Daemons

As research in the supernal realms continued, many scientists in the Confederation and the Consortium began wondering more about what happens to "mortal souls" once someone dies. While many scientists have a hard time reconciling the reality of the supernal realms with their atheistic and scientific background, they have been able to find various information that would relate with what happens to souls. And that is when they entered in contact for the first time with the daemons, or fiends.

While the magoscientist name for these creatures is Daemon, most mortals prefer the term "Fiend" when discussing these creatures. Daemons reside in the Underworld, a large, seemingly underground world split into thousands of sub-regions by various rivers of mystical water, the main one to the knowledge of mankind being "The Styx", which is based off the ancient greek myth. The Underworld is apparently populated by a large number of different creatures, but the Daemons appear to live in all regions to different degrees.

So what are fiends like? They are creatures of death, first and foremost. Fiends hunt and feed on lost souls that travel the Underworld, but have little qualm about creating a lost soul or two to fill up their quotas. They are naturally evil, by all standard, not having any morals resembling that of any mortal race and seemingly having an eternal appetite. Some fiends do act out to assist mortals in the Underworld, generally striking unusual pacts with them to safeguard them on their journey, only to consume them if they were to ever fall while on the trip. The strongest amongst them generally form large realms in the depths of the Underworld, where they begin serving what they call a \*Reason\*. Those \*Reason\* appear to be an ideology fiends want to promote, but these \*Reason\* also seem to exist in other supernal realms, as some of them are fully ruled by it (like the various angelic realms) or attempting to shape them (like the Nine Hell).

Fiends are not really at war with any other supernal realms, at least not intentionally. Qlippoth, with their hatred for all things mortal, want to destroy souls, which the Fiends consume as fuel, so there is a bit of a rivalry there. Psychopomp also have a healthy rivalry with the Fiends, as they are tasked with bringing the souls to other realms outside of the Underworld. Devils and Demons often fight in the upper layers of the Underworld, with Daemons generally chiming in to reap in devilish or demonic souls, sometimes even capturing them to serve their \*Reason\*.

## The Four Horsemen

While there are many different daemonlords, there is a constant among all fiends, and it is the fear of the Archfiends, chief of which seem to be the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (named after the biblical creatures). While most daemons only keep a remotely humanoid shape, the horsemen are fully humanoid and always seen riding on supernatural warhorses, with red, black, white and pale horse apparently being the standard. According to people in the know of these matters, each rider represents one of the major \*Reason\*, namely Survival of the Fittest (Red), Isolation (White), Status Quo (Black) and Nihilism (Pale). Other archfiend seem to exist, with the only one commonly referred to (but never seen) being The Trumpeteer, who represent the \*Reason\* of Glory to the Most High, which appears to be in contradiction with some of the others.

## Types of Daemons and Fiends

* Astradaemon: Ravenous hunters of souls, Astradaemons were crafted as the ultimate predator by the Archfiends.
* Cacodaemon: Small balls of hatred and rage, cacodaemons harvest souls of the dead for the more powerful creatures of the Underworld.
* Ceustodaemon: Also known as Guardian or Servant Daemons, Ceustodaemon often come to reality as summoned by various sorcerer, magicians or witches.
* Derghodaemon: Scavengers and opportunistic killers, this insectoid monstrosity roams battlefields in search of fresh souls to bring back to its masters.
* Lacridaemon: Daemons born from the souls of creatures killed by neglect and the elements, those tearful fiends are aggressive hunters which can lead expeditions to their doom.
* Hydrodaemon: Incredible spellcasters of daemonkind, Hydrodaemon rely heavily on water to kill their prey and devour their souls.
* Leukodaemon: Bringers of plagues and malady, those skull-headed beasts bring death with them wherever they go.
* Meladaemon: Bringers of hunger and famine, these creatures happily destroy crops and livestock to let entire communities die so they can harvest their souls.
* Olethrodaemon: Juggernauts of the Underworld, Olethrodaemons serve as literal battering rams and biological weapons for the forces of the Archfiends.
* Piscodaemon: Bringers of misery and blight, Piscodaemon love nothing more then to torture and kill strong warriors to feast on their souls.
* Purrodaemon: The bringers of war, Purrodaemon will lead armies of their kind to battle.
* Thanadaemon: Bringers of Death, Thanadaemons also serve as the ferrymen on the rivers of the Underworld.
* Venedaemon: The physical representation of death by magic, those fiendish sorcerers hunt both souls and arcane knowledge in their quest for power.