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"They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty."
— Katya about the Eclipse of Hermes
The Eclipse of Hermes, formerly known as Order of Darkness and Agrusirian Empire a thousand years ago, (also known as Eclipse of Qliphoth), Hermes' Enforcers, Fallen Wings, Dark Devourers or simply as Vanguard of Hermes was the name given to followers of Vira Hermes whom were mostly dark wizards and witches who abandoned their humanity to become Jikininki, allowing them to use four types of dark energy (black magic, black arts, curses and Blackness) consequently making them one of the most powerful foes in Magic Side. They are the remnants of the Agrusirian Empire (also known as Order of Darkness), which was a Dark Empire formed thousand years ago by the ancient Dark Witch and queen of black magic that ruled over the 0th Multi-Universe for 8,000 years, Kaitlyn Powell.
The group is primarily consisted of hybrid-Black Demons and dark mages who were radical pure blood supremacists who practiced Curse and Black Arts with reckless abandon and without regard to or fear of wizarding law on Prime Earth. All of them were once Dark Magicians who used their own powers to cause mayhem, achieve immortality and rule the magician world for more than 1000 years. In a sense, their members are the arch-enemies of the Witch Cult and all magical organizations of the world. Following the domination of West Russia by Revelation of Qliphoth, some Dark Magicians were recruited by Vira to be her independent vanguard squad that consisted of Dark Magicians who were merged with the Blackness, allowing them to become the most powerful beings on the 0th Multi-Universe.
Vira used this select group of wizards and witches during both World War III and the Purge, employing them as her elite force who carried most of her plans during the awakening of Red Moon Tyrant through her machinations in STAR LABS of United States of America and Global Pact Defense. The group was one of the deadliest factions faced by the Witch Cult, the Rogues and Team Witness on the past (2013 year), for being a direct threat originated from Qliphoth and for being the only demonic group of Qliphoth to be composed of former members of Witch Cult and their sub-organizations. They are one of the few sub-factions to almost have success in their agenda in almost ending an entire multiverse and timelines through the Artifacts of the Past. Despite being a sub-faction in terms, they are actually an independent group and serve Vira only, considering her superior Ara Astaroth to be only "the-boss-they-should-not-even-mention" out of respect for her powerful and her genius character. The lesser members like the minions often wore black hoods and masks with snake-like eye slits to cover their faces. Only the members of the inner circle of the Hermes had Plague Marks burned into their left forearms. When Vira touched one of them, each of the Hermes' Servant felt it, signalling for them to apparate to their leader's side.
The group in some sorts are the evil counterpart of the Cultus Phytonissam (Witch Cult) and Order of Flourish as they are acting in Sleepy Hollow, during the year of 2000-2013, almost 2 decades prior the beginning of LOTM: Sword of Kings.
The true story of the dark magicians began during the construction of the Tower of Babylon by Nimrod and his friend Yuri Barnes before Heles Hermes arrived on Earth. Such events also happened during the first war against the Revelation of Qliphoth on the planet Earth.
After the two clans that were fighting each other for a thousand years finally signed the treaty of peace, putting an end to the war, a few magicians from respective clans voted against the end of the war. Little did they know those group of magicians would later begin the 100-Years of Darkness War.
The conflict began when a small sect of magicians began practicing extended uses of the magic. By relying more and more upon the magic, these mages learned that using the magic of sufficient intensity could bend life itself. With their new powers, the mages experimented upon other lifeforms to create new species and predators as extensions of their will. It was postulated that their power could even be used to end death and revive dead worlds. Other mages looked upon these new powers with suspicion, suspecting that such power would only lead to abuse. When the peace between the two clans was finally declared, putting an end to the conflict, those magicians used everything they had to continue the war in its course. The others were not convinced, and tried to distance themselves from the situation. Firmly convinced that their way was right, the arguments turned into conflict. However, the new leaders of the clans, Nimrod and Yuri Barnes exiled them from the society, considering them dangerous mages with unlawful teachings.
A war had begun that would last a hundred years.
