Hmm, so i've been working a bit on the demonology of my setting, and this is what i have written today. though there might be a few things in it which are specific to my campaign, and which you thus have no knowledge of, it should be possible to understand it all. But generally, if you could give me a review on it, and generally tell me what needs to be clarified, and what you think is good/bad, i'd be very glad. And BTW, if it isn't apparent from the text (which it should be) these aren't classic D&D chaotic evil demons. And the binding and channeling parts are still somewhat work in progress, and any ideas would be much appreciated.
DEMONOLOGY
Demons are dark, incomprehensible, other-worldly beings sometimes drawn to this world, either by natural forces or by foolish mortals. They are discarnate spirits with no physical bodies, and so they are incomplete, and they hunger for nothing but completion and fulfillment. 'How can something so unnatural exist in a world of natural laws and science?', some might ask, and the easy answer is that they are simply not of this world. Neither are they of the dreamscape that lies beyond this world, since that isn't governed by the rules of a world can't be perceived by it either. Instead, they are creatures of what lies in between, the chasm between the two worlds. This unnatural place, this alternative world, is known as the Locus Arcana to those who study the inhabitants of this far-away realm.
THE DEMON
The demon as perceived on this plane is a being of energy given form. It is semi-physical in its natural spirit state and can interact with the world to some degree, just like flames and winds can interact with the physical without themselves being entirely physical. This is because they are, like the demons, constructions of pure energy and change, the forces that alter the world. Demons have complex and interwoven composite souls and essences, but lack bodies, the third part of the Triumvitae. This rule of life doesn't govern their natural plane, the Locus Arcana, and so it isn't part of their natural state, but the introduction to the mortal world induces them with an all-consuming need for physicality.
Demons often resemble black smoke or gas with a vague humanoid shape, but powerful demons are known to have more luminescent forms. The minds of the demons can only be described as different. While humans are very much creatures of flesh, demons are creatures of mind. They are incredibly passionate creatures, possessing only the strongest of emotions, being of a very temperamental nature and prone to severe abrupt mood swings. Most possess a good degree of sentience, having generally picked up the knowledge from the dead souls that pass through their domain.
Being not of this world, and partly of the dream-world, demons possess abilities that surpass that of any worldly creature and occasionally even break the rules of the physical universe. These powers vary greatly, seeming to follow no determinable pattern, as they are probably products of the Dream and every possible imagination of humankind. Examples of powers could be incredible heat tolerance, the ability of unsustained flight, or the ability of regeneration.
POSSESSION
Although demons have powers to create massive destruction wherever they go, none of their powers is as feared as the power of possession. One of the few powers that every demon possesses, this is the power to enter a human's body and replace their soul and essence with that of the demon, or, in case of an already dead body, simply take over the uninhabited corpse. If the body is still alive, the demon enters the body by moving his spirit directly into the body of the creature. This is most quickly accomplished through the mouth, but a demon can seep into the body of a creature through any part of his skin. This feels like a weak breeze coupled with a weird tingling sensation. The demon then infects the body's essence with its own essence, making it a mix of demonic and human essence. This is incredibly painful. Formerly possessed people have described the pain as feeling like every cell is being boiled until they burst. This also leads to violent muscle spasms that continue for up to 5 seconds. After this first ordeal, people often describe how they feel a sudden alienation to the rest of their body, just before they feel a pain reminiscent of someone ramming their brain, creating a weird dissonance and the sounds of something utterly alien, pushing at an imperceptible membrane. At this point some people give in to the force, and let the soul of the demon take over. Others force the demon out through sheer willpower, making it violently retrieve its essence, which feels like one side of your skin has burst from the sheer pressure of the demon ripping its life force out (of course, no physical damage actually happens unless the demon is very powerful and pissed off). If the demon successfully takes over the body, the body enters the Transformative Phase, where the demonic essence replaces the human essence as the life source of the body and starts transforming the body physically to suit the description of a physical form that its own essence gives. The physical form is derived from the idea of a physical form that every demon harbors, and since it like everything else is a taken from a dead human soul, the human is most often modeled over the appearance of a human, from a memory. Others, though, have more fearsome or wondrous appearances, molding their bodies to take the shape of nightmares, superstitions, dreams or sexual fantasies. After the Transformative Phase, the demon undergoes a short Adjustment Phase, and is then ready to enter the Active Phase with its newly acquired body. Demons who have acquired a host are not driven by the same quest for completion as their discarnate brethren, and are instead left with the quest of fulfilling the demands of their extreme passions, and a hunger for life (mostly in the form of blood).
DEMONIC SUBTYPES
MNEMONS:
Mnemons are the most ordinary and hard to discover demons, since they physically resemble humans. Most have slight inhuman alterations, but not many of them are immediately obvious, and so they are able to integrate themselves quite well into human civilization. Mnemons are driven by a great variety of ambitions and dreams, and possess a host of different abilities, making all of them more or less unique.
