THE DARK PRINCE.

His oldest (named, canonized) is a half-fiend (human mother, unnamed) called Rule-of-Three.

Rule-of-Three was just about the most knowledgeable source on the Abyss available. He dwelt on Azzagrat in the city of Zelatar or in Sigil, was allied with Graz'zt, and knew much about the Abyssal Realms. When in Azzagrat, he stayed in the back room of an inn called the Golden Opportunity. People searching for information from him could easily access it, but for a three-pronged price, such as precious metals of three different types or three magic items. Rule-of-Three was the mastermind behind the plan for which he was named, a uniting of tanar'ri, yugoloth, and baatezu to take over the upper planes.

It feels safe to say that all, or most, of Gra.z'zt's children have served him as spies and information brokers at one point or another. Three appears to have been at it for a long time to have developed the wealth of information he has at his disposal.

Conquering the upper planes is not necessarily at the top of Gra.z'z'ts list of priorities (yet), but I think of this:

Only Graz'zt could say if he had truly severed ties with Asmodeus or was secretly colluding with him, and either answer didn't preclude him from changing his mind later.

This obviously isn't canon, but I would run Rule-of-Three as the middleman between his father and grandfather in their very politically tense long-term plans to stop fighting each other and start fighting the gods. I also might get cheeky and say that I think Rule-of-Three was born pre-Fall and followed his father into the Abyss, changing in nature from Devil to Demon over time.

Next in line is Belyara, who is one of the most obscure of her father's children. I can't even confirm where she was first referenced, or where the information we do have about her was published, because I have had to scrub it from old forums and random blogs.

Belyara, who is a lamia, is so obscure because she was kept prisoner by an eladrin conjurer for a very long time. It is unclear how she eventually escaped, but she did, and she is not very happy with her father for allowing her to languish in captivity. Gr.az'zt is sorry she feels that way, but she really should not have gotten herself captured. It's on sight with them, at least for now.

Belyara is definitely tied to a very complicated history between demons and eladrin. It's a whole thing. Pale Night is involved.

Most likely, he sent her to Androlynne to assist Pale Night in fighting off all the goddamn fey and celestials bothering his poor mother, and when she got herself captured, she fell immediately out of favor.

Before there were the Witchborn, there was the Orgolath Dynasty in northeast Faerun. Circa -666 DR (2,000 years + some change before the events of Baldur's Gate III), G.raz'zt's human consort, Ayanna Orgolath, gave birth to twin sons.

The brothers, named Ulthas and Ulthar, were nicknamed "the Darkwing" and "the Darkhorn" respectively because of their demonic heritage. The twins would slay Nentyarch Belevan the Unliving of the Crell Dynasty in −633 DR, thus beginning the Orgolath Dynasty, which would last for nearly 500 years.

Ayanna is one of the few named mothers we have, which is exciting, but we know very little about her. I imagine that Gra.z'zt favored her rather significantly for a time—she was potentially Elazalag's (his consort-queen before the Tasha Affair) first true threat to his long-term attentions. After all, we have no named heirs descended from Elazalag in all the lore, but Ayanna gave him twins who became conquerors, who established a long-living dynasty.

He is himself, though, and I don't see any reason to assume that Ayanna ever challenged him. At least not very seriously. So, his attentions did certainly wander, but I imagine that there was a respected position awaiting her in the Argent Palace after her death. There is no reason for me to speculate that she became a vampire, but he has a vampire tower, so fuck it. I do what I want, and Ayanna is a Vampire Lord.

Anyway. As their relationship cooled, the respect and dignity remained. G.raz'zt doesn't love anyone but himself and his awful mirror (Tasha), but he rewards the people who serve him well. She has long since removed herself from her... extended afterlife in the Argent Palace and was well out of there before Tasha ever set foot on the grounds—she's made her own way as a political emissary about the Abyss. Works closely with Verin, but seldom makes appearances in Azzagrat herself.

The boys, I imagine, felt no strong inclination to get involved in their father's affairs in their afterlives. They and their descendants were handsomely rewarded, but G.raz'zt was a very hands-off patron of their empire. He was more interested in the propagation of his blood than actual mortal politics.

We're about to enter his drow era. First up is another daughter so obscure that I can't entirely confirm where she originates from: Liska.

Liska is a skulk, which is an ancestry descended from a tribe of nomadic humans who were captured and enslaved by drow in the city of Guallidurth. They were eventually freed by an avatar of Ibrandul the Stalker, and the people who remained in the Underdark to worship eventually developed strange camouflage abilities.

As for Liska herself, all we really know is that she is another spy and assassin. Her first loyalty is to her own survival, then to her father. She defends his interests with a cadre of male drow utterly loyal to her, and like her father, she beds and loses interest in them with great swiftness.

I imagine that she works closely with her half-brother Athux, a half-drow cambion and the general of Gr.az'zt's armies. What Athux is most famous for, however, is the downfall of Adimarchus, the Demon Prince of Madness.

