Saatan

An image of the Bazrrod demon, the great Saatan, with his wings having the names of the various Seven Demon Princes and other great lords of the Dark Legion of Demons

Saatan (Unknown ? - 2675 A.a.H.) (sometimes called as well as Sataan or Don Sata) was a Bazrrod Demon Lord, Indeed, he was in many ways THE demon lord; he would have been the king of the demons if the demons had not founded a republic upon crawling out of the ground and faced the new above ground world of mortals. He was often honorifically referred to by other demons as their father, such was their respect, love and fear of him.

Description

Appearance

Saatan had the form of a very large (but sub-giant) bald man with long horns and wings. His skin and horns being almost flat black, devouring much of the light hitting him with little reflection. Often described as being a akin to a living shadow, and often as quiet as one.

His form looked much like that of Paprika, a fellow demon prince, but one who was removed by Saatan's chief lieutenant Satman the Apprentice. It is not known if the similarities of the two's chosen forms was a coincidence or by design.

Speculation: Satman and Paprika might have quarreled due to each vying for Saatan's attention and the role of being his favorite?

Attributes

• Reputedly the Mightiest of all Demons
• Artistic Minded
• Loyal to His True Friends
• Morose
• Rule Maker and Breaker
• Games Master
• Retiring and Reclusive
• Sought Perfection
• Contemplative

General of the Dark Legion, statesman, First of the Seven Demon Princes that led the Confederation of Free Peoples, being the Primus inter pares. He was as well an author of high demonic prose.

History

Early Known History

Saatan was a demon who emerged out of the ground in southern Aels with his fellows in a horrific alien form. He would choose the form of a shadowy 'devil-man'. He might have ruled the demons, but a republic was founded as their government and so, led as an honored figure, but a voice among many in the Confederation of Free Peoples, known to most as the Dark Legion of Demons.

Wars With Humanity

He played a critical role leading the early Dark Legion, that caused the collapse of the Northern Dumian Empire and the Vakkusta Empire. Later he would move with the other demons to Polforia with many, if not most, of the demons as a new base of operations. Satman remaining in the Unholy Mountain of Hortann so as the Dark Legion would not lose most of its holdings in the south of Aels.

The Kanovhook wars were a series of wars whereas the Dark Legion conquered or otherwise dispossessed the Kanovs of their lands in Polforia and consolidated the large, multi-nation region under their rule.

By the 23rd Century A.a.H., the Dark Legion was strong enough to try to conquer all humans living on the continent of Aels, and to bring the whole continent under their control as they had Polforia. Thus would begin the epic First War of the Power. However, to help achieve this, Saatan would manipulate his way into ruling as a dictator with a small cabal of his lieutenants; particularly Satman and Paimon, this was very likely largely due to his lieutenants' desires more than himself? The demon lord Paimon was particularly suspect in this, but had achieved a close relation with Saatan and influenced him greatly, to the detriment of the Dark Legion.

The war went well at first, with the objective seemingly nearly completed in a few years, but then holdouts of non-humans turned up. This happened particularly in the great eastern forests, such as Nubla and the hidden kingdom of Lorthen amongst others, and proved difficult to uproot. Discord among the demons led to them plotting against each other, with Paimon acting as an intelligence head and enforcer of the often soft-touch Saatan. Paimon's selfishness and incompetence, and discord with his political contender Bael would lead to the High elves of the Empire of Whide Axis to successfully invade and route demon forces in the south, leading to the siege and fall of the Unholy Mountain of Hortann, the headquarters of the Dark Legion in the south, and the defeats of both Bael and Satman the Apprentice.

The surprising turn of events (in the form of the armies of Whide Axis and free humans) would then follow the retreating Dark Legion armies to the north of Aels, defeating Bael again, with revolts following and often preceding them. In the end, both of these lieutenants first Bael at the urging of Paimon, being destroyed by Saatan. Finally, Paimon himself also being executed by Saatan on the demand of the other demons for Paimon's history of treachery. This outcome would effectively 'break' Saatan, as he would never be the same again.

The demons would fail in the First War of the Power, and the leaders took up refuge in Dol-Nur, but, besieged by great wizards, they would be defeated just as the great fortress of Hortann had been in the south. All the demons there being defeated and 'exiled', that is, their bodies 'killed' and their Soul Stones and Soul Shards captured and collected and taken away for safekeeping by the victorious allies of elves and humans.

After Exile

Emotional State and Inaction

After the First War of the Power he was exiled along with other of the demonic princes to the Mount Satanmet on the island of Demonatch, until his liberation by the Witch King of Dol-Nur in the year 2434 A.a.H. and his return to Polforia and regaining a body. However, while he reassumed later his role as the main prince of Demons, he became much more reclusive, and left more in the hands of his lieutenants, as Satman the Apprentice and later, Satman's replacement: Anutkahook. Again, he was never much the same after the loss of the demons in the First War of the Power and his executing Paimon.

As detailed, many of Saatan's problems were caused by manipulations of personal friends before and during the First War of the Power, while Saatan's 'hands off' approach kept him from making more mistakes of action, he would then make mistakes of inaction. Satman now attempted to rule as a dictator in the Second War of the Power, and Saatan neither stopped him nor helped him. Failures and shocks in the Campaign of Sargos plunged the restored Dark Legion into a spiral of civil wars that need not have happened with better leadership. Multiple outlying demon realms became independent or functionally independent as a result, often with massive loss of lives and destruction.

Satman's Attempted Coup

Later, as Satman wanted unquestioned authority to reform the Dark Legion; Satman sought to overthrow Saatan and imprison him in the reestablished southern fortress of Hortann 'for his own protection' in a story of the incident. Saatan (in the story "Satman, the Falling" by Rushvin http://rushvin.deviantart.com/) almost went along with this coup and the prospect of his own imprisonment, such was his depressive nature. However, he ultimately and angrily rejected it due to the plaintive imploration of a servant wounded in the attack of Satman's Fallen Knights into Saatan's manse and Satman's arrogance in addressing Saatan. In the colossal battle that ensued, Saatan defeated and consumed Satman and destroyed several of his Fallen Knights who participated in this coup attempt; and the discrediting of most of the Fallen Knights and much of Satman's government apparatus This would, in effect, leave the Dark Legion politically 'decapitated', largely in that Saatan still had no desire to rule with only loyalists left in power.

Further Civil War of the Dark Legion

Saatan would 'solve' the problem by proposing a contest. This contest led the the strongest of demon lords to vie for the place of the 'Apprentice' of Saatan and to be the de-facto ruler of the Dark Legion. Surprisingly, this scheme worked in that it brought the by-now ibreak-away demon realms of Anutkahook and the Nigromante of Tok-Thoria willingly back into the Dark Legion, with the effective, former rebellious Anutkahook to take Satman's place. However, this promotion came only after the civil war of the War of the Four Black Kings as the four claimants of Anutkahook, the Nigromante, the Witch King and the Dark Elf King warred against each other, sacrificing many lives, valuable resources and putting an end to overt demonic ambitions for many decades.

End

Saatan will later disappear with The Cataclysm.