Fiend Past: Dage’s apprenticeship and rebellion

The Bargain That Made Dage

Before the Underworld had divided into factions or established civilization, the Beast roamed Lore, consuming souls so relentlessly that none could pass on to the afterlife. Fearing that the natural order was close to collapse, Death enlisted Nulgath and his Nation. In return for defeating the Beast, Nulgath would rule the Underworld and the lost souls that refused to pass over with Death.

Nulgath first sent his Fiend armies, but their strength could not contain the Beast's hunger. He faced it himself after seeing its full power; the battle cost him scores of Fiends and his physical body, yet he prevailed. The account says he split the Beast's soul in two: one half held its undying hunger and power, while the other held its cunning and thirst for conquest. Nulgath took control of the Underworld and sealed the hunger in the prison known as the Seven Circles.

With the Beast's cunning in play, Nulgath made another move. He found a king who was already cursed and willing to make a contract: the king would receive power and serve Nulgath in death. The king received the power he sought, but the Beast's desire to conquer overcame him and made him a bloodthirsty ruler. The account identifies him as King Dage, executed by his people and later Dage the Evil in unlife. Bound by the contract, Dage entered Nulgath's Nation; with the Beast's power dwelling in this recruit, Nulgath saw an apprentice worth training and assigned the Commandant to teach him the Nation and its Fiends.

Training, Victory and Contracts

Dage questions why he must prove himself to the Commandant when proving himself to Nulgath should be enough. The Commandant explains that Nulgath assigned this training to test both Dage's prowess and his ability to cooperate within the Nation. Dage initially dismisses the Newborn Fiends as fodder, but their strength surprises him; the Hexes' magic also impresses him. Training the recruits becomes an exercise for Dage as well as for the Nation's next infantry. When the Commandant explains the Fiend Champions' high standing, Dage sees a chance to prove he has earned Nulgath's favor.

Dage defeats the Champion, then dismisses the challenge and questions whether he has overestimated Nulgath's ability to make him stronger. An attack on the Underworld next puts the Soul Forge at risk: Scarvitas, a Doomknight, is trying to seize it. Dage tests Scarvitas's DoomBringers, summons Hex Fiends to cut off escape, and clears the Doom Wraiths before facing their leader. He asks about Doomknights, noticing the Commandant's fear and imagining how useful their skill might be. Scarvitas's defeat leaves Dage disappointed by another opponent who offered less resistance than he hoped.

Dage asks what Scarvitas hoped to gain by taking the Soul Forge. The Commandant says it is one of a few places where Nulgath can create contracts, and that a special location is needed when Nulgath wants to imbue the contract with the signer's soul. For recruitment, the signer wagers their soul on keeping the agreement. As the Commandant explains it, Nulgath may make a contract impossible for a signer he sees as having little potential; a breach sends that person's soul to the Fiend Realm, where Adimonde reshapes it into a true Fiend before it returns to serve Nulgath.

For signers whose contracts Nulgath keeps intact, the Commandant says the Archfiend lends power to supplement their own while they retain their will. That independence lets them lead the Nation's armies in ways feral Fiends cannot. Dage, whose contract is still intact, asks whether a signer can escape. The Commandant supposes they could do so by destroying the contract, but their power would have to exceed the owner's strength when it was created. The Commandant insists that no one surpasses Nulgath. Dage agrees and joins in wishing their Master a long reign and loyal servants.

The Seven Circles

In the Seven Circles, Dage feels a faint pull to go deeper, but sets it aside to pursue Baelgar, an Archfiend Warlord accused of betraying the Nation. Dage believes Baelgar wants to release the prisoners and overthrow Nulgath. The Commandant agrees to follow Dage's orders, and Dage thanks his old friend for standing beside him through the years.

Dage first directs the repair of weakening prison seals, using energy taken from the guards. With the seals restored, he turns on Baelgar's Void Fiends, mocking them for exchanging one master for another. Once they are defeated, he declares that the Nation is better off without them.

Avarice has escaped its cell. Dage tests himself against this natural force of the Underworld and returns it to imprisonment, impressed by a fight worthy of Nulgath's precautions. Baelgar is the last opponent left. When he finally stops hiding behind his followers, Dage defeats him and demands to know why he thought he could usurp their Master.

Baelgar rejects the accusation of usurpation: he wanted freedom from Nulgath and the contract. His power and glory meant nothing outside the Nation; even his soul belonged to someone else. He wanted to fight for power, glory and freedom that could be his own. The Commandant ends the discussion and orders that Baelgar be taken before Nulgath for judgment. Dage lingers over Baelgar's wish for something of his own.

Called back to the task by the Commandant, Dage calls Baelgar foolish for imagining he could surpass Nulgath, then adds a comparison to surpassing Dage himself. He says Baelgar will face a fate worse than death before their Master. Yet the pull deeper into the Seven Circles returns; Dage feels it is not time to follow it. His dismissal of Baelgar has left an idea behind.

The Commandant’s Stand

The next part of the account follows the Commandant, who wants to understand Dage's betrayal and hopes Nulgath might still forgive him. Strange Proto-Legion Knights suggest that Dage is building an army. The Commandant senses Dage's magic twisting the Nation's defectors, yet recognizes that they have joined him willingly. Duty prevails over sympathy: the Commandant fights through them and brings down the wards hiding Dage's work from Nulgath.

The Commandant clears Dage's forces, recovers his key and unlocks the way to him. When Dage will not listen to reason, the Commandant resolves to bring him before Nulgath personally. Facing the old friend he once trained is painful, but the Commandant still believes it is his duty to show Dage the right path.

Dage explains that Baelgar made him realize he was fighting for Nulgath's glory, not his own. He refuses to live in the Archfiend's shadow. The Commandant threatens the contract's punishment, but Dage remembers when it was made: after the Beast destroyed Nulgath's physical body. He needs to surpass the Nulgath of that moment. The glowing scroll is no longer present when the Commandant reacts in disbelief, and Dage says he has become stronger. Taken together, the scene suggests that he has broken the contract. His next claim is an ambition: he will become stronger than Nulgath is now, and stronger than Nulgath could ever be.

Dage invites the Commandant to join him in a new age against the Archfiend. The Commandant refuses and declares loyalty to Nulgath. Dage bids his old friend goodbye. The red blade, the Commandant's apology for failing Nulgath, and the subsequent disappearance of his figure indicate Dage's victory over him. The confrontation ends with Dage, rather than the Commandant, prevailing.

Dage still sees a use for the Commandant's strength. A blue-white orb appears beside his open hand as he says he could not part with that strength so easily; the scene does not identify precisely what the orb contains. Nulgath calls the rebellion treason and declares war. He calls on the Nation's Fiends, Void Knights and Hexes to rise against Dage, promising them the traitor's soul to feast upon.

A separate assignment, Vanquish The Betrayers, sends a loyal servant of Nulgath after Nation Outriders in VoidRefuge, Scarvitas in FiendPast and Shadowblade in DarkAlliance, with trophy weapons among its rewards. Nulgath praises the servant for keeping promises where other minions failed. This cross-map task stands apart from the historical sequence; its place in the rebellion's chronology is not established.