Bit of Analysis: Rifts Dimensions

[Ahriman238]

Harpies

Your typical sadistic carrion-eating bird crones. 28-48 MDC with regen, impervious to disease and resistant to poison, heat and cold. Good vision in the day and night. The terrible stench of the harpy is disabling to anyone without their own sealed oxygen supply. They can sense how good or evil a person is with a glance. About a quarter are psychics, 2% are master psychics and almost always leaders of the flock. Are almost compelled to stop and eat anything they kill, providing an opportunity for the friends of their prey to escape.


I don't know, they're sort of just generic boring RPG monsters. But they're the last of the Host, so we'll start on real Deevils next.

[Ahriman238]

Lesser Deevils

Those who have infernal powers and are more-or-less immortal. Well, they're not subject to death by age or natural causes, and if killed outside Dyval they reform home as Abominations. Killed inside Dyval is a different story, that's just dead.



Imps



Imps are well, they're not as murderous as their fellow Dyvalians. They are mischievous, and love tormenting mortals, getting them into trouble, drinking and eating excessively and so on. But again they screw with people more for their own amusement than out of any particular desire to win more souls for the home team. Even other Deevils get annoyed very quickly with Imps.

17-82 MDC with regen and resistant to fire and cold. They also have good nightvision, gnossolalia and a dimensional teleport power, but that last only works 10% of the time. They know all level One spells from the standard list. But they're usually experts in gambling, cheating, forgery, lock-picking, pick-pocketing, demolitions, bartering, computer hacking and fast-talking their way out of trouble.


Bonelings




A skeletal little thing that normally acts as a scavenger and post-battle clean-up. Bonelings are pretty minor lesser Deevils but can be a threat in large numbers, both because they gang up on you and because they can fly apart and join together into a 10-ft. Boneling with all their combined MDC and strength. Failing that, they'll try to encourage conflict in a group or lead them into traps and hazardous areas.

21-82 MDC, good nightvision with see invisible, dimensional teleport and gnossolalia for the good 'ol demon powerset. They can also track by scent, are climbers and tunnelers with no need to breathe. They take half damage from heat, cold, poison and disease. Psionics and magic are nil.

Giant Bonelings have the combined MDC of the 8-12 Bonelings that formed them, and are completely fearless, in contrast to normal Boneling behavior.



Deevils



Easily the most common type of Deevil, which is why they are simply Deevils. Like Most Deevils, they act primarily as tempters and corruptors of mortals, but they are numerous and disciplined enough to make a decent army when push comes to shove. As tempters, they prefer to focus on encouraging acts of jealousy and revenge, the motives most easily understood by them.

49-264 MDC with nightvision, see and turn invisible, dimensional teleport, regen and gnossolalia. The major one, though, is the ability to assume any humanoid shape indefinitely, the better to interact with people and manipulate them. No psionics, for magic they know all first level Fire Magic, plus Luck Curse, Phobia Curse, Remove Curse, Turn Dead, Compulsion, and Heal Wounds.



Devilkin

Devilkin are a variant of the standard Deevil, more human-looking naturally, like if someone took a handsome satyr and gave it a devil-tail. They're also much, much better at tempting and manipulating humans, though of far less value in a stand-up fight. Think of them as a refinement of what already separates Deevil from Demon, an emphasis on shapeshifting tricks and manipulation over straight combat power. Where the standard Deevil usually falls back on their best understood emotions, desire, jealousy and rage, the Devilkin has a wider arsenal including ambition, ego, and insecurity. The preferred option remains to disguise the most heinous option as a necessity, or the lesser of two evils. So they are used primarily as infiltrators, manipulators, assassins, spies and blackmailers, even in broader conflict with Demons. The scary thing is, they still fall a long ways short of the Deevils' best infiltrators.

As mentioned, they're less combat-capable than Deevils, 39-204 MDC. Gnossolalia, night vision, see invisible, dimensional teleport and regen just like a Deevil. Unlike a Deevil, Devilkin are resistant to heat and cold. They're also better shapeshifters, able to turn to mist or a number of small animals (no smaller than a rat or larger than a fox, and always predatory.) Finally, Devilkin are a bit better at magic than Deevils, having the first three levels of Fire Magic, plus Calling, Compulsion, Domination, Trance, Energy Disruption, Turn Dead, Luck Curse, Phobia Curse, Remove Curse, Heal Wounds and Cure Minor Disorders.



