On Rubedo and Astaroth, the good Doctor's Familiar and Dearest Friends
Rubedo, The Child of the Fourth Endeavor
If you have read this far then you already know of the Magnum Opus of Alchemy and by extension the first three Endeavor's of that Grand Work and that Doctor John Dee along out of all humanity has seen the final Endeavor come to fruition. The result of this process, the reddening, representing the sanguine element and the rebirth and absolute perfection of not only form but ideal was seen to its completion in the final hours of the mortal John Dee's life and not again attempted since.
The resultant object, or rather entity, is an imperfect philosopher's stone which takes the form of an animate blob of irradiated Red Mercury some five tonne's in weight and of a volume that when decompressed could easily fill a large swimming pool. This mass of super-dense liquid metal is possessed of a primitive sentience, hunter-like cunning, and a unending almost canine loyalty to the Doctor.
It is able to move under its own force and take any shape its size can accommodate, rapidly transition freely between states of matter by venting or taking on heat, and even split into multiple parts which all share a single perfectly coordinated mind. The precision of these abilities allow it to achieve impressive feats of stealth, infiltration, and surveillance by way of splitting into tiny droplets and are of a power that it can pierce, cut, and crush near any material with raw force should it need to. Its control of its own form in fact even extends beyond its immediate physical mass, as it can even shape the immense radiation that pours off of it, containing it entirely or directing it as needed to perform tasks of subterfuge or destruction as desired.
As impressive as these feats might be however they are all secondary and unintentional parts of its existence as an imperfect stone, and its true power lies closer to that legend. Within Rubedo is a limitless maelstrom of fundamental and primordial forces, the power of raw creation that makes and unmakes as it pleases. Even forms of life long since dead and never before seen can be created, or re-created, from baser materials. Any mass that is taken into Rubedo can be transformed freely into anything else. The total mass of objects that can be transmuted and the time it takes to transmute them is a ratio dependent on Rubedo's overall mass that is devoted to the task and given time it can transmute an amount of material equal to its own mass.
Despite its myriad impressive qualities the entity does not transcend the limits of the material form or exert its marvelous power on the world around it instead of simply within it. Thus while it is in fact the result of the fourth endeavor it fails to fulfill the qualifications as a transcendent miracle of limitless power over the Aether to truly be considered the Magnum Opus. So it was that the Doctor decided that the failure, miraculous as it is, was not fit to bear the title of Philosopher's Stone and so instead it was merely dubbed "Rubedo".
The resultant object, or rather entity, is an imperfect philosopher's stone which takes the form of an animate blob of irradiated Red Mercury some five tonne's in weight and of a volume that when decompressed could easily fill a large swimming pool. This mass of super-dense liquid metal is possessed of a primitive sentience, hunter-like cunning, and a unending almost canine loyalty to the Doctor.
It is able to move under its own force and take any shape its size can accommodate, rapidly transition freely between states of matter by venting or taking on heat, and even split into multiple parts which all share a single perfectly coordinated mind. The precision of these abilities allow it to achieve impressive feats of stealth, infiltration, and surveillance by way of splitting into tiny droplets and are of a power that it can pierce, cut, and crush near any material with raw force should it need to. Its control of its own form in fact even extends beyond its immediate physical mass, as it can even shape the immense radiation that pours off of it, containing it entirely or directing it as needed to perform tasks of subterfuge or destruction as desired.
As impressive as these feats might be however they are all secondary and unintentional parts of its existence as an imperfect stone, and its true power lies closer to that legend. Within Rubedo is a limitless maelstrom of fundamental and primordial forces, the power of raw creation that makes and unmakes as it pleases. Even forms of life long since dead and never before seen can be created, or re-created, from baser materials. Any mass that is taken into Rubedo can be transformed freely into anything else. The total mass of objects that can be transmuted and the time it takes to transmute them is a ratio dependent on Rubedo's overall mass that is devoted to the task and given time it can transmute an amount of material equal to its own mass.
Despite its myriad impressive qualities the entity does not transcend the limits of the material form or exert its marvelous power on the world around it instead of simply within it. Thus while it is in fact the result of the fourth endeavor it fails to fulfill the qualifications as a transcendent miracle of limitless power over the Aether to truly be considered the Magnum Opus. So it was that the Doctor decided that the failure, miraculous as it is, was not fit to bear the title of Philosopher's Stone and so instead it was merely dubbed "Rubedo".
The Fallen Seraph, Astaroth
The Sovereign Ruler of Serpents
During the grand war of Heaven many once pious warriors of God fell, and among them some made of themselves powerful rulers of the kingdom below. Of such entities one in particular courted the Doctor's interest, a great duke of hell's first hierarchy who commanded numerable legions by way of their martial prowess and unholy charisma, an angelic warrior forged by the essence of a dead goddess and twisted beyond recognition within the fires of hell. The forms in which the fallen has been recorded are all based in its truth but far divorced from it due to a mix of her own vanity and the preconception of the summoner tainting the manifestation, for when summoned by lesser rituals it appears in something resemblant of but far less horrifying than its reality. By way of the grimoire's knowledge and power as well as a flawless ritual of binding the entity known to man as Astaroth has been summoned in its real and fully manifested form to await John Dee's beck and call as his familiar.
