Realistic or Modern Infernal Intervention [Reboot] - Lore

[ZacksQuest]

This is the thread that categorizes the lore of the Infernal Intervention setting. Some lore is malleable and vague, and there are a lot of missing pieces that will be added to as time goes on. Brand new lore info will be added in bold.

NOTE: THIS THREAD IS A HUGE WORK IN PROGRESS AND ALWAYS UPDATING. THERE IS STILL SOME INFO THAT NEEDS ADDING FOR SOME FACTIONS AND ALL THE IMPORTANT CHARACTERS!

The Larger History of the World

The Multiverse

The RP takes place across the entire multiverse. Most of the gods and about half the monsters in the setting come from other universes. Earth’s Universe, also known as The Mortal Universe, is an oddball because it’s self-regulating and has no creator gods.

Aether

Also known as the “soul”, this electrochemical energy is the same cosmic background noise that keeps existence going and magic flowing. Gods and mages cast spells by directly manipulating aether, and if too much aether leaves a universe, it collapses in on itself and everything that came from that universe ceases to exist. A lot of aether had spilled from holes poked in the fabric of the multiverse and for whatever reason pooled in the brains of humanity on the Mortal Universe.

The Start of Worship

To sum it up, when gods in their universes reached their third or fourth generation, they began poking holes in reality and noticing each other. Then they slashed the holes wider to come through for a variety of reasons, but mostly arbitrary war. However, too much aether left some of the universes, and those universes and the gods from them went poof. The gods learned about the nature of aether, and traced the missing aether back to humanity. They tried to just kill humans for it, but they couldn’t claim it that way. Eventually, one of the gods began simply bartering with humanity, offering gifts of magic and miracles in exchange for the aether in their souls to go to them, and surprisingly it worked. From that moment on, most first- and second-generation gods stayed behind in their home universe, while third-through-fifth generation gods formed Pantheons, exchanging godly gifts for their souls.

Gods (By Generation)

When a normal universe begins, there are between one and eight first-generation gods. These beings are the most powerful entities in all of creation, whose abilities are universally large. However, they’re also kind of stupid. They eventually reproduce and give birth to second-generation gods, whose powers are more limited in scope and scale but whose minds are a lot more enhanced. There are up to five generations of gods, with each one’s powers becoming more specific and limited; if a fifth-generation god has kids, those kids aren’t immortal and become the progenitors of a species of monster based on whatever powers that god had dominion over. A single universe can have anywhere from 10 to 400,000 true gods, but the average is about 300.

Magic (By Generation)

Magic adopted by humans is much the same. Humans didn’t originally have the gift of magic, each form of magic was granted to humanity by a god directly imprinting their own powers onto a human’s aether, and the power and potency of that magic is diluted every time those first humans teach that magic to others. The sixth generation of magic onwards sort of plateaus out as kind of the common bottom line form of that magic.

Monsters from the Mortal Universe

While most of your monsters exist because they’re children of fifth-generation gods, some monsters came from the Mortal Universe because at the height of aether farming, there was too much to reap. If a soul isn’t harvested from the human on death, it could potentially rise back up as a form of lesser undead. If Aether gets infused into nature, animals, particularly Aether-sensitive people, or even get tainted by concepts, they ascend to become a new type of monster that is actually better described as an Earth-born god; the most common among these Aether-infused monsters are the elementals, conceptual deities, animal spirits, and faeries (born out of Aether gathering in human settlements which is why they can manipulate the social contract like they do). If they weren’t created in these ways, they were constructs made by the willpower of a god, a mage, or in the modern day a psion, with things such as chimaeras, homunculi, golems, and tulpas being the most notable of these artificial creations.

Demons and the Infernal Empire

Among the biggest of the big bads of the multiverse is this fun little faction. Demons are not monsters, or even technically a separate entity from gods; they are actually rogue gods from different pantheons, cast down and vilified by the multiverse and humanity alike. Demons had several reasons for falling from grace, including an outrage at humanity’s self-importance, a hatred of their pantheon’s leaders, indoctrination by other demons, or even the most common early motivation: fear that they couldn’t collect enough Aether and flicker out of existence. They learned to corrupt and tempt souls, cause widespread disasters and plagues, start wars, engender hatred, and kill their fellow gods. They were locked away for a time in a place called “The Infernal Realm”, and when they broke free almost fifty years ago, they were a clan-like empire of vicious and clever fiends whose nobility numbered in the tens of thousands and whose monstrous armies numbered in the hundreds of millions. They were eventually beaten back by the combined might of pantheons and humanity, but there are still a number of demon factions who wormed their way to operating on the surface.

Shaddai and the Dark Age of the Pagan Gods

One of the most influential gods during the height of aether harvesting was the god Shaddai, of the Semitic Pantheon. He is a god who manipulates and embodies absolute purity, and as one of the handful of second-generation gods to have a direct hand in Mortal Universe affairs was on a different playing field from most of the other gods. He overthrew his brother (who in contrast became the leader of demonkind), and eventually used his children and his coterie of angels to grow his own power base. From this, he began to monopolize. He had not one, not two, but three massive religions offering him tribute while fighting with each other. He created an army of empowered demigods known as Saints, while he employed the aid of religious zealots and gained the ear of kingdoms to aid in the hunting of monsters and mages until most of the western or Middle Eastern world were under his thumb. At this point, all the other Pantheons save the ones operating in the New World or from India eastward had to pay Shaddai tribute for the Aether they needed to survive, and even then the Pantheons of the New World had about 400 years before His influence reached their shores, too. One of the most horrifying events was the First Mythical Crusade, where the Knights Templar cast out or killed all those who clung to pagan magick or anyone with monster blood; no other god could touch the Earth in this time, and must stay in their domain lest they face persecution from the One on High. Keep in mind, this isn't because Shaddai is greedy, selfish, or had any feelings of animosity (he is unable to feel such concepts); but as a god of short-term perfection that has to adapt to context and situations, he saw controlling most of the soul trade to the rest of the multiverse and cracking down on monsters to be the best possible solution for monster skirmishes and pantheonic infighting, which it was for a time.