Nexus Deevils



The most human-looking of the basic Deevil type, basically an attractive human (the majority are female) with goat legs, no horns or tail at all. Nexus Deevils have the greatest mobility across the Megaverse of all Deevils, and they revel in this freedom. Their favorite game is "Trick the hapless mortal into a portal going someplace unpleasant" with "Take them where they want to go, and strand them there" as a close second. They just think watching from a distance while people futilely search for a way home is hilarious, and good blackmail, as they may be persuaded to take you home for a little favor. They are one of the more charismatic and seductive Deevils, and also the rarest with just 6000 known to reside in Dyval though who knows how many are wandering the Megaverse? Their skills are so great they can even make casual trips to planes with little magic or that are normally nigh-inaccessible, like Wormwood.

43-203 MDC with regen, gnossolalia, nightvision, and naturally dimensional teleport with teleporting home to Dyval having no PPE cost or chance of failure. They can shapeshift into humans indefinitely but their true form is revealed for the first few minutes of each sunrise and sunset. They also tend to get bored with playing human in a few weeks at the very most. Nexus Deevils can sense the opening of any rift within 100-800 miles, depending on level. At any nexus point, for a pittance of PPE a Nexus Deevil can open a rift leading to anywhere s/he has been, either hell (Hades or Dyval) wherever the last rift went to, or a place and time completely random. They can create these rifts large enough to allow small armies to pass through. They can easily rift to any other nexus point on the same planet or plane, provided they have an idea where it is. They can also easily open grapefruit-sized rifts to communicate through. Nexus Deevils can always sense when a Rift leads to Hades or Dyval, and how many demons and/or Deevils are on the other side.

Nexus Deevils are minor psychics with See Aura, See Invisible, Sense Time, Sense Magic, Read Dimensional Portal, and Sense Dimensional Anomaly.

Nexus Deevils are accomplished mages who can cast many spells at reduced cost. Their powers include Calling, Chameleon, Distant Voice, D-Step, Dimensional Portal, Escape, Mask of Deceit, Lantern Light, Ley Line Transmission, Words of Truth and Lesser Teleport.

Nexus Deevils are extremely intelligent and independent, or as their fellow Deevils usually see it, fickle prima donnas. Which has some justice to it. They get on well with Imps and Temporal Raiders, and love thumbing their noses at Demons.

[Ahriman238]

Fenry



An infernal wolf, but black with red eyes and three times larger than a normal wolf. They're intelligent on a similar level to humans, can stand and walk upright even if they're more comfortable on all fours. In Dyval they form packs of up to 60, outside they normally operate in twos and threes, sometimes as many as 2 dozen if a powerful Shifter is involved. They may gather in larger groups if ordered to war by the Deevil Lords. Fenry prefer to live and fight in the wilderness, but are reasonably capable in an urban setting. They favor guerrilla tactics, hit and fade strikes, psychological warfare sort of things. None of this should be surprising, they're hunters who like their prey to be totally terrified, convinced of the futility of trying to fight or run. Occasionally used as cavalry mounts by other Deevils, though they have no shortage of other options for those.

80-180 MDC, plus 2-12 for each level. Hearing is as good, and sight and smell far better, than most dogs. The scent of blood in particular is sure to draw them. Regen, gnossolalia, impervious to fire and dimensional teleport. Running speed is between 42 and 113 mph, you're not going to outrun even the slowest Fenry. They are vulnerable to weapons of silver and bone, which always do MD. They have no magic, but all "lesser" (healing, sensitive and physical) psychic powers.



Ice Wraiths



Here's one not many people know, a wolfman covered in (or formed of) ice and snow. These Deevils are so adapted to white-out conditions they're sort of overspecialized and not much use below the Arctic Circle of whatever world they're on. Which is why not a ton of people have seen them or know how to fight them.

190-390 MDC with regen, impervious to cold, gnossolalia, and dimensional teleport. They can see well in the dark, the light, and in a blizzard. They have no need to breathe. They can walk and run over loose packed snow or the thinnest ice without breaking through or leaving a single track. They also never slip. They lower the temperature by 15 degrees Fahrenheit (160 by max level) for 100 feet around them. They are vulnerable to fire. They know all Water Magic, plus Ice Magic, which comes from the Fantasy book the Tome of Northern Winter.