100-Years of Darkness (300,000 B.C.)[]
Mages fighting during the war
Retreating from Babel territories such as Egypt, the exiled mages raised an animalistic army of dark magic abominations. The first form of zombies would be created during the earliest stages of the war. However, even against these incarnations of the magic side, the magicians of Babel began to push the rogue mages back.
The animalistic army was easily overwhelmed by the power of the mages, but the exiled mages refused to surrender. Duels to the death between mages became the end of many battles. During the war, the mages constructed the Prism, a secret prison facility known only to the members of the Babel's High Council.
By the second half of the war, the dark mages were in a state of despair. They were simply outnumbered, and could see no way of winning. However, the dark mages refused to surrender, and pooled all their resources into creating the most fearsome dark side creatures ever seen. Supported by monstrous creatures, such as the Leviathan, the dark mages armies were reinvigorated. Armies fled in terror from the abilities of the Leviathan to suck life essences into the blister-traps upon their backs. However, under combined efforts from the Light Mages of Babel, the dark mages were continually pushed back. The last stand of the dark mages was on the continent of Europe, Portugal. Infighting, along with the bombardment of the dark mages and the Tower of Babel, led to the surrender of the last of the dark mages.
During the course of the war, the Tower of Babel was destroyed by Ara Astaroth and Nimrod had a fight with Yuri Barnes for his lust towards Heles, that caused them to fight to death. Following Nimrod and Heles' death, Yuri Barnes continued to rule over the remnants nations of Babel, more powerful than ever.
Exile (299,900 B.C.)[]
After their defeat on Greece, the surviving dark mages were rounded up by the Babel's armies. Stripped of weapons and armor, the Dark Wizard were at the mercy of the justice of the Yuri Barnes. Although members of the Tower wanted public executions, the Dark Wizard leaders were inclined to banish the rogue mages into the unknown, in the hopes that, with time, they would see the error of their ways. On the plains of a barren world, the Exiles, as they became known within the Babylon nations, were herded onto unarmed transport magical ships. Several worshipers accompanied the ships to ensure the departure of the mages from Babylon's territory. The 100-Year Darkness was over with the total defeat of the dark mages but the war against Revelation of Qliphoth on the other side continued chaotic as ever.
Dark Arts (200,000 B.C.)[]
A Dark Wizard teaching primite demons
The dark mages were banished to the regions of Madagascar, the mages gazed upon an uncharted island. They were surprised to find demonic humanoid species calling themselves as Black Demons, the same race they were fighting long ago when fighting alongside the Tower of Babel. Despite their differences, the Black Demons recognized them as not as enemies but allies with hatred and anger boiling inside of their hearts, after seeing their amazing powers and advanced human magic, Astaroth King welcomed them, officially making them the first humans of Earth members of Revelation of Qliphoth.
Some of the Exiles, however, were not content to work alongside demons and gather their strength. A few of the dark mages returned to the territory of the Babylon to attack the Yuri Barnes. They believed they now had the power to crush their nation and rule, but they were wrong. Their premature actions served only to alert the Babylon and their defenders that some of the Exiles survived out in uncharted space.
As years passed, and interbreeding occurred between the mages and the demons, the term "dark mage" came to exist as "Dark Wizards". The Dark Wizards greatly accelerated the cultural development of the Black Demons on Earth. When first encountered, the frontal army lead now by the late Heles Hermes were abandoned by Ara Astaroth and were a simple tribal species that wore primitive clothing and lived in small huts. With the influence of the Dark Wizards, elaborate clothing came into use, and large temples were erected by the Dark Wizards people for their overlords.
First Magician War (45,000 B.C.)[]
The war between the Mana World and Dark Wizards
In an attempted revenge for their defeat on the past, the Dark Wizards launched a series of secret attacks on Babylon's lands. Dark Wizards activity during the First Magician War consisted of stealth attacks, espionage, torture and mass killings of wizards, witches, and large numbers of human. These were initiated by the Dark Wizards, often, but not always, on the orders of other superior Black Demons. Part of the Dark Wizards' powers was to cast the symbol of Qliphoth over every house where they committed murder. This inspired much terror in the wizarding community. However, the Dark Wizards remained opposed by the Tower of Babylon, now known by Cultus Phytonissam founded by Yuri Barnes with the help of the Goddess of Magic Wáng Hongyo, in retaliation for these heinous crimes and spearheaded by the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of Mana World, legalized the usage of the killing curses against suspects who would often be killed rather than captured and would imprison suspected supporters of Astaroth without trial on various occasions.