The Tech Boom and The Discovery Event

Wiping out all evidence of magic, monsters and other gods had a bit of a teeny, tiny, catastrophic downside. When the Industrial Revolution happened, and literacy evolved, and the scientific method was employed, people started not believing in the gods. By the time of the great tech boom in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, even Shaddai’s ability to claim aether was waning, and gods were on the verge of flickering out. However, they unanimously decided to reveal their presence to humanity, coming down, granting magic to humanity once more, crafting miracles, bringing back monsters from their universes and unlocking the gateways of the realms they locked the undead, elementals, and faeries in, and finally (after the militaries of the world got tired of shooting at them) sat down with the world leaders and told the story to them straight. They need human souls to survive, and they can’t take it from humans who don’t know of them and who don’t want to give them their aether.

Consequences of the Discovery Event

The Discovery Event, as it would become known, pretty much saved gods from extinction forever. However, the desperate act and sudden merging of magic and a technologically advanced world caused a share of issues. Politicians demanded the Pantheons be recognized as governing bodies, beholden and accountable to the same laws as humanity. Corporations, seeing the value in aether and getting ideas from the implementation of magic, began doing what corporations do best. Monsters, faeries, undead, elementals, et cetera, having been freed from their captivity, now could never be corralled back in; not to mention, introducing humanoid monsters to a human race that already had no trouble segregating internally was not the most welcome maneuver. Human mages, once again able to practice in the open or attaining magic for the first time, were essentially lawless and untrustworthy before the formation of guilds. Not only were pantheons at a level playing field and no longer able to set territory by cultural boundaries, but humans were aware that gods needed them more than they needed the gods, which meant the aether market went from an easy reaping to a competitive dogfight for souls. Not to mention, the Infernal Empire brought up earlier broke out during the turmoil and controlled the world for five years, with Demon Kings claiming vast territories across the world.

The Intervention Team is Born

The pantheons and militaries of the world fought against the demons, and Shaddai even brought back the Mythical Crusade in earnest to fight against the demons and undead that were siding with them, but there was little for human militaries to do against gods before they properly integrated mages or magitek into their standing armies, and even the legitimate gods were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the Empire. However, there was a resistance movement, acknowledged and aided by older mages, demigods, monsters, humans, and even inside defectors from the Infernal Empire. They pinpointed centers of demon activity, helped disrupt them through subterfuge and assassination, and then called in the pantheons to finish off the job. These underground guerrilla tactics eventually led to the Empire’s defeat and banishment back to the Infernal Realm. Humans and monsters, mages and muggles, gods and mortals alike were unified in celebration by the demons’ defeat; however, the higher powers knew it wouldn’t last long, so they decided to take that underground militia and deputize them as Multiversal peacekeepers authorized and aided by a coalition of nations and pantheons. What started off as one team grew to six once the celebration wore off and the underlying troubles started up again, but for fifty years those six elite teams of special operatives had been doing just fine against threats to the rickety balance between mortals and the Multiverse. But now, things are getting worse, so in the year 2095, a seventh Intervention team is getting formed.

Factions

Infernal Intervention

The peacekeepers of the Multiverse and the heavy hand that keeps the world in balance. A group of seven elite strike teams dispatched to uncover and stop threats to the established order, with you one of its newest members.

The Infernal Empire

The most frequent and deadly faction Intervention faces. Corrupted rogue gods with no lover for humanity that cause catastrophes with their armies of lesser creatures. The Infernal Empire is divided into a lot of sub-factions. The Council of Ten sits at the very top of the ladder, followed by the two strongest of the eighteen demon clans (the Goetians and the Malebranche), followed by the next four strongest clans known collectively as the Horsemen, with the remaining twelve scrabbling at the bottom. Each of those clans save the Council of Ten and the Malebranche have sub-families beneath those sub-factions, so it is very involved.

The Nation of the Damned

A sovereign state in northern Scandinavia ruled by a militaristic class of greater undead. They are ruled by a vicious trio of revenants known as The Triumvirate and their M.O. is using infiltration and subterfuge to gather territory and new legions.

The Faerie Courts

A loose grouping of hierarchical systems of the Fae, separated by governmental type and the emotions that fueled their creation. When empowered by the art of the contract they can have power rivalling the gods, but otherwise their forte is in illusion and mind games.

The Demigod Project

Demigods acting as a mercenary force; without even bringing up the rumors of them starting incidents to get publicity, they are Infernal Intervention’s morally bankrupt business competitors.

