Demons

Beings of pure spirit in their natural form, demons, along with angels, are servents of the Gods. Demons serve as the weapons and punishments of the gods - if a village offends a god, it's a demon who will come to smite them. However, demons can also be summoned by mortal magic users, and if the summoner loses control of their thrall, these demons turn their malevolent intelligences to their own amusement until they're hunted down and their physical form slain, returning the spiritual bodies from whence they came.

## History

The Gods created demons after they imprisioned Aurelius, the Titan who created humanity, in the Pit. The Gods soon found that their new subjects were inclined to find their own paths after the Gods disrupted their pastoral way of life, and realised they needed something to enforce their will. The love they'd poured into the creation of angels made the celestials ill-equipped to inflict punishments that would resonate with the masses. They came together and spun threads of hatred and bitterness together to create a new race of Outsiders, which they called demons.

## Physicality

Demons are beings of pure spirit, and have no natural physical form. When seen in Teldaris, however, these creatures are *extremely* physical. The substance of their physical bodies is provided by either the God who sent them to Teldaris, or by the mortal who summoned them. In the case of a mortal summoner, this substance is usually provided in the form of the bodies of sacrifices.

These physical bodies are shaped by the demon, so a demon summoned multiple times will look the same each time, even if summoned by different mortals. While there are several general types of demon, each of the gods have their own varients.

### Barlgura

Hulking, ape-like creatures, the Barlgura are the foot soldiers of demonic forces. Their brute strength and instinctive cruelty make them dangerous, but predictable. Barlgura are seldom deployed on Teldaris by the gods, but they're a common choice for mortals first dabbling in the summoning of demons, or looking for a simple henchman.

### Vrock

Tall, emancipated vulture-like creatures, Vrock have a hunched but humanoid gait and a long, deadly beak, as well as powerful claws. Often employed by the Gods as assassins, Vrock are often sent to kill normal humans who offended them. They're cunning, but not particularly intelligent. This cunning can make them dangerously unpredictable, and many men have died after underestimating a Vrock.

### Hezrou

The most commonly-deployed punishment of the gods, Hezrou are simple creatures. Bearing passing resemblence to an enourmous, humanoid toad with teeth, these creatures ooze disgusting slime that poisons anything it touches. When a town or village has fallen out of favour with the gods, they'll often find that their river, spring or well has started to produce tainted water that makes people sick. When traced back to its source, this poison originates from a Hezrou crouching at the source of the water. The Hezrou will kill and devour anyone who finds it, often slaughtering a village's best and brightest in this manner while slowly poisioning the rest of the village. Often, the only hope the people have is to abandon their village entirely and find somewhere new to live.

### Glabrezu

Both feared and revered by summoners, Glabrezu are the most intelligent of the demons, with the exception of the tactical brilliance of the Marilith. These creatures are sent by the gods to deploy more complex punishments, weaving their targets into a complex web of deception that often leaves them gibbering in insanity. They seem to take great pleasure in tricking and trapping mortals, who they regard as irredeemably stupid.

### Nalfeshnee

Warped, pig-like beasts, the Nalfeshnee are the demons called by the gods when they want a town or village wiped violently off the map. While not equal to the intelligence of the Glabrezu or Marilith, Nalfeshnee are still intelligent enough to be ensure the efficient destruction of their targets. These demons usually work with groups of Barlgura and/or Vrock, who they control with an iron fist.

### Marilith

The most humanoid of the Demons, some demonologists theorise that Marilith may have been created as a mockery of or a tribute to a certain human. If this is true, her identity is lost to history. Marilith are human from the waist up, but have powerful snake bodies from the waist down, and possess six arms, each of which weild a weapon with superhuman skill. Deployed by the gods to defeat entire armies and humiliate hubristic generals and warlords, Marilith are obviously rare. Most human summoners fear to call these demons, but a few regard successfully summoning and controling a Marilith as the pinnacle of their art.

### Goristro

Called by the gods for the utter destruction of cities, Goristro are only seen on incredibly rare occasions. Never successfully summoned by a mortal - though a couple have passed into Teldaris as the result of a failed summoning - these hulking, minotaur-like creatures were only deployed by the Gods in a single incident in all of recorded history, when the Rathadori city of Gamesh attempted to elevate their emperor to godhood.

### Balor

Balor have never been seen in Teldaris, and many demonologists beleive that such a sighting would be a sign of the end of days, for creatures such as Balor could only be called by the gods to bring about the end of the world. Creatures of shadow and flame, the Balor are too feared for any mortal summoner to have attempted to call them - or, if they have, no word of them has ever returned.