The Campaign Builder's Guild

I'm still very happy for the help. If you need my help with anything just ask; I'm not really accustomed to making focused help as such, but I'd be happy to try (this is a forum after all; i better get used to it sooner or later).
And now to the questions:

3.
Let's see. Yes, strong demons are ancient, and although lesser ones are often destroyed and rebuilt all the time, strong demons are too resilient to be blown apart like this. And they do indeed keep "one foot outside"; this is how they can possess physics-breaking powers.
Souls are scraped clean of powerful thoughts and emotions in the maelstrom, so actual racial knowledge is probably hard to come by. On the other hand, natural talent, personality, or opinions might be influenced by what basic parts the soul is build up from.

4.
Most people aren't aware of demons, and even if they were, they would be powerless to stop them adding "parts" to the demons. Every thought or emotion you experience leaves an imprint that can eventually be used to "build" a demon. But then again, your "parts" are just a drop in the ocean, and they might not even coalesce into a demon.
As to your love example, it would probably usually just be generalized as "love" for the demon, but it's not impossible for a demon to retain the connection there is between the emotion and the thought of the woman. It's a good idea anyway, so i can't see why i would ruin it.

5
Maybe they could, but it's rather unlikely. It might also cause some sort of "disturbance" to the reality. Also, demons don't really want to leave their plane. They mostly leave because they are drawn by something or forced by something. Of course, if you are dealing with manifestations of curiosity you never know...

6
it's actually more than likely that a demon will go out of control. the only way to currently control is if you contain it in special binding circles on objects or your own body. If you let the spirit free from the summoning circle it runs rampant in search of a body.

7.
Yes, spirit-demons seek only to possess; they need a body. Once they have done that, the constituents of their soul take over. Grotesqueries are manifestations of fear, so they cause mayhem and wanton destruction. Mnemons live like normal humans, although passionate, quirky and with powerful supernatural abilities. Succubi they... well, you know what they do. Ghouls become schemers seeking power and beauty.

Sounds good?

3. So you're saying that people actually get 'better' over time, kind of like we're taught in the real world?  Even though in our actuality, people of old weren't stupid, we've just been able to build off of what they knew.  In your setting, people may actually become more skilled as time goes on?  Or does it stay the same...as in, if I'm really good at typing and I die and my soul helps make your son's soul, he will be really good at typing, though not necessarily exactly as good as I was?

4.  I think this one is resolved, then.  I liked that idea, actually.  If I were to use a cosmology like this, I would likely use that for an adventure or even a campaign.

5.  Are you familiar with the Dark Tower?  If so, do you mean like thinnies?

7.  Okay, I got it.  This one is resolved, I think.

Almost there.  I'll call four and seven resolved.  At this rate, I'll be moving on to the next part after your next response.

3
Maybe in the beginning people were more like blank slates that could become anything than they are today; of course this was when the first souls were created, so no one really noticed (neanderthals aren't known for their exact scientific methods of observance).
But people don't become remarkably better over time. A few more "soul-parts" (gotta find a name for these...) might be stuck now than a few millenniums ago, but people had the same capability for learning back then. As far as the typing skill goes, the son would not be able to write at birth or anything, but when taught the skill, he might be slightly more proficient at it than his fellow students.
Actually, it just dawned on me that this resembles some of Plato's theories if you are familiar with them; he believed that our soul had "seen" knowledge (actually Ideas/Forms, but somewhat the same) in the afterlife, and that when we learn something we are actually just remembering something that our soul saw ages ago. Now, I'm not going to be as drastic as to say all knowledge is already stored in our souls, but i like the parallels.  

5
I've only read the first volume, so can't say I'm truly familiar with the concept. Reading over the wiki, "thinnies" could perhaps exist, haven't really decided whether that would be worth it. Maybe not so overt holes in reality anyway. But with disturbance what i actually meant was that an influx of a lot of demons would cause that area to be a good deal more "unreal" than the surroundings, and the world would therefore try and even it out or remove it (if you remember resonance, the effects of that form of reality-changing also disappeared after a while as the world sought to erase the anomaly to the best of its ability). Of course, demons aren't deleted ordinarily because they are partially real; it requires a large influx of demons for the universe to react.