The Heavenly Host

The Semitic and Judeo-Christian pantheon and one of Intervention’s backers. Despite a checkered past with the god Shaddai, they are one of the most ardent supporters, generally calling on them or aiding them against demons or the undead. The Archangel Sandalphon sits on the Board of Directors. Although Shaddai is usually the only deity to receive worship due to his status as "One True God", Shaddai has a number of legitimate children, not to mention that most of his angelic forces count as quasi-gods, as well as his elite band of Seven Archangels (an informal title as all seven of them are something beyond even a seraphim), his coterie of ascended Saints, and any Harbingers who have been granted great power.

The Olympian Neonate

The modernized Greco-Roman pantheon. After casting out most of the corrupt elite and downsizing their numbers (some like Zeus or Hera were ousted for their abuse of humanity; others like Pan and Morpheus were let go of because of how divided their worship was getting; others like Ares retired from the pantheon to live among humans or back on their home universe; others died in the wars against the demons}, they became very active in the day-to-day operations of both mage guilds and Infernal Intervention. Their current leader, Apollo, sits on the Board of Directors.

The Universal Mage's Association

Also called the UMA or the Mage’s Guild, they are the governing body of rules and applications for human magic in all parts of life. They regulate what magic is legal or illegal, and they will call on and assist Intervention whenever black magic or rogue mage covens are involved. Paradoxically for a faction of squishy wizards with tainted souls, families who have a history of magical aptitude will treat it as a pedigree, while gifted mages can acquire a celebrity status akin to an athlete.

Treeshapers

One of two recognized non-UMA mage factions, most summoners and druids hail from this faction. They make pacts with certain beings of nature- usually elementals and animal spirits but occasionally demons- and share their bodies and minds for enhanced power as part of a mutual partnership.

The Order of Da'o

A faction of pacifistic, magically empowered monks, and the second of two recognized non-UMA mage factions. They focus on using concentration and willpower to manipulate a single fundamental physical force, and then study that force for their whole lives.

The Monster Freedom Party

A faction of activist monsters looking to get civil rights and reparations for their banishment and genocides at the hands of the gods. Most members advocate through diplomacy, but there are always the radical splinter groups.

Elysian Enterprises

The foremost magitek company to exist, they have both hands wrist-deep in the aether honeypot. They use technology and chemical formulas to make products that “grant humans the power of the gods”.

The Nine Realms

The current Nordic pantheon whose infighting among the nine subfactions occasionally causes problems for Intervention; however, they also supply arms, cavalry support, and potential applicants without question, generally from either Freja’s Valkyrie squadron or Thor’s Berserker squadron.

Masters of the Du'at

The current Egyptian pantheon, led by Queen Isis follwoing the death of Ammun-Ra. Their specialties are wards and enchantments against evil and the judging of sinful acts. They make some powerful enchanted armor, trade in some of the purer Aether around, and frequently make Harbingers to enact divine judgment.

Pahiya

The umbrella term for the Vedic, Chinese, and Shinto pantheons that have all adopted the way of Pahiya. Most of the other factions stay out of their way, aside from a few families of demons, due to the purity of aether that they collect from their tempering method of constant tribulations and rebirths.

The Shadow Loa

A faction of Yoruba and Caribbean gods and psychopomp spirits that are friendly to Intervention one day or hostile the next. Their sphere is celebration and extremes of emotion without predictable rhyme or reason, and though they are known to be killers they have an admiration for life and the sanctity of death.

Guardians of the Passage

Far more grim than the playful Loa psychopomps, this is the union of death gods, reapers, and ferrymen who have been given the unfortunate task of guiding the consciousness of a soul to their destination. They attack all those who would sully the permanence of death with time travel or too much resurrection.

The Adjudicators

A dangerous splinter group, primarily off the Egyptian pantheon, of gods of guilt and judgment who think that modern laws are too lenient and the punishments too slight. They raise mummies and judge entire cities’ worth of people, bringing harsh punishments for even the softest of crimes. They send mummies after those that make enemies of them.

Ba'al's Redeemers

A splinter faction of demons, primarily former Sumerian and Canaanite gods, trying to regain their recognized divinity by subterfuge and force. They have established “holy communes” in extremely isolated areas where they use propaganda and fear to gaslight armies of outcasts and the overlooked into zealous paladins ready to die for their leaders.

The Ark Commune

A very small sovereign state consisting of refugee or outcast half-monsters, lycanthropes, and demihumans who have given up on cohabitation and have a deep-rooted mistrust of humans and gods alike.

The Elementa Naturae

A faction of animal spirits and elementals on the level of gods that try to keep themselves alive at all costs by protecting the wildlife or habitat they were spawned from. They usually bond with treeshapers, go on vengeance quests against poachers or vandals, and they and their followers generally detest the concrete jungle side of society in favor of a more homely, natural life.

The Knights Templar

A faction closely associated with the Heavenly Host, Knights Templar are anointed by Shaddai and his angelic army to fight for Abrahamic expansion on Earth. They were notably involved in the Mythical Crusade, where they'd exterminate or banish any magical being that didn't hail from the Semitic pantheon as well as anyone who practiced magic. They returned during the Five Year War to fight against demons and the undead, but they didn't stop even after the formation of Intervention. Recently, Shaddai has stepped away from supporting the Templars following, and most of the moderate Templar generals stepped away as well. Currently, the new Templar administration is shifting to its old tricks of mass magical extermination.

The Machine Army

A faction of living, magically powered machines of unknown purpose and numbers. The majority of their magic affects metal or electronics, they self-replicate using any scraps they find, and their “gunmetal clerics” have augmented their bodies into massive war machines.