The true shape Astaroth takes is an enormous and gross amalgamation, warped and twisted by the fires of hell from it's former angelic glory into something unnerving and monstrous. From the waist up Astaroth appears as a once beautiful angel with two pairs of white feathery wings flecked with gore-red and clad in fragments of ancient armour. Her halo has been stripped away to be replaced with twisted horns and a fiery third eye, and her flesh is pallid and sullied with numerous piercings. Cradled In her right hand she bears a great black serpent capable of swallowing a grown man whole and with venomous breath that sickens the very soul, its tail end vanishing into its master's form at the shoulder like a third arm. In her left hand she bears the massive flaming sword that is the badge of all Seraphim with its impossibly hot and unnervingly bright blade capable of sundering any and everything in its path and leaving even less than ash, an item which she guards jealously as proof of her existence.
Below the belt of discs that accent the waist her form mutates into a powerful and muscular dragon-like body with four legs, a long articulate tail, and another pair of decidedly wicked bat-like wings. The entirety of its lower torso is covered in neigh invulnerable iridescent scales whose reflection show a malign and disgusting rendition of the world around them, even tougher than the alabaster skin above which is itself known to slough off most magic like water resist all mortal weaponry.
The voice in which she speaks is ephemeral and compelling so much so that it often steals the loyalty of both humans and demons, and she commands the respect and allegiance of all those who share blood with the serpent in truth or deed except for the fallen prince himself. Indeed most any who would stare into her eyes and hear her speak would be rendered wholly unable to resist pledging their eternal soul to her legion, selling themselves into her service both in this life and the next.
She is privy to great truth's on the nature of the universe and knows the locations of all that which was hidden by man, and can give the answers to any question presented her should she deem the asker is both able and worth to comprehend it, for the unprepared mind may be laid waste by her great wisdom. With this wicked knowledge she is a master of all arts and sciences both magical and mundane, and within the mortal plane her power is nearly absolute. Single gestures bring forth power that even the grandest of magicians could never command and the utterance of a single word may stand in for the recitation of incantations that mortal tongues spend hours traversing, for the angels are the architects of reality and demons are the arbiters of damnation.
It is only through the flawless binding as instructed by his original edition of the Ars Goetia that the Doctor is able to court her favor without his own destruction. Even with such power absolutely beholden to him the Doctor dares not make full use of her dreadful capabilities to satisfy his ruthless ambition for fear of his own life.
The true shape Astaroth takes is an enormous and gross amalgamation, warped and twisted by the fires of hell from it's former angelic glory into something unnerving and monstrous. From the waist up Astaroth appears as a once beautiful angel with two pairs of white feathery wings flecked with gore-red and clad in fragments of ancient armour. Her halo has been stripped away to be replaced with twisted horns and a fiery third eye, and her flesh is pallid and sullied with numerous piercings. Cradled In her right hand she bears a great black serpent capable of swallowing a grown man whole and with venomous breath that sickens the very soul, its tail end vanishing into its master's form at the shoulder like a third arm. In her left hand she bears the massive flaming sword that is the badge of all Seraphim with its impossibly hot and unnervingly bright blade capable of sundering any and everything in its path and leaving even less than ash, an item which she guards jealously as proof of her existence.
Below the belt of discs that accent the waist her form mutates into a powerful and muscular dragon-like body with four legs, a long articulate tail, and another pair of decidedly wicked bat-like wings. The entirety of its lower torso is covered in neigh invulnerable iridescent scales whose reflection show a malign and disgusting rendition of the world around them, even tougher than the alabaster skin above which is itself known to slough off most magic like water resist all mortal weaponry.
The voice in which she speaks is ephemeral and compelling so much so that it often steals the loyalty of both humans and demons, and she commands the respect and allegiance of all those who share blood with the serpent in truth or deed except for the fallen prince himself. Indeed most any who would stare into her eyes and hear her speak would be rendered wholly unable to resist pledging their eternal soul to her legion, selling themselves into her service both in this life and the next.
She is privy to great truth's on the nature of the universe and knows the locations of all that which was hidden by man, and can give the answers to any question presented her should she deem the asker is both able and worth to comprehend it, for the unprepared mind may be laid waste by her great wisdom. With this wicked knowledge she is a master of all arts and sciences both magical and mundane, and within the mortal plane her power is nearly absolute. Single gestures bring forth power that even the grandest of magicians could never command and the utterance of a single word may stand in for the recitation of incantations that mortal tongues spend hours traversing, for the angels are the architects of reality and demons are the arbiters of damnation.
It is only through the flawless binding as instructed by his original edition of the Ars Goetia that the Doctor is able to court her favor without his own destruction. Even with such power absolutely beholden to him the Doctor dares not make full use of her dreadful capabilities to satisfy his ruthless ambition for fear of his own life.