SUCCUBUS:
Succubi are demons completely consumed with lust who take on the shape of sexual fantasies. They hunt down and possess the most beautiful bodies they can find (most often women), and then they modify them until they are perfect representations of beauty and human desire. Succubi are crazed with their own desire, and want nothing but sex, which they pursue tirelessly. They aren't rapists though, but seducers; they not only want the sex, but the desire of mankind. Succubi are slightly warmer to the touch than normal, and appear to be hyperventilating a little, but otherwise just resemble extremely beautiful men and women. Though succubi might sound like a blessing to humankind to many people, they do have a tendency to sometimes suck out the soul of a human after an orgasm, leaving the dead body behind.
GROTESQUERIES:
Grotesqueries are demons whose form is too horrible to be from a single nightmare only. They are physical representations of the worst the human mind can come up with in terms of fear and horror. Unlike the more focused succubi, grotesqueries come in many different shapes and variants, although all of them seem to be bent on wanton destruction. But maybe there are exceptions; you never know. Also called gargoyles, the grotesqueries are the most feared demons, since they are the ones most likely to be in possession of claws, horns, tentacles, armored skin, wings, and destructive supernatural powers; things that all demon hunters hate. Grotesqueries are thankfully quite rare: memories and dreams do outweigh nightmares.
PRACTICAL DEMONOLOGY
Though the knowledge of this skill was formerly limited to a few select groups and people, the knowledge of demon summoning and binding has now spread to the general populace after the uncovering of ancient quenyian texts detailing the unholy practice, creating something akin to mass hysteria for a while as the idea of all-powerful demon-controlling warlocks spread. Now, as it has become more apparent that practical demonology is a skill that only the extremely fool-hardy or ambitious would dare employ, and that those who do will be captured and executed for their crimes, the fear has dampened somewhat. But even though the dangers are readily apparent, a few people each year still try their skills at this dangerous skill. Practical Demonology has three primary steps: Summoning, Channeling, and Binding.
SUMMONING:
The summoning step is further sub-divided into 3 sub-steps: Creation, Purification, and Beckoning.
The creation step involves the demonologist crafting a summoning circle and preparing the summoning space. Though any geometric shape can be utilized, the circle is definitely the most effective as it has no borders and corners; geometrical features that are weak points as far as demon summoning go as they allow the demon to center all his strength on a specific point. The circle is crafted from apotropic (anti-demon) materials, usually silver, and though many circle designs may be used, the most common one is a Double Reinforced Circle; two concentric circles with demon-repelling signs in-between. The most important points of the circle is that it is as perfect a circle as possible, that at least one circle is apotropic, and that it is unbroken. At one point of the circle, usually pointing west as demons are associated with night, a small band of gold is laid out so it crosses from the inner circle to the outside. This is the Channel.
Further designs may be added, such as internal sacrificial circles, external summoner circles or the like, but the primary circle and the channel are the most important bits.
The Purification is carried out by sealing off the room, and then removing as many of the aspects that connects the room to the physical world as possible. Near-darkness and heavy use of incense help to deceive the senses of sight and smell, and obscuring the room, while isolation disconnects the room from human knowledge and sounds. The room is often further sealed off by placing spirit-repellent signs on the outer walls, preventing curious spirits from entering. Some even take perception-altering drugs to further blur the differences between reality and dream, though this of course has a certain effect on their judgment as well. The room thus sealed off from reality, it is much easier to have a bridge opened between it and the Locus Arcana, and thus, the Beckoning can begin. The beckoning entails sending great amounts of energy into the inner circle, usually by using powerful Thau-staffs, which charges the apotropic metal, so that it starts tearing at the planar boundaries. As the planar boundaries are weakened, and as the concept of what's real and what's unreal disappear from the room, the demonologist can start reciting the verse that is to beckon the spirit. This verse often involves the repetition of demonic names, so as to attract their attention, and the repetition of proposed sacrifices in various languages. Nobody really knows the science behind these verses, and though naming a specific demonic entity seems to help attracting it, it isn't a foolproof method of attracting a specific demon, and it might as well be an entirely different one that shows up. The only real regulation you can do is to modify the circle to only allow demons of certain levels of power to enter the circle. As soon as the demon has entered the circle, the power is shut off, cutting off the connection to the other world, leaving the demon stranded behind.
CHANNELING:
With a demon thus trapped, the second step can be commenced. Channeling is the act of forcing the demon through the Channel and into a binding circle (typically). An electrically charged golden rod, often also dipped in blood, is used as bait, and drawn across the Channel until the demon possesses the Channel. The rod is then turned over and a small piece of apotropic material, such as jade, in the other end of the rod, is used to force the demon into the other circle.
BINDING:
Binding is usually the last part of the procedure. This is where the demonologist forces the spirit into an immaterial object, be it an item or a tattoo, or, if the demonologist is of a more suspect kind, a living or dead body. The demonologist often connects a couple of gold wires from a small connection box placed on the edge of the binding circle to the binding device itself, which is either a complex tattoo reminiscent of the summoning circle, or a complex mechanical contraption of wires and other things capable of storing and controlling the demon.
