Outworld Destroyer/Lore

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[e][h]Outworld Destroyer

About

Names:

Destroyer
The Destroyer
Outworld Devourer
The Devourer
“OD”

Origin/Abode:

The Outworld
The Void

Family/Connections:

Devourling (reflection)

Age:

Ageless

Race/Species:

Harbinger's Race

Faction/s:

Dire

Associated With

Heroes:

Kanna

“

▶️ Their sanity I'll shatter, their dreams of conquest I'll destroy. — Harbinger overrides both sanity and ambition with his powerful intellect and bad news

”

An eerie visitant to our realm from the outer dark, Harbinger, the Outworld Destroyer (or Outworld Devourer) arrives to our world to bring dark tidings and unswayable omens that only he could hope to avert. He originates from the World on the Rim, a crystalline fortress afloat in the cold nameless space between the stars and planets. Although he is very powerful and intimidating on his own, he is merely an omen for worse things that await all of creation.

Biography

Harbinger, the Outworld Destroyer

One of a lordly and magisterial race, Harbinger prowls the edge of the Void, sole surviving sentry of an outpost on the world at the rim of the abyss. From this jagged crystalline Outworld, forever on guard, he has gazed for eternities into the heavens, alert for any stirring in the bottomless night beyond the stars. Imprinted deep in the shining lattices of his intellect lies a resonant pattern akin to prophecy, a dark music implying that eventually some evil will wake out there, beyond the edges of creation, and turn its attention to our world. With his whole being focused on his vigil, Outworld Destroyer paid little attention to events closer in to the sun. But at last the clamor of the Ancients, and a sense of growing threat from within as well as without, sent him winging sunward to visit the plains of war. Harbinger's place in our own prophecies is unambiguous: he must be considered an omen of worse things to come. But his arrival in itself is bad enough.

Artifact

Kanna, once a child of the Radiant, has abandoned her mother Prellex and, by extension, her Radiant flock for the embrace of the Dire after it saved her from her feeble form. Since then, Kanna has risen among its followers as the Priestess of the Dire, but she has no one to look to for guidance without a parent. Sensing a good opportunity, Harbinger seeks to infiltrate her inner circle with an evil intent to wrap her around his little finger before she even realizes it, but the Earthshaker is already her champion. Therefore, he offers himself to her as her seneschal, until he surreptitiously rises above her as her new master.

Personality and Mannerisms

Because of a “resonant pattern” carved into his crystal-like intellect, the former of which is likened to a prophecy conveyed by a sinister music that forewarns a threat worthy of the cosmic guardian's concern and attention through oblique messages―or in far simpler words, bad news that constantly rings loud and clear in his mind―Harbinger is constantly haunted by the ill fate of this universe. The indelible expectation that this world has nothing good to look forward to because of this threat has made him existentially nihilistic: there's no meaning to his existence unless he achieves victory in the Ancients' war, which just might avert this fate that will render all things pointless and insignificant.

With the assured doom of all things in mind, no one and nothing in this universe bears any importance or significance in the Destroyer's eyes, so nothing important will be lost when the end comes. Our pain, the struggle to persevere through harm and death, is of no consequence to him in the face of an all encompassing fate of destruction and even the end itself which he makes such a big deal about by constantly drawing our all our attentions to it, will be forgotten along with the rest. Even things like money, a powerful means of exchange to facilitate the acquisition of that which is valuable and a token of the value of anything, is useless to him with the end being nigh.

Knowing that the end of everything's coming has also made him very pessimistic. His pessimism is reinforced by his witness of the end of vast and enduring things in his very long life, including stars, entire worlds, and vast civilizations. He may resign himself to inevitable outcomes and embrace them, and at times they make him feel regret over not knowing it before or not doing more before it all ends, as well as a poignant sense of grief. At times, he may feel denial over the inevitable, which is likely from what remaining will power he has left to desire a different and satisfactory outcome. He even takes his own good fortune for granted, because of the bleak future that haunts his mind with the knowledge that it is inescapable. Even fear fills the likes of him in times like these.

As such, Harbinger is a miserable creature with a dispiriting foul mood. He was conceived and reared “above” his homeworld where he was steeped into a life without fun, leisure, etc. When he descends upon the battlefield, he brings naught but bad news that alarms even himself with dread, snuffing out and superseding the hopes and dreams that this opposition carries to battle. He's a buzzkill who negates the comfort and assurance that others have to cope in bad times. He's ill-disposed to those who defy his prophecy, like false prophets and those who still try to cling to hope in the face of this.

