🦇Ichoridan the Craving

This character was introduced to the Blockchain Cuties Universe during the 2021 Halloween Event and plays a significant role in the S7: Infernum storyline.

No one remembers what Ichoridan's name was when he was a common Cutie. It was so long ago that there are hardly any creatures who lived in those days. And those who are still alive do not write history.

Nevertheless, among some cultures of Cutieland there’s a legend that once upon a time the world was ruled by the Old Gods, and before them - by the Titans. The Old Gods waged war with the Titans and eventually defeated them, beginning to rule over all of Cutieland. In those forgotten times, there were no Cuties yet, until, according to one story, Prometheus fashioned them out of clay and an ancient goddess breathed life into them. He taught them the arts and gave them the technology of fire, stealing it from the Old Gods. The Old Gods caught Prometheus and punished him by subjecting him to eternal torment. He was chained to a rock, where every morning an eagle flew to him and pecked his liver, tormenting the Titan. The liver would heal overnight, and in the morning it would start all over again. No one knows exactly how long his suffering lasted, but they say that it lasted anywhere from a thousand to 30 thousand years, until the Cutie Heracles killed the eagle with his arrow and freed Prometheus.

Not everyone Prometheus created was kind and caring, some of the Cuties were greedy and bitter. Unwilling to accept their fate as creatures made of clay, some wanted to become as great as the titans or the Old Gods. Ichoridan was one of those Cuties. Though he was not the first, he despised himself and his own kind and considered his fate unfair. When he learned that the legend that the Old Gods had chained Prometheus to a rock was true, Ichoridan went to the place of his captivity to see how his creator is tortured. Upon reaching the Colchis Mountains, he found him, but Ichoridan did not attempt to help Prometheus. He was not afraid of the Old Gods' punishment - he just watched, smiling, how his progenitor was suffering.

The eagle had been pecking at titan's liver for thousands of years, and everyday pieces of meat with ichor - the "golden blood of the gods" - fell to the ground, immediately growing with beautiful yellow flowers. Ichoridan wondered if he should drink the drops. He had heard the legends that ichor was deadly to Cuties, but his desire to become more than just a mere mortal was much stronger. He stood beneath Prometheus, ignoring his pleas for help, trying to catch the chunks of flesh and ichor flying out of the eagle's beak with his mouth. As soon as he managed to catch a few drops of ichor, the irreparable happened.

His body began to age at an accelerated rate, and he began to shrivel and turn pale, but that was not all that was taking place in this story. The act of drinking the blood of his living creator was a sin so great that Ichoridan's soul could no longer be in the world of the living - it was instantly dragged into Tartarus to eternal torment, and the demon took its place. There was an unforeseen collision of two worlds - Ichoridan’s body could no longer die because an immortal demon possessed his body, but the process of aging that took place at the time of the demon invading a new vessel was imprinted in his being forever. The body was succumbing to time at an accelerated rate due to intense hunger and lack of food, becoming pale and horrifying, and the feeling of hunger was so strong that even the demon could not withstand it. Nevertheless, ichor gave Ichoridan's body unspeakable strength.

The hungry demon looked at Prometheus and set out to eat his liver. Prometheus cried out to him, but all was in vain. Ichoridan climbed the mountain with incredible speed to drink all the Ichor flowing through the titan. History does not know why the legends have not preserved this, but it was then that Heracles appeared near the titan and shot Ichoridan with his bow. He fired more than one arrow before the nightmare retreated. Perhaps that is why Heracles killed the eagle, freeing the titan, seeing what fate awaited him.

When the Old Gods learned of what had happened, they had mercy on Prometheus and cursed Ichoridan, unaware that he hadn't been a Cutie anymore for some time. They forbade him daylight, making it char his pale body. Thus, Ichoridan became the Craving and twice cursed. He was perpetually tormented by an overwhelming hunger and a desire to sip the life-giving moisture, but ichor was inaccessible, for in power the demon could not compete with any of the Old Gods.

Ichoridan drank whatever came his way, killing both Cuties and animals, for it was only the constant slaughter and the nightly bloodbaths culminating in a feast that pushed the feeling of perpetual hunger into the background. As decades and centuries passed, Ichoridan was forced to travel from place to place to avoid lingering, as he could be recognized and found by the servants of the Old Gods. Every first night he killed and drank blood and every second night he moved to a new place. Over the years, his appearance changed, letting his demonic nature shine through, thanks to all of the blood he drank. He began to grow hard, grayish skin, horns, and claws, wings slowly growing on his back, and a chitinous tail.

