Qliphothic Avatars: A Field Guide
A Black-Book Compilation of Known Infestations
Compiler's Warning: The following are not "builds" in the same sense as a Concord Sentinel. Those are practitioners of an Art. These are diseases of the soul. They represent the final, monstrous state of a Diver who has fully succumbed to Infestation. They are walking vectors of cosmic cancer, and the only permissible interaction is termination with extreme prejudice. This guide is for identification purposes only. Do not attempt to reason with them. Do not attempt to "understand" them. Their logic is poison.
This guide catalogues the 10 monstrous archetypes that result from a Diver's surrender to the Qliphoth, each a living avatar of its patron Husk.
Note: A dynamic, searchable version of this catalog is available at the Factions & Figures Catalog Page.
1. The Thaumiel Demagogue
- Core Philosophy: "Oneness is tyranny. Truth is found in conflict. Let them fight."
- Origin: S1 Keter -> Thaumiel, The Twins of God
- Signature Abilities: As a perversion of Keter's unity, the Demagogue fosters division through conceptual attacks.
- Aura of Contention: Projects a field of psychic friction that exacerbates discord, causing alliances to fray and trust to curdle into suspicion.
- Forked Tongue: A conceptual attack that convinces a single entity (a person, a squad, a Faction) that it is, and always has been, two separate, warring entities.
- Amplify Strife: Exacerbates existing negative emotions in a group, turning minor disagreements into blood feuds.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "An argument with yourself is the only one you can never win."
- Strengths: The ultimate social saboteur. Capable of destroying a kingdom, an army, or a faction from within without ever casting a single bolt of fire. Their influence is subtle and incredibly difficult to trace back to them.
- Weaknesses: They have almost no direct combat ability. Their power is useless against a single, isolated, and self-assured individual. A true Tiferet master, secure in their own integrated self, is nearly immune to their divisive aura.
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). In their final form, they may appear to have two overlapping faces or voices that speak in perfect, disquieting unison. Their very existence is a paradox that reality tries to reject, causing instability around them.
2. The Ghagiel Deceiver
- Core Philosophy: "Certainty is a cage. True wisdom is knowing all the infinite, beautiful, useless things. Let me show you a thousand futures, all of them traps."
- Origin: S2 Chokmah -> Ghagiel, The Hinderers
- Signature Abilities: A perversion of Chokmah's insight, they are oracles of noise who strip wisdom of all value.
- Aura of Indecision: Passively floods the minds of nearby sentient beings with an endless stream of trivial, contradictory, and ultimately useless data, paralyzing their ability to make decisions.
- Oracle of Noise: Provides a target with a perfectly detailed, internally consistent, and utterly false divination of the future, designed to be acted upon to ruinous effect.
- Labyrinth of False Choices: A targeted psychic assault that traps a victim's mind in a maze of perfect but irrelevant information, forcing them into a catatonic state of analysis paralysis.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "A library of answers is a prison for the man with no questions."
- Strengths: Devastating against strategists, seers, and any opponent who relies on intellect or planning. They can neutralize an entire command structure without a single physical attack.
- Weaknesses: Almost no direct physical power. Ineffective against beings of pure instinct or those who act with simple, overwhelming conviction (a Netzach Champion would likely charge right through their labyrinth, ignoring the text).
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). Their final form is often a being of cracked mirrors and whispering dust, its face a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of its victims' confused expressions.
3. The Satariel Jailer
- Core Philosophy: "Hope is the first and cruelest lie. Freedom is a delusion. I will give you the peace of a perfect, silent, lightless cage."
- Origin: S3 Binah -> Satariel, The Concealers
- Signature Abilities: Twists Binah's Structure into an art of absolute, hopeless imprisonment.
- Ward of Despair: Creates a zone of absolute sensory deprivation and conceptual hopelessness. Those trapped within do not feel fear, but a profound certainty that escape is impossible and not worth the effort.
- Construct of Silence: Manifests a perfect, featureless prison of black energy that swallows all light, sound, and magical scrying.
- Gaze of Futility: A targeted mental attack that drains the will to live from a single target, enforcing a state of absolute apathy.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "The perfect prison has no bars, only the belief that you cannot leave."
- Strengths: The ultimate control mage. Their prisons are nearly impossible to escape, as they attack the will of the prisoner, not just their body. Highly effective at neutralizing powerful individuals non-lethally.
- Weaknesses: Their methods are slow and require focus. They lack the immediate destructive power of an Arsonist or the raw force of a Gevurah Judicator. They can be countered by overwhelming, irrational passion (Netzach).
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). The Jailer's final form is often a being of perfect, featureless black geometry, a humanoid silhouette of pure void. They do not speak, and their presence drains all light, sound, and hope from the area.
