Demon Princes of Nightwick: The Horned One [Fair warning: this one is a bit sexually explicit] It is written that

at the bottom of the Great Void Between the Worlds their is a n enormous hole. This hole is the mouth of a great dragon whose very bowels are a series of fiery realms that serve to imprison its inhabitants. This is the Pi t - the abode of demons, devils, and other creatures that once sought to dethron e the God of Law. Now they are content to gnaw at the fabric of Creation, to un make reality. In so doing they hope to end the torment that has become so entwi ned with their very being. Each nightmare realm, each infernal prison is host to a seemingly infinite numbe r of damned things. They writhe and bite and scratch and bleed and howl hoping t hat some mortal will be foolish enough to create a link between this world and t heirs. Were a mortal to view this hellish-gullet, they would perceive these scr eeching hordes as a flowing mass of indistinguishable bodies. This belies the t ruth, for there are demons - if only a few - that are truly individual.* The Horned One is own to the mortal m a Great King of . This of course itself, but it is one such individual. He is one of the most powerful demons kn realm. Human scholars interested in such things have termed hi Hell, likening him to Armadeus, Azazel, and others of that ilk is to apply a lawful construct onto the very essence of chaos a useful shorthand.

Descriptions of the Horned One's appearance vary greatly, and some believe this is because he is able to subtly shift his form. He is always described as a tal l, male figure with large horns or antlers. Sometimes he possess the head of a goat, sometimes a handsome man, still others an aged crone - making his form str angely androgynous despite his otherwise masculine features. He is usually eith er naked or wrapped in silk cloth, though this never covers his genitals. His s kin is either silvery or black, but is always cold and shines like steel. His b ody hair - or fur as the case may be - is always thick and hard as copper wire, even though it shifts in the wind and to the touch of his own hand as though it was quite fine. The Horned One is said to have complete control over human sexuality and to know all Natural Sciences. It is for these reasons that sorcerers are most likely t o summon him. He will cause any person to fall in lust with any other, and he i s known to aid desperate men and women in fulfilling all manner of perversions a nd turpitudes otherwise impossible in a Lawful universe. He will also instruct witches and wizards in the construction of tinctures, tonics, and toxins of vari ous sorts. The price for these services goes beyond the summoner's soul, as the y must also yield to the beast's insatiable sexual desires. Unfortunately for m any, this part of the bargain is revealed all too late. While more academic magic users call on him, the Horned One is most firmly assoc iated with witches. He is also called the Man of the Mass, and it is he, or mor e likely one of his incorporeal avatars, who presides over the terrible rites co mmon in the Anti-Church. His handmaidens, blind maenads said to have been morta l servants who knew his touch too many times to retain any semblance of sanity, officiate dark rituals in which infants are rolled in dough and cooked in large ovens before acting as a eucharist for a diabolically ecstatic crowd. Anti-Bish ops preside over strange un-marriages to corpses and he-goats. It is these ritu als that give Anti-Clerics and Witches their unholy powers. Perhaps the most common ritual of all is sexual union, either willing or unwilli ng, with the Horned One himself. This often occurs at the apex of Black Masses or after the demon-lord has rendered specific services for the sacrifice. He is fond of changing his appearance in the middle of intercourse, shifting from a b

eautiful man to a hideous he-goat. The Horned One cares not for age or gender. He will copulate with any and all put before him, and his ice-cold semen has be en known to impregnate men with his vile spawn. Witch hunters will often tortur e pot-bellied men under the assumption that they have known the Horned One's tou ch. These pregnancies are not of the sort normal to human beings, as one might suspe ct. The Horned One's penis is trifurcate, capable of penetrating three separate orifices or three separate people at one time. Any orifice thus penetrated wil l produce 1d3 Devil-Men in nine months time.** These are always expelled in the most violent and gruesome way possible, but this only rarely ends in the death of the victim. Instead, they are usually hideously scarred and disfigured for t he rest of their miserable lives. The Horned One has many minions in the mortal realm. His most common servitors are humans, but Devil-Men and a number of Beastmen also call him master. He is the demon prince with the most purchase in this reality, but this was not always so... * While these are most commonly demon princes, there are also numerous "individu al" demons of lesser power. These are commonly employed as familiars or guardia ns by foolish magic users who think they can control such forces. ** It is rumored that other demon lords can create Devil-Men by different means.