After several centuries of this existence, Ichoridan decided to try something he had never done before. After partially drinking his victim, he cut at his vein and forced the victim to consume his blood. For almost twenty-four hours nothing happened to the Cutie victim - it was just delirious throughout the next day until it opened its eyes at midnight. The Cutie was being ravaged by an unknown hunger. And it was completely dependent on the will of its creator, and the master immediately sensed this too. Thus, was created the first creature of the night. Which in time went by many names, like a ghoul, vampire, wurdalac, strigoi, and many, many more.

Ichoridan created about twenty children of the night. He kept in constant telepathic contact with them and always knew what they were doing and thinking. Together they began to influence the policies of the local rulers, which allowed them to stay in the villages and towns longer and longer. Almost all the towns in that region had two rulers, a daytime puppet ruler and a night-time ruler, a real lord. The rulers passed laws and instituted rituals that honored the creatures of the night as gods. Cults with Cutie sacrifices began to proliferate in the cities, constantly supplying a stream of food for Ichoridan and his children.

One day, one of the night rulers of a previously very religious city became careless and threw caution to the win. Blood flowed in torrents, and word began to spread in the neighboring settlements. After a month, the dark deeds of the mortals of this town came to the attention of the Old Gods, as no more prayers were heard coming from here. When they learned of what was happening there, they were enraged. Some of the ancient vampires created by Ichoridan were caught and burned in sunlight or beheaded. However, some managed to escape, yet the master himself was captured and chained. The old gods and Prometheus tried him and threw him into Tartarus - where the soul of the original Ichoridan still languished.

In Tartarus, Ichoridan had a horrible time, he was tortured and tormented, but he was able to escape to the Bronze Walls, to a place where it never seen light. Ichoridan had been hiding along these walls for years and had studied the area well. He often approached other titans but always stayed in the shadows, lest he be caught.

Like all who are imprisoned in Tartarus, he saw the past and the future, but could not know what was happening in the present. He knew that his children would become independent and that the bond with them would be forever severed by time, and he knew that they would create a powerful tribe, but he did not know when exactly. In Tartarus, Ichoridan felt an endless hunger, but there was no food. Any titan languishing here was stronger than a demon. Ichoridan starved for decades until he found the soul of the original mortal whose body he occupied. How exactly he managed to do this the legends do not tell, but he was able to destroy that soul, drinking all its power and forever becoming the full master of his body, not only in the world of the living but in Tartarus. Once he did this he slowly became stronger - controlling hunger became easier and the demon's former agile mind regained its sharpness, clouded by eternal hunger. Ichoridan understood that he and the immortal titans were here physically, meaning that neither he nor they were dead, which meant that ichor flowed in their veins, and all he had to do was find the weakest and most gullible of titans and trick him into a trap, to drink his power to the very last drop.

Ichoridan spent the next ten years scheming thousands of ways to carry out his plan, and eventually, he pulled it off. He was able to trap a tired, delinquent titan who, like Prometheus, was chained to a rock and could not defend himself. Ichoridan bit him in the neck and sucked out all his ichor, and then ate his lifeless body.

Once it was done, Ichoridan doubled in size, his claws, horns, and wings grew bigger, more powerful, and sharper, and the demon gained incredible strength.

Ichoridan the Craving ceased to yield both power and speed to the Titans and decided to build on his success. War broke out in Tartarus. The demon defeated and drank two more giants, becoming a little stronger each time, but the hundred-armed guards of Tartarus, the Gakatonheirs, learned of what was happening and marched an army against him. Ichoridan was once again caught and restrained, but this time they decided to isolate him completely - forever. The Gakatonheirs imprisoned the demon in a giant tomb and covered all the entrances with rocks, walling him up there forever. They placed two guards at each of the walled entrances, making it impossible for the demon to do anything.

No matter how hard Ichoridan tried to get out of his tomb, it was all in vain - the fate of the father of the first vampires was sealed. Years went by, thousands of years passed, but everything remained the same - eternal hunger and sleeping in the darkness where there is never light.

It would have gone on like this forever, if, after tens of thousands of years, a portal had not opened. Right there, in the tomb. And strange-looking Cuties appeared.