He also has a depressing outlook in which he believes life's already rife with suffering. He has grown weary and stressed from the demands of his duty and the distress brought by the prophecy's bleakness and he teeters on the edge of insanity. Despite his pessimist mood and despondency, this prophecy that afflicts him with these also motivates him to participate in the wars of the Ancients. His actions are driven by this prophecy of doom which tips our future in favor of war and death and destructions, therefore compelling him to facilitate the worse to fulfill what was foreseen even if he has to be as oblique like a mere omen, such as a black cat causing a bad day. In spite of this, he still tries to fulfill his role as a guardian who averts the end, this being his true purpose in the first place.

Nevertheless, Harbinger possesses a strong mind that has sustained him for aeons against the foul mania inflicted by the bleak and terrifying prognoses of the end. He and his like are comforted by that which the mundane finds terrifying, including the horrifying and inscrutable void where he roosts to reflect in peace and dangerous conditions for flight.

Despite all this doom and gloom, Harbinger may surprisingly show goodwill in the genuine gratitude that he shows to those who helps him by wishing them well in spite of the inevitable end times. He can even give assurance and comfort to his allies in the face of doom.

Harbinger is from a lost race who were known as lordly and magisterial beings. Hence, he's a domineering presence who seeks to control and command others around him. This is quite apparent in his resonance with the Path of the Wise where those who go this path are fit to rule over others, plus they maintain their authority by keeping secrets from their subjects and they reject sentimentality in their path to rule effectively, because emotions and feelings can cloud one's judgment when there's much to gain and lose.

His dominating personality also means that Harbinger is a sadistic humiliator. He puts others in their place beneath him and he revels in causing misery in others. He is a dark force with a threatening aura, an intimidating being who sows fears and cowardice amongst his enemies, and a true harbinger who utters warnings that are meant to be taken seriously with fear and concern over the unsettling doom that was clearly forewarned. Essentially, he dominates lesser beings using fear.

Harbinger tends to pick up enemies with his talons before flying into the air to carry them away to some undesirable place.

Relationships

Stake in the War of the Ancients

Rather than seeking self-aggrandizement or glory, Harbinger participates in the war of the Ancients to end their conflict, for good. To him, this timeless conflict, whose scale has consumed the Seven Planes, is completely unimportant compared to what comes after the war. What finally made him concerned about this war after his lonely vigil that spanned long aeons was a faint sense at the edge of his consciousness that their battle will facilitate the arrival of the same evil forces that was prophesied by the pattern in his mind. As such, ending the war in victory has become his new purpose. Since then, his post in the Outworld is empty and the void has been left unguarded.

So far, there's only one catastrophic event related to the Ancients' cosmic struggle that will doom reality: the Great Confluence. It's unknown if Harbinger is watching out for this doomsday where the fabrics of multiple realities are fated to merge and cause chaos, but it would definitely be something he would be concerned about as a protector of the cosmos.

Harbinger may croak about the rising of the blood sun, which might be an omen related to this evil.

Allies

The Dire

Harbinger united with the Dire by offering himself as a seneschal to Kanna who will guide and mold her in the absence of her mother back in the Radiant, so he can cover his schemes to enslave her to some purpose. The demands of his prophecy and the Ancients are one as they both crave war, which Kanna isn't really blind to. Finding her interpretation of the future aligned with his own, Harbinger joins her at her behest to meet the future's demand for war and destructions. The opposite happens if they meet as enemies: he will find her insights of the future poorly limited and he will arrive with bad news that she cannot control the happenings or just be hostile to her.

Aware that the Earthshaker is already Kanna's champion, Harbinger has decided to infiltrate her trust by being her steward instead. This earth avatar is also aware that Harbinger has long stared into the abyss, using this to ask him whether he has seen a concerning hostile entity approaching our planet from the vast night beyond it.

Harbinger seems to be friendly with Pugna, a fellow Hero of the Dire, since he's displeased to kill him. It's interesting to note that the both of them share a nihilistic outlook and a pessimist attitude.

Miscellaneous

The Astral Plane has produced a strange reflection of Harbinger, called the Devourling. The original's intimidating features are oddly distorted in this creature to give it a cute appearance. Like most couriers, this simulacrum is a trusty creature who is always ready to help.

Enemies

Evils of the Void

Alerted by the ominous implications of a dark, prophetic tune that resonates in his mind, Harbinger watches the abyss alone from his outpost at the world on the boundary between reality and nihility to anticipate the stirring of an evil threat from beyond and their destined arrival. But he has belayed his vigil to participate in and end the war of the Ancients after giving attention to a faint sense at the edge of his consciousness that their conflict will bring about this threat's arrival from within.

Besides their existence and ill intentions, a concerningly small amount is known about these evil forces. Faceless Void is familiar with these hostiles he looks out for, and says they're like the voidal god Clasz on account of their place in the void, much like said god. They are said to be cold, beyond knowing, implacable (though this does not stop Harbinger from intimidating them with his wings of strange power), and capable of firing piercing rays that Harbinger's race protects themselves from with armor.

