Lilith (AoC Universe)

"This one shows promise. The whispers draw him towards his fate."

Lilith (also known as Lilitu) is a character exclusive to the Aeon of the Champion story series.

The most powerful servant of Asmodeus, Lord of Sin, Lilith's influence was felt across demonkind as her succubi were instrumental to the colonisation of Middle-Earth during Mythos. Leading the Sisterhood of Infidelity, the cult was directly responsible for the creation of the first Sin Shrine on the planet, entrenching the power of the demon prince further by supplying him with a constant stream of worshippers. She managed this using angels that she seduced and subdued during the Great Conflict.

Banished from the Plane of Existence during the Sin War, Lilith lay in the shadows for the next 36,000 years, plotting her revenge. After inducting the Earth Watchers Yeqon and Asbeel into her folds, she used these contacts to control the thoughts of their leader, Shemyaza, by getting him to go through the Fleshing and become a mortal, thereby tearing a hole in the fabric of reality that allowed Lilith to rematerialise on the Plane of Existence, springing the beginning of her plan to free Asmodeus.

Days of the Black Empire
Main article: Black Empire

During the days of the Black Empire, Lilith acted as Asmodeus' right-hand woman, and was responsible for many of his most nefarious schemes. One notable deed was the manufacture of the fake world-tree, Asmoggsil, in order to increase the lifespan of his sycophants. It worked by sapping energy directly from the arcane core of the planet, putting geological tension on the rest of Middle-Earth's structure. This led to frequent and violent tectonic movements. Lilith proposed presenting it as a real world tree, in order to terrify the denizens of the yet-young world into serving him with increased fervour. When he did so, thousands more desperate citizens threw themselves at his mercy, and for this, Lilith was promoted within the demonic ranks and eventually came to lead the Succubi.

When the Sin War set in, one-by-one the demon princes were undone by the Carnal Armies, and Lilith, despite her best efforts, was banished from the Plane of Existence in single fell swoop by Anariel, sending her howling through the abyss beyond.

Undoing of the Watchers
The power of the Earth Watchers rendered all demonic activity on Middle-Earth frivolous. Their watch towers quickly picked up on any resurgences in demonic taint, in addition to the manual reporting of intelligence gathered by the Earthen stationed on the planet itself. In addition, the dragonflights red, blue, black, green and bronze - in charge of life, magic, earth, nature and time respectively - ensured that all aspects of existence on Midgard were secured from outsider interference. The Aesir themselves were on constant standby as a last line of intervention, making it wholly impossible for the Black Empire to recover in the current state of affairs. This took its toll on all the demons who had been part of the Empire, for over time, as demonic shrines were demolished and mortals cleansed of their sin by the Light, the power of the demons gradually waned, such that they became unable to manifest in the Plane of Existence even if they were not banished. This was an occurrence Lilith knew very well. In order to save her master from permanent imprisonment, she would have to undo the lock to breach the doors.

Sacrifices would indeed have to be made.

One night, Lilith entered the chambers of the Burning Hells where the succubi were located. In a flurry of hateful swipes, she purged the entire harem of life. Blood dripping from her talons, she picked out the souls of some of the dead succubi and turned them into demonic banshees, telepathically controlled by her. Dispersing them among the infinite galaxies, they were directed towards the Seventh Orbit, where the Earth Watchers were located. Lilith did not know where the Orbit was, but with more Watch Towers being installed by the minute, it would only be a matter of time before they could locate Yggdrassil. Besides, the demons had breached Heaven before; they could do so again. As it were, only a few of the banshees were able to reach the Orbit, but they were too sapped to complete their task. Vampiric instincts setting in, they began tearing at the magical wall around the circuit to nourish their depleted souls, only to invoke the ire of Yeqon, who ordered the Scholari to arrest them. However, he later revealed that he had no intention of extinguishing them, but instead, use them for his own gain. Shemyaza, the leader of the Watchers, was growing old and complacent, and Yeqon intended to hasten his fall by powercreeping the Earth Watchers unit. Thus, the banshees were spared, and even allowed to fill in Lilith with periodical intelligence briefings.

The Fleshing and Terris Aurum
After Yeqon took effective control of the Watchers from Shemyaza, he misled his lord into taking a third of the heavenly host into the Fleshing to become mortal, rendering them carnal shells of their former selves. To reclaim some of the lost prestige, Lilith coordinated the founding of Terris Aurum with Yeqon. When Shemyaza raised the island nation out of the ground, he had no idea what sort of other spirits were behind the movement. He was also blindly ignorant of the fact that his geokinetic activity had weakened the area around Asmodeus' prison, allowing his influence to further spread across the planet - and the first thing he did was attack Shemyaza's heart. As the years progressed, he became progressively depressed, as darkness set over his soul. Asmodeus played with his emotions, encouraging him to enter into relationships with mortal women to drown his sorrows - activity further encouraged by Yeqon, who unbeknown to the King, was working in concert with Lilith to free the elder demon. The relationships not only failed miserably, but also led to the rise of the nephilim, further distracting Shem from the administration of his kingdom. Once again, this gave Yeqon the opportunity to control affairs.

