DEMONS
There is a Space beyond our elemental world, a Beyond. There are Things that dwell there, that we call Demon. They are alien. They are cruel. They are unnatural.
They are evil.
The Tath-Kra
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In a time before history, when humankind was young and the world was a place of blood and storm, there came the Tath-Kra. They tore into the world from the Beyond, an infernal brood bent on domination.
The Tath-Kra were five;
the prince of fear - Ektherion Tath-Kra
the lord of pain - Kharkus Tath-Kra
the thundering one - Ghoribuld Tath-Kra
the lady of silence - Kereshoi Tath-Kra
the mistress of war - Akraska Tath-Kra
Though they came as conquerors to the young world, they came too in flight. In the Beyond there was one demon who was greater than all the Tath-Kra combined, and his name was Skith-Rhu Volos. He was stronger than Ghoribuld, more vicious than Kharkus, more terrible than Ektherion and more bloodthirsty than Akraska - and above all, he knew only undying hatred for the Tath-Kra.
So the Tath-Kra fled to the world, where they became powerful and feared. They were monsters that bestrode the world and lashed at humankind, delighting in their devil-play.
But in those days of the race's youth, humans were a breed of uncommon ability, and they were millions against the five of the Tath-Kra. Against the demon's devastating power, the humans ranged their mighty warriors and hunters, and arcane folk such as the copper-witches and Fire-Crowns.
Seeing the strength of humankind, Akraska laughed. Battle was her joy, and here were adversaries aplenty. She stretched out her knife-talons and tore into the beyond, and dragged through an army of lesser demons - the Shebbeth Tekk - and the bloodletting began.
War consumed the world, savaged it like a slavering beast. But amidst the chaos and slaughter and Akraska's hideous laughter, there came love.
Ektherion spied upon the gore-sodden field a queen of humankind, with black hair and eyes, and a beauty that rivalled the depths of the Beyond. His demoniac heart wrenched in his chest and he went to her.
The Black-Haired Queen and Ektherion bound themselves together, his power becoming hers, and the Prince of Fear betrayed his siblings. Together they drove back the Shebbeth Tekk, until they were bound into the cold bones of the land in the far north-east by the selfless sacrifice of the copper-witches.
Meanwhile the Black-Haired Queen used Ektherion's gift of power to battle the other Tath-Kra. One by one she hunted them down. Akraska she chained beneath a mountain on a wind-ripped isle in the north-west of the world, and Ghoribuld she sent crashing into the earth with such force that a sea opened up where he landed. Kharkus locked himself away beneath a mountain in the middle of the world to escape her wrath - a mountain that would later become the city of Vunsk.
The Black-Haired Queen could not, however, find Kereshoi, the eldest of the Tath-Kra. It seemed that the Lady of Silence had stepped back from the world, and indeed she has not been seen again, save in nightmares and febrile terror-glimpses.
With the demons gone, Ektherion Tath-Kra and the Black-Haired Queen built the First Empire across the world, binding the tribes of humankind under their shuddersome power.
The Shebbeth Tekk
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In the monstrous, ruin-spattered tundra to the north of the Grimdowns and east of Larr Nesh there are twenty-nine thousand obsidian menhirs - the prisons of the Shebbeth Tekk.
The Zorr dwell here; red-haired giants who walk naked through blizzards. Their savage druids press their ears to the menhirs and listen to the mad howling of the demons within, divining the future from their screams.
The Shebbeth Tekk are a dark brood, a legion of murderous devils, once bound to the will of Akraska Tath-Kra by her unspeakable demoniac power. Their defeat broke any link between them, though, and should the twenty-nine thousand fiends ever break free of their stone gaols they would inflict their crimson work upon any in their way; human, Demon, or Elemental.
The Sceadugengan
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The Sceadugengan are a breed of demons that bring fragments of the Beyond with them into the world, wrapping them about themselves like a cloak and moving through the night like animated shadows.
A Sceadugenga might appear as a moving, flitting pit of deeper darkness in the night or a roiling mass of living fog. It might possess a human or animal corpse and make it walk once more to hunt the nights, or it might enter a living animal and sully it, make it into a most dire and frightful image of itself, a monster-beast that is a puppet to the Sceadugenga's terrible will.
