Ka’rozzel, the Wretched Chain

Title: Chainbound Herald of the Fifth Hell
Type: Devil / Warlock Patron
Allegiance: Kaxerik, the Living Shackle — Archdevil of the Fifth Hell (The Chainwarrens)
Current Status: Sealed beneath a holy cathedral in Cathlidia
True Age: Unknown (believed to predate Cathlidia’s founding)

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Origin: The Chainborn Before Fire

Long before Cathlidia was a kingdom…
Before Solmara’s flame was sacred…
Before even the Church of the Radiant Flame was formed…
There was a war—a forgotten war.

In the earliest years after the Divine Sundering, when the celestial boundaries were still fresh scars across the planes, the Nine Hells clawed for foothold in the waking world.
Kaxerik, sent forth not armies—but chains. Tendrils of binding will. Living metal seeded into mortal lands.

From these seeds, a herald was grown.

Ka’rozzel was not born, but woven.
A gestalt soul formed from a dozen prisoners who all refused to break. Their chains devoured their bodies, their agony fused into one consciousness—a being who would not be seduced, only endured.
A herald of submission, who carried no sword, no flame—only the truth:

“You will break. And then you will belong.”

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The Forgotten Binding

The earliest defenders of mortal order—the proto-knights, saints, and mages who would one day form the ideological foundations of Cathlidia—encountered Ka’rozzel during the first Incursion of Chains, a dark era now lost to sanctioned scripture.

It is said that three archons of Torva fell in combat trying to slay him.

Instead of destruction, they chose containment.

Using primordial rites of binding passed down from the ancient divine bastions of Torva’s order, they entombed Ka’rozzel beneath the earth, far beneath the fortress-city that would eventually become Cathlidia’s capital. They carved sigils into the bones of the land, constructed a sanctum of prayer, salt, and silver, and sealed him behind seven veils of law and faith.

They named the place: The Chainvault.

Centuries passed. Empires rose. The Radiant Flame was born. Solmara was sanctified. But the Chainvault remained, its purpose forgotten, its original guardians burned as heretics or saints, their histories rewritten.

Eventually, the Radiant Flame built a grand cathedral atop it, never knowing what slumbered beneath.

Ka’rozzel’s Awakening

Ka’rozzel remained inert for ages—not asleep, but listening. Chains embedded in the stone carried the prayers and sermons of those above.
He learned the language of the Church, not to mimic—but to see its hypocrisy.

Then came Valmaia.
Devilblooded. Shackled. Cast into the dark.

When her blood struck the ancient seal, it didn’t just open a prison—it fulfilled a prophecy long erased. The Chainwarrens had waited. And their herald—still bound, still chained—was ready to rise again.

Valmaia & Ka’rozzel: A Pact Bound in Pain

When Valmaia first laid eyes on Ka’rozzel, he was not a devil in chains—he was the chains. A monument to suffering, a creature more torment than flesh. Yet unlike the priests who dragged her screaming into the bowels of the dungeon, Ka’rozzel did not speak in scripture. He spoke in understanding. In the shared silence of captivity, their bond was not forged with words—it was scorched into their bones.

The Pact: A Choice Made in Rage

The Church believed Ka’rozzel would break her. That proximity to a true fiend would unravel the last of Valmaia’s humanity. Instead, it revealed her. When he offered her a pact, it wasn’t seduction. It was solidarity. A raw, searing choice:

“You can remain their sacrifice… or become their judgment.”

She chose power, but not for glory—for vengeance. For survival. For the father who died chained at her side. That moment was less a deal and more a merging. Ka’rozzel didn’t claim her soul. He awakened the inferno already inside it.

Ka’rozzel is not her master. He is her reflection.
He does not whisper orders—he reminds her of who she is and who she could become. He is pain given form, and to Valmaia, he is both warning and guide.

Their relationship is layered, full of tension and strange intimacy:

• Mentor and Weapon – Ka’rozzel teaches her to wield the power of chains, flame, and infernal fury not as spells, but as memories turned to blades. Every chain she summons is a chain broken. Every spell, an echo of what they survived.
• Co-conspirators in Vengeance – They share a target: the Church of the Radiant Flame. But where Valmaia still wrestles with morality and loss, Ka’rozzel feels only wrath. He pushes her, tempts her to burn it all, to let go of what remains of her humanity.
• Emotional Mirror – He understands her like no mortal can. When she wakes screaming from memories, he doesn’t comfort—he remembers with her. Their pain resonates, intertwines. It’s not affection they share. It’s recognition.

Through the pact, Valmaia often hears Ka’rozzel in her mind—not constantly, but in moments of extreme emotion: rage, fear, despair. His voice is like iron dragged across stone, cold and sharp. Sometimes he’s silent for days. Other times, he speaks in riddles that only make sense after blood has been spilled.

“Chains remember, flame forgets. What do you want to be?”