The Draconic Council

A group of twenty-five elemental dragons and their half-dragon spawn that rule separate micro-fiefs across the world. Immeasurably powerful, worshipped by many magical creatures as surrogate godparents, and willing to dole out their mass destruction services for a phenomenal fee. They also converge every year for unknown reasons.

The Anti-Magicka Alliance

An organization of humans, either technocratic or magitek, but majority technocratic. They reject mixing human and monster culture, and the majority of AMA members reject the political agreements between humans and gods altogether. They have been known to incite riots and terrorist attacks, and any monster or monster-kin should be worried about them.

The G.A.A. Project

Short for “God and Adam” Project, this is an organization dedicated to allowing humans to understand more about the universes beyond their own by setting up conferences, school trips, and PR campaigns for gods. A lot of their planned events are the focal point of potential incidents, but they’ve never been responsible for anything.

Hecate's Risen

One of the few occult groups that actually could channel magic pre-Discovery, it was founded by Doctor Cormac Jackson in the 1880s to use kabbalistic magic and Greco-Roman witchcraft to battle aging and incurable diseases. During the Infernal Empire’s reign, Cormac Jackson was brought back as a revenant and Hecate’s Risen became one of the more infamous and untraceable necromancer covens around.

The Voidwalkers

The most mysterious of all dark mage guilds. They practice all forms of dark magic and wander the Void. They’re usually utterly mad, horrifically transformed, and disrupt the causality of space-time itself with their very thoughts.

The House of Concepts

A faction composed of conceptual deities created by the overflow of Aether. These conceptual deities are, like elementals and fairies, technically a form of Earthborn god, but they are discriminated against by actual pantheons and receive little worship if any. The House of Concepts was made to give these otherwise lonely deities and their followers something close to a pantheon, fighting for the representation and appreciation of conceptual deities and willing to fight back if actual pantheons begin attacking Earthborn gods in earnest.

The Bookkeepers

Reality warpers with the ability to turn any fiction into reality. They’ve brought formerly fictional races and countries into existence with dire consequences. Particularly insidious members can do the reverse and turn people into books. Some of them are benevolent, but many remember they’re the ones who made D&D’s Beholders a living species, so they’re mostly hated.

Granny Crone's Goodwytch Pharmaceuticals

A mass produced potions company created by “the Crone”, one of the three Celtic goddesses collectively called The Morrigan. She is a powerful illusionist and hypnotist who bakes charms into her cooking, and her legions of Stepford Smiling hunbots forcibly sell unstable and dangerous potions for exorbitant fees.

The Sarkic Republic

A private dark magic theocracy consisting of biomancers that live in cavernous colonies beneath the earth. They create plagues, kidnap people for body parts while reducing the rest of them to fleshy sludge, and create twisted living constructs as works of art.

Nilbog's Chosen

A splinter cell group of the Monster Freedom Party consisting of mainly trollish and ogrin monsters. They act by inciting violent uprisings and do not believe in a pacifist route, instead electing to kill all the prejudiced until none are left; with diplomacy not working so well, many younger monsters are joining.

The Replacers

Also known as doppelgangers, this organization is actually composed of human dark mages who employ cerebromancy and biomancy to steal memories and transform themselves into someone. They are generally hired for espionage, but many have been saboteurs or assassins as well.

The Cool Kids Supervillainy Group

A group of reality warping kids who stole equipment by Elysium Enterprises and used it to become godlike entities in order to impress their friends. They’ve been responsible for some incredibly dangerous incidents, but for the most part they’re irritating pranksters with powerful toys.

The Factory

A golem and automaton production facility made by Hephaestus, who also acts as Intervention’s engineering contractor. The god has a personal interest in the Machine Army and their origins, as he doesn’t know who made them.

The Circus

A travelling coven of twisted, child-murdering beings whose powers are based off of forms of entertainment. They have never been properly caught as they always manage to fend off persecution. It’s unknown if they’re gods, demons, warlocks or psionically-created bogeymen.

The People's Nation of Tarekith

A dictatorial nation that focuses on heightened military force with extra specializations in dangerous occult magic and the inflicting of pain on both subjects and enemies alike. Embodying the "survival of the fittest" mentality to a T, they alter their troops to become something beyond human while also weaponizing souls, the human body, and the undead to further their cause.

Important Characters

Infernal Intervention: Director Pallas

The Director of Intervention Operations and the current team administrator for the new team, Team Ezec. Pallas was once the Greek Titan of War who fought against Zeus's younger administration thousands of years ago, but has since mellowed out following their defeat. He lives in the Elysian Fields of the plane of Hades with his wife, the godess Styx, but can normally be found in the administrative wing of Intervention Headquarters or in his Team Ezec office, putting himself in a bureaucratic stupor from the influx of new incidents.

Infernal Intervention: Chairman Zarathustra

The Chairman of the Intervention Board of Directors and one of the chief human adversaries of the Infernal Empire. Zarathustra was the first true mage, imprinted with powers by a number of gods including Ahura Mazda, the first god to interact with humanity. He was granted, among significantly powerful elemental magic, a form of omniclairvoyance that forces him to see the entire timeline of the world and how souls merge and intersect and change. This wide view was easy enough during the early stages of humans and gods, but with the population boom all Zarathustra can see are glimpses of names and events in a massive knot of energy, and with his thousands of years advanced age he can no longer do the elemental magic he was capable of, so now he takes an administrative position for the new protectors of humanity.

