Metathiax

Metathiax is one of the 36 demons of the Decani - creatures who bartered in disease. He is bound to the region of Montreal.

Biography
In search of new lands to conquer, Metathiax send Terrence DeBouville to the New World with Jacques Cartier's vessel, The Emerillon, in 1535. He was a mortal infernalist responsible to consecrating unholy ground atop the island mountain, in service to his lord Methatiax - who kept him preternaturally young to corrupt the Iroquois that came to that place, and then, the Europeans who followed.

It is said that the Hochelaga Huron maintained of several thousands natives at the base of Mount Royal - in a forest of oak trees - when Jacques Cartier first landed on the island. However, no remnants of the community and any of the oak trees have ever been discovered. Many attribute this to innacurate mapping of the region, but the Sabbat believe otherwise. The Hurons were killed during their battle with Metathiax, and the demon was trapped in the island itself.

Metathiax learned of the Sabbat when Terrence received the Embrace of Connaught, in 1653. However, the newly created vampire never emerged from his grave. Methatiax discovered an ability to claim those who have been buried in the mountain, and he scoured the soul of his acolyte creating an empty receptacle in which to place his own essence. From that point on, DeBouville's body became Metathiax door to the mortal world - and the demon has walked the streets of Montreal for centuries, guiding Sabbat and mortal alike with his dark influence.

As a result of Metathiax power over the land, only a handful of Creation Rites have ever worked on the slopes of Mount Royal. Buried Sabbat either vanish or are found dead in their graves. In one case, an emerging vampire who survived the rite was pulled back into to the ground by an unseen force - his grave was found empty. Metathiax is able to take those Cainites who are put into the ground and drag them down to the bowels of the mountain. He often spends years torturing them far below the city, dissolving their bodies with disease and eventually reforming them into grotesque mockeries of humanity. Most of the creatures that survive the torment are allowed to wander through the city's sewers.

Metathiax's presence is causing the formation of a tiny pinprick in the Shroud between the world of the living and the dead. People have reported a glowing opening in the city's forest. They say it project darkness like a frame of film's negative image. A few Necromancers have called it "Nihil".

Current Events
The demon is constantly looking for souls and recruits. Pierre Bellemare (of the pack Les Orphelins) and Cedilia of the Tongue (who corrupted Carlyle and his coven, Les Misérables) are in his thrall. Cedilia, however, has fled in fear with her pack to Haiti, in order to meet up with a rival filth demon, Bothothel. It was in Haiti that she met Sangris, a thrall to Bothothel who would play a similar game and flee to Montreal and Metathaix. Sangris plays the two demons against each other, and during the skirmish, escapes into the body of Sabbat Inquisitor DeSoto.

This stunt came with a price, for in the aftermath, the demons collaborated, and Metathaix discovered that he could escape the prison that the Native Americans had trapped him in. Sangris' soul is the key to escape, and while Metathaix looks to Bothothel for aid, Bothothel pays him lip service, not wanting to loose his sibiling.

In the aftermath, Sangris is trying to play both demons while they, in turn, try to play him. Metathiax has convinced everyone that the Infernal blight on the city is gone, while all the while is trying to corrupt Sangris' childe, Ezekiel. Metathaix expects that Sangris will be forced to use his demonic investments in order to save his progeny. Metathiax deployed Midget to get the local Tremere to interfere, a distraction, while the returned DeSoto, in the body of Terrence DeBouville, to hunt down Sangris.

The demon agreed to place the tortured soul of Santiago DeSoto in the empty shell that was once the body of Terrence DeBouville in order to hunt for Sangris the Serpent, for Metathiax has promised Sangri's soul to his demon sibiling Bothothel in exchange for help in breaking his ancient prison. Unbeknownst to Bothothel, Metathiax altered DeSoto's mind and new body, making him believe himself to be Sangris. In this manner, the demon hopes to trick Bothothel into claiming the wrong soul.

Metathiax has therefore put the inquisitor in the care of the Sabbat scholar Marie-Ange Gagnon. Gagnon is being corrupted by the confused soul she believes to be Sangris'. Now, the demon waits for his pawns to play their parts and for his prize surrenders itself.

In addition, he has access to Midget and Cairo, who provide fresh souls via failed Creation Rights. His thralls can travel through Mount Royal instantly. The only person safe from his influence is Jacob the Glitch, a Tremere antitribu whose failed Creation Rights tapped him into the fears of Metathiax without corrupting him. Most of Jacobs words, if decoded, would lead to the truth of the situation, and even reveal Metathiax's weaknesses.

Blood circle
The Blood Circle is located under a dilapidated tenement of Old Montreal. It is the original patch of ground first consecrated to Metathiax in 1535 by Terrence DeBouville. Rites vary with the depraved nature of Metathiax's infernalists, but the demon enjoys sacrificing Native Americans the most. He also commands his followers to kidnap vampires for the mere pleasure of scouring their souls and rotting their corpses.

Blood spilled in the circle instantly becomes diseased. Infernalists drink this Vitae in worship of their master. They thereby imbue their bodies with virulent plagues which they pass on to mortals and Cainites alike. During rituals that commemmrate the anniversary of Metathiax's imprisonmen, brackish poisons ooze from the Circle and the infernalists bathe on the deadly mixture. The ceremony is known as Decani's Fountain. Pierre Bellemare is currently the only one able to lead this cerimony.