It was in this charged climate that in 45,000 B.C., an unknown dark mage proclaimed himself the new Dark Lord of the Dark Magic. With his army of followers and demons as protection, he launched a revolution against the Tower of Babel with the intention of toppling it and creating a new world order run by pure-bloods with humans kept in bondage and the mage himself as the immortal ruler for all time. To achieve these ends, the Dark Wizards and their allies (including the particularly destructive Giants) began openly carrying out attacks on humans for sport and to sow chaos. Cleaning up these attacks, healing survivors, modifying memories, searching for the perpetrators, and attempting to prevent future attacks occupied more and more of the Babel's time and attention. As their confidence grew, they began targeting non-mage-born and blood traitor witches and wizards as well, torturing and sometimes killing their victims, which shocked wizarding society. Other "inferior" magical beings such as house-elves (who were treated like vermin) and Goblins (a family of which was slaughtered) also suffered under their reign of terror. To inspire yet more terror.
With many Dark Wizards occupying strategic positions within the Mana World itself, they used blackmail and the brainwash curses to expand their influence and destabilize the government, which was desperately trying to keep order and continue to maintain secrecy from the human world.
On the next year, the Goddess of Magic herself went to action and wipe out the entire force of the Dark Wizards alone in less than 1 month. During the battle, the leader of the Dark Wizards was killed. With their leader's disappearance, the Dark Wizards largely fell into chaos. Many were rounded up and imprisoned in Mana World without trial.
Between Wars (40,000 B.C.)[]
Some Dark Wizards managed to elude justice by claiming the brainwash curse had been used on them,. Due to many trying to escape by claiming they were bewitched, Yuri Barnes assigned specialists to find out who was lying. Most followers hid their allegiance to Astaroth and the unknown dark wizard and therefore did not try to find him.
Thirteen years later, at the four hundred and twenty-second Mage Mana Cup, a group of Dark Wizards attacked the camp of wizards and witches and a nearby human family. The Dark Wizard seemed to consider torturing and humiliating humans a form of entertainment. With dark forces having terrorized the wizarding communities of Great Britain for over a decade, claimed thousands of victims, and scarred, bereaved, and traumatized countless others, the survivors of the war began to rebuild. With that, the first magician war that took over the lives of 503,000 people was finally over.
Revelation of Qliphoth's Ascension (1920 D.C.)[]
Vira leading the attack
Due to the death of Heles Hermes, the former Supreme General of Qliphoth's army, the remnants of her army were forgotten and abandoned by Ara Astaroth, resulting on them turning their backs on her and giving support to the Dark Wizards, whom now had an intimate relationships with some demons who had human form, as such allowing them to interact sexually. Like this, the dark magician community, now known by the name of Order of Darkness, thrived for thousand years, building their armies of billions and billions, creating their own dimension, invading and conquering an entire parallel Earth and even learning completely about the black magic, black arts and Curses.
However, it was around the beginning of World War II that the original Revelation of Qliphoth began to move their plans against mankind. While Ara was busy dealing with other matters that took over thousand years to finish, she now had time to deal with the disgusting mankind that built their own civilization over the centuries. However, the arrival of Revelation of Qliphoth was not welcomed by the former demons of Qliphoth whom were discarded by Ara and immediately declared war against them. However, it would not take long for the Order of Darkness to lose the war in a humiliating way as her overpowered army of Ara was in larger numbers and had more well-trained troopers. The invasion of Qliphoth to Order of Darkness' Earth and dimension left more than 70% of their forces dead, a total of 503 billion demons and Wizards.
Their last standing was on their planet, on the Dark Temple where their new leader was slayed by the new Supreme General of Qliphoth, Vira Hermes.
