Demonic Magic¶
"The association between Demons and Magic-use is a strong one in most people's minds." — Demonic Possession (S519)
Demonic magic is power that comes from demons: the magic demons work themselves out of the souls they have consumed, and the magic mortals take from them by pact, by summoning, by binding a demon inside themselves or by letting one in. In the Fifth Age, with the Mithis of the old arcane casters corrupted, it took over much of the place arcane magic had held; "Demonic Magic (was Mithis Magic) is now solely the province of Demons" (S014). What demons are, how they feed and grow, and how they possess a host are described under Demons and Demonic Possession; this page is about the magic and the people who traffic in it.
The demon's own magic¶
The newest notes put demonic magic beside arcane magic: "Available to demons or those possessed by demons, it operates under the same principles as Mithis magic, but is more widely available. It is available on the same planes as Divine Magic as the Mithis energy is stored inside the demon (and not drawn from the surroundings like Mithis casters)" (S205).
The 2022 treatise traces it to Ether. "A form of Ethereal Magic, Demons practice their own derivative of Ethereal Magic that interacts uniquely with their anomalous demonic souls and Mortiqueries. It can take centuries of time, in some cases many millennia depending on how much ethereal energy is being consumed. In their mortiquery they are able to fashion spells out of some of this energy which they then store in an incantation for later use. Reciting the incantation releases the spell. Some beings make pacts with a Demon's Mortiquery (Demonic Pact). The demon then reveals the incantations necessary to release the spells that the Demon has fashioned there" (S208). The Mortiquery, the store of consumed souls a demon feeds from, is thus also its spellbook; the souleater, "a being granted power through the consumption of captured souls in their Demonic Mortiquery(s)", is a demon by definition: "The only known creatures capable of this are Demons" (S208).
In the Demonlands notes of the Fourth Age, each of a demon's nine Aspects is a vice and a magic at once, "channels of power expressing the demon's vice and magical nature" (S334), and each is tied to one of the spheres of magic: Barbed to Chaos, Blade to Energy, Frost to the Elements, Horned to Order, Infernal to Matter, Maw to Life, Night to Shadow, Rot to Death and Winged to the Astral (S330, S333). The Aspects themselves are told under Demonic Lifecycle. A demon who casts pays in its own bond to its body: bond "is lost during Spellcasting Drain" (S333).
The four roads for mortals¶
The Fifth Age notes name the mortal practitioners (S014):
| Practitioner | What they do |
|---|---|
| Witches | "essentially demonic alchemists; witches gather reagents and empower their creations using the principles of demonic sacrifice" (see Witchcraft) |
| Warlocks | "granted power by a strong patron demon and is effectively a minion of the demon, providing it with demonic sacrifices in return for their power" |
| Daemus | "these use demonic blood to temporarily take on the spellcasting abilities of demons. This is normally drawn from captive demons. Daemus are almost always former Warlocks (they learned their channeling abilities as a warlock)" |
| Summoners | "these summon demons as part of a contract (with a demonic sacrifice) to do their bidding" |
Warlocks¶
After the Redemption removed Mithis from the world, "Warlocks that make deals with demons for magic are much more common now", and the Rift's Mithis reaches mortals chiefly through them (S112). Warlocks travel the Rift by rift-gates and rift-stones, and "fissures can be created and maintained by powerful Warlocks and Demons" (S009). The Divine's priests teach the commoners to blame "Warlocks/Witches, Infidels and their own unworthiness (roughly in that order)" for the monsters that spawn around Rift anomalies (S112). Warlocks once made the Riftborn "to help deal with Aberrations" (S112). Warlock orders, the Warlocks of the Blue Flame or Blue Rift, the Raven Concord and the Circle of Lokh that leads the Orcs of Lokh, are Factions' and Peoples' (S112).
Summoners and the pentagram¶
"To summon a demon, you need their thread. If you know a demon's true name, you can invite it to inhabit a new thread through a costly ritual. It may or may not decide you are worth it's time to inhabit that new thread. Even more powerful rituals exist to force a demon to manifest at one of their threads if you know their true name" (S019). "A pentagram is capable of holding demon's forms, because while inside the pentagram it is unable to draw power from other threads. When used during summoning, the summoner is careful to ensure that only a manageable thread fragment is used in the summoning. The pentagram is essentially ineffective against a demon formed around a strong thread. Demon's are also capable of extinguishing their own threads, which they don't like to do, but it beats spending eternity imprisoned in a pentagram" (S019).
The Demonlands notes describe summoning portals "crafted with a particular demon in mind" that "allow the Demon's full essence to pass through", the summoner usually supplying a host and a first sacrifice of spirits, for one of three ends: "Pact : The spellcaster and demon will share a symbiotic relationship. Contract : the spellcaster wants to exchange services with the demon. Minion : a subjugated minion is summoning its master" (S333). The greatest demons rarely cross any other way, preferring "to be summoned by their minions or mortal spellcasters" (S333).