Adimarchus was a fallen celestial. It is not known how or why he fell from grace, but what is known is that he eventually led an army of demons to invade the upper plane of Celestia. The angels of Celestia repelled the invasion by casting part of Celestia (along with Adimarchus and the invading demonic horde) into the Abyss, specifically, the 507th layer known as Occipitus. Despite his defeat, Adimarchus incorporated the wreckage of Celestia into the layer, and in doing so, he became the ruler of Occipitus, becoming a demon lord in the process. Adimarchus went on to build an empire in the Abyss, eventually coming into conflict with Graz'zt. Shortly afterwards, Adimarchus disappeared.

What happened was Athux. Presenting himself as a drow-aasimar paladin, Athux fought his way to Adimarchus on a quest to "redeem his soul." They fought brutally, but Adimarchus eventually gained the upper hand. He could not, however, bring himself to kill the paladin so hell-bent on saving him.

Instead, Adimarchus kept Athux prisoner, dedicating himself to the joint pursuit of seduction and corruption. Athux, on the other hand, fueled in Adimarchus a hatred against demonkind. Were they lovers? Worse.

When Adimarchus planned an assault on G.raz'zt, Graz'zt himself conspired with Adimarchus's traitorous lieutenants, swayed by Athux in secret. In the ensuing battle, Gr.az'zt captured Athux and imprisoned him in Carceri. Adimarchus abandoned his layer and his armies, rushing to save his consort and potentially find redemption.

He found Athux, stricken with insanity in an asylum called Skullrot, and was offered the choice to swap places with his love. He readily agreed, and when it was done, Athux revealed his true nature. Father and son laughed all the way home together.

Athux's mother is a notable drow priestess named Eclavdra, but they have no relationship. More than any other son, even Rule-of-Three, Athux is the spitting image of his father.

Iuz is up next. He is already featured and discussed heavily in the Witchborn Legend Lore.

Someone not included in the Witchborn post who perhaps should have been is Arzial, the Blooded Baron. There is no real indication that Arzial is among Tasha's progeny, but we know nothing of his mother, so I am inclined to include him among their ranks. He is seen as the least accomplished of Graz.zt's heirs, largely due to his distinct lack of political ambition. His father gave him a barony on Pazunia,t he first layer of the Abyss, but he is a wizard and thus far more interested in his own research.

He briefly (~50 years) fostered the half-fiend son of a human enchantress with whom he was close. He is possibly, but not certainly, the boy's father.

Last, but never least in her father's eyes, is Thraxxia, his private master of assassins.

Thraxxia was the daughter of G.raz'zt and a long-dead human monk. After killing three of her half-sisters to prove herself to her father, she then served as Graz'zt's personal assassin. During his imprisonment of Waukeen, Gr.az'zt plotted to magically disguise Thraxxia as the goddess of wealth and transfer Waukeen's portfolio to her. This plot was thwarted by a band of adventurers in 1370 DR.

I am a pretty tough person to rattle. I don’t have any triggers, I don’t have a DNI list, and for the most part the only time I’m going to want to be apprised of a situation is when there’s some serious, actual moral-boundary-crossing going on. It’s not that I don’t care - it’s that I don’t want to get sucked into a turf war.

I pretty firmly self-identify as a high-activity writer. I write a lot, and I write quickly. I’m fine with people being less hard-on-the-clamp than me, but if we’re following each other I’m presuming that there’s at the very least an active desire for our characters to interact and will act under that assumption. If you’re prone to overlapping hiatuses or long periods of low muse, I’ll manage my expectations.

ADDENDUM: If the only posts on your blog are complaining about how you WANT to write but CAN’T, and you’re REALLY excited to start writing again but never actually DO, I’m going to unfollow you. I’m happy to write even if I'm not following you, but I don’t follow RP blogs to get “life update: it got worse” posts.

SECOND ADDENDUM: If we follow each other, great! I’ll send over a message advising that I’m ready to plot or discuss our options. When I do this, I’m assuming you’d like to get down to business soon after following, and a lot of the time people are a little iffy about making first contact. I have no problem doing it. If I don’t get a response, I’ll drop another IM about a week later as a reminder - these things fall through the cracks, there’s no shame in having something slip your mind or having Tumblr’s monolithically bad messaging system decide not to notify you. If THAT doesn’t get a response, I’ll unfollow after about a week. It’s nothing personal, but I follow people I’d to write with, and I assume if you follow me back the feeling is mutual. That said, I WON’T block in this case. I only softblock blogs that have been inactive for more than a month.

The Student is a tightly-bound ball of questionable coping mechanisms and misdirected feelings and will be portrayed as such. Rakatak is the direct beneficiary of an evil empire that worships an evil god and will, similarly, be portrayed as such. Aside from the obvious violence you can expect here, there may also be allusions of (slightly) disordered eating, self-negligence, propaganda, corporal punishment and similar topics - though not direct self-harm. Will tag if necessary.

If I behave in a way you find difficult or impossible to interface with, there’s no shame in saying you don’t think things will work out. Saying so is appreciated.

The original rule still applies. Don’t be a dick.