By the time of the Nephilim War, the fallen angels were so weak - for Yeqon had ordered the Scholari to divert their energy towards him, unfettered because of Shemyaza's ineptitude - that Shem was forced to rely on the merfolk to push them back. This had the unintended consequence of driving out Leviathan's nickars - all beneficial to Lilith, as it indirectly strengthened Asmodeus by reducing the influence of another demon. Though Shemyaza did not pursue any more marriages following his victories, he remained in a depressed state, and Lilith continue to mastermind events from the shadows, biding her time until the wrath of succubi would come to roost over the tormented planet.

The Second Sin War
Main article: Second Sin War

In 28,000 BGY, Lilith sprang her trap. Yeqon informed Shemyaza, who was nearing suicide at this point, of a beautiful otherwordly woman who had passed by the kingdom recently. She stood taller than a mere man and fairier than any lady Shemyaza had ever courted, and promised him a partnership of golden memories. Shem showed little interest initially, so Lilith instructed Yeqon to sacrifice a banshee and have her enter his dreamspace. The result was that Shem began unconsciously fantasising about this woman, and when he envisioned what the unknown beauty would look like, he was enraptured immediately. Abandoning his throne, he set off to end his misery once and for all - by marrying Lilith.

This was of course, all a ruse. She had no intention of doing anything for him, but he, of course, would be an important asset in her master plan. When they did meet, in a pre-arranged setting, Shemyaza pledged his life to the seemingly noble lady. Note here that Lilith had consumed another banshee to assume human form, and running low on agents, she was surprised - but relieved - to have deceived the angel King so easily. Using him as her Champion, she ordered him on a number of endeavours aimed at setting up Asmodeus' return. First, Shemyaza destroyed the research and handling facilities set up by the Earthen to quarantine and process demonic taint. Then, he slew the Earthen themselves, including T'sharon, the Earthen commander, in order to farm banshees for Lilith's vampiric biding.

Later that year, another angel crashed to Earth - Bezaliel - who introduced himself as the former High Watcher. He'd taken up the role after Shemyaza, but had been stripped by the Aegis Council for allowing angels to become mortal in order to spy on Shemyaza. It was at that moment that Shem realised Bezaliel had doomed his scheme - the Aesir were acutely aware of his plan to bring the Princes of Hell back. Furious, he intended to execute Beza, but Lilith forbade his blade, stating that Bezaliel would be a useful asset in plotting her next moves. The same way he had supplied intelligence to the enemy, he could also act as counter intelligence. Thus, Lilith summoned her lieutenant - Delilah - and sent her to Bezaliel as a mistress. After seducing and taking over his conscience, Delilah ordered Bezaliel to slaughter the angel spies. He duly did so, blotting out Heaven's remaining eyes-on-the-ground into the world. They would have no choice but to commit to a full-scale assault if they intended to stop Lilith's plan - but her demons would indeed be waiting.

After Araqiel, the new High Watcher, assessed reports collected by Bezaliel's foreign agents, he made the decision to intervene militarily; sparking the Second Sin War for control of Middle-Earth.

Relations

 * Asmodeus - was almost like a father to her, and relations between the two never really stopped until Lilith's second banishment. She was one of the demon god's most fervent followers, and so radical was her faith that she willingly purged other succubi if she did not feel they were sufficiently pious. She was also demonstrably willing to go to extremes to save him from custody, by killing her own people in order to turn them into banshees.
 * Yeqon - her major accomplice in the freeing of Asmodeus, Lilith saw intelligence in Yeqon where she found ineptitude and uncertainty in Shemyaza. She was pleased to hear of Yeqon's own determination to overthrow the then-overconfident, overzealous Watcher Lord, whose own emotional volatility led to his downfall.
 * Delilah - her subordinate in the succubi Harem, and one of the mistresses spared from her cull after the Sin War. There is no evidence of a strong relationship between them, and it is believed that Delilah was relieved to be paired with Bezaliel because she would finally be given respite from Lilith's incessant demands. Likewise, Lilith likely saw Delilah as a liability.
 * Jiashara - the Succubi Queen and Gorgon Queen did not appear to be on great terms, and considered each other rivals in terms of seduction prowess. They avoided cooperation and even communication as much as possible.
 * Shemyaza - was her oversized, brain-to-small plaything. His insistence that she marry him, and his willingness to do anything to secure that goal, were mere 'cutesies' she could exploit for her own gain. However, she was also remarkably disappointed by his lack of inner security.

Trivia

 * Lilith's quote at the top of this page is a reference to Xal'atath's comments at the Seat of the Triumvirate in Warcraft.
 * In fact, as the author would have it, they share a voice actress - Claudia Christian.
 * Lilith is also based on a Diablo demon of the exact name, while Shemyaza is partly based on Inarius.