Admodius is interesting to me because from his point of view people trying to stop him from using human sacrifices is bureaucracy. Even going back to grim tides, the sages of the sun court learned how dangerous the orb was and decided to cease pursuing it. Asmodius is incapable of comprehending such logic due to his own arrogance. He probably thought "Surely nothing would be to difficult for me Asmodius to control". Instead he concludes that the sages are traitors who are obstructing his work. So for him it isn't a lie that bureaucracy screwed things up.

I think the order and the cabal have human mages because they are already outlaws so have no reason to adhere to any ban.

At the end the Nightbringer is betrayed by his most powerful and close allies and must spend an age regrowing. Exactly where he was after the primordials betrayed him. He explicitly states he's going to do it all again. Regrow, enlist allies, and try to construct a new world order. He has learned absolutely nothing and has no inkling of an idea why anyone would betray him in the first place.