Ascension of Eclipse of Hermes (2010 D.C.)[]
With the total defeat of the Dark Wizards, Vira formed a group of Dark Wizards who survived and named them as Vanguard of Hermes, an organization that included people that Vira knew from her time at Hell's Universities. Nearly all of those recruited were from Blood Cult and half of them were Dark Wizards and Black Demons who turned their back on Ara Astaroth and Revelation of Qliphoth after Heles' death. However there may have been recruits from traitors of Mana World, rebels from Witch Cult and even from foreign magician schools within the ranks as well.
A magician using a skull mask
She would later rename the group "the Eclipse of Hermes" once they group that started as a small faction composed of 400 Wizards, demons and warlocks grew up to become a massive organization that could be compared to an earthling empire composed of 40,000,000 of members. Members of the organization Vira deemed to be valuable and faithful would be branded with the Plague Mark. This symbol, a unusual pentagram, was used to summoned her followers at will. Actively gathering an army of Dark Wizards and creatures, with the belief that they might conquer whole worlds in name of Vira but making them part of Revelation of Qliphoth's territory, Vira and her followers planned to overthrow all magicians organizations as Ara herself considered them to be a secondary threat in some worlds. Their ranks were huge, outnumbering the Mana World and Cultus Phytonissam by twenty to one.
Sleepy Hollow's Establishment (2013 D.C.)[]
Dark Wizards under the command of Vira
During the foundation of Eclipse of Hermes, the Witch Cult declared war against them for finally joining Astaroth King's army. However, their superiors, the Mana World, denied the existence of the Dark Wizards after their defeat by the hands of the old generation of Cultus Phytonissam.
Now that Eclipse of Hermes was founded, the Eclipses became even bolder in their campaign of terror against the wizarding world. Vira, with his Eclipses, planned several courses of action following the successful assassination of Katya's ministry in 2011. One was the overthrowing of the Ministry of Magic so that Vira would have absolute power. Another was capturing the Goddess Wáng Hangyo and killing her. While Vira went on her own personal quests and stayed out of sight of the wizarding community's eye, she worked through others, starting Ara Astaroth's ultimate plan to put an end to mankind in Prime Earth, the Purge.
Through Vira, Ara Astaroth, who was busy dealing with other business in other worlds, ordered Vira to start the Purge Operation, a mission gave to her to wipe out the humankind on Earth, however, the details of the mission were wrote by Vira herself. Ara, on the other hand, was not interest in a small planet when there are Gods threatening to end he reign.
An informant of Eclipse of Hermes disguised as a normal civilian in his daily life
Armed with the advantage of the Mana World's denial, the Eclipses kept a low profile in order to maintain their standing in the wizarding world and slowly but surely rebuild their forces without detection or hindrance. Due in part to the Wang's refusal to remove the Wraiths from Limbo (which was secretly ruled by Astaroth King), the Eclipse of Hermes informally joined the agency of Revelation of Qliphoth's wraiths that was ruling Limbo in secret of Mana World (while Paradise was aware of their presence there) to their cause. Similar progress was made with the giants, vampires, werewolves, elves, folkloric creatures and goblins.
In 4 May 2011, Vira who was preparing to start the purge's first steps was exposed by Katya, who revealed the Dark Wizards' existence continued strong. Revealed at last to the wizarding community, the Eclipse of Hermes proceeded to resume their earlier lifestyle and behavior. Kidnapping, torturing, and assassinations of wizards, witches, and non-mages began anew as the Second Magician War began. Due to the Mana World's failure to accept the reality of Dark Wizards' return early on, the Eclipses' forces had already grown to the point where the Mana World and Cultus Phytonissam had a very difficult time keeping them in check, made only worse when the Wang Hongyu still cared more about the bureaucracy's reputation than actual security. In a matter of days, massacres of hundreds of non-mages and magic users became something usual as 202 people were founded dead all days.