Sceadugengan are hunters of children, women and men, who come unseen in the night to savage and devour their prey. They are driven only by their hunger for human-flesh and human-fear, and so are single-minded and ecstatic in pursuit of their quarry.
Elves
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Also known as goblins or nihtgengan, elves are demons who take possession of children who wander alone into the deep woods. Their bodies twisted into ashen, monstrous mockeries of human infants, elves then skulk back to try and lure more children away into the forest to become like them, increasing their numbers until there are enough to ambush and overwhelm adults.
Elves move with a predatory grace and inhuman, staccato speed. They are great climbers and can run and leap as silently as cats. They feel no pain but can become upset by more grievous wounds, crying as if a favourite toy has been broken.
Where possible, they like to kill their victims slowly, their cruel glee at the torture a demoniac imitation of their hosts' childish playfulness. They know, too, what their hosts knew when human, and use the knowledge to lure, confuse and terrify their prey. They sing songs in strangled child-voices or call out as if lost and frightened.
For scores upon scores of years they have been little more than horror stories, even to the folk of the North who remember the demons. Now that the Tath-Kra are stirring, though, they are returning to the world and stalking the deep, dark woods once again.
Awesome as always Kindling. I want to know more of the copper-witches and fire-crowns, like now!
One small suggestion though, compared to your other names, the Dark Queen seems flat and generic. I'm sure you can think of something awesome, but a few suggestions if I may: the Sanguine Queen, the Black-Cursed Queen, or the Umbral Queen.
EDIT: Now I have some more questions.
Is there a bloodline that descends from the Dark Queen and Ektherion? If so, is it known? Feared? Honored? Hated?
What type of timeline are we looking at? Did the demons come 1,000 years ago? 5,000? 500?
You're right, of course. The title Dark Queen was used by an NPC agent of hers in like session two of the campaign, when the world was very very vague, and was simply to communicate the fact that she was (and remains) a stereotypical Dark Lord type BBEG, only, obviously, she's a she. Since then I've never come up with a better name for her because I like the idea of her being known simply by a title, or maybe several titles by different people. Maybe, at least for those who work for her, I'll simply drop the dark part. If she's their queen, after all, why would they need to define her beyond simply "the Queen"? As for other people, I will consider... Your suggestions are all cool and I will mull them over and also see if I can come up with anything myself.
The (Dark) Queen is still "alive"... or at least present in the world and exerting influence. Whether she has any children or not is, like most information about her, a secret she keeps close to her chest. If she does, it's unlikely Ektherion was the father as I don't imagine Demons and humans being cross-fertile.
We are looking at a mythic timeline, that's what! As I said, this all happened "in a time before history, when humankind was young"... let's just say more than 500 years ago, but less than 5,000.
Quote from: Kindling
You're right, of course. The title Dark Queen was used by an NPC agent of hers in like session two of the campaign, when the world was very very vague, and was simply to communicate the fact that she was (and remains) a stereotypical Dark Lord type BBEG, only, obviously, she's a she. Since then I've never come up with a better name for her because I like the idea of her being known simply by a title, or maybe several titles by different people. Maybe, at least for those who work for her, I'll simply drop the dark part. If she's their queen, after all, why would they need to define her beyond simply "the Queen"? As for other people, I will consider... Your suggestions are all cool and I will mull them over and also see if I can come up with anything myself.
I like the idea of lots of names for Her (actually, using She and Her could work as the overtly vague definition as well as the Queen) - different names in different cultures.
The elves/goblins are really, really awesome. Very original, would love to play this setting.
This thread has oodles of diabolic awesomeness. My favorite part thus far is this tidbit about elves:
Quote from: Kindling
They feel no pain but can become upset by more grievous wounds, crying as if a favourite toy has been broken.
Having a bunch of unsuspecting explorers happen upon a wounded elf deep in the woods could be wonderfully creepy.
Awesome! Are there other "fey" creatures in Dark Silver? Are they all demonic? I know that elementals play a part in the world's cosmology...
Quote from: Señor Leetz
...would love to play this setting.
