DEMONS AND DEMONKIND

Background

The demons of Chaos have, since their overthrow by humanity millions of years ago, been savagely culled, bred and manipulated by eugenics, shapeshifting and vivisection by the Masters (the humans of Chaos) into a wide variety of slave races. Those with the appropriate powers will detect signs of this is all demons.

In most cases their initiative, imagination, curiosity and originality have been bred out of them. In many cases most of their IQ has gone, too (apart from that required for basic survival, and their bred-in tasks), to the point of their being barely sentient. In all cases the ability to lie has also been largely removed, as well as, for all but warriors and police, the ability to fight.

They do not know love, beauty, freedom, curiosity, disobedience or hope. Only obedience, loyalty and fear.

Some demons were (secretly) bred by the Spellsingers to be especially susceptible to their Voice powers.

Most are illiterate, but have good memories (slaves who forget their master's orders do not last long). For most demons, literacy is a magical power of the Masters. The demons have no culture or history - as far as they know, existence (not life!) has always been like this.

Most demons are at least partly resistant to the Abyss (more so than humans).

Each breed has its own language, shared with those above and below them in the chain of command; some of these languages hurt the throat of a human speaker to pronounce; most of them have a small vocabulary and no words for certain concepts, such as love, beauty, disobedience, freedom, hope, and curiosity. This was done as another means of control, perventing different types of demon from speaking to one another. The demons at the very top (such as the Ittibya) speak Thari too. Each breed and individual has its place in the hierarchy.

The demon's part of Chaos is an intestinal labyrinth of tunnels and chambers, in varying colours.

With all the humans of the Royal House gone, the centre of the demon's world, source of motivation and orders is gone too. Without orders, many demons did nothing beyond that required for simple survival. Only those with permanent orders (warriors to train, spies to spy, doctors and heal and so on) did not simply sit.

The machine of Chaos society, even so, is now ungoverned, and runs on only on inertia.

Note that humans were bred by demonkind, too, before their overthrow, but nowhere near as much as humans have bred demons. This is the basis for the differing appearances of the various Families of Chaos. The 'normal' look of the Amberites was, for Dworkin, a rebellious departure from convention...

Demon Types

There are a great many types of demon in Chaos. The most common types are the 'conventional' demon types - cloven-hoofed, goat-legged, horned or goat-headed, bat-winged, with diamond-tipped tails, in a very wide variety of shapes and sizes. However, there are also many other types, stranger than these,divided into four main groups:

Fighters

• Joseg
  Large black traditional-type demons with large claws, cloven hooves, diamond-tipped tails, horns, spikes on forearms and so on. They are not very bright. They also do not bleed.
• Niochun
  Jewelled metallic flying conger eels with insect mouth-parts.
• Ittibya
  Warrior-Mages who are transparent faceless clear glass mannequins. They absorb food through their hands; it flows into their glassy flesh and then fades away as it moves up their arms.
• Ciddigul
  Scouts in the form of giant Siamese cats.
• Koar
  Scouts who are nearly-mindless, invisible, psychically neutral creatures of air and vapours.
• Geutria
  Bodyguards who are balls of blade and spike-tipped armoured tentacles.
• Usheng
  Gatekeepers who are giant black-carapaced insect-like things; they are also used as general guardians.

Servants (those who would have had interaction with the Masters)

• Haplai
  Body servants, who appear to be faceless women in long dresses.
• Kusnovo
  Librarians and Libraries, they are largely immobile insect-like creatures with stunted limbs but vast heads with visible external brain matter. They have perfect memory and act as living libraries. They speak Thari.
• Ippomu
  Specialised mages who appear to be faceless blue glass mannequins. They are related to the Ittibya.
• Glezhom
  Musicians, they are balls of lightly armoured jointed tentacles, with specialised appendages at the tips. They are related to the Geutria, above.

Police, Secret Police and Maintainers of Genetic Purity

• Essullé
  Spies, they are full shapeshifters, whose abilities include aura and personality shifting.
• Erruceun
  Inquisitors, they are angular human-sized black-carapaced insect-like things. They are very patient.
• Ecrutong
  Cullers/Assassins, each one appears to be a living tower of ashes; this is a permanent elemental form.

Workers (behind-the-scenes types)

• Rurrae
  A type of living membrane which can crudely reshape other living things into a single hugh living mass. They are used for large-scale projects, to make living earth-movers, and so on. They live off the beings they use, and so will eventually kill them if not supplied with food. When not in use they are kept inert, in hibernation.
• Brute builders
  These are 'Conventional' demons of various types.
• Ajiddas
  Artisans who are balls of lightly armoured jointed tentacles, with specialised appendages at the tips. They are related to the Geutria and the Glazhom.
• Glorad
  Calligraphers and Carvers, who write in stone only. They are something like a child-sized slug, who write on stone in acid which they secrete by creeping over it.
• Neddakko
  Repairers and Maintainers, they are flying shoals of small, jewelled-steel, insect-mouthed fish. They swarm over injured items and repair them. They are related to the Niochun.
• Iddretti
  Specialised mages who appear to be faceless red glass mannequins. They are related to the Ittibya and Ippomu.
• Nustri
  Carers for and teachers of demonic children. They are 'conventional' demons.
• Muekli
  Midwives. They are 'conventional' demons.
• Psenag
  Divers (into the Abyss). They are creatures like two crossed manta rays (with their 'wings' in an 'x' shape when seen from the front) with insect mouth-parts. They are very heavily armoured, regenerate and are very resistant to the Abyss. They dive into the Abyss to find Real things there. They are related to the Niochun and the Neddakko.

Others

There are also other demons who fall outside of these groupings, but who are used by them all

• Food
  These are plump demonic cherubs with bat wings, who are used as low-level servants as well as just food. They can turn air and indeed anything (they can eat anything) into body mass
  They also eat the dead.
• Nuabrellu
  Doctor-Fish, flying shoals of small, jewelled-steel, insect-mouthed fish. They swarm over injured beings and stitch and suture them back together. This hurts a great deal. They are related to the Niochun, Psenag and the Neddakko.
• Orrohel
  Couriers, bright-winged, almost unbearably beautiful things.
• General Servants
  These are usually 'conventionally' demonic in appearance, and come in many different kinds.

Some Example Statistics

For some of the more common demon types.

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