Mina meeting Vira
The war continued for almost 2 decades, giving enough distraction for Vira to began the Purge's stages. During those days, Vira was suddenly summoned by a woman on Chicago, United States, the woman revealed herself to be a fragment of Ara Astaroth who was sent to Earth 5 years ago (taking her only 5 year to create a false historic and hundreds of documents of her life) to overview her operations, giving the Vira the hint Ara was actually interested in her operation (even although she could end all life her own powers). The two then discussed the stages of the Purge.
The first plans of the two began with the extraction of the Noro from Mana World's grounds. Noro are impurities removed from iron sand during the process of purifying of magic (a ritual made to purify a soil from the Blackness' rotting presence). As this substance also contains traces of demonic energy, they are almost indestructible and is instead handled with extreme care. Noro has a special property of easily binding together with itself, which if left unchecked, results in the creation of semi-demons (demidemons).
In their campaign to start the Purge, Vira with the army of Revelation of Qliphoth, sent forth the Black God and his Black Army to attack Veronica in a war that would endure 20 years. Despite the Black Army had many defeats and less victories, Vira was able to extract the Noro from the battlegrounds. Vira and Mina then worked on the creation of Artificial Black Demons, turning humans into proxy Black Demons to obey the command of one single person. They called it as "Old Generation" and were among Mina Harker's first creations. During the recovery of Black Demons' corpses, hundreds of crows were found to have died after feasting on the demon's flesh. Among them were crows that had consumed the flesh and lived, only to mutate into monstrous forms. Mina determined that the flesh and blood of the Black Demons could transform living beings and draw out immense power and so began experimenting on citizens of Sleepy Hollow, where they decided that would be the future HQ of STAR LABS of United States of America. With that, Mina and Vira merged the Noro and the Black Demons' blood and injected them on human bodies.
Stage 1 of a civilian infected by the Noro
The citizens that underwent these experiments were bestowed the powers of the Black Demons while still retaining their own powers, but were consequently transformed into mindless, grotesque monsters. Despite the experiment yielding incredibly powerful "unified beings", the Old Generation were considered a failure due to being "wild and difficult to control." Mina then worked even more on Noro and injected several samples in her brain in order to be the "Supreme Noro Mother" using nano-machines that could link her to everyone infected with the Noro's liquid. With the Noro in her mind, she could easily "purify" her own individualism and connect her mind to millions of other living being infected with the Noro.
However, since the Noro was from the blood of Red Demons from Triggers Hell, citizens infected with the Noro only gained demonic powers of the demon, "purifying" their humanity and turning them into mere low-level demons. When Vira told Mina about that Astaroth King, her original persona, could control all Black Demons through the Blackness that originated from her body, something that all Black Demons had, Mina came to the conclusion that she needed to work on the Blackness to make it on her own (similar case with Moloch to Twelve Nethers). Working on the Blackness' magical plague, Mina could turn a small fraction of the Blackness by fusing her own DNA and cells with the Blackness, causing that small fraction to obey her. However, with time the Blackness would grow strong, turning people she desired to turn into Black Demons. However, unlike Ara Astaroth's Black Demons that can still think freely, Mina used the Blackness to turn humans in Black Demons by force while using the Noro to control their minds and forming one single mind with everyone she infected.
Yuri arrives on Mina's secret facility
As her test subjects began to die off, Mina was caught red-handed by Yuri Barnes. Though he knew it was his duty, Yuri Barnes lacked the will to kill her for being a woman and mainly for being a human, allowing her to escape. However, during her escape, Mina was seriously wounded by mages of Witch Cult, but she was saved by Vira and other Dark Wizards, who teleported her to Chicago for the time being.
Seriously wounded, Mina visited the new temple of Eclipse of Hermes to restore her powers and cure her wounds. For 3 weeks, Mina Harker received classes from Vira to learn how to control the Blackness, allowing her to be able to expand her Blackness on the level of medium-class Black Demons, not strong enough to defeat Adeptus Magicians but enough powerful to turn billions and billions of humans into Artificial Black Demons.