By itself, without the breakdown of minutae (nor discussing how the succubi remind me of some ex-types, nor mentioning to you that male succubi are actually incubi), this is a far more in-depth treatment of demons than we normally get, allowing for more 'terror from the unknown'.
I use possesion sometimes, and it has turned inot one of the better confounding elements of my setting. So I am all for this and the rest of the horrible emphasis you are putting on these demons.
Do you still use other outsiders? What type of agenda drives your mor intelligent demons?
I know male succubi are called incubi (apparently one of them means "lying below" and the other "lying above" or something like that... charming). And thank you for the kind words (and the quick comment, didn't expect anything so soon).
And currently, no, there are no other outsiders as such, though these demons can fill up a good deal of niches depending on strength and form. The agenda depends somewhat on the demon. They have personalities like humans, but are just infinitely more passionate as they are composed of the strongest emotions. Some have larger concentrations of a specific emotion, such as succubi who are almost consumed by lust, and this can lead to a very focused personality (destruction, power, etc.).
I like your demons. They're more ambiguous, less blatantly evil, and their names are badass. Oh yeah, and Triumvitae is a cool word.
If I was to play this (and I might just) I'd probably use Ron Edward's Sorcerer system. Seems appropriate.
Yeah, i have thought about checking that out... I probably have to order it over the net though...
And thanks ^^
I guess when I menat agenda, I was also speaking for the more powerful types above these, if there are such things. Sorry I was not clear, but that is what I meant.
I love the term 'Practical demonology', as it sounds so plebian and normal.
I haven't really gotten around to thinking about the arch-demons (or whatever) all that much yet... Generally, they don't get involved as such with the mortal world, unless they are summoned there, in which case the would-be summoner has probably just signed his own death sentence. Generally, i think that their agendas are so incomprehensible that there is no meaningful way to convey them. Of course, this might also just be me evading the question. Anyway, arch-demons are probably less "human" and more like primal personifications of a specific emotion or thought.
Hmm, talking about this i'm reminded of Plato's Forms. The Forms essentially being the Idea behind a concept, arch-demons might be the pure idea of a thought or an emotion?
More demonic subtypes:
SHADOWS
When a soul is ripped away from the mortal world, parts of it sometimes get stuck. This event is what creates shadows. Though not demons in the usual sense, shadows bear some ties to them in that they are both creations of dead human souls. Shadows are, for lack of a better word, psychic imprints made on the physical world. Also called ghosts, shadows appear as flickering images of scenes that have happened in the past (taken from the dead person's memory). Weak ghosts are often nothing but faded pictures being replayed again and again, with the movement of the ghosts being unnatural and flickering, the colors drained and sometimes, not even physical integrity is maintained, and the ghosts appear transparent in places. Stronger ghosts have strong emotions keyed to the replayed memory, and this allows them to affect the physical world in certain points of their repeated memory. The strongest of ghosts, the revenants, no longer connect their memory to a specific event, but rather to the experience itself, and seek to copy it in the physical world. Strong shadows are not sentient, but yet still appear to act intelligently in all situations, though they never acknowledge that they aren't human. It's believed that they act as they think the holder of the memory would. Shadows exist until banished or otherwise removed and are contained to the area in which they live.
SURGES
Surges are the most powerful of the ambient demons. Though they resemble small smoky clouds just like other demons, they don't have the physiology to possess, and instead depend on the emotional energy leaked by living creatures. Surges have the unnatural ability to amplify whatever emotion they represent in the surrounding area, making outbursts of that emotion both stronger and more likely.
GHOULS
Ghouls are demons consumed by envy to such a degree, that they long to be others. They are cunning shapeshifters, resembling, thin, short skinless humans with every feature reduced to its smallest human proportions. The demon's otherwise unprotected muscle tissue is covered by a protective membrane. Other parts of the demons physiology have also been changed drastically. Every bone is now made up of hundreds of smaller bone pieces, connected by muscle tissue, which allows the ghoul to extend and shape his bone structure however he sees fit. Balloon-like organs are scattered across his body, and he can fill them quickly with a fat-like semi-solid to emulate body fat. Small details, like pigmentation and the like can also be changed, and so can the hair. Skin can be produced by using glands that cover the body, but specific skin designs, such as tattoos or birthmarks, can't be copied. Other than that, the ghoul can modify pretty much all of its body to resemble any living human creature. To take a new shape, the fat-organs are emptied, and the skin is softened and then clawed off, and then the process can start anew. A competent ghoul can change its shape in less than 2 minutes. Though ghouls can emulate people by looking at them, eating them allows the creature to obtain all the details of the victim's body and appearance, and also makes sure the original doesn't get it in the way of its plans.
Do these add to the system, or would it be better without them?