Profile
A cunning, manipulative heiyao. He is supremely arrogant and only grudgingly acquiesces to the demands of those superior to him.
Unusual among the heiyao, he has skulked across the worlds of the First-Awoken civilizations and beyond for a very long time now, disappearing for ages only to reemerge at the worst possible time. Although it is believed that his allegiance continues to remain with the archdemons, he seems to greatly enjoy being able to do whatever he wishes while in the physical universe, and the tianhunren do not think he has returned to the heavenly realms in living memory, except perhaps for the briefest of visits.
He is a dangerous being whose specialty is enslaving spirits and bending them to his will—whether they be the nonsapient heiguai, lesser demons unfortunate enough to cross paths with him, heiyao spirits he's been ordered to smuggle into the mortal world, or (very rarely) lesser tianhunren he has overcome. He brings them wherever he goes, imprisoning them within his soul, and wields them against his unsuspecting opponents. They give him power far out of proportion to that which should be expected from a heiyao of his order, and are one of the reasons he has been able to remain within the physical realm for so long without being put down or taken captive by his enemies.
Although his guises are always different each time he appears, he often presents himself as an accomplished mortal sorcerer, someone proficient in the forbidden arts of spiritcalling and invocation, shrouding his persona in mystery and scheming his way into positions of great power and influence. Once he is in place he is well situated to wreak havoc while pretending to summon spirits on the behalf of an emperor, chancellor, wazir, or other such ruler. His summoning may channel heiyao into mortals whose bodies they can take possession of, or the spirits that he supposedly conjures may in fact be his own minions, ready to puppeteer their hapless hosts to whatever ends he has in mind. He is believed to have played a significant role in the collapse and destruction of at least three different First-Awoken civilizations. If exposed for who he truly is, or if his schemes are foiled, he is quick to disappear before he can be confronted.
His malign spirit inhabits an exquisitely crafted body. Why he was allowed to have it or how he came into possession of it remain unknown to either First-Awoken scholars or the alfar. Most of the time he chooses to appear as a human, a serrulitir, or a qiaohuoren—invariably beautiful and well-proportioned, as befitting his arrogance and desire for authority over the mortal folk. When provoked or enraged, he may take on a considerably more monstrous form with which he can defend himself or strike terror into his enemies. In this form he gains the lower body of what vaguely resembles an enormous centipede, but with armor plating on his carapace and many legs, and the sort of malleable shadowflesh between segments which he can make into additional limbs to grab or tear with.
He is unusually fond of his physical form and is quite fearful of the prospect of dying (and thus losing it). He has been known to cravenly plead for his life the few times he has been bested, sometimes in order to distract his foes while he prepares an escape, but sometimes with genuine intent. He will often promise a rather extravagant reward for saving him—and then do whatever he can to fulfill his promise. Alfar who have been asked about this scoff at the notion that any part of him might be honorable, explaining his behavior as pragmatism intended to ensure he continues to have a way out. Some foolhardy adventurers have sought him out to exact a boon from him, often to their very great detriment.