A summoner's threat is the demon's one real death. "A demon suffers energy death when all of it's ethereal energy is exhausted ... It can also happen as the result of magical extraction. It is this death that demon summoners threaten upon their summoned demons to force them to obey" (S518). In the Abyss energy death "is strictly outlawed by the Archdemons, who reserve it's use it as a form of capital punishment" (S518).
Blood-bonding¶
A summoned demon does not stay of its own accord. "Demons which have been summoned, as opposed to those who have escaped through rifts, are still constantly being pulled back to the Abyss. Without constant magic to keep them here, they are banished back to their own plane. However, after consuming enough of the local inhabitants, they become bonded to the plane through the matter they have consumed, reducing the need for magic to keep them here" (S372). The Compendium's history of the north shows what that means: when the orc warlord Drezok summoned "a massive sea-demon beyond his ability to control and is consumed", part of his demon swarm "immediately vanishes, while those with a blood-bonding remain", and for centuries afterwards "the mere rumor of a magic-wielding orc will lead to an expedition of warriors to destroy them" (S372).
Sorcerors and the bound demon¶
For those born without the gift there is another way. "For those not born with Mithis-casting ability, there is another way. This is to trap a demon inside the host. The demon is then used to provide the channeling ability. The trapped demon must be weak enough and its host strong enough to keep the demon subdued. There is a slight risk of the demon overtaking its host when the host is particularly exhausted of ethereal energy. Also, demons must be 'upgraded' when advancing caster spell levels which involves complex rituals" (S395).
The same bargain made willingly is voluntary possession: "The primary reason to allow demonic possession is tap the spellcasting power of the demon. This is the only known method a non-spellcasting mortal can gain true spellcasting ability. This leaves the demon and spellcaster in a constant battle for possession of their body. Casting spells in this case is actually a relief for the mortal host as it diminishes the power of the demon inside them" (S519; see Demonic Possession). The Assassins of Ghoresh rely on it: "Every member of the Brotherhood is at least a level 1 wizard. Many are bound to demons to gain spellcasting ability, and very few possess the natural talent" (S545).
Demonic Mithis among the Silek¶
The Silek have made demonic magic their aristocracy. "The upper castes of Silek are made up almost entirely of Mithis Casters (Warlocks, Witches, Daemus). They commonly practice a unique form of Demonic Mithis (also referred to as Corruption magic or simply Demonic). Shamans (Fae casters) are considered heretics and outcasts" (S025). Their one religion is Belos, the archdemon Bhaal, whose "priesthood is filled with Warlocks and Mithis magic users that also make up its ruling class" (S025).
How the world sees it¶
Every kind of mage is tarred with the demons' brush. "The association between Demons and Magic-use is a strong one in most people's minds. This is why overt magic use is generally frowned upon, feared, or outlawed and in many places a capitol offense. While many wizards maintain that magic can be used responsibly without weakening the Abscission, the majority of the masses see magic as just another part of the abomination of Demons" (S519, S372). Common speech lumps "Maleficanum, Witch, Warlock" together as "general terms for evil magic-users" (S395). The demon-hunters, among them the Druids of Nyx, who "hunt down warlocks in order to curb the power of powerful demons" (S019), and the Light of Kalar, are described on their own pages.
Gap
The 2022 treatise lists the Demonic spellcrafts as Morph, Defilement ("Defiler") and Soul, but describes none of them (S208). No source describes a warlock's pact being made, what a patron demon asks in return beyond "demonic sacrifices", or how a Daemus obtains demon blood.
Earlier accounts¶
The 2014 Spellcasting draft groups "Ethereal / Demonic" energy together: "All souls have their own associated energy. Tapping it is often difficult without doing damage to the soul. Demons make up the primary users of this kind of energy. It is not directly available to mortals, but some magic users access this power source using their primary source, in order to amplify it" (S395). The older demon lifecycle notes describe the Mortiquery as "a collection of the souls that the demon has consumed/is consuming. It is a power source and recharging station" that "can only exist on the material plane" (S114, S518). The Sancturi witches' summoning craft, with its pentagram and demonic contracts, belongs to Malefica (S229) and blood alchemy and contract magic to Aphotic witchcraft (S218); both are told under Witchcraft. The Fel magic that the Uk'Zarai warlocks practise, as Karkazan's sheet calls him a "Fel Warlock" (S009), is another thing entirely: see Fel Magic. The Demonlands' catalogue of host and derivative forms (S331) is told under Demonic Forms.
Legacy rules for demons and their magic are kept under Mechanics: Demonlands Demon Rules and Demonic Facets and Techniques.1