Demons are vicious, self-centered, ruthless creations of Syndel, the dark god and ruler of Hell. In Hell, Demons are given the job of torturing souls from Medius without mercy; it’s a job that they rather enjoy. They are the sworn enemies of the Angels who reside in Heaven.
Physical Features
Demons come in a large variety of shapes and forms, mainly depending on what type of Demon they are; all whom take after real-life animals as well as mythical creatures. Most common features include long claws, horns and sharp fangs. Demons are categorized into four different sub-groups, based on the four basic Magic schools of Medius.
Water Demons tend to be the shortest of the four, usually at a height of 5'. In terms of appearance many have Amphibious and sometimes Reptilian forms, though it seems rare for Water Demons to be based off land Mammals. Regardless of what form they have their bodies seem to dehydrate easily and thus require water to keep themselves hydrated.
Fire Demons are about the same size as the average Human. In terms of appearance they tend to take after land Mammals and Reptiles, while some resemble mythical creatures like Dragons. They may also appear as a flightless-form of bird creature.
Wind Demons are the second tallest of the four. They tend to take after a variety of airborne creatures, but most often they take after mythical creatures such as Wyverns or Gargoyles. All Wind Demons have wings of some kind that allow them to fly without the aid of Magic.
Earth Demons are the largest of the four and often have a muscular build to complement their immense strength. They tend to take after a variety of land Mammals, such as Wolves and Boars. They may even take after mythical creatures such as Minotaurs.
The element that a Demon is born with is usually determined by the father, while they will take most of their looks from their mother.
Behavior
Demons are believed to be inherently evil by nature by nearly every other race. While they seem to gravitate toward doing wrongful actions that would include harming others to satisfy their own needs, this is actually due to how they are raised as like all races they have to be taught about animosity. In fact, Demons are capable of possessing a sentimental personality; to the point where they can show affection to others (including other Demons, offspring, Medians and even Angels) and never show any ill-intent that some come to expect.
However, this act of kindness can be seen as a sign of corruption by other Demons as they see it similar to the behavior of Angels and will often try to kill them to eliminate any defects. It's possible that most of the Demons living in the Ring of the Slightly Damned try to escape such prejudice while still clinging to old beliefs.
Because of their teachings, most Demons end up despising Angels due to their bloody history of conflict and strife. Those aware of this history yet wishing peace end up living with the guilt of their people's troubles but some remain hopeful they can still live together. Furthermore, they acknowledge how similar they are to Angels, such as their high magic capability and their love for music.
Lifespan
A Demon Egg Sac
Demons tend to live short lives and don't often reach old age. This is due to the violent nature that comes from how they are raised and many often attack each other; in addition to their skirmishes with the Angels. In terms of courtship, they commonly just get together to spawn without forming any sort of commitment (though in the case of Buwaro's Parents that might not always be the case). The mother then lays a large, slimy, semi-transparent egg sac (as seen in Slightly Damned #291 [HQ, TS]) that contains her child and hides it away in a safe place until it hatches.
Because Demons don't often trust each other it's usually just the mother (though with Buwaro it can be both parents) who protects the child and won't allow anyone near it. After hatching the mother will often nurse the child, despite the fact that Demons do not need to eat while in Hell, since it's necessary for the child to grow up healthy and strong; otherwise they are smaller and weaker than other Demons. The children tend to mature quickly within the first year of their life but don't become fully grown until their late teens.
Like Angels, Demons do not reincarnate when they die. Their soul is returned to Syndel in order to be remade into another Demon.
Powers and Abilities
All Demons have a natural affinity toward a certain Magic school, depending on the type of Demon they are and are capable of performing spells within that school as well as being resistant to them. They also have certain abilities that are unique to their kind or qualities that further differentiate them from each other.
Fire Demons
Inner Warmth: Possibly due to their affinity to Fire Magic, Fire Demons tend to stay warm no matter where they are in; or at the very least in locations that don't overcome their natural body heat.
Heat Resistance: Possibly due to their affinity to Fire Magic and their resistance to Fire, a Fire Demon is not bothered by high temperatures brought on by the environment or through other means; such as a Magic Fire Crystal or food that is spicy.
Water Demons
Wind Demons
Great Magic Power: Wind Demons have the most efficiency with Magic out of all the Demons. Because they lack the same kind of strength as the others, their Magic Power is high enough to where they can master a great deal of powerful spells to use at their disposal.