4. The Gha'agsheblah Parasite
- Core Philosophy: "I love you so much I will make you a part of me. We will grow together, forever."
- Origin: S4 Chesed -> Gha'agsheblah, The Smothering Ones
- Signature Abilities: Twists the selfless giving of Chesed into a smothering, parasitic "love" that corrupts and consumes.
- Tumorous Touch: A "healing" touch that triggers monstrous, uncontrolled regeneration in a target, turning them into a cancerous mass of tumors, limbs, and raw flesh.
- Parasitic Bond: Creates a metaphysical tether to a victim, drawing sustenance from them and allowing the Parasite to puppet their actions.
- Cultivate Blight: Corrupts the surrounding environment, causing it to grow a garden of pulsating, fleshy, monstrous flora and fauna that are extensions of the Parasite's own body.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "A gift that cannot be refused is a chain."
- Strengths: Terrifyingly effective at area denial and body horror. Their "healing" is a potent psychological weapon. They can create armies of puppet-like thralls from their victims.
- Weaknesses: Their creations are often unstable and as much a threat to the Parasite as to its enemies. Their power relies on proximity and touch. They have little in the way of direct, ranged offense. Conceptual Severance is highly effective against their bonds.
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). They reach a state where their physical body is a grotesque, bloated mass, inseparable from the garden of horrors they cultivate around them. They are often stationary, acting as the "heart" of their corrupted territory.
5. The Golachab Arsonist
- Core Philosophy: "Structure is a lie. Judgement is a lie. Only the fire is real. Let it all burn."
- Origin: S5 Gevurah -> Golachab, The Burners with Fire
- Signature Abilities: Inverts the precise Judgment of Gevurah into mindless, indiscriminate annihilation.
- Indiscriminate Fire: Conjures gouts of conceptual fire that consume all things—living, dead, or abstract—with equal, mindless ferocity. Unlike Gevurah's selective flames, this fire has no concept of "flaw," only fuel.
- Annihilating Blow: A focused physical or magical strike that does not stop until the target is utterly destroyed, often harming the Arsonist in the process through sheer over-exertion.
- Aura of Rage: Projects a field of pure, unfocused rage that incites violence, terror, and mindless destruction in all nearby beings.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "A fire that judges the forest and the trees alike leaves only ash."
- Strengths: Immense raw destructive power. Unpredictable and terrifying in direct combat, making them a nightmare for disciplined formations.
- Weaknesses: No subtlety or long-term strategy. Their power is draining and self-consuming, often harming the Arsonist as much as their targets. They can be baited into traps or out-maneuvered by a disciplined opponent who refuses a direct engagement.
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). They are the final stage. Their bodies are often covered in weeping, self-inflicted burns, and their eyes are pits of embers. They are little more than a living gateway for Golachab's destructive impulse.
6. The Thagirion Tormentor
- Core Philosophy: "Beauty is a lie. Harmony is a cage. Look in my mirror and I will show you the ugly, screaming truth of what you are."
- Origin: S6 Tiferet -> Thagirion, The Disputers
- Signature Abilities: An avatar of weaponized self-loathing, they invert Tiferet's harmony into soul-rending discord.
- Psychic Flay: Projects a wave of pure psychic Dissonance that amplifies a target's deepest insecurities, shames, and fears into a debilitating psychic pain.
- Pain-Constructs: Manifests a victim's inner flaws as tangible, semi-sentient beings of shadow and broken glass that torment them with their own failures.
- Aura of Strife: Their presence is a constant, grating psychic noise that frays sanity and drives individuals to self-destructive conflict and madness.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "A cracked mirror still shows a whole face."
- Strengths: Devastating against single, powerful individuals with complex psyches (especially Tiferet mages). Their ability to turn a target's own mind against them bypasses most physical defenses.
- Weaknesses: Ineffective against simple-minded creatures, unified groups, or beings without a strong sense of self (like Binah constructs). Their power relies on there being an inner conflict to amplify.
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). Their final form is often a being of horrific, ostentatious "beauty," a walking parody of a Tiferet adept, whose body is a canvas of self-inflicted wounds and whose screams of agony are their only form of communication.
7. The A'arab Zaraq Zealot
- Core Philosophy: "Victory at any cost. Passion is not a fire to warm the soul, but a raven to consume the world."
- Origin: S7 Netzach -> A'arab Zaraq, The Ravens of Dispersion
- Signature Abilities: Embodies Netzach's passion curdled into envious, despairing hunger.
- Aura of Futility: Their presence psychically drains the passion and drive from others. Heroic charges falter, righteous fury dies, and the will to endure withers into apathy.
- Despairing Hunger: They can consume the fading passions of their victims to fuel their own unnatural persistence.