The Radiant

By siding with the Dire, Harbinger is unfriendly and hostile to the Radiant.

This includes their revered Priestess of the Radiant, Prellex. Pledged to the vile forces of the Dire, the Harbinger's bound to realize Kanna's will to have Prellex dead, while protecting the former from her mother in the war between their Ancient masters. As such, Harbinger may be confounded when he finds himself allied with the Radiant.

Other Characteristics

Abode

Harbinger attends the battlefield we're all familiar with in game from either the Outworld or the void, both being places that he calls a home or a place of familiar comfort. He was born and raised among his kin at the former before he became the last of his kind.

Physical Form

The Destroyer's body is brimming with the spiritual essence that fuels his magic, caused by his vast intelligence and abundant supply of mana energy from his homeworld. Lacking blood, this essence leaks out of him when he's damaged. Hence his ethereal gib type.

He's made of obsidian-like stones covering his griffin-centaur body. They seem to be a cancer on his body that reaches his heart in death.

Powers

Symmetry Summoning

Conducive to his duty as the universe's protector against foul evils beyond, Harbinger may summon a dark power to protect the inmost shells of creation against cold & destructive forces that are beyond knowing. This dark power is represented by the symmetry of the horns of a helm he wears, implying its connection to something symmetrical.

Gold Conjuration

By unknown but certainly arcane means, Harbinger can summon tons of gold coins to crush his opponents under their weight for an ill fate of poetic justice for the avaricious or just for a lark.

Abyss Damnation

Those who are killed by the Outworld Destroyer are sent to the outer dark.

Immortality

When the Destroyer dies, he returns to his abode in the void or the Outworld itself. From these eldritch places, Harbinger may spring back to life and return to our world from the void. In addition to being able to reincarnate, he is ageless and can remain across this universe's aeons without the decay or erosion of a mortal life.

Snapfire seems to be concerned that Harbinger can survive death by being “pan-dimensional” which implies that he exists in all dimensions at once and can only be truly killed if he's dead in all of them, like how the Fundamentals exist in all planes at once. She merely brings this up as an unconfirmed possibility, but it's interesting that she considered it when talking about him.

Arcane Orb

Harbinger can hurl Arcane Orbs by using his “outworldly knowledge” to tap into the “ebb and flow of all spiritual energy”, before infusing it into his being, thus providing him energy for said orbs.

Perhaps this basically means that he uses his knowledge of stuff beyond the mundane world (his outworldly knowledge) to tap into the sea of mana (ebb and flow of all spiritual energy), the essence of magic, that exists beyond the physical world and fill himself with it to fire raw mana orbs from his staff. As literal projections of his intellect, they inflict the unfamiliar but exquisite pain of being stabbed by raw brainpower.

This ability is basically like the way he functions in gameplay, he taps into mana to do damage based on attributes related to his intelligence.

Astral Imprisonment

When deemed necessary, Harbinger can sentence foes to Astral Imprisonment by teleporting them to the “pocket between this world and the Outworld” and locking them away there. This pocket is actually the void itself, which humbles its own visitants by making them realize that they know so little in the face of pure nothingness and treats them to the unwelcome knowledge that is their helplessness against death, tormenting them with dark contemplation and inscrutable horror. As his victims suffer in the void, this prison also steals their intelligence for him, perfectly complimenting his psychic abilities and fueling them.

The descriptive use of the word “astral” in the name of this ability, which imprisons peoples in the void, further implies that the astral plane of existence and the void are one and the same.

Arcane Replenishment

Whether it's through his Essence Flux or other previous versions of this ability, Harbinger is never far from the rich supply of magic energy in his homeworld. The Outworld he's from is abundant in arcane energies produced by its native crystals, which he exploits by channeling the crystals' produce into his rifts leading to his place in our world to replenish his magic.

Sanity's Eclipse

Sanity's Eclipse is the result of an Outworld crystal rupturing, releasing cataclysmic energies whose reverberations can be felt between the dimensions, which might explain why it can hit victims who are imprisoned in the void by his second ability. The effect is a psychic blast which destroys minds that are lesser than Harbinger's vast intellect, therefore it worsens for them the smarter he is. This power is said to be sourced and channeled from the void itself.

