Demons

**Demons**, similar to Devils and Angels are creatures from outside Creation. Unlike devils, demons permanently damage Creation by their very presence. Also unlike devils, there are only 23 different types of demon, each occupying the correspondingly numbered hell. It is important to note that in the Good/Evil duality, Angels are on the side of Good and Devils are standing for Evil, which makes the nature of Demons mysterious. It has been all but stated that goblinfire is at least partially made of Demons.

## Known demon types

### Absence

Possesses the ability to remove knowledge of people, places, and events from Creation. Direct combat capabilities unknown. Possibly responsible for the disappearance of the Yan Tei empire from Callowan history books for several centuries. Potentially responsible for the erasure of part of a Hell and the two decades during which the three Secret Wars were waged between Praes and the Kingdom of the Dead.

A Hell Egg containing an absence demon was suspected to reside near Harrow. Possibly unleashed and killed by the Crusader heroes. The Grey Pilgrim pledged to kill the demon and a few days later Catherine Foundling experienced a spate of headaches. Afterward no one, even the heroes involved, showed any memory of the Hell Egg, the battle, or the fact that there were now 12 heroes out of the original 14. The corpse of one of the demons killed during the Arsenal Incursion was a void that was painful to look at or think about, suggesting Absence.

### Apathy

Apathy causes a slow parasitic drain in individuals causing their energy to slowly be sucked from their bodies, slowing and ending the movement of all forces, both physical and metaphysical. The effect also weakens and degrades miracles, as Apathy is the enemy of wonder. A demon of Apathy was deployed by Akua Sahelian the Diabolist at Second Liesse.

Physically, these demons have an envelope of thick black murky skin around their core.

### Corruption

Causes mutation and madness in those afflicted by its aura. Their influence spreads very fast.

At the Battle of Marchford, then-Heiress Akua Sahelian unleashed the specimen contained in an old Hell Egg upon the site. It turned the Silver Spears individually into twisted horrors fused with their armor and horses, while also combining other soldiers and mounts into massive, monstrous amalgams of flesh. This particular specimen has also proved able to corrupt Names if a Name phenomenon is triggered within range. The taint can spread through magical connections and those already corrupted; It however can be contained with adequate sorcery.

Demons of Corruption originate from the 13th Hell. A Corruption demon's form is a creature made up entirely of blank flesh, with features such as hair or eyes being mere moldings.

### Excess

Mentioned by Masego during the Battle of the Arsenal. They can "subsume" demons of Terror, which is why Praesi diabolists rarely use the latter.

### Madness

Madness is one of the most potent demons and leads to a crazed state. They can spread their influence faster than any other breed.

When a demon of Madness was unleashed by Dread Empress Triumphant upon the Callowan capital city of Laure, it killed nine out of ten people and ended the Alban Dynasty. One of the great treasures of Wolof is a Madness demon known as Insipentia, which is bound to House Sahelian with such powerful and foolproof bindings that no enemy has ever succeeded in freeing it or otherwise turning it against the Sahelians in centuries of trying. Even Sve Noc, a deity of theft, refused to touch the copper crown Insipentia was bound to.

### Order

Known to Praesi as "Beasts of Hierarchy." Randomly rewrites creational laws in its vicinity, distorting physics into something that does not support life or purposeful action. As Masego mentally put it, "Air still existed, yet could not be breathed. Solid was as liquid, friction added where there should be none. Points became fixed without rhyme or reason, and so many other weavings: there were as many ways for a demon of Order to act as there were creational laws, if not more." Their influence spreads relatively slowly, but they are very difficult to contain with sorcery, since the ward must be constantly adjusted to protect whichever law the demon is substituting at the moment.

Wekesa suspected that the Demon of Order unleashed by Akua at Second Liesse was the specimen known as Shango's Doom, responsible for the destruction of the city of the same name. The Gatekeeper of the Tower, bound to the Tyrant's Gate by Dread Emperor Sinister, is a demon of Order.

### Terror

This type of demon causes those it touches to experience permanent intense fear. It develops through three stages (Fear, which can be cured altogether with heroic intervention and medicine; Dread, which cannot be cured but can be mitigated; finally Terror, which cannot be either cured or mitigated). This type of Demon is known to Procerans as "Dreadfiends", and to Stygians as "Host-Breakers". A Terror demon's form is a crawling black blob surrounded by translucent, ever-shifting black veils that serve as limbs, with a cluster of moonlike eyes.

A demon of Terror was unleashed in the Arsenal Incursion, and was the only one present to escape immediate destruction at the hands of the Mirror Knight.

### Time

Mentioned by Warlock during the Siege of Nicae, when he was dueling the Hedge Wizard. Originating from the 4th Hell.

### Unnamed Demons

A demon was unleashed on the city of Courtial, resembling an eye of green light set in a pulsing haze of purple flames, which caused surrounding matter to twist and spin out in strands orbiting the demon. Possibly a demon of Space.

Demons that caused flame to spread as though even the air was flammable were summoned both in the Battle of the Spiders and near Courtial. These may be the demons that Goblinfire is made from.

In Keter a two-legged demon without legs, whose very silhouette hurt the eye, devoured a swath of goblinfire.

## Dangers

Demons cause permanent damage to Creation, contaminating places and infecting people and animals. A site heavily contaminated by a demon will still be hazardous years later, even after ritual cleansing. Just being near a demon can cause lingering metaphysical scars that permanently lessen whatever unfortunate bears them, although Named are immune to such minor effects. Too much exposure can irreversibly infect a person, gradually transforming them into living vectors of demonic power; after a battle with a demon, it is necessary to scan everyone involved with magic, and usually several seemingly healthy people will need to be killed before the infection takes. Actually being wounded by a demon is invariably a death sentence, barring immediate amputation.

Demons cannot be killed, or even dispersed like devils, except by heroes wielding Light.

## Weaknesses

Demons can be bound if a mage is proficient enough in the use of wards, as well as their own control of magic. The Dread Empress Triumphant was known to have bound demons to her battle standards, allowing her to unleash them at a moment's notice. Although this was an ability which she took with her to the grave, there still are a few of her standards (known as Hell Eggs) hidden throughout Calernia.

Bringing a demon into Creation is difficult enough, but ensnaring them to your will is akin to putting a straw leash on a raging tiger. The demon will constantly fight to usurp control and turn on their master. A Name such as Diabolist, would allow a being to control multiple demons, as well as properly direct them at their enemies. Still the snare that is used to bind demons is made of sorcery, thus it can be usurped by another mage and severed unleashing the demon.

A demon cannot spread its influence into an area already influenced by another demon. This means that deliberately spreading a relatively controlled demon's influence can "fence in" another demon, though of course this is horrifically dangerous in practice. Masego once referred to this technique as "burning down the house with everyone inside".

## Origin

Through research undertook by Neshamah, prior to becoming the Dead King, some of the nature of Demons was discovered; That they originated from within another Creation, and when it was ended the Demons were all that were allowed to persist. Neshamah theorizes that the wager of that Creation had been one of Essence versus Form (Demons being the ultimate expression of Essence, as their very existence infects anything in proximity with its nature.) However, this is merely speculation.

Practically, Demons do not exist as part of Creation at all, and so are capable of affecting anything and everything within it, up to and including Angels.

Neshamah considers it possible that Demons were discovered by accident, their planes of existence connected to by chance and being confused for Hell's, despite a Demons essence being unchanging and the nature of the Hells, essentially, being of constant change.