Infernal Intervention: Notable Team Leaders

In total, there have been six teams and a total of eleven team leaders as the Intervention Bureau nears its forty-somethingth year of existence. The most notable team leaders are:
Zaphan, also known as "The Whirlwind", full-demon son of Goetian demon Zagan, team leader of Team Asa and the first team leader for Infernal Intervention. A long series of circumstances involving an internal power struggle between Zagan's faction and the Malebranche during the Five Years' War led the demon to gather allies from the fledgling mage community, as well as Greek demigods, a werewolf, an ogre philosopher, a battle monk with power over inertia, and a being of animated armor, which became the original Intervention Team that ended up defeating Angra Mainu and ending the Five Year War.
Qadir al-Hazared, a former Voidwalker and team leader of Team Giba. He has power over invisibility and instantaneous teleportation, and with it doubles as their spymaster. Team Giba's makeup consists entirely of beings formerly from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, and so the majority of their work is to maintain the peace between the microcosm of pantheons and factions that make their home in the cradle of civilization.
Artur Demetrescu, a revenant of King Belial's creation and formerly beholden to Triumvirate member Vlad Tepes III before reforming and the team leader of Team Reda (formerly Team Qetra but elected to rename themselves after the last original member was killed in action). A being with power over rot and shadow, he elected to use his abilities alongside his team to enact counter-terrorism and espionage operations across the globe.
Shayla Bloodmire, leader of Team Eiz and one of the faerie duchesses of the Court of Air and Darkness. She originally joined the team to try and use them to rout King Samhain and Queen Macha's positions in the court for herself, she eventually came to realize the power and fear that came with being a member of Intervention and having a variety of teammates was more appealing to her and she stuck with them.
Sir Uther of Kingsdale, otherwise just "Uther", is an enchanted golem made out of a full suit of plate armor given the personality and mannerisms of a knight during King Lear's reign of Albion. A master swordsman and master of chivalrous language, he was the former captain of Team Eiz before Shayla managed to make herself team leader, much to his passive acceptance.
Katherine Marsland, a former US Navy Seal and current werebear, and the leader of Team Barka. Strong as a rampaging black bear and with tactical prowess to boot, she is the literal mama bear to her team and if given the opportunity to the rest of Intervention as a whole.

The Infernal Empire: Ba'al, God of Eternity

The first true lord of demons before their rebranding as The Infernal Empire, Ba'al is a second-generation Semitic god and the brother of the current Semitic god Shaddai. While Shaddai represents absolute purity and perfection but in the short term, Ba'al represents eternity, but also the flaws and inadequacies that emerge with age. Ba'al's empire was defeated and cast into the Infernal plane, but following their return during the Five Year War, Ba'al was noticeably absent. It turns out he had disappeared from the plane thousands of years ago, and none truly know his whereabouts.

The Infernal Empire: Angra Mainu, First Captain of Ba'al

The general closest to Ba'al and the demon god of motivation itself, what was once a god of discovery, exploration, and togetherness was twisted by the machinations of Ba'al into an enemy of Ahura Mazda and the good Zoroastrian deities. He could force anyone to want anything with limitations, his true skill was turning any want that already existed in someone's heart into a more potent and vicious form of that desire. He was the top member of the Council of Ten and the supreme leader of the Infernal Empire in the Five Year War, but was ultimately killed by the first Infernal Intervention team at the very end of the campaign. Even now, demon gods of greed, lust, gluttony, and envy praise him and anoint themselves with him.

The Infernal Empire: The Council of Ten

The ten strongest demons in the Infernal Empire and the rulers of the faction. They supercede any Clan or demon beneath them, and decide as a group what actions the Empire must take. Their current rosters are: Beelzebub, Satan, Behemoth, Abaddon, Agaliarept, Satanachia, Baphomet, Mammon, Ziz'el, and Belphegor.

The Infernal Empire: Major Goetian Clan Kings

Of all the eighteen clans, none are as powerful or dangerous as The Goetian Clan. Divided into nine families, these were the foremost war chiefs and armies during the Five Years War. However, due to their connection to key figures in the first Intervention Team and their history as servants of King Solomon making them members of the Heavenly Host on a technicality, the Goetian Clan was given a level of amnesty where the nine families are allowed to operate out of distinct bases of power on the surface, albeit with heavy supervision. The three most notable of these kings are:
King Belial, third King of Hell and formerly a minor Semitic god known as Ben-Mawat, god of shadows. He had trusted in King Solomon who he thought was coming to offer tribute to him, but instead captured him in the Jar of Solomon and used him to level foundations and destroy enemies of Israel. From that moment, he had a deep hatred of humanity and a distrust of intentions, and when he was freed by Ba'al after being thrown to a watery eternity at sea and freed from his jar, he grew in power and influence to be one of the most terrifying demons in the world. He runs casinos across the world but his base of power is Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the games are set up where people bet years of their life, years of servitude, or even their immortal souls, for large prizes or miracles. Atlantic City is where his impressively huge Vault of Souls lies, where every soul he's claimed is gathered.
King Balaam, fifth King of Hell and formerly a minor goddess of wild magic and whims. After her capture at the hands of King Solomon, she instead used the connection to ply her trade as a teacher of magic and benevolent servant, making her way into kingdoms and using her position as advisor to help seed chaos across the world. She can grant a short list of magical abilities to any one person, but her specialty is the crafting of dangerous potions and enchantments that she sells not only to the highest bidder but the one with the most malicious intent. Her home is in a London slums, where she controls the beggars and the storefronts as her own personal coterie of dark mages.
King Asmoday, first King of Hell and formerly a minor Greek serpent god, Glycon. His dominions are of homicide, accidental death, and poisons. With his mostly animalistic family of demons, he's become popular with the wild lycanthrope crowd and any bestial demihumans that don't follow Pan, and he advocates for them to let their inner beasts out. The Malebranche accepts him and his work, but gets wary of him taking any contract killings which thankfully to them he never does. His home is an opulent mansion in the middle of a Louisiana bayou informally called The Snake Pits.