Mina then moved to Brazil where she tested her powers on Brazilian citizens, resulting in the creation of New Generations of Artificial Black Demons that were the result of experimentation with the demonic blood (Noro) and Blackness on Brazilians. The Brazilians that were compatible with the blood had their power greatly increased, while those that were incompatible experienced a violent death as their bodies rejected the blood and exploded. Aware of the activity of Mana World, Witch Cult and Cultus Phytonissam, Mina Harker focused her operations in Brazil to turn as many people as possible into Artificial Black Demons using the Researchers of Divine Hand to inject her own blood (merged small portions of Blackness) into the bodies of the guinea pigs kidnapped by Vira's Dark Wizards.
Vira then worked alone on the creation of her army, the Eclipse of Hermes while Mina Harker used her intellect to rise through the ranks of Global Pact Defense in 2013, resulting in the creation of STAR LABS. Meanwhile, in Sleepy Hollow, Vira ordered her Dark Wizards to stand by and live in Sleepy Hollow for the time being until the alarm of the Purge rang on the next decades. Using false identities and historic like Mina Harker, half of the Dark Mages hid themselves in Sleepy Hollow, disguising themselves as citizens while the other half returned to Vira's center of operations, Phenex Airship. With the sudden disappearance of all dark magicians, the Mana World and Cultus Phytonissam declared them as dead since they were serving the Revelation of Qliphoth, an anti-mortal empire that sought the destruction of all non-demonic beings.
During their years hidden, some dark magicians were caught on the crossfire of other internal organizations operating in the town of Sleepy Hollow like Order of Flourish, Shadow Warriors and Team Witness. However, they were ordered that no matter their situation, they are not allowed to expose their true identity. Violating this law would result in a eternal suffering on Qliphoth or Hell.
Ideology[]
A warlock being defeated by mages of the Witch Cult
There are hints that a long-standing dispute had existed in the wizarding world regarding the relationship between Magicians and non-magicians, and the status of magically talented people born to non-mages parents. These disputes clearly date back to at least the time of the founding of Cultus Phytonissam 300,000 B.C.
There are also hints in some legends that once upon a time witches, wizards and non-mages were known to each other and interacted. The International Treaty Secrecy made by Yuri Barnes was the solution settled upon in the 1600s to end these relationships, preventing misunderstanding, miscommunication, and cruelty by enforcing the hiding of magic and bringing about the oblivion of any human aware of magic.
But this remained a controversial choice. There were many in the magical world to whom it occurred that, united, the wizarding community had enough power to openly take control of governments worldwide. For some this was just a means of power, wealth, or fame; but to others, such as Gaius Phoenix, who flirted with the idea of a wizard-led society with Katya in his youth, this was an opportunity to improve the world, to use power responsibly and prevent tragedies based on xenophobia and secrecy like the one that had torn apart his own family.
Skulls of non-mages
As for human-born witches and wizards, it seems that their status had been the subject of sometimes violent dispute for centuries. In many ways, this form of racism was delusional just like Nazi white supremacy, relying on a romanticized, imaginary history of wizarding genealogy, and conveniently ignoring realities such as the partial or total human origins of most witches and wizards, the existence of Squibs, and the lack of real differences in talent between pure-bloods and others. And like Germany in the time of the Nazis, while most people were not openly prejudiced, only a few were really courageous enough to stand up to it as well. Most government officials were content to ignore the problems of class-ism in magical society, and many participated without complaint when the new dark mages-backed regime began to persecute non-mages.
Using this conflict, Vira regrouped all dark mages of the world to form her own army made of magicians whom were fused with the Blackness, granting them powers of demons and increasing their dark magic.
Organization[]
A female magician of Eclipse of Hermes
The Eclipse of Hermes were an organization of pure-blood supremacists that coalesced around Vira Hermes. She found them very useful, as their ranks included wizarding aristocrats that could accomplish his goals through government and money, and deadly, remorseless thugs of all stripes. But she did not really share their passion for pure-blood supremacy. It is hinted at in 2012 that she openly shared her origins with them, and did not try to hide that she saw no shame in his half-blood status, though she held her mortal father in contempt. Though she allowed them to establish purification policies when they took over part of the Witch Cult's territories, she busied herself with increasing her own dominion and stamping out opposition while never bothering to help them with these goals.
