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Notes

This page contains my writeups of the entities that control the underworld, which canon Exalted refers to as Malfeans (a term I don't use because its referent is confusing). It is done very much in the style of the Yozi from Games of Divinity. Included herein are the following Cessela, plus their entourage of lesser souls:
Note: I don't believe all, or even most, Abyssals/Deathlords have anything whatsoever to do with the Solar Exalted (aside from their prima facie similarities). I allow for the possibility, but I'm not feeling constrained by it. The similarities stem more from the amusement it gives the Cessela
(As an aside, the main reason that the Yozi corrupt existing Exalts into Infernals rather than just making their own is because it amuses them to turn the tools of their enemies against them. It also tends to make them a bit stronger than your average Exalt)

Lexicon

Cessela
A Dead Primordial. Analogous to the Yozi of Malfeas.
Phantasm
A Phantasm is to the Cessela what Demons are to the Yozi. Also known as Phantoms. They cannot properly be considered Ghosts, because they were never truly alive, and "Spirit" already has another usage. Like Demons, Phantasms are divided up into Three Circles, but due to the fact that they are dead, Phantasms cannot reproduce after the fashion of Second Circle Demons. Therefore, there are no real Phantasms of the First Circle. The mortal souls inhabiting the underworld serve that role.

Phantasms of the Third Circle are souls of the Cessela themselves (including Fetich souls), and like Demons of the Third Circle, they have the ability to be in multiple places at once. Phantasms of the Second Circles are the souls of the Third Circle Phantasms.
Deathlord
Deathlords are Phantasms of the Second Circle. Specifically, they are Second-Circle Phantasms that have created or been placed in charge of one or more Abyssal Exalted, with the help of the Phantasms of the second circle. They go by their titles, and carry no other names (at least none that they admit to). There are rumors this is because some of the Deathlords were once ordinary Ghosts who gained their present status by selling their names, but it probably has more to do with the fact that they are aspects of beings greater than themselves.
Fetich
The Primary soul of a Primordial. If the Fetich Soul is slain, the Primordial is not destroyed. Instead, it is forced to change its nature.

The Cessela

Leviathan, the Living Lord

Sobriquets: The Prince of Pain, Pleasure of Extinction's Kiss
Leviathan is called the Living Lord because, of all of the Cessela, he was the most enamored of life and living things. As was his desire, the fields overflowed with rich bounty, and the forests scintillated. The mortals of the Age of the Primordials were never infertile, nor did they have to toil to be prosperous. Even Gaia's embrace of life paled by comparison, as witnessed by the fact that under her auspices, mortals must now scrape and scrabble at the land for a mere pitance of their former bounty. At least, this was Leviathan before the rebellion of the Gods.
He was the first and greatest of the Primordials to fall in the God's Rebellion. He was slain by Chosen of the Unconquered Sun (who was brought into existence by Autochthon at the request of Leviathan himself). As his heart's soul died and his nature changed, Leviathan spread his arms wide and caught the rest of his dying brethren in his embrace, lest they be lost to the Void.
In the process, Leviathan became the physical manifestation of the foundations of the Underworld, a dark reflection of the Creation he loved. Leviathan's love of life has been poisoned by the memory of the rebellion (and the betrayal of his most revered dream/child/creation), and has been turned to despite. This land is as desolate as Creation was once luxuriant, except where he holds his fellow Cessela in the palm of a thousand hands. His flesh is the grey topsoil of the lands of the dead, his veins are underground rivers of blood, and his bones, teeth, and claws are the black bedrock and its occasional jagged outcroppings.
Of all the Cessela, Leviathan is the most interested in dragging the rest of creation down into death with him. He embodies the natural urge of living things toward self-destruction and sadomasochism.

Phantasms of Leviathan

Siane, the Weeping City

Sobriquets: The Beauty in Death, Mistress of Sacrifice, the Crying Lady, Silver Tears' Dominion, The Lament Configuration, The World's Widow
Siane is sister and wife to Leviathan, and the embodiment of Loss, Sorrow, and Noble Sacrifices. Where Leviathan came to hate what he once loved, Siane eternally mourns its loss. As she mourns, she celebrates.
If anything in the Underworld could be said to be relatively pleasant for visitors, it is Siane.
The city is practically a work of art, towers and buildings in every known architectural style, lavishly decorated, tastefully arranged amidst lush parks and wide, well kept walks, with the whole done in shades of lavender, pale blue, silver, and white, with materials that seem to glow softly from within. Siane often seems to lack a full measure of reality, as if she were a mirage or viewed through tearful eyes. Seen on the horizon of the Underworld, it is a shimmering jewel.
Those who manage to hold the city's location firmly in mind will be able to approach the gates. These penitents she welcomes into herself gladly, to ease her infinite loneliness. Visitors are invariably led to excellent lodgings and their basic necessities are readily and generously provided for by unseen hands.
Unfortunately, few can bear to remain in Siane's embrace for more than a few days. The city has a profound effect on visitors. Perhaps it is an effect of the play of lights, or the keening winds called Kimone that lurk just below the threshold of audibility. Possibly it is the occasional half-glimpse of Siane, a veiled woman that wanders the streets on an eternal funeral march. Or perhaps it is merely that living next to an eternally mourning being will tend to get anyone down.
Regardless of the cause, Siane is harmful in large doses, even to other Primordials. Those who have regrets, she urges toward quiet introspection on all they have lost, be it opportunities, loves, or simply time. For those who have nothing to regret, she inspires them towards noble self-sacrifice, paying the ultimate price to protect the things that they love from harm, lest they lose them.
Siane does not release her lovers as quickly as she admits them, because she does not want to return to the unremitting loneliness of her existence. But she can be convinced to let go temporarily, and she will not believe that her visitor will never return to her bower. Siane mourns, and she waits and hopes.