The Nation of the Damned: The Triumvirate

The triumvirate are three powerful revenants brought up as servants of demons who now control the entirety of the Nation of the Damned following their overthrow of Emperor Xerxes. These three revenants are:
Vlad Tepes III, former crown prince of Wallachia and Master of Bones;
Tomas de Torquemada, a demon's harbinger sent to vilify the Catholic Church from the inside and the crowned Master of Pain;
and Elizabeth Bathory, a countess whose life embodied cruelty and disdain for lower classes and whose death led to her coronation as Mistress of Blood.

The Nation of the Damned: Emperor Xerxes

Emperor Xerxes was the original revenant king of the undead, formed by a Persian death god to drive the Greek pantheon farther inwards and take over the Mediterranean. In death, he used his living status to prostrate himself as a god and bring forth a new era of necromancy, having an army of liches and their own undead thralls who would worship he and his rogue demon master Azi-Dahakka without question. However, as he was nearing the zenith of his power, he was horribly burned and crippled by an attack of holy fire by a platoon of angels that wiped out his lich captains as well. Over the centuries, he had slowly been building up influence from his weakened state, until he found a number of powerful revenants to act as his pupils. Three of these pupils who would go on to be the Triumvirate stabbed him in the back and killed him for his power.

The Faerie Courts: Notable Court Rulers

There are a number of Faerie Courts, each ruled by a different King and Queen with their entourage of Lords and Ladies beneath them.
The Seelie Court is ruled by King Oberon and Queen Titania.
The Unseelie is ruled by Queen Mab and Queen Nimueh.
The Wyldefae is ruled by The Erlkonig and Madame Caelia.
The Court of Air and Darkness is ruled by by King Samhain and Queen Macha (formerly a member of the three fabled Celtic Morrigna titled "The Mother"), although Queen Macha's power may fall into the hands of a fae in her court with a particular taste for spiders.
The Summer Court is ruled by King Hwerthin and Queen Ariland.
The Winter Court is ruled by King Balor and Queen ap-Cethlenn.
However, ruling over all the Faerie Courts are certain pantheons who have seen fit to take the fairies under their wing. Two of these pantheons are the Irish Tuatha de'Danaan and the Slavic Braga and still make the majority of their worship by corralling and making use of the fae; one pantheon, the Gaulish pantheon, had become defunct and their universe collapsed; the other was none other than the Norse pantheon, specifically under the tutelage of Allfather Odin (or as he was known by the fae, Master Wodan), but following Odin's sacrifice during the Five Years War, the modern Nine Realms have taken great care to distance themselves from the Fae.

The Demigod Project: Team Leaders

There is no information on specific Demigod Project leaders at this time.

The Heavenly Host: Shaddai

Shaddai, also known as The Lord, The King on High, and The Master of Light, is one of the oldest and most powerful gods to ever set foot in the Mortal Universe, and certainly the most influential. He was one of only four second-generation gods to ever interact with humanity. He overthrew his brother Ba'al and his demon army, instilling himself as godking of the Semitic Pantheon, and under his supervision and immense abilities the Heavenly Host became one of the most influential pantheons of all time. In recent times, following the Discovery Event, things have come to light about Shaddai's more unnerving methods: leading mass exterminations, having wars between all three factions of his worshippers, pressuring other gods into silence, and hints of even more cruel actions done to fellow gods. However, Shaddai did this not out of wicked intent (as he is unable to feel it), but due to his being an embodiment of complete purity; his goal and powers revolve around taking things in the present into their purest and most perfect form, even if there are consequences in the long term. It is this change in the context of good or evil that bring a harsher light on Shaddai's work, which is why he takes siding with the neutral and protective Intervention Bureau so seriously.

The Heavenly Host: The Sons of Shaddai

Shaddai actually has a plethora of children who go under the umbrella term "Sons of Shaddai". While there are quite a few more, there are seven important sons, five major and two lesser but still notable, and they are:

Adonai, first of the major sons, the god of divine protection, free will, and breaker of chains who sometimes acts of his own accord to disrupt slavery operations;
Elyon, second of the major sons, the god of holy wrath and divine right that may have plans of overthrowing his father;
Gibor, third of the major sons, the god of holy wars, who a small faction of Knights Templar may be praying to instead of Shaddai;
El Ohim, fourth of the major sons, the god of holy celebration and revelry who has taken Saints who have been revered in holidays such as Nicholas and Patrick under his wing;
Hashem, fifth of the major sons, the god of love, wholesomeness, and pure intentions, who spends most of his early time in a hibernating state due to Shaddai not calling on him often;
Hashopet, one of the minor sons who is the god of divine judgment and is sent out by Shaddai to judge the faithfulness of his flocks in a great spiritual audit;
Ro'i, one of the minor sons who is the god of watchfulness and divine presence and is responsible for essentially acting as the spy-master watching over the lives and actions of people within Shaddai's territories.

