Honestly, it's not something I like to talk about. I know you don't understand - you never had parents or siblings or a real home, right? At least none that you know. I'm not going to claim this is worse than that, but...it's a different kind of bad, I think.

Because it was my fault. The March came after them - after my parents and everyone I grew up with - because they were pissed at me. And you know what? Now that I know what it's like to have your whole family wiped out, I can't even blame them. I'd tear up anyone who did that to me, too. And I did.

— Grigorius Bieloskytes to Cain Amortus
 

Overview

The culture of Incaendium is famously brutal - a society largely ruled by physical power, where person is meant to accept the destruction of their life, the loss of their status, their privileges, their world, more or less... in the event that one loses a single challenge battle.

For many of the Demons of Incaendium, this is acceptable, if not comfortable. It is the expectation they are raised into, and if they want to reclaim their former status, they know the key to doing that is to achieve a reversal: either take from someone else, or grow stronger and regain what was taken.

For some, this would prove too bitter a pill to swallow.

History

The March of Pyres was born out of the flames of the Endless War, a war between Domains inside Incaendium instigated by the Dominus Regas of Amaya, Samael Asther in the aftermath of an insult from the Imperator at the time, Abrazus Zozket.

Mother of the March

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Belcardis Raisom was the second child of the Dominus Regas ruling Tarumand at the time of the Endless War. Aside from her entire family, she also lost her lover in the battle. She was the only remaining member of her bloodline; with her death, the Raisom family is now an extinct line.
 

While a war between a nation of middling size and strength and the entirety of its surrounding neighbors should have been disastrous, Amaya had an advantage none of the others shared: they had the Wisemen, four exceptionally strong friends who stood side by side in conquering. Together, they demolished over a dozen Archdemon lines, subjecting their leaders to Exedis and devouring their lands, subsuming them into Amaya, which soon came to encompass over 40% of the land in Incaendium.

Eventually the war came to an end. Mastema Amarandos, one of the Wisemen, proved to be untrustworthy and shattered the alliance, which rather took the wind out of Amaya's sails, so to speak. Samael, meanwhile, settled down to rule his empire with his human consort, Cain Amortus at his side.

A happy ending for them. But what of the Houses left broken in their path?

The March of Pyres was the answer to that question. Founded by Belcardis Raisom, a scion of the former ruling family of Tarumand, the March brought the survivors of several nearly exterminated Archdemon houses from various Domains together under a single banner with a single mission and a singular purpose: revenge.

However, this was easier said than done. By the end of the war, Samael himself had arguably become the most powerful demon of all time, a force to rival the Dei of Astrum. His friends had each come to match or surpass any of the Incaendian Domain Lords that remained.

Fact Sheet

Name
The March of Pyres is a reference to their status as the survivors of destroyed bloodlines. It also implies they may have understood that their mission could only end in death at some point, though they no doubt hoped to get farther than they did first.
Number of Members
34 known. There may have been more - many of their bodies were entirely destroyed by the fire
Domains represented
Ruling houses from Tarumand, Kargamar, Orlani, Fazig, Macethar, Lydien, Colos and Gemede, as well as a number of Archdemon houses that were not rulers, but were destroyed as Zozket loyalists.
The Mission
Realistically, this was always a somewhat self-destructive mission. They had targeted four of the most powerful beings in Incaendium, including the new Imperator. Even if they had managed to kill Grigorius and find Mastema, they would inevitably have met their end attempting to take down Astaroth or Samael.

This, however, was fine to them because their primary mission was to hurt those who had hurt them.

So, while they would have died, they would likely have taken out much of the Crimson Court, but particularly people like Isis Asther and Cain before they fell.

The Strategy

While the March was an extraordinarily strong independent army, populated as it was entirely by Archdemons Belcardis was aware that they did not have the strength to challenge Samael - not only was he himself overwhelmingly strong, he was backed by the Crimson Legion of Amaya. He also lived with another of the Wisemen, Astaroth Dracothis, at his side near 24/7, which made Astaroth nearly impossible to reach as well. Furthermore, after the betrayal of Samael, Mastema was exiled from court, and no one actually knew where he'd disappeared to.

That left one more potential target: Grigorius Bieloskytes. But Grigorius presented a problem to himself, because he was not Incaendian at all. Rather, he was a Celestial - an Aurali Serat - of Astrum.

 

Preparation

In the coming decades, the March would prepare themselves. They lived as outlaws, rampaging and looting wherever they went. They attempted to test themselves against the Obsidian Phoenix, only to lose an entire unit of their organization. And then, finally, they began moving out of Incaendium and toward Astrum, leaving carnage in their wake as they went.

 

The Campaign against Grigorius Bieloskytes

Once they arrived in Astrum, the March sent to work trying to draw Grigorius out. As Grigorius was the leader of the elite Circle of the Sword, and was also renown as a genius in the field of combat, they did not take this challenge lightly. Instead, they sought to provoke his famously unwieldy temper and tendency to act before thinking.

In an act of symbolic defiance, they set up their headquarters inside the abandoned palace of Atë, a goddess once deposed by Grigorius and his army. Then they began to prepare again.

The first step toward achieving this was surveiling Grigorius' sister, Islinora, who was working and living as a scholar in Parnassius. She rarely left the city, so they were forced to lie in wait for some time,but eventually, Islinora left to go to the High City for a short trip.

That was their signal to begin the campaign in earnest..

They did this first by slaughtering the entirety of the population of Grigorius's hometown, Keriwen, including his parents. They left the burned corpses of the villagers to the animals and burned threats and challenges into the floors and walls of his family's home.

Next, they captured Islinora off the streets of the High City and dragged her their headquarters, where she was tortured and murdered, her corpse hung outside the palace walls.

Around this time, Grigorius became aware of the attack on Keriwen and, as they had hoped, rushed to action before laying the groundwork for a successful retaliation. Unprepared and not quite knowing or understanding their enemy, Grigorius and his companions from the Circle of the Sword fell into an ambush. The March butchered the entire unit, save for Grigorius, who was left half-alive as they wished for him to experience the depth of their losses before being allowed to die.

Belcardis did, however, in another symbolic move, have his famous crimson wings hacked off and burned.

As expected, Grigorius arrived at their headquarters fairly quickly and found the decomposing corpse of his sister decorating the castle.

While this did achieve their goal of taking everything from him, as he had taken everything from them, it was nonetheless a greivous miscalculation: Grigorius decided he had nothing left to lose, and fully unleashed. This time the March were the ones unprepared, and they were hacked to bits by Aza'azor and burned to cinder by his Vis level flame.

There were no known survivors, making this a defunct organization.

(Probably.)

Threat Assessment

At their height, the March of Pyres was among the most feared brigand bands in the world. They were, at various times, active in each of the three Realms, having begun from Incaendium, moved through Gaean, and landed in Astrum. Their reputation was well-deserved. Though the March was never large, they were always extremely strong due to their membership of exclusively Archdemons, including many from Dominus Regas-tier Houses. This made them a Vis level threat as an organization.