The Eclipses followed their leader's commands first and foremost, and she treated them ruthlessly, often sending them on impossible missions and punishing them horribly if they failed her, even due to bad luck rather than incompetence. At her command, they worked against Vira and Astaroth's opponents through espionage, murder, and battle, and also infiltrated and undermined the Magical Organizations. The Eclipses' other, more spontaneous activities included mortal torture and murder for fun, property crime, and plotting the eventual overthrow of the non-mages government and replacing it with a wizard-dominated system.
A male dark magician
Although some Eclipses appeared to have been fanatically loyal to Vira, several only aligned with her for the ideals of purification and shared glory, while many others seemed to serve her largely out of fear but admiration of her powers. As soon as Vira was defeated, many immediately renounced their loyalty and did not attempt to find Vira in the intervening years to revive her. Also, due to maltreatment from Vira, some who joined her would come to regret it later on, when they either suffered her abuse or witnessed the lengths she was willing to sink. Many speculated then that those Eclipses were "even more frightened than the rest of MUDF if she was revived".
In turn, even though Vira valued the services they provided, and spoke as though they were a family, she saw them as no more than dispensable servants. Vira was willing to sacrifice even the most loyal of them if it would serve her well. Some Eclipses deluded themselves to thinking that they alone knew and understood Vira, or were even close to her, but Vira never once desired a friend. Coupled with either disloyalty or constant failures, Vira lost faith in some of the once-highly revered servants. As a sign of distrust-based precaution, the Eclipse of Hermes did not have knowledge of all their colleagues' identities: Vira alone knew who they all were. This was done in order to prevent any traitors from turning all the others in.
Hierarchy[]
A hybrid former mage of Witch Cult
Vira's most senior Eclipses, most of whom were old chums from Cultus Pythonissam and Holy Eye of Order, mostly pure-bloods mages, and people highly useful to Vira for their wealth, skill, or ruthlessness, were bestowed with the Plague Mark on the inside of their lower left arm. These were her inner circle, those she summoned to her side during a mission, and who sat around her high table at Phenex Airship. Being branded with the Plague Mark was a symbol of the highest status and honour in Vira's social order, but was also something of a dangerous burden, as it allowed the Vira to track, communicate with, and summon her chosen few. Some associates, such as relatives of Eclipse of Hermes, are also on par with the actual members.
The next level down were allowed to wear Eclipse of Hermes garments in order to command the respect they engendered, but were not Marked. These seem to included those that Vira found useful but did not prefer to associate with, such as the 'half-breed' Lilithmon.
On the lowest rung was a mass of supportive rabble, loyal to Vira but not useful enough to her to deal with her directly. They were given orders and opportunities to commit crimes or advance themselves through the senior Eclipses of Hermes' mages. On the same tier were witches and wizards under the Blackness' Brainwash, and non-humans of different degrees of sentience such as werewolves, vampires, giants, spirits, zombies, ghouls, low-level demons and among other fantasy creatures. These were pressed into service by the Eclipses, and sentient groups that would have ordinarily remained neutral like wraiths, giants, and werewolves were brought into the fold with false promises that their grievances would be avenged upon victory in battle. This entire mass was mobilized for Vira to attack on other worlds, though before then, they were only used to maintain the Qliphoth's new regime in other worlds, or else roam uncontrolled, sowing chaos and demoralization as they sought individual gain.
Because it's affiliated with the Revelation of Qliphoth, the Eclipse of Hermes is not only composed by mages but also demons. The Eclipse of Hermes is a massive militaristic cult that don't rely only in power but in numbers, they possess humongous armies that their numbers extends above 40,300,000 strong. It is noted that the soldiers are well trained and have magic power that is nothing to take lightly, even a small fraction of the total force is a menace on its own. Vira is not the only commanding officer of these armed forces, as she possesses her own elite group of powerful Mages: the Inner Circle. Composed of elite Mages with strength comparable to of the level with Cultus Phytonissam's strongest Mage, Katya, they are willingly able to lead her armies to war as well. In the cult, the inner circle are reputed—this according to Vira—to be the strongest in not just Prime Earth, but in the entire 0th Multi-Universe; both noted in the magician world as a "disaster" and "scourge" respectively.
