Zed
It takes a lot to frighten a Servitor of Fate; not
because they are strong, but because they are numb. Coming to term with the idea of spending
one's existence working to hasten the heat death of multiple universes, destroy
the entirety of Creation and make every sentient action from the beginning of
Time ultimately irrelevant leaves not much room left for emotional reactions of
any sort. Besides, most demons serving
Kronos seem to have the (apparently well-founded) belief that there's not much
out there that's scarier than their
The two concepts above frame Zed nicely.
To the best of anyone's knowledge, Zed is in fact a
manifestation of an aspect of Kronos' personality (despite the limitations of
human languages, calling it an 'eidolon' would actually be fairly accurate, for
once). At first glance, it does not look
all that different than a regular manifestation of the Prince of Fate, but
given any length of time Zed's identity becomes obvious, not to mention
ominous. Most Servitors of Fate have
encountered Zed at least once in their careers, and the ones that haven't are
widely considered to be liars.
Zed is... a nihilist. A suicidal one, at that; it is even more
unpleasant than Kronos' regular manifestations, but it is almost all directed
inwardly. Zed wishes to kill not only
itself as an individual - and it has been known to refer to itself as being
both part of and separate from Kronos, at the same time - but also Fate, in
every sense of the word and world. This
includes Servitors of Fate, as Zed considers them to be mere appendages of
Kronos with the mere delusion of free will.
Ironically, this belief - presuming that it isn't true, which is not
immediately obvious - usually keeps said Servitors from being instantly
destroyed by Zed, as it apparently cannot do direct harm to any aspect of
Kronos. This does not mean that it
cannot do indirect harm to Kronos/itself, however - and when it comes to
self-destructive behavior Zed is very, very clever and very, very
ruthless. It also apparently has free
access to Fate's resources, including Kronos' Servitors; the Prince of Fate
will and has punished demons of his who have actively opposed one of Zed's
activities. Zed is, after all, a
manifestation of Kronos, and demons do not get to question or oppose the
actions of Demon Princes.
As said before, it takes a lot to scare a Servitor
of Fate, but Zed can manage the trick.
When it manifests, wise demons simply run away; if that doesn't work,
the best thing to do is to play along until running away becomes an
option. Zed's major weakness is
apparently that, unlike a regular
As for the Host... there is a theory among the more
avant-garde research theologians that Zed actually represents the few positive
impulses that exist in the Prince of Fate.
Given that such impulses have apparently generated an entity dedicated
to self-destruction - and never mind the potential harm to the Symphony, or
even its continued existence - it is a rather gloomy theory, when all is said
and done.