Editing Orcus (section)

==Death and Return==
To appease the Dark Queen Lorraine, TSR figured out how to get Orcus off the setting whilst allowing for his existence in 1e work especially [[Bloodstone Pass|the H series]].

Second-edition Orcus attained the divinity that he so desperately desired, but was shortly thereafter replaced by a [[Drow]] goddess of vengeance and undeath who claimed his layer of '''Thanatos''' as her own. While her name is not explicitly given in "Core" D&D it is made absolutely clear in the [[Planescape]] and [[Forgotten Realms]] settings that it is [[Kiaransalee]].

How TSR handled this brutal change to canon: The Drow deity spent much of her time trying to erase every trace of the fallen demon lord, eliminating every written record of him across the planes. Then she got two of her Drow followers ''(Kestod and Erehe - who will become important in a moment)'' to bury his magic wand in [[Pandemonium]] so that no-one could find it then drowned them both in the '''River Styx''' to conceal the deed. Might this be a passive-aggressive commentary on politically-motivated retconning? It just might!

The scheme failed because one of Kiaransalee's high priests got soppy and wanted Erehe back. Kiaransalee allowed the resurrection and forgot that Drow gossip nasty secrets as a pastime. Hence is set up Planescape's narrative module (it cannot be called an "adventure" with a straight face), ''[[Dead Gods]]''. The "Out of the Darkness" part of it anyway.

A shadowy undead god of death and darkness named '''Tenebrous''' is herein revealed as being Orcus, existing as a demon-wraith after being destroyed and losing his coveted Wand, but gaining control of "The Last Word", a sort of uber-tier Power Word: Kill that can slay even deities. Tenebrous causes all kinds of shit looking for that Wand so he can become Orcus again without losing his divinity in the process that the whole multiverse gets buggered up, including:
*Killing '''Bwimb''', the [[archomental|Elemental Lord]] of the Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, creating a power vacuum.
*Slaying '''[[Maanzecorian]]''' the patron of the [[Illithid]]s and forcing [[Ilsensine]] to take his place.
*Murdered '''Tomeri''': Goddess of Wisdom, and '''Camaxtli''': God of Fate. To the point that their respective pantheons swear vengeance on the perpetrator.
*Most notably murdering '''Primus''' and disguising himself as him in order to seize control of the [[Modron]] race and being responsible for the events of ''The Great Modron March''.

In ''Dead Gods'', the PCs supposedly rid us of the wand, but Orcus may or may not appear anyway. Another interpretation of canon is that Tenebrous finds the wand and has his followers initiate a resurrection spell on his floating body in the Astral Plane, before getting his ass whupped by adventurers. Though this doesn't put Orcus down forever as his gigantic astral body goes missing. His worshipers eventually manage to resurrect him properly by the time of 3rd edition though he has reverted back to his "Demon Lord" status instead of being a god. However, the divine spark of Tenebrous ends up becoming "the ghost of a ghost of a demon prince", turning into a [[Vestige]] that can be called upon by [[Binder]]s and, in 4e, Vestige Pact [[Warlock]]s.

Tenebrous is mentioned by name in 5e’s Curse of Strahd as a vestige sealed in the Amber Temple of Barovia, and a throwaway line in the new *Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft* states that Tenebrous has ascended to become one of the Dark Powers of Ravenloft

===Pathfinder===
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