Their forces are not limited to just humans trained to fight against mages, but the Black Demons. They have hundreds of advanced warships that go by sea or by air. They are also equipped with many high powered guns and artillery that can serve for both bombardments and anti-air defenses, with some ships specifically designed as command ships for the Inner Circle. They also serve as carriers that holds numerous troops ranging from hundreds to thousands, even for the purpose of ground assaults.
Dark Wizards from the army
Unlike STAR LABS of United States of America's military forces, Eclipse's human soldiers are better trained and possess Magic Power that is not to be take lightly. Soldiers that are under the command of one of the Inner Circle possess their own unique features, characteristics, and uniforms.
A practical demonstration of the Eclipse's might is available in the form of their war against Witch Cult. With the power of the Inner Circle and the Alvarez military might, they overwhelmed the strongest of Cultus and Mana World's guilds on the first day of the invasion. In a sense, that makes them one of the front-line organizations serving the Revelation of Qliphoth. They even conquered Cultus' neighboring world and destroyed every single one of their guilds. They also have a twisted way of using psychological warfare, they take their defeated enemies and string them up on poles and crosses to inflict humiliation and despair upon their opponents.
"Without strife, the victory has no meaning. Without strife, one does not advance. Without strife, there is only stagnation."
"For the greater good. For a world without conflict. All shall knee before the darkness."
"Long live the magic. Death to all heretics who dare defy our leader."
"Following in the footsteps of our ancestors."
"Lead by our history, leading our future."
"Peace through war. Love through hate. Power through sacrifice. Unity through conflict."
Theme Song[]
Dark Magic Music - Salem's Secret
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
Unlike the Black Demons who die and simply stay there, there are given a lot of specter-like attributes to Dark Wizards, such as the ability to transform themselves into a black smoke-like figure and fly, often crashing obstacles in their way. In addition, once a Dark Wizard is killed, he will mostly explode or disintegrate, like a specter, rather than leaving a body like an ordinary human.
The Eclipse of Hermes is the only known organization composed mostly of humans serving the Revelation of Qliphoth directly. Mafusa Gang and Intergang, for example are criminal groups that don't serve them directly but helps to expand their resources via their leaders, making them only servants secretly serving a larger organization.
The high-members of Eclipse of Hermes are in numbers of 10. Each member was reincarnated from the 10 plagues God sent on ancient Egypt, in order to free his people, represented his complete and total judgment of the pagan empire. As such, all top executives have powers related to these plagues, similar to Vira's disease and virus control.
The Nile River is turned into blood (blood)
Plague of Frogs (amphibian venom)
Plague of Lice (dengue control)
Swarms of Beasts (flying insects' control)
Plague on the Cattle (control over one's own flesh and bones)
Boils (control over boil plague)
Great storm of hail, thunder and lightening (lightning mastery)
Locusts (control over locusts' illusions)
Darkness over the entire land for three days (umbrakinesis)
The death of the firstborn of both man and beast (ability to kill a child or infant just by looking at them)
The Eclipse of Hermes' medium Wizards was designed with the idea that they all would possess Magic that "cheats": every single one uses something generic that any author could come up with, but that destroys the framework of whatever story they are applied to, and are thus not usually used. Magics mentioned in particular that are grossly unfair are Time reversing (Kalawarner's primary Magic), Immunity to all kind of magic attacks (Simonne's primary Magic), and Historia of the Dead that kills a magician just by staring at them (Seilah's primary Magic).
The hoods worn by the Eclipses bear a resemblance to those worn by the Ku Klux Klan. Ironically, they share the same xenophobic believes of a white (pure-magician) supremacy. In-universe, however, Ku Klux Klan never had contact with the Eclipses except that some members of the racist group were recruited by the cult.
According to Katya, the members of the Inner Circle (dubbed "Plagues") are extremely skilled and powerful Mages, all around the same level of power as Wang Hongyo, the Goddess of Magic on Prime Earth.
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