Ice Magic

Encase Object In Ice- exactly what it says on the tin.

Frozen Blast- freezing wind and sleet attack does 3-12 MD.

Ice Sword- make an ice sword that does 2-12 MD. Like the standard Frostblade spell but you don't need an existing metal blade to cast it over.

Meld with Ice and Snow- fuse with the frozen ground to evade all detection. Can move, but only very slowly.

Melt Snow and Ice- raise the temperature of frozen water to above freezing with a touch, can effect a wide circle around the Ice Wraith.

Ride Ice and Snow- skate over ice at twice your normal running speed, surf over avalanches, also conveys the 'no slip or fall' ability already native to Ice Wraiths.

River of Ice- will actually turn the ground into a river of freezing slush with a few sharp icy bits, great area-effect attack or area denial. 3-18 MD to anyone who tries to swim it, unless immune to cold.

Travel through Snow and Ice- pass ghost-like through ice walls, otherwise like Snow Meld except you can travel at half your normal speed, and it costs more PPE.




Fiends



These slasher-movie rejects are called Fiends, and they are the assassins and enforcers of the Deevil Lords. Fiends are PPE vampires who can only leach PPE from people who are afraid of them, so they like to milk it out. Play the cat-and-mouse stalking games, driving targets half-mad with terror before they finally kidnap, torture and execute them for that death-burst of PPE. Their methods are slow, granted, but they're not assigned time-critical assassinations, they're sent when the Deevil Lords want to make an example of someone. In their natural form, they are 15 ft. tall and seem to be made of shadow, with only the yellow-orange glow of their eyes and mouth showing. They usually wear loose burlap robes. Of course, Fiends are as fond of shapeshifting games as the next Deevil. In battle they are at once cold and calculating, and joyously reveling in the slaughter.

76-576 MDC with regen and fire/cold resistant. Excellent vision in light and darkness both, can see invisible, gnossolalia, and dimensional teleport. Fiends can turn indefinitely into a human of either gender, always very nondescript. They can turn into a canine, feline or rodent of any kind as well. They are likewise vulnerable to bone and silver weapons. They have no psionics, their magic includes level one of all disciplines, plus Animate & Control Dead, Chameleon, Circle of Flame, Escape, Exorcism, Fear, Heal Wounds, Magic Net, Mask of Deceit, Multiple Image, Shadow Meld, and Turn Dead.

Fiends are extremely difficult devils to bind, and endlessly creative in their efforts to escape or revenge themselves upon their summoner. They may sometimes choose to work for a witch or mortal caster, if it amuses them and they aren't engaged in any important business.



Fiends are great for terrorizing mortals and lesser Deevils into submission, but aren't scary enough to police Greater Deevils, so some of that order are empowered as Greater Deevils themselves, the Arch-Fiends. Arch-Fiends are the same size and form as their lesser brethren, you can only tell the difference because of their presence, and the way they're just a little bit better at everything. Smarter, more graceful, more quick, more sadistic, more confident. They apply their understanding of deception, fear and psychology to far better effect.

Arch-Fiends have 80-1100 MDC. They have the same powers, though their dimensional teleport is twice as reliable and their regen is 4 times faster. They have the same spells, though far more PPE to throw around.

The book describes the difference between Fiend and Arch-Fiend thus (and I'm not even kidding) "If a Fiend is like an ordinary serial killer, an Arch-Fiend is Hannibal Lecter."

[Ahriman238]

Naga



Naga are like snakes of reddish bone, 12 foot spinal cord following a skull. Naga aren't shapeshifters, but make decent assassins just because they're so good at sneaking around, totally silent despite being made of bone, able to roll the head up and still see forward to fit through smaller holes than you'd suspect etc. They're also really good at torture, but that's hardly a rare skill set among devils.

47-275 MDC with regen. Also resistant to normal damage, takes half damage from all physical attacks except wood or bone weapons, which get upgraded to MD. Nightvision, see invisible, turn invisible, dimensional teleport and gnossolalia.