By the way, i'll be leaving for a 12 day vacation to Italy tomorrow, so if you have any minor projects you would like to work on in the meantime you probably should, seeing as i will be more or less unable to answer. Unless we can get done today that is : )

3. That makes sense.  I think I understand now.  I'll call this resolved now.

5. I think I understand now.  That makes sense to me.

I saw your post in the Tavern, too.  I think maybe I will maybe go over the rest of this soon.  At least before you come back, so all my comments will be waiting for you then.  In the meantime, I will probably critique some other people as well.

I still expect you will respond to what is left of my first run at this but since you will be gone for a long time, I'll also move on to the rest of you're post.  

I had only decided to break it down before because of; 1. Limited time when I was doing it and 2. We went back and forth very quickly last time.  That didn't happen this time so this one will take a look at the the rest of your post. (It may be done over the course of multiple days in extra tabs on my browser.)

I will also be typing this and reviewing as I go which may cause me to ask things that are explained later.  If I do so, explain them in your response, or just say they are explained later.

Here we go.

Part Two : Possession
1.

Quote from: Crippled CrowFormerly possessed people have described the pain as feeling like every cell is being boiled until they burst.

Possessed humans usually merely have their minds subjugated, although powerful demons can crush souls completely, and even weaker demons can crush a soul that was already weakened when they took control of the body.[/quote]Some thoughtforms are grotesque and monstrous, while others are human and inconspicuous; demons are often divided into types depending on their thoughtform.[/quote]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.[/quote]Part Four : Practical Demonology[/u]
This section answered some of my previous questions.  I would like to see more of this in a bit more detail, if you don't mind.  The circles also call to mind FMA, though I know they shouldn't as the idea is older than that.

Part Five : Other
1. Self-preservation in demons:  Explain to me how demons behave in regard to their own self-preservation.  Do they have such instincts?  If they do, as beings of dreams, nightmares, thoughts, or emotion, how do you rationalize that?  I'm sure there is a way, I just can't think of it myself.

2. Controlling demons:  Is it possible for anyone to control demons in their natural form?  I would assume that even if there was, they would still be likely to break free or otherwise go out of control.  Would such a thing be normal, rare, or maybe just the stuff of legend?  Or is the only thing that can be done with demons binding them to ones self?

3. Communicating with demons:  Can people communicate with demons before bringing them to the material world?  Can people communicate with demons after bringing them to the material world?  Can people communicate with demons that have bound themselves to a human host?  Can people communicate with demons that have bound themselves to an inanimate object as a host?  Are people able to communicate with demons that they have summoned and bound to them?  Are demons intelligent in the sense that they are able to communicate in words?



And that should be all for now.

A lot to answer, but then again, have to make up for all the time I've been away :)

1.
I'm not sure i get the first part of the question. The Craving is the aforementioned craving of spirits to possess physical bodies when they enter our universe.
As to the limitations of possession, they aren't quite fleshed out (ideas are welcome). Currently, I'm considering a couple of possibilities: 1) weaker demons require sufficiently weak or open bodies to possess them. 2) Demons have specific tastes in bodies (Succubi is an obvious example). 3) Demons don't stray far from their place of "birth". If they don't find any host, they "cling" to the place, or an object, or an uninhabitable person or creature, until a suitable host passes by. (this also leads to "haunted" places, which is neat). 4) There could be cases of partial possession: voices in your head, Alien Hand syndrome, slips of the tongue, etc.  Any of them that sound good?
As of yet, Evokers have no method to gain power over the demon once it is released from the circle. They can only direct it while inside the summoning circle. Invokers can choose what to bind it to though.

2.
Yes, your consciousness doesn't usually die, so it is possible to break free. One way is to push the demon out at some later point, but that is somewhat unlikely as it managed to overwhelm you the first time. Also it can be forced through exorcism (under construction). Lastly, it might flee voluntarily. This of course conflicts with the Craving, but demons might do it out of desire of a better host, or to leave a crippled one.
Just went back and checked some of my science stuff. The concept of microbiology doesn't seem to be within the grasp of my civilization (at least not the current one) and therefore i will change the cell-note. Thanks for the heads-up.

3.
I can see what you mean. Think i just got a bit stuck in the whole serious way of thinking and writing. But this is meant to be somewhat serious, so I'll change that as well. Does enraged sound good?

4.
Hmm, okay, my world is based on the concept of "Triumvitae", essentially that every creature consists of three distinct parts: the Vessel (physical body), Essence (life force), and Soul (mind/directive force). By crushing a soul the demon expels it from the body, where it dissipates into the spirit world like it would have done if the body had died (so it goes to the Oversoul). The demon now has the entire body under its control by effectively putting its own soul in the place of the old. As a separate note demons have only essence and soul and therefore seek a vessel.