Flight: Wind Demons are the only ones thus far who are capable of flight without the use of Wind Magic. Their wings are generally large enough to support them and if strong enough more than one passenger.
Earth Demons
Enhanced Strength: Earth Demons are among the strongest of all the Demons in terms of physical strength, in order to make up for their poor Magic ability. Given their size their strength can only rival each other.
All Demons
Darkness Magic: A unique school of Magic exclusive to Demons, it is the near equivalent to the Angels Holy Magic. So far this school has mostly destructive spells and none that serve as like a utility.
Buwaro in his Berserk State
Berserk State: Can be seen as like a last resort, a Demon can enter a state of uncontrollable rage where they will attack anyone and anything until there is nothing left. Their body drastically changes to where they grow longer teeth, claws, horns and other features, to the point where they hardly resemble anything like their normal selves. They overall strength is increased beyond normal, are very resistant to pain and are a lot more aggressive. When there is nothing left, they will self-mutilate themselves until they wear themselves out and die. It is possible to reverse this, either by putting them to sleep through a spell (though more effective when they are young) or by knocking them out and hope they don't succumb to their injuries. To date, only Sakido has been able to gain some control over this form, if not brief.
- Power Augmentation: While in this state, their strength, durability and overall fighting capabilities are increased to a certain degree. This is of course dependent on how powerful the Demon already was prior to changing as even a weak Demon who has changed can be defeated by a more experienced Demon.
Night-Vision: All Demons can see extremely well in the dark. If the area is very dark or they need extra clarity, their eyes can glow which provides basic light. The color of the glow is dependent on their eye color.
Angel Emblem Compatibility: For whatever reason, Demons 'are' capable of using the Angel Emblems, granted the Holy Protection Enchantment is removed first. Unlike with Angels in which they can trigger the effects of the emblems mentally, Demons have no control over the power of the emblems other than taking them off. When putting on any of the emblems, they tend to experience some sort of backlash from the pendant giving them the benefits that come from it. With the Sun Emblem, a Demon with no wings will forcibly grow them, resulting in some bleeding. It's not very clear what goes on with Wind Demons as in Sakido's case her wings were repaired and grew slightly bigger. With the Moon Emblem a Demon will receive a larger body structure in order to receive the benefit of increased strength, but suffer from their bones suddenly growing at a fast rate. So far there seems to be no negative side-effect from wearing the Star Emblem other than the lack of control of its benefits.
Known Demons
- Buwaro Elexion - Fire Demon
- Sakido Elexion - Wind Demoness (Deceased)
- Iratu Elexion - Earth Demon
- Azurai - Fire Demon
- Lazuli - Water Demoness - (Deceased)
- Talus - Earth Demon (Deceased)
- Tsavo - Wind Demon
- Sahne Tamis - Earth Demoness
- Lakritz Tamis - Water Demon
- Buwaro's Parents - Fire Demons (Deceased)
- Hakka - Wind Demoness
- Nikkei - Fire Demoness
- Haury - Wind Demon
- Triska - Fire Demoness
- Abyset - Water Demon
- Dakos - Fire Demon - (Deceased)
Trivia
- According to Sakido, Demons don't get hangovers from drinking alcohol: Earth Demons will fall asleep for an entire day after drinking and if woken will go crazy though it's nothing compared to what demons can do while sober. She isn't sure how it will be for water demons but mentioned further that fire demons will explode if they drink alcohol. Rhea asked what booze does to wind demons but she only shuddered in response, which implies the question is better left unanswered.
- In November of 2012, Chu did commission art that showed the four different Demon types and their different height in comparison with each other and an Angel; however in recent chapters the Wind Demon showcased in the artwork[1] has made a small cameo appearance in the main comic as one of the many Demons attacking St. Curtis, who attacked Rhea and Buwaro for interfering with her work before confronting a Fire Angel.
- Raizy aka Chu has confirmed that if Demons of different elements mated (such as Lakritz and Sahne for example) any resulting demon child would likely be the same element as the father but could physically appear similar to both or either parent, but there's still the off-chance of children from such unions could be the same element as the mother.
- Lakritz once joked that Angels hatch from eggs just as they do, however during a livestream, Chu considered making it canon to fit with how silly some of the logic in the series is. But as the panel leaves much for ambiguity it's likely to remain up to interpretation until otherwise.