Nephandi
The Nephandi are a sect of fallen mages. Like the rest of the sects, they represent one of the four Avatar Essence; in this case, the Primordial Essence. These mages represent the desire to obliterate the entire Tellurian.
It is a mistake to compare Nephandi to simple infernalists. Infernalists are those who sell their soul for their own callous purposes — typically power; whether magical, temporal or sexual. The Nephandi, conversely, willingly corrupt their soul in order to kill the world. In a world full of shades of grey they are the black, each without exception a monster. When a mage Descends, he enters a Caul (a sort of gateway to hell/shrine of unspeakable horror). What occurs within is not generally known as the Nephandi does not discuss it, although things are known to be within the Caul with the Nephandi and many mages do not come out again. If the initiate emerges relatively intact they will have been fundamentally and irreversibly changed; their Avatar will have been inverted focusing on Descent rather than Ascension; their very magic becomes Qlippothic.
The Nephandi come into existence in two possible ways: firstly, they can be created from regular mages through the 'process' of the caul, or they are simply born with inverted avatars from a previous life.
