| “ | In the deep recesses of history, there lies an entity that nearly gripped our world in the maw of the dark...Kupala. A prince of Hell. The Black Talon. A terrible plague that took the combined might of your father, Ecclesia, and even a dragon to lock him away. Even the vampires speak of him in hushed whispers as his name only invites an ill omen. No matter the cost, he is to never break free of his bonds. | „ |
| ~ Shanoa speaking of Kupala to Dante |
Kupala formerly known as Akiel, was once a high ranking member of the Dominion until he fell and became a mighty prince of Hell and an extremely powerful Archdemon that worked directly under Satan.
Overview[]
Kupala is an ancient and extremely powerful demon that is credited for creating the Blood God, Absalom. Kupala was perhaps first demon ever to be physically bound in the earth, and he may even have invented the technique with the aid of his priests and followers. No matter how the binding occurred, it allowed Kupala to anchor his essence into the soil of the Seteran mountains, deep in the heart of what would become Carpathia. Kupala inhabits not just a single mountain, but the entire range. he would be responsible for directly and indirectly influencing the nation into dark acts and wars that transpired through history.
History[]
Background[]
Kupala was likely one of the Dominions in the second Heaven and is also believed to be a sibling to Baphomet. After he was cast out of the Celestial Kingdom alongside Lucifer's renegade angels, following the establishment of Hell's hierarchy, Kupala was ranked as a prince of Hell, serving directly under Satan within his infernal court.
Dark Reign[]
Kupala was known for his intricate knowledge in the link between the material world and spiritual world. Essentially, he was the first demon to find a way to bypass the limited means of travel within the material plane without being reduced to their spiritual forms and pulled back into Hell or having to possess humans whose flesh could not contain their immense power. Kupala also shared this knowledge with his satanic followers in the human world. The process involved alchemy and argent energy all centered around the creation of a reliquary, small yet large enough to hold their physical forms on Earth. The first to test it was Mundus himself with his marbled body without it having to crack from the immense strain of using his powers.
Kupala was among the remaining infernal legions that still roamed the Earth after the great powers of Hell were vanquished by the Legendary Dark Knight, Sparda. He also founded a massive cult of humans who were corrupted by Hell's energies to weave a powerful spell that would help bind to the Earth without repercussions. It was in this time that he would adopt the name of Kupala and began to be worshiped as a god.
Succeeding, Kupala was at last free to roam the human world. At some unknown point during his venture, his followers notified of him of a horde of mutated humanoids that look as if their "shadows were mangling their bodies". Curious, Kupala came over which was when he encountered the Darkness, one of the fabled Ab Initio Artifacts, which was festering within humans who were filled with hate. Fascinated, as well as elated to have one of the great artifacts of creation in his possession, he would extract the powers of the Darkness from its hosts as a means to experiment on the land of Setera, filling it with many dangers and chaos sprung forth from the artifact that it threatened to spill out into the rest of the now free world.
Imprisonment[]
Fortunately, Kupala was intercepted not just by Sparda himself but a group of mortals that came together to repel Kupala's dark forces. Sparda and these band of mortals would take the fight directly to Kupala as the great demon was finding a method of removing the spells that bound his masters to the Infernal plain. He would be confronted by the Legendary Dark Knight in a massive battle while the mages worked on sealing away Kupala inside his own Hell Gate using the same spell he taught to his followers to bind him on the Earth. The mages realized that to complete the spell they must use something with extraordinary mass as a reliquary to contain Kupala's massive essence in his Hell Gate; ergo sealing him into the earth itself.
Their hopes were rekindled when a mighty golden dragon named Villentretenmerth arrived and used his powers to create chasms around the land that Kupala dwelled in. Villentretenmerth then conjured forth great magic that uprooted chunks of the earth surrounding Kupala with Sparda collaborating in the effort by piercing Kupala with Yamato and creating spatial disruptions in reality's fabric between the material and immaterial that phased Kupala's very essence into the Gate before using his own powers to move these masses of earth into Kupala in conjunction with the spell that was led to the creation of what would be known as the Carpathian mountains. Sparda and the humans entrusted Villentretenmerth to take and conceal the Darkness artifact beyond the eyes of any would so foolishly dare to harness its destructive power. The humans that helped seal Kupala away would form into an organization known as the Order of Ecclesia, dedicated to ensuring Kupala's eternal imprisonment.
Return[]
Despite having been sealed away, Kupala's energies were faintly encompassing the mountain ranges, whispering to any that pass by the land of where he was imprisoned. He made contact with one such individual, a mortal so deranged and monstrous he could hardly be considered human; Absalom. Upon reaching the entrance of a large cave and stepping forth, Absalom came into contact with Kupala.
Aware of Absalom's intentions, Kupala proposed a pact; in return for bestowing Absalom with frightening demonic power the war lord would break Kupala's ancient chains and aid him in seeking out what Kupala only describes as the "Darkness", a proposition that Absalom accepted. Imbued with power that was beyond the reach of even the strongest of vampiric sorcerers, Absalom became the dreaded Blood God and began his quest for absolute dominion over Europe and then the world as a whole.