The Heavenly Host: The Seven Archangels

Beneath the Sons of Shaddai are the Seven Archangels, Shaddai's mediators for angelic and human affairs. Despite the name, the Seven are not true archangels, which are as a subrace of angel rather low on the hierarchy. These beings are constructed gods of Shaddai's will mixed with raw aether and are beyond the power of a seraph.

Michael, First of the Archangels, who is the captain of the seraphim and Shaddai's leading general, as well as the single most powerful of the Seven Archangels;
Raphael, Second of the Archangels is the master of the cherubim that fiercely guard the gateway between the plane of Heaven and the other realms, and Shaddai's personal "problem-solver" that destroys god-level threats to his dominion before they can begin;
Uriel, Third of the Archangels, is the master of the ophanim that signify Shaddai's authority and divine strength, and was the head of administration for Knights Templar and Saints, often enchanting them with Shaddai's blessings and granting them temporary powers to smite his enemies;
Gabriel, Fourth of the Archangels, is the master of dominons and first lieutenant of the angelic armies under his brother Michael, and if rogue angels are loose on Earth or other realms then Gabriel is the one sent to hunt the angel down;
Zadkiel, Fifth of the Archangels, is the master of the powers and the one who determines the necessity and distribution of miracles, and it is said that most djinn are the direct or indirect spawn of Zadkiel's miracle working powers;
Samael, Sixth of the Archangels, is the master of the ferry of souls and Shaddai's personal psychopomp, gathering all the souls of the deceased followers and bringing them to the seat of the Heavenly Host;
Sandalphon, Seventh of the Archangels, is master of prayer and the personal courier of Shaddai, the one who receives and filters prayers, and Shaddai's representative on the Intervention Council. Sandalphon, in particular, has been granted the authority to do what he deems necessary to aid Intervention's mission of benevolent neutrality even outside of Shaddai's express orders.

The Heavenly Host: Major Prophets

Major prophets of Shaddai's include Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jeshua of Nazareth or more commonly referred to as Jesus, and Muhammad. Moses is widely thought to be a harbinger of Shaddai's son Adonai as a breaker of chains, while Jeshua is commonly considered the harbinger of Hashem. Strangely, Hashem refutes this claim. Muhammad has never been seen past his original incarnation, and due to the anonymity integral to his depiction in Shaddai's Islamic sect, there is no way to identify him if he was still around. Jesus, however, did descend back to Earth during the Five Years War and now can be found as a wandering hermit, healing the unfortunate and doing small acts of kindness within his powers, and refuses to associate with any faction including his heavenly father's anymore.

The Heavenly Host: Other Saints, Angels, and Harbingers

Currently, the only important Saint of note is Saint Jacob, who is a member of Intervention's Team Ezec. In addition, a Harbinger of Elyon named Asher Salah, who was brought up by Elyon to aid his usurping of Shaddai, had defected to Intervention and after five years of field experience with Team Reda and solo espionage assignments is now the official team mentor of Team Ezec.

The Universal Mage's Association: Important Characters

The leaders of a chapter of the Mage's Guild are referred to as a Moerlin, and the absolute leader of the Mage's guild is referred to as High Moerlin and granted a seat on Intervention's Board of Directors.. The current High Moerlin is named Saiorse ap Amwrest. Meanwhile, a strong political push for a new High Moerlin is being undergone, with such big names as the famed thaumaturge Aveline DuCarde and philanthropist evocator Deacon Valac up in the running.

Treeshapers: Important Characters

There is no information on specific Treeshaper characters at this time.

The Monster Freedom Party: Major Characters

Currently, the only notable member of the Monster Freedom Party is their delegate on the Intervention Board of Directors, a half-gnollish politician named Athugg-Mogg.

Elysian Enterprises: Major Characters

There is no information on specific Elysian Enterprises characters at this time.

The Nine Realms: Primary Figures

Currently, the Nine Realms are led by both Thor and Freya. Somewhat close to mythology, Thor leads the warriors of Valhalla to glory and battle against other pantheons, while Freya ferries the battle-proven dead of the Mortal Universe to the Nordic afterlives while also having a seat on Intervention's Board of Directors. Formerly, the allfather Odin was the undisputed king of Asgard and the Nine Realms as a whole, but was killed by Asmoday during the Five Years War.

The Nine Realms: Servants of Yggdrasil

Technically, the Nine Realms were nine separate universes, that were held together and bled into each other by a mysterious phenomenon from between universes called Yggdrasil. The true nature of Yggdrasil is unknown, but it's classically considered to be a great tree as its magically humming roots are embedded into the ground of each realm. Some creatures are representatives or birthed from the roots of Yggdrasil. The only humanoid speaker of the tree is known as Mimir, thought to be a Norse god changed by the power of the tree or an embodiment of the mixing of Yggdrasil's roots with the font of knowledge known as Mimisbrunnr. Other patrons of the tree is the dragon Nidhoggr, the giant squirrel Rattatoskr, the vicious wolf Vanargandr (which, while mistaken for it, must not be confused with the other giant wolf Fenrir), the great hawk Vedrfolnir, and the great stag Dvalinn.