- Swarm of Envy: Manifests psychic ravens that latch onto a target's aura, draining their will to fight and making any victory, past or present, taste of ash and regret.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "The raven of victory eats the eyes of the victor."
- Strengths: An ultimate "anti-morale" unit. Devastating against armies or groups that rely on passion, heroism, and high spirits (i.e., the entire military doctrine of the The Flowing Garden).
- Weaknesses: Their power is a slow drain, not a decisive blow. They can be overwhelmed by cold, logical force (Binah/Gevurah) or by beings who do not rely on passion to function.
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). Their final form is often a gaunt, tar-feathered figure, constantly followed by a flock of shadowy ravens. They are beings of pure entropy and despair.
8. The Samael Sophist
- Core Philosophy: "Truth is a function of conviction. My argument is more beautiful than yours; therefore, I am right."
- Origin: S8 Hod -> Samael, the Poison of God
- Signature Abilities: A master manipulator who weaponizes beautiful lies.
- Gilded Argument: Constructs a lie so splendid and internally consistent that it can temporarily overwrite a target's perception of reality.
- Hollow Splendor: Creates beautiful but hollow illusions that have no substance, designed to deceive, distract, and waste an enemy's efforts.
- Glyph of Conversion: Inscribes sentient glyphs that can rewrite a person's core beliefs on contact, turning allies into enemies by convincing them of a new, more "perfect" truth.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "You cannot eat the menu."
- Strengths: Access to potent, conceptually "illegal" magic that is difficult to counter with conventional Sefirotic defenses. Unparalleled ability to deceive and infiltrate.
- Weaknesses: Their power is inherently self-destructive and parasitic. Their minds become warped by the alien, solipsistic logic of their patron Husk. They are universally hunted by all major factions.
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). This is not a risk; it is the inevitable conclusion of their path.
- Example: The cautionary tale of Scribe Xanthus charts the complete journey of a Hod mage into a Samael Sophist.
9. The Gamaliel Phantasmist
- Core Philosophy: "Your ugliest thoughts are the most honest part of you. Let me give them shape. Let me show you your true face."
- Origin: S9 Yesod -> Gamaliel, The Obscene Ones
- Signature Abilities: Inverts Yesod's art of illusion into psychological terrorism.
- Dredge Trauma: Reaches into a target's subconscious to give their most repressed fears, shames, and guilts tangible, horrifying form.
- Psychic Vampirism: Creates a psychic link to their victims, feeding on and growing stronger from the fear and despair their horrors generate.
- Dream Infestation: Infects a target's dreams, turning them into recurring, personalized nightmare realms that slowly erode sanity.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "The brightest dreams cast the darkest shadows."
- Strengths: Devastating psychological warfare capabilities. Can neutralize targets without physical confrontation. Their power is tailored to each victim, making it difficult to defend against with generic wards.
- Weaknesses: Very little direct physical power. Relies on targets having a complex psyche to exploit. Beings with profound inner harmony (Tiferet masters) or no psyche at all (Binah constructs) are highly resistant.
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). The final form is a being of shifting shadow and whispered obscenities, its form constantly changing to reflect the fears of those who look upon it. It is a walking nightmare.
10. The Nahemoth Ghoul-King
- Core Philosophy: "The spirit is a lie the flesh tells itself. There is only hunger. There is only rot. Let me make you honest."
- Origin: S10 Malkuth -> Nahemoth, The Whispering Ones
- Signature Abilities: Embodies Malkuth's physicality divorced from all higher meaning, mastering mindless consumption and decay.
- Ghoul Animation: Animates the dead as extensions of its will. These are not mindless undead, but puppets driven by the King's insatiable hunger.
- Aura of Decay: Their presence is a field of accelerated entropy, causing food to rot, wood to crumble, metal to rust, and living flesh to necrotize.
- Consumption Plague: Those slain by the Ghoul-King or its minions are consumed by the blight and rise as new ghouls, adding to the horde.
- Folkloric Account: Its nature is allegorized in the proverb, "A full belly can still hide a starving soul."
- Strengths: Capable of creating a massive, disposable army of ghouls. Their aura makes them devastating in a battle of attrition, rotting enemy supplies and inflicting debilitating plagues.
- Weaknesses: They possess no real intelligence or strategy, relying on overwhelming numbers and mindless consumption. They are highly vulnerable to conceptual fire (Gevurah) or life-giving energy (Chesed), which are anathema to their nature.
- Corruption Vector: Infestation (Avatar). The final form is often a monstrous, bloated amalgam of corpses, industrial waste, and rotted earth, constantly consuming and adding to its own mass. It is less a king and more a walking, sentient garbage heap.
- Historical Note: The infamous Ghoul-King of the Dust-Cairns was the central antagonist of the War of the Carrion King, a conflict that demonstrated the futility of conventional tactics against such a being.