Archon

An archon is an artificial body purpose built for occupation by transmigration. They are primarily known to the Dragon Empire as the monstrous warriors employed in battle by Nessus.

Archons that have become corrupted by the Abyss usually turn into the larger and more dangerous varieties of demons.

When slain, an archon slowly dissolves into black smoke, and whatever soul is currently inhabiting it dies with it. This is in contrast to demons, which melt into a foul black sludge when killed.

## Known varieties

Imperial soldiers and spies have observed several different types of archon.

### Barbazu

Red, ogre-sized brutes of frightening power and durability. They seem to serve as the devils' front-line soldiers.

Due to the foul-smelling tendrils protruding from their face, imperial soldiers often call them bearded devils.

### Spinagon

Purple, human-sized creatures with bat-like wings. They often accompany barbazu as ranged support.

They're called spined devils because of the long spines all over their backs and limbs, which they shoot at their enemies from the air.

### Erinyes

Humanoid archons with black feathered wings. They seem to serve primarily as assassins, and are known as fury devils for their single-minded pursuit of their quarries.

Perhaps due to their function, fury devils seem more commonly than other kinds of archon to be able to change their shape into something innocuous, like a human or an animal.

### Bezekira

Fire-breathing, lion-esque monsters the size of horses. They turn invisible in bright light. Often called hellcats by the troops lucky (or unlucky) enough to see them.

Hellcats are often accompanied by small, imp-like creatures with constantly burning heads. The hellcat hides in the bright light emitted by the imp, which has since given imps a perhaps unduly fearsome reputation.

### Hamatula

Humanoid creatures covered from head to toe in metallic spikes, consequently called barbed devils. They're sometimes found as part of Nessian strike forces, but also serve as guards.

They're scarily quick, even compared to other archons. Scarier still, they seem to have some kind of sorcerous capability, channelling gouts of hellish flame against their foes.

### Osyluth

Huge, ghastly white creatures, known as bone devils because of their skeletal appearance.

Osyluth are clearly built as mass killing machines, given their array of ghastly weapons. In addition to the razor claws on their long, spindly fingers, an osyluth boasts a huge, scorpion-like tail packing debilitating venom, and spear-like spines they can shoot from their bodies like a living crossbow.

### Kyton

Eyeless hulks wrapped in heavy chains that lash about wildly as if they were part of the archon's body. Commonly known as chain devils, for obvious reasons.

They seem to be rare, which is good -- the first chain devil the Imperial Army encountered killed an entire company of soldiers single-handedly.

## Lemures

When an archon is left unattended for a very long time, it eventually develops a rudimentary intelligence of its own. Though the artificial flesh begins to slough and misshape, the body starts to move on its own as if by instinct. It isn't known what causes this phenomenon.

The most common type of lemure is a simple creature that looks vaguely like a misshapen (or even half-melted) humanoid. They're thought to be by-products or rejections from normal archon production.