Demonic Lifecycle¶
"Demons do not sleep — they transform." — a Fourth Age primer on the demonic (S334)
Contested
This page is named in the open question Demonic lifecycle: strata and Aspects, or forms and ranks. The Fourth Age documents describe a demon's growth as an ascent through essence strata shaped by nine Aspects; the Sancturi-era demonologies describe a descent through four forms with a separate ladder of power ranks. The two models differ in kind, and the page follows the newer while keeping the older under Earlier accounts.
A demon is never finished. Its essence grows by consuming other demons and corrupted souls, its body is remade in cycles of metamorphosis, and its nature bends toward whichever vices feed it. This page describes how a demon rises from a riftgrub to a demonlord, and the kinds of demon that result; the bodies it wears along the way are catalogued on Demonic Forms, and how it enters a body on Demonic Possession.
Strata of essence¶
Essence "comes in different Stratums: Minor, Lesser, Legion, Greater, Lord, Monarch, Arch" (S334). The stratum decides how much essence a body can safely hold; a demon of a higher stratum can swell the same host far further than a minor demon could. Essence taken from a demon of much lower stratum is nearly worthless, "which is why really powerful demons rarely cross this way and prefer to be summoned by their minions or mortal spellcasters" rather than arriving thin through a rift (S333). Climbing a stratum "requires force applied to your essence," and the primer gives the forces that are known (S334):
| Ascent | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Minor to Lesser | Consuming the essence of three demons at once, or binding three souls to a Mortiquery at the same time. |
| Lesser to Legion | Being present at, and taking part in, the simultaneous death of thirteen or more mortal souls. |
| Legion to Greater | Consuming ninety-one demons of Lesser stratum or stronger who are the demon's own minions. |
| Greater to Demonlord | Siphoning life from at least six hundred and sixty-six mortal souls at once through demonic corruption. |
| Demonlord to Demon King, Queen, Prince or Princess | The simultaneous culling of three Demonlord minions. |
| Demon King to Archdemon | "Unknown, research seems to indicate it is related to the souls or death of the archwizards." |
The Demonlands notes add that "all essence is not created equal": essence of a higher stratum stacks more heavily, and a demon progresses once more than half of its essence is of a higher grade than its own (S341). This is why the outcasts who sought to summon a Demon Prince of Bhaal needed a stolen body for him rather than taking it for themselves (S341).
The metamorphosis cycle¶
Demons do not rest, but they must periodically fall into a metamorphosis cycle, during which the demon "is incapacitated for a period; disturbing it cancels the metamorphosis" (S334). In a cycle a demon enlarges its host's capacity by spending Bond, transforms the host into a new derivative form, invests essence in new mutations and abilities, and heals (S333). The cycle's length grows with the essence and Bond spent (S333). A demon whose essence falls too far below what it has already built suffers "an involuntary metamorphosis within 2d8 hours to a new form which meets their new Essence limitation" (S333): demons shrink as well as grow.
A body can be improved only so far. A mortal host "cap[s] out improvement at 5x Initial Host Capacity. Visible corruption begins to show in the form after 1x+" (S331): first a change of eye colour, black nails, black teeth, a ridge along the back, corrupted patches of skin, black blood or black bones, abnormal shadows; then bestial eyes, claws, fangs, spines, scales, oozing sores, a warped body, an aura of darkness; at the last glowing eyes, spined limbs, horns, a spiked tail, black scales, "burning, acidic blood," a fiery aura, and the power to extinguish lights and fires (S333). Push a host past its limit and it is destroyed. Derivative demonic forms "have a higher Host Capacity than normal mortal forms, usually around 20x" (S331). A form that holds more essence than it can bear becomes unstable, "like an adult riding a tricycle meant for a 2 year old," then volatile, and at last untenable, "bleeding from all orifices, obvious signs of demonic corruption" (S333).
The nine Aspects¶
Demonic Aspects "are channels of power expressing the demon's vice and magical nature" (S334). Each is tied to an emotion and to a sphere of magic (S334):
| Aspect | Vice | Sphere | Expression |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbed | Pain | Chaos | Piercing attacks, stingers, poison |
| Blade | Hatred | Energy | Slashing attacks, spines, weapon mastery |
| Frost | Apathy | Elements | Cold, chains, crushing attacks |
| Horned | Domination | Order | Charm, minion control, natural armour |
| Infernal | Wrath | Matter | Fire, bestial strength and might |
| Maw | Gluttony | Life | Acid, bites, cannibalism and vitality |
| Night | Despair | Shadow | Deception, incorporeality, necrotic attacks |
| Rot | Greed | Death | Disease, decay, undeath |
| Winged | Pride | Astral | Flight, psychic command, inspiration |
A demon improves an Aspect through its Mortiquery, and the manner of its victims' deaths matters: "a creature who was tortured to death or who died from poisoned food may improve Barbed+1. A creature who was eaten while still alive might improve Maw+1. A creature who has seen all they love destroyed before death may improve Night+1 … This is one reason demons manipulate the death of their prey in different ways" (S333). Some bodies suppress an Aspect, which "remain[s] part of the demon's nature but lie[s] dormant in that shape" (S334). Demons are named by their dominant Aspects: Vulgurak's court are Maw demons, to whom "hunger is holiness. They devour flesh, energy, and spirit alike — not from cruelty, but from the primal need to fill the void within. Each meal makes them stronger, each death sustains their unending existence" (S330). The mutations and techniques each Aspect unlocks are rules, kept under Demonlands Demon Rules.