Phantasms of Siane

Cythess, the Shadowed Sleep

Sobriquets: The Abyss, the Devourer, the Grim Reaper, What Lies Beneath
Unlike the other Cessela, Cythess was not slain in the rebellion of the Gods. Instead, he sprang into being when Leviathan was killed. Cythess is the primordial personification of death itself. As such, he is the most mysterious of the Cessela, and the one responsible for whispering into the ear of Leviathan the idea of transforming Creation into one vast Shadowland.

Phantasms of Cythess

Umbra, the Tenebrous Moon

Sobriquets: The Bloodmoon, The Leering Shadow, the Chained One, Antihelios, Luna Sanguine, Luna Tenebrae
The Black Moon of the Underworld was once a celestial body of Creation, but he was slain by his daughter-son Luna when the gods rose up against their creators. Luna, who was never especially stable, grew covetous of the attention and respect given her sire.
The Chosen of Luna fashioned a powerful and fell weapon of moonsilver, and stabbed it into Umbra's chest. His Heart's Blood spilled out, staining his body a deep crimson, and dimming his light to purest black. Nevertheless, Umbra was so angered by his daughter's act that his heart continued to beat, even in death. In time with these slow pulses, the obsidian moon becomes a searing, angry red (at times strong enough to serve as a small sun for the Underworld), and he renews his eternal struggle to return to Creation to exact his vengeance upon Luna.
Work in Progress image of Umbra
Therefore, Umbra has the distinction of being the only Primordial that had to be killed AND forcibly restrained, Yozi fashion. Luna seduced Autochthon into forging chains of pure Essence, promising her not meager attentions in exchange for this "gift", which she then used to bind her dead father to the body of Leviathan. (Autochthon was somewhat miffed by his would-be girlfriend's behavior, which is part of the reason he left creation.) These giant chains restrain the angry moon, tethering it to the ground, preventing it from ascending clear out of the underworld and back into Creation.
Umbra holds dominion over the shadows that play against the moonlit ground, as well as spilled blood of all sorts. As such, he is just as protean as his offspring, Luna.

Phantasms of Umbra

Labyrinth, the Folded City

Sobriquets: The Endless Stair
Labyrinth is an Escherian maze the size of an entire world. It is also the major path from Creation to the rest of the Underworld.

Phantasms of Labyrinth

Onium, the Shifting City

Sobriquets: Pandemonium, The Cacaphony, The Shrieking, Jumblemere, Tempest
There is a place in the Underworld that may remind the casual visitor of Malfeas. That place is called Onium.
Onium personifies tumultuous, directionless rage and confusion. It is a place that literally defies description, as it has no coherence or permanence.
It isn't so much a city as a loose collection of buildings that occasionally resembles a fixed settlement. Onium regularly gets the urge to wander randomly about the Underworld, both above and below ground, like a giant amoeba of mishmashed architecture with a short attention span. Gravity inside his borders frequently has multiple inconsistent pulls, with buildings pointing in whatever direction is most convenient for them at the time, frequently without the benefit of being attached to anything else in Onium. Sometimes, Onium extends psuedopods into Labyrinth, Siane, or the citadels of the Deathlords. Sometimes he melds right into these places, filling their interstices, and completely confusing such normal inhabitants as they have. Sometimes, Deathlord citadels do not survive the encounter.
Onium is not a quiet or relaxing place by any stretch of the imagination. Aside from the fact that the layout of the city and everything in it is forever shifting about and transforming (sometimes violently), it is also extremely loud ... but not so loud as to completely deafen. The acoustics of the place are such that it often seems as if a thousand thousand voices are shouting, moaning, sobbing, or exulting from windows, around corners, down corridors and caverns, out of bedpans, and so forth. This is not a constant background noise, however ... it always seems as though the noises stop abruptly just as the visitor is becoming adjusted to them. Then, as soon as the visitor begins to unkink his tense nerves, they resume. Those who can tolerate Onium without going mad for any length of time become extremely twitchy.
On the few occasions when things grow eerily silent and the cacaphony does not resume, people grow even more nervous. That is because the silence sometimes heralds the arrival of the Demon Whispers.

Phantasms of Onium

Perea, the Sunless Sea

Sobriquets: The Sea of Shadows, The Black Ocean, Sailor's Bane
Perea is that which calls the mortal soul to its final rest. It is the endless black ocean on the borders of the underworld, still as glass, ungraced by the light of any celestial body.

Phantasms of Perea

Vane, the Night with his Courtier

Sobriquets: The Rebus

Phantasms of Vane

Themes

Though it may not be apparent for some of them, all of the above Cessela have a major theme drawn from mankind's view of death, dying, and related concepts.
Original material copyright © 1995-2002, Jimmy "Gregor" McKinney
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