Difference between revisions of "Demons"

Demons are entities that can be found in certain supernaturally-charged locations on PersonaMUSH. While they share certain traits with Shadows, they cannot be treated the same way. This newsfile concerns itself with the nature of demons, their abilities, their limitations, and their relationships with humans and other creatures.

The Basics

Just like Shadows, demons are supernatural creatures. Both can be found in supernaturally-charged areas and both possess specific powers, such as the ability to create ice out of thin air or to heal themselves or others, that are beyond the means of unempowered humans.

However, while Shadows possess cunning, they can't be said to have a consciousness. A demon on the other hand can display a range of sapience equivalent to a human. Demons can think like a person and be spoken to, and it's these abilities that makes them particularly dangerous friends and foes to have.

Despite the terminology used, not all demons derive from beings that come from 'a hell'. Demons may also be 'angelic' in origin, but it doesn't make them any friendlier to humans than normal. Gods and spirits of all types from all sorts of cultures may be demons.

Demons can be grouped broadly into tribes or races, then subdivided into specific types of that tribe or race. The Fairy tribe would be one example of a race of demons, with individual types represented by members of that race such as Pixie or Jack Frost. While all members of a tribe share a general outlook or philosophy, the differences between demons really show at the type level.

A specific type of demon possesses a simple personality. For example, Jack Frost presents a childish and foolish personality, while Pixie displays a cannier, playfully fickle personality. Demonic personalities are typically not deep or detailed; they're comparable to a very one-dimensional human.

Magnetite

Demons may be powerful, but they require a certain material to manifest in the human world outside of highly charged supernatural areas, such as Mikage-cho or the mines of Inaba. This is Magnetite, a strange, dull silver substance that demons ingest to maintain their forms.

This same material exists in very minute quantities in the human body in an ethereal form, which is the reason behind demonic attacks on humans even within their own realms: demons are highly attracted to Magnetite even when they don't require it to survive. Magnetite as a metal is very rare and difficult to find, which means that bringing demons out from Mikage-cho or the mines of Inaba is hard to accomplish.

For every rule there is an exception: the demons unleashed on Sumaru City by Master Joker are not subject to the need for Magnetite. Aside from the added bargaining difficulty this provides, these demons were also tasked to harry Persona-users and others of their ilk when they were brought into this world and they cleave to it still.

Locations

Demons can be found in a few locations. Of these, Mikage-cho and the mines of Inaba can be called their 'home'. Mikage-cho is an alternate reality version of the city of Lunarvale. More details on it can be found in the Mikage-cho file. The Mines of Inaba were colonized by demons from Mikage-cho, who discovered that the near-omnipresent fog makes for comfortable living conditions deep below the town. Without Magnetite, though, they can't safely leave their newfound home, and thus the residents of that town are spared an invasion.

Demons can also be found in Sumaru City, thanks to Master Joker. While this is by no means 'home', these demons' specific lack of need for Magnetite means that they can treat it as such. They avoid crowds and places of sanctuary for reasons known only to them, preferring to strike at people who are alone or in very small groups in the more remote parts of the city. They also have a fondness for striking at Persona-users and Shadow-Possessed out and away from crowds. These demons tend to 'nest' in abandoned places where humans rarely travel, making it quite dangerous for people who infiltrate these locations for whatever reason.

Demons and Humans

Demons cannot be photographed or otherwise captured in various media, much as it's impossible to similarly take images of Personas and Shadows. All attempts will simply fail. The effects of their attacks and powers may show in some photographs and other media, but while strange, nothing conclusive about them ever comes up.

Unlike Shadows, the sapience that demons possess provides more options for dealing with them than combat. In short: one can attempt to parlay with demons, though the results of this are never a sure thing. In talking to a demon, one can gain a temporary ally and learn valuable information from them. One might be able to convince a demon to stand aside or even scare them off and avoid a combat situation altogether, or one might discover that their words only enrage the demon further and that now combat is an inevitability.

Demons, for their part, are by turns fascinated and disgusted by humans and their ways of life while also viewing them as sources of Magnetite. Individual types of demons tend to act in similar ways towards humans, but this is by no means a given as there are at least a few differences among them.

Mundane humans typically don't see demons, except in the supernatural places that demons call home such as Mikage-cho or demonic 'nests' in Sumaru. If a mundane human is actively on guard and looking for demons, they may be able to see them. Similarly, if they are actively being directly, frontally assaulted by a demon (mental attacks simply don't count), they will also be aware of the nature of their attacker.

Due to this, a mundane human will almost always fail to parse a fight between demons and humans, unless they as above are also being attacked, have reason to be on the lookout for demons, or are in a supernatural space.

A terrible fate awaits those slain by a demon, however: their bodies will invariably rise as an animated corpse. These 'zombies' can always be seen by mundane humans.