Magnum Tenebrosum (Art by Anders Sandberg)
The Magnum Tenebrosum, also known as the Røkkva by the Old Norse or the Black Winter, is a primordial anti-life entity that serves as the manifestation of Azathoth's mindless destruction of all things.
Overview[]
The Magnum Tenebrosum is a mindless mass of darkness that is more of a sentient representation of Azathoth's destruction rather than a physical being. It also serves to be part of the World of Void; in this case it is the anti-life that is within the void as opposed to true life that is in light. It is also prophesied that the coming of the Magnum Tenebrosum would herald the beginning of the Final Conflict.
History[]
Genesis[]
The Magnum Tenebrosum was spawned near the beginning of the universe by Azathoth. It purportedly seeped out of the closing fissures of the Dark Tapestry from Azathoth before the Great Beast was imprisoned alongside the Ogdru Jahad but remained dormant in the darkness outside of creation. It was not until the universe became fully developed that it started to slowly emerge from its dormancy and only became active when multiple universes started to spring forth from the Tree of Life's pollen. The Magnum Tenebrosum began to roam creation, mindlessly consuming any universe it comes across, becoming a cosmic parasite that eats away through the very fabric of life.
Heaven opted to seal it until God halted them, instead actually allowing the Magnum Tenebrosum to consume the spawning universes mainly as a way to "clean house" in Gabriel's words as He did not want the "infinite expanse to grow crowded", essentially keeping the balance between creation and destruction intact. Somewhat reluctantly, Heaven left the Magnum Tenebrosum to its own devices while being assured that it would not find its way towards the prime universe. But even then, as life continued to spread throughout the multiverse, the Magnum Tenebrosum grew increasingly powerful and destructive.
At the End of All Things[]
Untold eons later, the Magnum Tenebrosum would detect a cosmic pulse that was inadvertently generated by Lucifer during his campaign to reshape creation using the Tree of Knowledge thus leading it to the prime universe. Heaven now became on high alert and prepared to defend creation from the Magnum Tenebrosum. Lucifer, seeking to redeem himself from the destruction he wrought through his actions, teamed up with his Seraphim siblings to find a way to repel the Magnum Tenebrosum.
They would discover from Raziel's book that God took precautions knowing that the Tenebrosum would one day find its way to the prime universe. This failsafe consists of the one material capable of purging the Magnum Tenebrosum, which is a piece of prelapsarian white wood from the Tree of Life, specifically wood that has remained untouched for eons and the first to sprout during the beginnings of Heaven and creation.
Powers and Abilities[]
Being a formless entity made of anti-life and a manifestation of pure destruction, the Magnum Tenebrosum is terrifyingly powerful and destructive, capable of devouring whole universes. It does this by generating frost and snow made up of eldritch darkness that disintegrates whatever it comes into contact with. This frost is fatally deadly to gods like Zeus or Odin, even Seraphim angels can fall prey to the frost but are able to resist it for a short duration. The Tenebrosum can create tendrils of anti-life, and can also generate monstrous offshoots to hunt down prey.
What is interesting about the Magnum Tenebrosum is that it appears differently to each person that sees it, usually taking on the form of the person or being fated to bring about the onlooker's demise, though it is capable of changing form at-will. It is also capable of creating realistic illusions in the form of other entities in someone's mind.