Sanguine

Blood of enemy, blood of self, blood of master.
-Sanguine to Odo Levesque

Sanguine is the demon lord of blood and fear. Originally a Balor during the beginnnig of Rise of Aetheon, he would eventually ascend to the status of demon lord. He is the object of the Sanguine Circle's worship.

Background

Little detail is known of Sanguine's past, save for that he was once a mortal. After his death, he was resurected as a vampire with the help of his wife, being the first known vampire in existence. Cruel in undeath, his eventual demise landed his soul in the Abyss, under the command of Orcus where he served for an unknown amount of time as a lesser demon. Driven by ambition and hatred for his lord however, he gathered a small group of worshipers on the material plane who spread word of his name and created shrines to honor him, having his wife once again serve as his prime acolyte, eventually turning her into a demon knonw as a Koripsyon. Having spread his name around the continent of Wizgar sufficiently, he had a wide gathering of servants under his command and was near to claiming his title as a demon lord when the first cataclysm occured, ruining much of his progress. Over the resulting centuries, Sanguine's name would be almost completely forgotten, and he would retreat from the material plane almost entirely, too week to become a real demon lord.

Rise of Aetheon

In the final days of the Cult of Aetheon a young acolyte named Odo Levesque would uncover an old book of demon lore and contact the fiendish being, who promised Odo great power should he do Sanguine's bidding. In the process however, the Cult discovered Odo's activity after he murdered a fellow member of the Cult, leading to Odo's imprisonment. Though imprisoned and sentenced to suffer, a paladin of Aetheon was sent to finish off Odo, only for Sanguine to temporarily manifest himself on the Material Plane and save Odo who would escape.

Odo would eventually end up travelling as a member of the adventuring party, "The Seven Strangers," which later became the Indomitable Strangers. During these travels, Sanguine contacted Odo and told him to seek out one of his last remaing followers who wielded a staff Sanguine had created. Commanded to meet with this individual, Sanguine announced his plan to regain power by having the old shrines reconsecrated to himself. His old servant being slothful, Odo was to lead him to the first shrine and have him killed, consecrating it with his blood. In return, Odo would get the staff, and all the power that came with it.

Having some of his power restored, Sanguine would become more active, contacting Odo more frequently and giving more commands. After the party had travelled to the town of Bornin, Sanguine would command Odo to desecrate an ancient temple of Orcus, and reconsecrate it to him. As the party attempted to explore the ruin they would be overwhelmed, and forced to retreat after two of their allies were killed. Afterwards Odo was nervous about returning, much to the annoyance of Sanguine, who eventually revoked the staff's power. After much prodding, Odo would return and give his own blood to consecrate the temple in Sanguine's image.

The Time Skip

Over the next four years while the Indomitable strangers were busy in a time-dilated demiplane, Sanguine was busy marshalling his forces. Using his new power, he began to reach out to those that had been terrorized by the Cult of Aetheon, and offered them similar deals to that which he made with Levesque. Over the next two years Sanguine's cult, the Sanguine Circle, would spread rapidly, performing acts of terror and violence against all people of Lillica. The growing tension and fear of the region likely helped culminate into the Lillican Civil War, and only strengthened Sanguine.

Once the Indomitable Strangers returned to the Material Plane, Sanguine made his new followers known to Odo, with them treating Odo as some kind of prophet, but also letting it be known that Odo would be replaced should he ever prove disloyal. It was on the outskirts of Bornin that Sanguine commanded his servant to sanctify one last shrine to him, a shrine guarded by his demonic wife who now sought power for herself. When the party accomplished this however, Sanguine refused to uphold his end of the deal, stating that his blood would have to be taken by force. With this betrayal the staff would not be restored to its full power, and the Inomitable Strangers decided to leave in peace rather than fight the demon.

With all three shrines consecrated and a growing list of followers, Sanguine finally siezed the title of demon lord. His growing power would manifest itself as an increasingly intense fear over Lillica. Meanwhile, the Indomitable Strangers had accidentally freed thousands of vampires from the forsaken city of Nalhir. Siezing this opportunity, Sanguine took command over all the vampires and had them to do his bidding. It was during this time he also kidnapped Odo's sister Adelia, who he would use as a bargaining chip for Odo.

The Indomitable Strangers and Sanguine would meet one last time in a ruined building in Maldrim shortly before the final battle with Aetheon. Sanguine made a deal with the Indomitable Strangers: should the Strangers refrain from hunting down him or his cultists after the battle was over, he would aid them in battle and leave Lillica altogether for three generations. Though the party greatly considered trying to kill Sanguine there, they reluctantly made a deal with the demon lord.

Additionally, Sanguine promised the freedom of Odo's soul in exchange for Adelia. Though Odo disliked it, he saw no other way out and took the deal. However, Adelia was later freed by Odo when he wished for Adelia's freedom from the Mysterious Statue, and Adelia would fall out of Sanguine's grasp. Though enraged, Sanguine decided to hep the Indomitable Strangers anyway, knowing his influence would grow regardless

After Aetheon was defeated, a warlock of Sanguine would take the staff from Odo and relinquish him of Sanguine's mark. Since then, Sanguine has not been seen in the land of Lillica to this day.

Personality

Sanguine often displayed great arrogance and impatience with his followers that did not carry out his tasks, threatening and even carrying out their deaths should they remain idle for too long. Above all, Sanguine desired to be feared, and any hesitation to carry out his command was to him a clear indication that he had not driven enough fear into his subjects. Sanguine was also quite manipulative and at times quite clever, often attempting to remain several moves ahead of his own followers so that he would always come out on top, regardless of other's actions. Rarely was he surprised or confused by his followers actions, masking any with sheer anger and impatience.

Abilities

Sanguine was incredibly powerful, even for a demon lord. Though his exact power remains unknown he performed several impressive feats over the Rise of Aetheon. In addtion to lending power to those who served him, he could manifest himself partially on the Material Plane with some effort after he had reached true demon lord status. Additionally, the members of the Indomitable Strangers discovered through the use of a magic item that even if they could kill him in the Abyss, he would eventually reform and hunt them down into their old age, being practically unkillable. This is what lead the Indomitable Strangers to decide to ally with Sanguine, though many tried to purify themselves of it later on.

Though fond of making deals with mortals, it seems as though he is under no trube obligation to fulfill his end of the bargain. This was seen when he went against his word and initially refused to restore his staff to his former glory, though that was part of the deal he had made with Odo.

Sanguine

General Information

Race: Demon Lord
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Domain: Blood, Fear
Home: The Abyss (layer unknown)
Status: Alive

Above: Sanguine's mark and the symbol of the Sanguine Circle