Friendships and rivalries

Allies meeting Outworld Destroyer

• ▶️ r For whom do you watch, Harbinger? And what do they spell for our fate?
• ▶️ r Look, I don't know if they have gold where you're from but in case they don't, the little metal coins laying around are useless. Just let me collect them.
• ▶️ r Let's lock 'em down.
• ▶️ r I did not think to find one of your kind here, watcher. Are there more of you to call on?
• ▶️ r I have seen something approaching from the darkness. Have you seen it, too?
• ▶️ r Your enemies are kin to Clasz. Let us destroy him together.
• ▶️ r Outworld eh? Ah, can't say's I've been there.
• ▶️ r Let's drain these fools of mana.
• ▶️ u Outworld Destroyer, let's see who steals them first.
• ▶️ u Hey Destroyer, what are you made of? And what's it worth?
• ▶️ ▶️ r Just so you know, I have a strict no-Astral-Imprisonment policy.
• ▶️ ▶️ r Stop looking at me like that.
• ▶️ ▶️ r Are you sure this world deserves your help?
• ▶️ r So what do they do for fun where you come from?
• ▶️ r It's my first time working with whatever it is you are. Anything I should know about?
• ▶️ r A dark omen that one like you is here...
• ▶️ r What the Outworld represents, and why one would destroy it, is now a quandary that intrigues me.
• ▶️ r I think we'll get along just fine.
• ▶️ r Yours is a culture devoid of fun, OD.
• ▶️ r I thought I'd been places...
• ▶️ r Oh, come on now. You're just stringing a whizzer on me.
• ▶️ r Does the old road go unguarded?

Enemies meeting Outworld Destroyer

• ▶️ r Your machinations end here.
• ▶️ r What then does this portend?
• ▶️ ▶️ r It's adorable. You think you can stop me.

Enemies killing Outworld Destroyer

• ▶️ r Ever start a fight not even knowing if an enemy can be killed? Heh, phew.
• ▶️ You devour your last.
• ▶️ u Your name is not Axe-world Destroyer!
• ▶️ My blades can scarcely bleed this one, but still the essence flows.
• ▶️ r You never should have come here!
• ▶️ r Go back where you're from!
• ▶️ r The Thunder protects this world.
• ▶️ r You should have stayed at your post.
• ▶️ r Hard to say what you were guilty of, but I trusted it was something.
• ▶️ Gravity brings you down.
• ▶️ r Little more than a haggard dog.
• ▶️ Ah go waste your omens on someone younger.
• ▶️ r Heard you were some kind of big hullabaloo. I didn't come here to prove anything, but I guess I just did.
• ▶️ r What do I even say to that?
• ▶️ ▶️ Never trust a--what are you anyway?
• ▶️ ▶️ u I will outlive your omens, Destroyer.
• ▶️ r You're just a glorified guard dog.
• ▶️ Ain't you a cheerful one.
• ▶️ ▶️ r Hadn't you heard? Imprisoning me just makes me stronger.
• ▶️ r I don't do well with authority figures.
• ▶️ r You should have stayed on the sidelines.
• ▶️ r The chains know a thing or two about devouring.
• ▶️ r Oh wow, that was a scary death rattle. It almost sounded like he was trying to say something important.
• ▶️ r Do you spend too much time alone, or were you always this way?
• ▶️ r Merely a harbinger of my victory.
• ▶️ r I'll always remember his laugh.
• ▶️ r You turn intelligence into power. I turn gullibility into profit. I simply have more to work with.
• ▶️ r Ageless is not immortal.
• ▶️ r Tell the truth, I'm not even sure he's really dead. What if he's pan-dimensional?
• ▶️ r That'll put ya up a tree. They got trees where you're from?
• ▶️ ▶️ File:Spectre (Phantom Advent Alt) mapicon dota2 gameasset.png r Released from duty.
• ▶️ I thought you were made of rock like me, but I guess it was only chalk.
• ▶️ Whatever rock you're made of seems to be delicate stuff.
• ▶️ Grounded.
• ▶️ r If you're that intelligent, you would've guessed this outcome.
• ▶️ Clipped your wings.
• ▶️ u You are powerless here, Destroyer.
• ▶️ r The fall of the last guardian and no one left to recognize its import.
• ▶️ r You abandoned your true mission just to die like this.
• ▶️ u Stone wings?
• ▶️ Stone wings? An abomination!
• ▶️ r Well, killing me obviously wasn't your purpose.

Enemies dying to Outworld Destroyer

• ▶️ So that's what you were warning me about.

Others

• ▶️ r It would seem I am not the only Harbinger of evil tidings here.
• ▶️ ▶️ Face your omens!

Trivia

• Harbinger shares many similar personality traits that are typical in characters related to the void, including a nihilistic outlook (especially existential nihilism) that causes them to be pessimistic and (in some cases) miserable, a lordly and domineering personality, and a strong inclination to sadism from hurting or humiliating others around them without mercy.
• Outworld Destroyer and Lone Druid are foils to each other. They both anticipate the end of the world, but Harbinger merely wants to see it all end, while Sylla looks forward to world's destruction for the cycle of rebirth after it.