Dying¶
A demon whose host is destroyed is not dead. Its essence is drawn to its nearest Mortiquery, "suffering any essence loss along the way," and the Mortiquery becomes "an immobile [host] that it can possess and repossess without contest" until it can build or seize a body again (S333). Without a Mortiquery, or with its Bond spent, the essence is "banished to the Abyss" (S333), where "a large portion of that essence is split off and forms manes (the smallest unit of sentient demonic Essence)" (S019). The master-minion bond survives banishment (S334). True destruction comes when a demon is consumed by another: the winner takes a fifth and "the rest is lost as Demonic Corruption" (S333).
Earlier accounts¶
The Sancturi-era demonologies (S518, written out again in S114 with the Abyssal biomes added) describe a different lifecycle, in which a demon does not rise but falls. "A demon can exist in one of 4 physical forms: Hellspawn, Fiend, Fel Spirit and Vile. The breakdown from Hellspawn to Vile occurs after energy deaths (not form/host death)."
- Hellspawn, the highest and initial form, "the one in the most control of it's power (not necessarily the most powerful)," can possess mortals and resist changing the host's shape, and are "the only demons capable of any kind of reproduction." Their natural forms are Horned, Bone, Blade, Blood, Night and Sea Demons. The later copy renames the form's higher variant Devil (S518), a word the Hollowing-era documents instead use for the demons who follow Asmodeus; see Devils.
- Fiends "retain some of their original form, but have lost control of some of their power," which "leaks out in often dramatic ways," so that most must return to their Mortiquery every two weeks or so and die the energy death after a month away. They "cannot stop the transformation of their host into their natural form," completed within a month of possession. Fiends are Fire, Frost, Shadow, Lightning, Acid, Rock, Plague, Pain and Arcane Demons; their higher variant is the Arch Fiend.
- Fel Spirits "have lost their original form, and are only capable of possessing weak-minded beasts," becoming at once "a mixture of their former selves and their host," and can last only a day or two from their Mortiquery; higher variant Fel Shade.
- Viles "exist only as a twisted, blackened husk of their former self," leak power continuously, and "when possessing a weak-minded host, the Vile cannot help bursting forth into their natural form almost instantly." After enough energy deaths "a Vile will cease to exist (this is the only means of permanent death for Demons)"; higher variant Ur Vile.
In that model there were three deaths: form death, after which the demon "re spawns almost immediately in the Abyss near the place in the Abyss that is attuned to his earthly mortiquery"; energy death, "when all of it's ethereal energy is exhausted," which "demon summoners threaten upon their summoned demons to force them to obey"; and Abyssal death, meaningless unless it is an energy death, which "is strictly outlawed by the Archdemons, who reserve it's use it as a form of capital punishment," though "there have been a many wars between Archdemons that have led to mass energy deaths." Destroying a Mortiquery cost a Hellspawn a fifth of its power and a Vile four-fifths and its life within minutes. "Form and power are orthogonal," and power was ranked separately: Archdemon, Demon Prince (Orcus, Gothmog), Greater Demon Lord, Demon Lord, Greater Demon (Balrog), Legion Demon (Succubus, Vrock, Barbed Devil), Lesser Demon, Minor Demon (Hellhound, Imp), Demonling (Lesser Imp). Reproduction was a stub: "Cambion - Cyclops, Minotaur, Saytr" (S114, S518). The Fourth Age strata keep the names Minor, Lesser, Legion and Greater from this ladder and promote Legion Demon to a stratum of its own; the Sancturi campaign used "Legion Demon" as a rank in play (S201).
The same demonology gave each breed a homeland among fifteen Abyssal biomes (S114): the Black Tundra, "very cold, black snow wastelands," home to Horned and Frost Demons; Brimstone, "fire, lava, smoke and choking sulfur," to Horned and Fire Demons; the Crystal Bog to Horned Demons; Darklight, the Pale Night, "dim light, dusty, empty, sleepy, shadows and nightmares," to Night and Shadow Demons; the Fetid Forest to Bone and Plague Demons; the Iron Wastes, "a dreary cold place filled with sharp edges," to Blade and Rock Demons; the Korakul Ashlands to Acid, Fire and Shadow Demons; the Oozing Plains to Sludge Demons; the Plague Hives to Plague Demons; the Rotting Fields to Bog and Plague Demons; the Steaming Fen, with its blue-burning water, to Bog and Fire Demons; Sulfuron, "the stench of sulfur," to Horned, Fire, Bone and Acid Demons; the Umbral Sea to Sea Demons; Wormblood, "blood red vegetation, jungles, seas of blood," to Pain, Bone and Blood Demons; and the Xanthous Morass, "Land of a Thousand Eyes," to Plague, Bog and Sludge Demons. A later Hollows resource recounts sixteen biomes, adding the Scalding Sea, the Sulfuric Ocean and the Putrid Waves among the seas (S156). The plane itself is Abyss. The Fifth Age bestiary of notable demons still names the archdemons by the old breeds, Asmodeus a horned demon, Bhaal a bone demon, Mephistus a shade demon, Belphegor a frost demon, Mammon a blade demon, Leviathus a sea demon and Luciferon a fire demon (S022; see Archdemons), and the Fifth Age bestiary of demons (S019) speaks of "greater," "minor" and "mane" without the strata.
Gap
No source reconciles the two models, says whether Hellspawn, Fiend, Fel Spirit and Vile survive as terms in the Fourth Age, or places the fifteen Abyssal biomes among the Seven Hells.
In Play¶
A demon's stratum is not visible; demons themselves cannot gauge another's essence (S019). What can be seen is the host's corruption, which tells how far a body has been pushed, and the Aspect, which tells what the demon wants: a Maw demon eats, a Horned demon commands, a Night demon lies. A demon caught in its metamorphosis cycle is helpless, and disturbing it undoes the change (S334).