The highest of high praises! Thanks! :D
Quote from: Ghostman
Having a bunch of unsuspecting explorers happen upon a wounded elf deep in the woods could be wonderfully creepy.
It certainly would, that's an excellent encounter idea that I will definitely use at some point.
Quote from: Steerpike
Are there other "fey" creatures in Dark Silver? Are they all demonic?
I guess in the context of Dark Silver the terms fey and demon mean basically the same thing. The Beyond, as I call it, could just as well be called Fairyland, the Otherworld, Annwn, Tir na nOg or whatever... So yeah, my demons are basically fey - just very much "Unseelie" tyranidy/cthulhoid lookin' fey. They want to eat you, not curdle your milk.
You know, it could be cool to have the most insignificant, fey, and minor of demons actually do things like curdle milk, or spoil meat, or cause wounds to fester when they are nearby. If the sylvan-demons of the setting can do that, I can't even imagine what the presence of a Tath-Kra or even a Shebbeth Tekk would do.
This is very cool. The elf-goblins are a veritable stroke of genius, playing on ideas drawn from dark mythology and our collective fantastical consciousness equally and combining them into something familiar yet unique. Also terrifying.
Sceadugengan is a cool name, even if I keep forgetting a syllable whenever I try to pronounce it in my head ^^ it has a preternatural-sounding staccato pronounciation. They remind me of the demon-smoke from the Supernatural television series - was this in any way an inspiration? Did they emerge from the Beyond together with the Shebbeth Tekk?
Also, do Shebbeth Tekk sometimes make their own way into the world of Dark Silver or are they all trapped in the menhirs? Are the giants their guardians or their worshippers?
The demons-at-the-dawn-of-time storyline often ends up seeming a bit trite, but you pull yours off nicely weaving the mythical together with the natural and historical. They are present without being a too intrinsic part of the setting's history.
Quote from: Señor Leetz
You know, it could be cool to have the most insignificant, fey, and minor of demons actually do things like curdle milk, or spoil meat, or cause wounds to fester when they are nearby. If the sylvan-demons of the setting can do that, I can't even imagine what the presence of a Tath-Kra or even a Shebbeth Tekk would do.
That is a cool idea actually. I just mentioned the milk-curdling as a throwaway flippancy, but now that you've said it I like the idea. When your children start vanishing, it could just be that natural predators took them or they got lost in the woods - but then your ale starts to sour, the timbers of your house start rotting, your fields get blighted, your cough worsens till you're bringing up blood and you know it was the elves that took them and that haunt you even now, just out of sight.
Quote from: Superfluous Crow
This is very cool. The elf-goblins are a veritable stroke of genius, playing on ideas drawn from dark mythology and our collective fantastical consciousness equally and combining them into something familiar yet unique. Also terrifying.
Why thank you. I was actually worried they might be a little too familiar, so I'm glad they stand out for you.
Quote from: Superfluous Crow
Sceadugengan is a cool name, even if I keep forgetting a syllable whenever I try to pronounce it in my head ^^ it has a preternatural-sounding staccato pronounciation. They remind me of the demon-smoke from the Supernatural television series - was this in any way an inspiration? Did they emerge from the Beyond together with the Shebbeth Tekk?
I think I've only seen one episode of Supernatural, and it had no demon-smoke that I can remember. Sceadugengan is, I believe, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning Shadow-Goer or Shadow-Walker, and they were mostly inspired by Bernard Cornwell's Anglo-Saxon series of historical novels, in which the main character often talks of "becoming the Sceadugengan" when he performs stealthy night actions against his enemies. They're less based on whatever the real Anglo-Saxon myth of the Sceadugengan was and more on me thinking "what kind of nasty monster would you be imitating if you were crawling unseen through the night to slit throats?"
Similarly, nihtgengan, the third name I gave for the elves, means Night-Goer or Night-Walker
EDIT: Part of the Sceadugengan is also just a way of explaining Dire Animals if they turn up in my game. "Why was that wolf the size of a pony and as black as tar? Well, er, it must have been possessed by a Sceadugengan, of course!"
