Choronzon, the Lord of Dispersion

Choronzon, also known as 333

Choronzon is the Lord of Hallucinations, and many mages have fallen prey to its cunning plans, and its power can't be ignored. It is a preceptor, which some claim is one of the Wyrm's most dangerous servants. Other mages whisper that it is a part of Wyrm capable of independent action. Some mages claim Choronzon is the Wyrm. The truth is not known. Choronzon appears to sometimes be a group of entities, and sometimes a single entity.

Choronzon is a spirit of dissolution, physical, mental and spiritual. Everything around it will begin to decay. It will do its best to hasten the dissolution of everything it can reach. Matter will slowly dissolve. Living beings will age and sicken. It derails the trains of thought, and turns people insane. In the vicinity of it, nothing remains untainted.

It is said that every mage must some day confront and overcome it in order to ascend. Choronzon will do its best to hinder anybody from reaching Ascension or any other goal. Its greatest triumph is when a mage loses Arete.

On December 6, 1909 Aleister Crowley foolishly let himself be possessed by the demon (Se Liber XXX Aerum, The Vision and the Voice, for more detailed descriptions). The end result was close to a disaster, and according to many mages Crowley lost the path towards Ascension.

Choronzon is confused and often quite stupid. But it is also extremely cunning and dangerous. It can manipulate people subtly while appearing to make crude attacks. The demon will almost always retreat from any attack, not even defending itself. But it will never give up, and will reappear later, in a more insidious form. The only thing it cannot abide is order and discipline. Any form of highly ordered thought, speech or behavior is abhorrent to it, and it will flee if possible (unless it could topple the order in a subtle way).

The demon seldom appears threatening to a mage. Instead it appears to be a quite confused and irritating little being, unable to do much harm. In fact, it often behaves entertainingly, incoherently discussing things that seem important to the mage. While the mage listens to the confusing demon, it will slowly plant the seeds of dissolution in the soul of the mage. Choronzon will strengthen the flaws and illusions in the victim, making the victim believe in his own self image. As the demon works on, the mage will be derailed from the path towards Ascension and turned towards dissolution and insanity. A mind infected by Choronzon will slowly decay, and the victim will be a simple matter to possess for the demon, regardless how strong-minded the victim believes he is.

It is thought that Choronzon dwells somewhere near The Horizon, in an area known as the Abyss (Which could be another name for the Deep Umbra). According to some rumors, he must be defeated by anyone venturing out into the Deep Umbra searching for a place among the Oracles.

To summon Choronzon is quite simple, almost any fool can do it. It sometimes acts as a kind of freelance paradox spirit. In many cases it has secretly encouraged the mage to continue, thus spreading entropy even more.

Choronzon very seldom manifests physically, preferring to possess people. It does this with great skill, making his victims think they are in perfect control over their own minds. When it does manifest, it will only appear as a voice. Sometimes it will manifest using many bodies and voices, giving the impression of a great horde of demons.

Choronzon initiates decay wherever he goes. This effect will make anything start to dissolve into nothing. Most of the time it uses this effect coincidentally, preferring to let dissolution take its time. Sometimes Choronzon dissolves things quickly, often for no reason. The process is subtle, but when initiated it cannot be stopped except by more powerful magick. The dissolution slowly spreads, turning matter into dust which blows away and disappears, killing life and making people slowly go insane.

Choronzon implants a destructive, irrational or confusing impulse in the mind of someone. This impulse will not go away, but will slowly grow until it becomes an obsession. Usually Choronzon implants distortions in the self image, turning people into unknowing caricatures of themselves.

The demon plants a small entropy seed inside something or someone. Most of the time it will remain there, unchanging but when stressed, it will release its entropy. A rope will suddenly break when someone's life depends on it, a horse will bolt, a mirror will crack and faith will momentarily crumble in a crisis. Choronzon does not have any control over these seeds, but spreads them liberally.

The demon is almost constantly opens the user's mind to every other mind in the area, especially nearby ones. The user will know everything anybody knows, feel every desire and fear and generally understand the secret motivations of people. Unfortunately the user is completely confused, and his own personality and knowledge is submerged. This doesn't matter to Choronzon, who hasn't got much personality in the first place. Using this rote, the demon will always talk about things that interest the listener, have beliefs somewhat like his and a uncanny way of revealing the deepest secrets of a person in an offhand way.

Extract taken from [email protected]

This post has been edited by Mr_Merlin: Jun 24 2005, 02:23 AM