well as a reflection of what she thinks of mankind and its ills.
Weapons
[If applicable, descriptions and information on the character's weapon(s)]
✦ General Stats
| ✦ Strengths |
✧ Weaknesses |
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✦ Psychological Stats ✦
| Charisma | ✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ | Kindness | ✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ |
| Patience | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧ | Intelligence | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ |
| Confidence | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧ | Perception | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ |
| Discipline | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧ | Psych stamina | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ |
| Courage | ✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ | Caution | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧ |
| Honesty | ✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ | Loyalty | ✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ |
| Maturity | ✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧ | Creativity | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧ |
| Cleanliness | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧ | Work ethic | ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦ |
✧ Physical Stats ✧
| Physical Strength |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧
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Speed |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧
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| Magical Strength |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧
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Constitution |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧
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| Physical Defense |
✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧
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Dexterity |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧
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| Magical Defense |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧
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Stamina |
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
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Usage Notes
✦ BTOCT
Byhatzael may be used in anyone's rounds if they wish, for whatever purpose they want, except for shipping or breaking the premise of the OCT.
Gallery
[main reference image]
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Author's Notes
✦ Character theme is Deceiver of Fools by Within Temptation.