Quote from: Superfluous CrowAlso, do Shebbeth Tekk sometimes make their own way into the world of Dark Silver or are they all trapped in the menhirs? Are the giants their guardians or their worshippers?
They are all in the menhirs. One of my PCs has agreed to try and free them - the fool knows not what dark forces he bargains with!
The Zorr are their worshippers in a way. They believe - rightly - that the Shebbeth Tekk have a great deal of eldritch power, and their druids try, in their clumsy, mortal way, to try to use that power for their own benefit. This mostly involves communing with the demons as a form of divination.
I guess you might say that the Zorr really worship their own druids, but that the druids get their power from the Shebbeth Tekk.
Quote from: Superfluous CrowThe demons-at-the-dawn-of-time storyline often ends up seeming a bit trite, but you pull yours off nicely weaving the mythical together with the natural and historical. They are present without being a too intrinsic part of the setting's history.
Again, this was something that I'm aware might seem a little... maybe not cliche, but at least predictable. So, again, I'm glad you think it works :)
Can elf-possessed children be exorcised, and/or do elves sometimes relinquish control of their "toys" to try on new bodies (I may have the March Madman Contest in mind here...)?
EDIT: Also, do elf-possessed children age, or are they endowed with immortality? If they do age, what happens when they mature past childhood?
I sold my soul
Now I age but don't get old
And to this day
It's the best deal I ever made (http://ironchic.bandcamp.com/track/cutesy-monster-man)
They can be exorcised, but the kind of rituals to do it are far, far from common knowledge. They may choose to leave a body, but it's rare they would before they've finished having their fun.
They age but don't get old. As in, they are still child-sized, they do not grow beards, they do not develop sexually. But their skin can wrinkle, their features can become gnarled and wizened, their hair can grey...
Excellent.
One more question, and I think I already know the answer, but are there any demon-hunting factions in Dark Silver, like an order of knights or Imperial troops tasked with destroying demons?
Erm, I suppose so in away. The First Empress/Black-Haired Queen/whatever else I decide to call her still has agents in the world, and since she savagely dumped Ektherion Tath-Kra the two of them haven't been on the best of terms so I guess her guys would kind of be opposed to the Tath-Kra at least if not demons in general.
First brush with Dark Silver, so apologies if covered elsewhere are my unreasearched queries.
Are Zorr a race of men, giants, fire elementals?
As mentioned your elves are genius. How far do the implications of elves possessing multiple bodies go?
Did the Raven-Haired-Queen's descendants leave a lineage that lasts today? If so, what are they like? If not, who or what destroyed them?
Also, I'm dying to steal the Sceadugengan for a project, dumbing them down a bit into "Whisperers" and inserting in a weird West setting. Kosher?
The Zorr are men and women. Who are giant. They don't really have anything to do with fire. They are kind of weirdos though.
An elf possesses one child at a time.
The Black-Haired Queen is still around (in secret), but has no known children.
Use whatever you like in whatever way you like. Property is theft, intellectual property doubly so.
I love the elves. They really reflect (for me) the old German fairy tales. I'd love to hear more about that sort fo creature in Dark Silver.
I'm really liking the stuff I've read about Dark Silver so far. Keep it coming!
Quote from: Kindling
I guess in the context of Dark Silver the terms fey and demon mean basically the same thing. The Beyond, as I call it, could just as well be called Fairyland, the Otherworld, Annwn, Tir na nOg or whatever... So yeah, my demons are basically fey - just very much "Unseelie" tyranidy/cthulhoid lookin' fey. They want to eat you, not curdle your milk.
I like this approach a lot. Faeries are all too often little pixies or forest dwelling nymphs that act as playful tricksters in fantasy settings; I'll take the creepier side any day.
I'm actually most interested in hearing more about these briefly mentioned copper witches and fire crowns. Do people make pacts with these demonic/faerie entities for supernatural power, or is there another source of magic entirely?
Also, the elves are amazingly twisted. I love it! I can imagine people would shudder at hearing the cry of a child even from within the safety of a household should they know of/experienced these elves.
I too am all for 'What is property? I answer, It is robbery!'. Cool.
More lore on fire crowns would indeed be cool.