The Nine Realms: The Asgardian Delegation

Currently the only known member of the Asgardian Delegation to Scandinavian governments is Avrid, whose ongoing friendship with Midgard delegate-turned-Intervention member Dr. Johan Petersen is what has helped usher in an era of understanding between humanity and the likes of the Aesir and Vanir.

Masters of the Du'at: Primary Figures

The only notable member of the Masters of the Du'at is their representative on Intervention's Board of Directors, the hot-tempered and grudge-holding lion goddess Sekhmet. It is also known that Queen Isis rules the pantheon now that Ammun-Ra fell during the Five Years War alongside many other reigning gods.

The Olympian Neonate: New Olympus

The Olympian Neonate operates under a new hierarchy.
Apollo is now the king of Olympus, as well as their delegate on the Intervention Board of Directors. Due to his partly mechanical body and weakened state despite his varied and impressive powers, it's believed something that happened to him sparked the overthrow of the other gods.
Athena, Artemis, Hermes, Hades, and Persephone are the next highest on the pantheon. Hades and Persephone, notably, weren't members of Olympus at all but due to the ousting of his more abusive brothers he and his wife decided to take the step up.
Hestia and Demeter act as the gods that bridge the gap between Old Olympians and New Olympians.
Minos, Tyche, Hypnos, Triton, Nomos, Eirene, Arete, Zelos, Psyche, Hedone, Heracles and Geras have ascended to the status of true Olympians.

The Olympian Neonate: The Defunct Olympians

Following the Five Years War, the hierarchy of the Greco-Roman pantheon once again changed up its lineup, overthrowing gods who either were abusing their divinity or had problematic worshippers and instilling and empowering younger gods up to their status.
Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hera, Poseidon, and Zeus were ousted from power and sentenced to The Grey.
The gods Ares and Hephaestus willngly retired, with Ares becoming a drill sergeant and combat trainer at Point West military academy and Hephaestus running his own factory, which will describe him in more detail below. Despite both of their malicious actions, they left on rather good terms with New Olympus, as Hephaestus himself fashioned Apollo's mechanical limbs and Ares helped overthrow Zeus from within.
Other lesser gods, such as Pan, Phobos, Deimos, Eros, Hecate and Nemesis were let go because of their problematic worshippers. Deimos had an infamous retaliation during Apollo's coronation that ended in his death at the hands of Intervention Team Giba, and Hecate and Pan's whereabouts are currently unknown.

Pahiya: Primary Figures

There is no information on specific Pahiya characters at this time.

The Shadow Loa: Primary Figures

There is no information on specific Shadow Loa characters at this time.

Guardians of the Passage: Primary Figures

There is no information on specific Guardians of the Passage characters at this time.

The Adjudicators: Primary Figures

Their primary leader is the rogue god Anubis. Other than that, the Adjudicators' full roster and coterie of active mummies are largely unknown.

Ba'al's Redeemers: The Five Generals

Ba'al's Redeemers, while having dozens of gods wishing to return to a state of divinity, has five key generals in charge of the faction's day-to-day operations: Ishtar (whose demoness name was Duchess Astaroth) who is the ringleader of the entire faction, as well as Enki, Ninurta, Thammuz, and Gilgamesh who is the only one of the five that was not originally a god but a harbinger of another god.

The Ark Commune: Primary Figures

The Knights Templar: Primary Figures and Generals

The Machine Army: Primary Figures

The Draconic Council: Primary Figures

The Elementa Naturae: Primary Figures

The Anti-Magicka Alliance: Primary Figures

The G.A.A. Project: Primary Figures

Hecate's Risen: The Young Prophets

The Hecate's Risen cult was originally led by a council of elders, both in age and experience, who denied their knowledge to younger generations and had a plan of holding the power of true immortality in their hands. However, a trio of young dark mages have caused an internal rebellion and ousted the Elders, turning them into shrivelled husks in the process. These three dark mages are considered holy figures and prophets, worshippers of revenants and aides to demons. These three are:
Alexander McAlister, the primary prophet, a necromantic genius and master of the manipulation of souls and blood who younger figures in the cult claim to be a chosen Harbinger of Hecate's Will.
Lethe McAlister, the sister of Alexander and not a powerful necromancer but an adept user of demonic magics taught to her from the source. Brimming with destructive power that surpasses her fellow Prophets, yet shy and demure and defers to the other two on all things.
Celeste Jackson, descendant of the original founder Cormac Jackson and technically the leader of the three and most powerful necromancer in the group, her primary domain is the use of "white necromancy" to heal and aid the living using the power of the dead. Following in the footsteps of her progenitor, her primary motivation is to stop the stigma of black magics as inherently evil and promote their positive uses by making the world see what good necromancy can do.

The Voidwalkers: Primary Figures

The House of Concepts: Primary Figures

The Bookkeepers: Primary Figures

Granny Crone's Goodwytch Pharmaceuticals: The Crone

The Sarkic Republic: Primary Figures

Nilbog's Chosen: Primary Figures

The Replacers: Primary Figures

The Cool Kid's Supervillainy Group

The Factory: Hephaestus

The Circus: Primary Figures

The People's Nation of Tarekith: Primary Figures

The most well known and considered one true important figure in Tarekith is the leader of the state, Supreme Leader Kardus. Rarely if ever seen but the only legally allowed being to be worshipped in the country, his word is absolute and his choices are the choices of every person in the nation.

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