The Temple of Ultimate Consumption
Realm of Imix
Location: Fire / Burning Ridges / The Temple of Ultimate Consumption
Imix, the Lord of Hellfire, rules from the Temple of Ultimate Consumption, an inverted pyramid-fortress carved from a solid block of obsidian. It is situated within the caldera of a vast volcano in the tract of Fire the elementals call Burning Ridges. This stronghold is suspended above a bubbling lake of fire, and is guarded by legions of fire elementals, efreet, salamanders, and other minion-slaves. Planewalkers are most likely to encounter the Legion of Blazing Lances, a cavalry force of firenewts who ride striders and patrol the steep volcanic slopes to turn away unwelcome visitors. The temple contains conduits to both the planes of Earth and Magma, which are well-guarded at both ends, for Imix trusts nobody and the feeling is mutual. The temple hovers over the volcano’s magma chamber, its tip tracing the symbol of the Elder Elemental Eye into the molten rock.
Now I’ve heard some Primes say that Imix has remained trapped in the Temple since the Dawn War of Primordials against Powers. They whisper that his resistance to fire has been negated somehow, and he is trapped there by bubbling magma and noxious fumes. This seems unlikely to me, for Imix is frequently seen outside the Temple, although you can never quite tell with these tricksy archomentals. If the rumours are indeed true, it would mean the versions of Imix that have bested Zaman Rul in war, or indeed fathered him in the first place, may only be avatars of a vastly more ancient and powerful being than Imix appears to be. Perhaps his original form being trapped is why old Kossuth does not take the threat of Imix too seriously. Or perhaps this is all just misguided Prime nonsense, or screed deliberately spread by allies of Imix.
The Cult of the Razing Prayer
The philosophy of the Razing Prayer holds that primal fire is primarily a consuming, destructive force that can (and should!) devour everything in its path. The Cult focuses on fire’s capacity to reduce all to ash—forests, civilisations, and even worlds. It consumes air and wood, boils away water, melts metal and earth—and therefore should rightly be viewed as the strongest of all the elements. Many apocalyptic myths of the Prime predict that the world will end in fire, and the Cult’s actions will surely hurry this fate along. They aren’t interested in destroying the multiverse because they want it all to end though, but more that they are just hungry. These cutters want everything, and they want it now. Power, magic, riches, you name it. They’ll use the threat of destruction to grab what they want, and then will greedily consume it all anyway. It’s a short sighted strategy for sure, but they are here now, hungry now, and who in their right mind cares about tomorrow’s generation of people who haven’t even been born yet?
The doctrine of the Cult of the Razing Prayer promotes arson, wanton violence and what most right-thinking cutters would call rash actions. They worship Imix as a power—and indeed can’t be all wrong, for clerics of the cult, who call themselves Conflagrators, do receive some spells in return. Their main base outside of their holiest Temple of Ultimate Consumption is a shrine in the City of Brass called the Mosque of Blistering Atonement. From here, the fiery tendrils of the cult have reached through the Ethereal and into several Prime worlds. On Faerûn, the Red Wizards of Thay pay lip service to the cult of Imix. Cultists also work in the Para-Elemental Planes of Smoke and Magma, where they are attempting to summon (or construct?) a phenomenon called the Conflagration Orb as an ultimate threat to cow entire kingdoms into submisson. It’s unclear whether this is an avatar of Imix or some kind of boon showing his approval. Either way, the last time one of these was manifested, it was like a sun had detonated and all of the priests involved in the process were utterly incinerated. Their enemies were too, but that’s not really the point—which is that Imix has absolutely no regard for his minions.
The Cult of the Razing Prayer attracts fire giants, red dragons, barmy efreet—though even among these followers, their loyalty is often tested by the volatile nature of Imix. These berks all crave his approval, and seek to become what they call Imix-Blooded. This is some kind of boon that the Lord of Hellfire might bestow on a creature who has performed a deed of sufficient importance to him. This comes at great risk to the supplicant however, for it requires a ritual where the berk stands inside a brass cauldron, which is filled with oil and set alight. This will surely result in the death—or at least horrific injury—to the addle-coved victim, unless Imix is pleased and intervenes. Should this happen, the primordial is said to manifest, and squeeze a drop of his own blood into the cauldron. The victim is then transformed; their blood becomes flames, and they cement their status as a chosen one of Imix. Just don’t ask about the death rate for this ceremony, it turns out pleasing Imix is hard.
Fire’s hunger is total, and it is supreme
—Credo of the Razing Prayer
The true chosen ones of Imix however are the Hellfire Disciples. There are especially horrible fire elementals which represent fire at its most destructive and corrupt. Their every action seems determined to spread malevolence and misery, and they’re feared across the Inner Planes for their lack of mercy. Woe betide any wizard who should accidentally summon one instead of a more reasonable elemental.
The long and the short of it is that whatever the truth of his situation, Imix is a purely destructive force driven by ego and ambition. I can only hope that one day his own flames will either be quenched, or consume him, freeing the plane of Fire from his malevolent grasp.
Canonical Sources:
- Dragon Magazine #347 p30,32-34,39,41; #353 p45,47,50
- Inner Planes [2e] p46,49,55-56
- Planescape Monstrous Compendium III [2e] p8,16-18,21,93
- Monster Manual IV [3e] p7,12; Monster Manual V [3e] p52-53,65 (imix-blooded)
Source: Jon Winter-Holt; History of Imix in the Lore; AuldDragon’s Blog. Canonwatch: The ‘holocaust disciples’ of 3e have been renamed as Hellfire Disciples here. True, the original Greek holokauston does mean ‘everything burned’ but using the word now feels insensitive. I’ve also changed the name of Imix’s cult from ‘Eternal Flame’ which is something more wholesome I’d associated more with Hestia/Vesta and I plan on using for Kossuth instead, to the ‘Razing Prayer’ which is more suitable for their goals.