Demon Possession

## Why do demons seek to possess the living?

Demons are malevolent spirits, the first children of the Maker and are angry at their creator for turning from them and jealous of those creations he considered superior. They stare across The Veil at the living and do not understand what they see, yet they know they crave it. They desire life, they pull the living across the Veil when they sleep and prey on their psyche with nightmares. Whenever they can, they cross the Veil into our world to possess it outright.

We know that any demon will seek to possess a mage, and upon doing so will create an abomination. Most of the world does not know, however, that the strength of an abomination depends entirely on the power of the demon that possesses the mage. This is true, in fact, of all possessed creatures. One demon is not the same as any other.

## Types of Demons

> For CoT additions to the common categories of demons please see Demons, Spirits and Abominations. Bioware's original groups are as follows;
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### Desire

Of all the threats from beyond the Veil, few are more insidious and deceptively deadly than the desire demon. Desire demons use the yearnings of the victims – lust, wealth, power – to their advantage. Their abilities to affect the mind allow them to assume disguises and even alter the environment to their purposes. As a result, many who become their prey never realize it. While desire demons may resort to an outright mind control, they seem to take greater pleasure in more subtle deceit. If overpowered, a desire demon will most likely attempt to bargain its way to freedom. These deals usually end with the demon gaining an upper hand, even when the mage believes otherwise.

### Despair

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Once these were demons of sloth, but since they are not the antithesis of justice or valor, but rather of hope. They form nightmares tearing away the foundations of self and purpose. When brought into the world, they are most attracted to places the downtrodden populate: Alienages, slums, prisons, and the like. The miasma they spread can lead to extreme behavior. Look for a rash of unexplained suicides, men and women so filled with grief they lash out and there a Despair demon may be found. The most intelligent of these creatures are to be feared, for they not only feed on despair, they understand its causes and seek to bring it about. From the shadows they ruin lives, drinking the tears of those who have no idea the cause of their misery is not random chance.

### Envy

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Envy demons are one of the rarer varieties of demon. They are consumed by the need to not only emulate mortal beings, but become them. Envy demons are equal parts arrogance and cowardice. They isolate their victims to study them at length. Once the demon is satisfied it knows its chosen subject, it takes on their form, leaving the poor soul to rot. Envy is never satisfied, however. The demon's bottomless cravings to be more—more powerful, more skilled, more inspired—cause it to seek fresh prey, leaving a trail of stolen identities behind. This transition is when Envy is weakest, for it is vulnerable as it moves from body to body, slavishly copying the habits of the old identity until it finds another mortal to mimic.

### Fear

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Fear demons are the more powerful variety of fear based demon. They rule over Terror demons as well as Fearlings. The most primal of basic impulses possessed by mankind is fear - the raw power of it drives almost all else. A demon that preys upon fear is not the most sophisticated sort of creature. They mimic forms they see in the nightmares of mortals, hoping to elicit the response they crave. Some of these demons, however, stumble upon terrors that are much more deeply rooted: fears of the future, of chaos and disorder, of failure. This sort of demon develops a far more refined palate, attacking the psyche of their target rather than seeking a simple scare. Beware the fear demon that gorges upon the terror of not only a single nightmare but of a nation, for it will grow to such size that it dominates the Fade.

#### Terror

Terror demons are a weaker variety of fear based demon and come in both a lesser and greater form. They are subservient to demons of fear.

#### Fearlings

Fearlings are lesser demons in service of a Fear demon. They take the form of the viewer's fear. Fearlings are manifestations of our anxieties and deepest fears. Born in the Fade, they are simple spirits that occasionally slip into the waking world where the Veil is thin.

### Hunger

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In a living host they become cannibals and vampires, and within the dead they feed upon the living. Theirs are the powers of draining, both of life force and of mana. In the Fade these demons try to latch onto the life force of a mage and can drain and draw them into that realm permanently. Mental defences are key when facing these vampiric demons. They are characterized by a compulsion to consume everything they encounter, including other demons. They are extremely rare, even in the Fade. In the real world, they are most often encountered when possessing a skeleton (fanged skeletons) or a mage (hunger abominations). Powerful hunger demons can take human form.

### Pride

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These are the most feared creatures to loose upon the world: Masters of magic and in possession of vast intellect, they are the true schemers. It is they who seek most strongly to possess mages, and will bring other demons across the Veil in numbers to achieve their own ends--although what that might be has never been discovered. A greater pride demon, brought across the Veil, would threaten the entire world. Only the most powerful of mages can be a host to such a demon and only the strongest can survive a deal with them. Though it is to be noted that a Pride demon rarely loses out on the deal for in the long run they will win out for they have immortality and unending patience.

### Rage

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They are the least intelligent and most prone to violent outbursts against anything living. They expend their energies quickly, the most powerful of them exhibiting great strength and occasionally the ability to generate fire. These are the demons most commonly summoned by blood mages and are the easiest to control, but even then they need to be leashed by a strong mage, a weaker mage would be devoured by them and their Rage. Often used for "training" purposes in places like Tevinter, they can be bound in a circle of runes and summoned and kept on the mortal plane, but only for a specific period of time - a period that depends entirely on the power and experience of the summoning mage.

### Sloth

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This is the first type that are capable of true intelligence. In its true form, this demon is known as a Shade, a thing which is nearly indistinct and invisible, for such is sloth's nature. It hides and stalks, unaware, and when confronted, it sows fatigue and apathy. It has been known for sloth demons to reach mages and non mages alike through enchanted lyrium items such as rings and amulets. Their have been corpses of those who simple laid down and stopped living, the only thing found amongst their dry bones the item which still glowed an ethereal blue and whispers of peace and sleep and quiet.

## Our policy on possession

Do not refer to game mechanics and the differences thereof when it comes to possession. Each demon is different therefore each deal and each summoning and each possession with be different. Mages do not spontaneously turn into Abominations and it takes time and effort and a lot of magic to deal with any demon as well as learn how to summon them. In this setting we steer away from possession where the mage has any control, for an Abomination is a ruined mage and forever changed and out of control of their own body. Please do not copy the game but please *do* try to be inventive. If you have any queries regarding this then Ask the Admin or post in the help forum.