5.
You suggest i make a Terminology somewhere at the end? I should probably do that all things considered, just clarifying whether that was what you meant.

6.
The human mind is kept somewhat away from the demon and the body during the possession, but yes, it's quite possible that some of the demons soul leaks over into the human. All of your suggestions are possible to some degree or another. And i like your last idea :D but as you said, probably only a few would try, and even fewer would succeed. But it could be one of the sources for the original lore.

7.
They are driven more by the need for physicality than the need for flesh in an of itself. So an object is just as good. Of course, objects are limited in many ways: they have no essence, no body to shape, and no limbs to move. They could be ideal for hiding in while waiting for a suitable host if we go with "clinging" idea from the first question. But generally, demons don't possess objects willingly something i should probably clarify. They can be forced by invokers to inhabit certain prepared constructions that can control the demon in some limited form (magic items essentially). And yes, you could probably make an item that could "speak".  

Part Three:
1. Demons in their "natural" form always appear as immaterial vapors or flickering light and the like; something ethereal. Descriptions of their looks always accounts for their thought-form: the shape the host takes while under possession.
2. Yes, mnemons is a kind of catch-all category. Then again, they are meant to be human emotion and desire incarnate. They are strange and unique, even though not all of them look terribly exceptional to the untrained eye. They are the demons that walk among us unnoticed (along with the ghouls). Powers could be more or less anything: flight, regeneration and darkvision could be common examples.
3. Thanks :) Any suggestions on what you'd like to see?
4. Thanks again. I did at some point try and key them to the 7 deadly sins, but although i could make wrath correspond with grotesqueries, lust with succubi, and envy with ghouls, there wasn't much to go with beyond that. Shadows could perhaps be sloth... But they weren't originally made in the image of the sins any of them.

Part Four
This is the next thing I'm going to do some serious work on, so you'll certainly be seeing more of this.

Part five
Depends somewhat on the demon. Mnemons are essentially just very-very strange people, and ghouls envy life in itself as well (it's better than death, so i presume they want it). Grotesqueries, Shadows, and Succubi lack self-preservation to a degree; they have a goal and therefore they won't mindlessly walk over a cliff if there is a bridge to cross or another way to get what they want, but they won't stop either destroying or seducing; only to perhaps rest (not quite sure whether they need rest, but i guess they do unless they have a special power).

2. When in a circle you can bind the demon to whatever you want. Of course, if its a non-suitable host, nothing prevent the demon from leaving unless you lock it in place somehow.

3. Not possible before, unless you count the summoning ritual as communication. When in the circle they possess limited telepathy, so some communication is possible, but demons aren't terribly talkative in that position (mostly just mad whispers). Whenever a demon is bound to something that can speak, communication is possible as most demons speak the common languages. Inanimate objects can't speak, so unless the demon has telepathy, communication is not possible. Demons bound to your own body can be communicated with on a basic empathic level; they can be heard as whispers, and can have a certain influence on the mind, but they don't speak directly to the binder. And yes, demons are intelligent. Some are insane, and some are stupid, but they are all more or less of a sapient nature.

phew, that was a lot of questions... Hope the answers are of use. I'll try and fix the "...pissed" and "cell" bits.

1. I liked idea three since that would lead to the haunted places, like you said.

2. Alright, I think I got it.  That could lead to some good stories, I think.

3. I'd say enraged would probably fit better, yes.  It doesn't sound like it would break the flow as much.

4. Does that mean that if the demon then leaves the host, the body does continue to exist just without personality or anything like that?

5. Either terminology at the end or something small right there.  Whatever works best.

6. Again, some good stories could arise from this.

7. Got it.

----------------

1. Got it, they change the shape of their host.

2. Got it.

3. Maybe more details.  Specifics are always good, too.

4. Because of our society we just tend to see things that way, I think.

----------------

Well, the last are still left unanswered for, but the others seem to be more or less solved except for:

4.
If the soul is exempt from the creature, the energy can't be directed, not even to heart and lungs, and the essence will seep away as the body suffers heart failure and asphyxiates.

Never mind.  My question was answered on a third reading.

Well, I'm just honored you gave it a third reading. :)

This is well done but I've seen it now.  When do we get more new stuff?

I'm suffering from something akin to a writer's block at the moment. (I tend to get those all those often)
I'll post the stuff here once i get done writing it. Sorry.