Naga are skilled mages with Aura of Power, Blinding Flash, Blind, Befuddle, Calling, Cloak of Darkness, Cloud of Smoke, Fear, Energy Bolt, Fire Bolt, Heavy Breathing, Manipulate Objects, Negate Poison and Lesser Paralysis.

Naga are Master Psychics, and where their magic is geared mostly towards stealth with some combat, their psionics are mostly built around torture, mostly by abusing healing powers. Bio-Manipulation, Hydrokinesis, Healing Touch, Psychic Diagnosis, Psychic Surgery, Remote Viewing, Sense Time, Sense Magic, Stop Bleeding, Telekinesis, TK push, TK punch, TK accel attack, and Telepathy.

[Ahriman238]

Gorgons

You know what a Gorgon is, your typical Medusa. The Deevil version is dull-witted and lazy, hating all beauty. They're also the first Deevils to be mentioned as rapists, who beat and take men by threats and magic, then either kill or petrify them for a trophy. So... yay?

57-335 MDC with good regen. Dimensional teleport, gnossolalia, good nightvision with see invisible and can't be snuck up on due to seeing through all the snakes' eyes. Which can also see infrared. They can also change their size to anywhere between 4 and 12 feet tall. Their petrify special ability relies on you making contact, though it also works for the snake eyes. The effect is permanent unless negated by a Gorgon or a Stone to Flesh spell. A snakebite does 2-12 MD. Normal bone and silver weakness. No psionics, magically it's got Death Trance, Exorcism, Animate & Control Dead, Turn Dead, Spoil, and Stone to Flesh.



Dire Harpies

Bigger, meaner Harpies with eyes of flame and molten drool. Presumably these are either individual Harpies promoted to Deevil-hood or descended from some flock of Harpies that did earn that honor long ago. The book doesn't really comment on more than their stats and sadism. Actually in a number of ways (psionics, sense good) this is a step down from the normal Harpy.

50-120 MDC with regen. Gnossolalia, dimensional teleport, nightvision, see invisible, breathe without air, and impervious to fire. Can spit magma doing 3-18 MD at short range (40 ft. or less.) Vulnerable to wood, bone, silver and iron. No psionics, no magic, no aptitude for using advanced weapons and technology.


And that;s the last of the Lesser Deevils. Next is their steeds, than the Greater Deevils, than the Deevil Lords.

[Ahriman238]

Deevil Mounts

Now, the Deevils have a history of cavalry warfare predating human civilization, and between their access to the Megaverse and Deevil Lords with the power to create life from scratch, they've acquired a dizzying array of riding beasts.



Flying Horrors are semi-skeletal Zombie-dragons (not actually, they just look it) used to airlift up to a heavy company (250 Deevils) or as mounts for a single Greater Deevil. Half those troops will ride inside the hollow ribcage, which is open at either end. 140-340 MDC with regen, resistant to heat, cold, magic and psionics (half damage.effect all around.) Flies at 200 mph.


Infernal Sprites are twice-man-sized hummingbirds. Their most remarkable power is being able to fly, and bear a rider. But they are prized for their elemental powers, each is attuned to an element and cast 4 simple spells from the relating Warlock list. 40-240 MDC with regen and a resistance that depends on their elemental affiliation; impervious to fire, cold, electricity or petrification. Flies at 154 mph, can survive without air and fly even in space. Only the finest Host and Lesser Deevil cavalry get to ride one.


Infernal Tri-Tops are, yes, triceratops. Specifically a mutant triceratops, brought through time and altered by the Deevil Lord Diabolus. One of the chief alterations was making them omnivores, with a particular taste for demonic flesh. 420-720 MDC with impressive regen, impervious to fire and electricity, resistant to cold. Oh yes, and they can breathe fire (4-24 MDC) and shoot lightning from their horns (10-40 MDC.) Can charge at 60 mph.

[Ahriman238]

Sorry for the interruption.


Lava Serpents are snakes about 600 ft. long that live in magma flows. Some say they're a sort of proto-dragon because they can understand language a little, spit molten metal and hoard precious metals and gems. 2000-8000 MDC with regen and, well, all the powers you'd need to survive a volcanic environment, immune to heat, immune to toxic gasses, breathe in magma, breathe without air. Can do slight MD (1-6) just from the heat of it's breath without spitting lava (10-40 MD.) Minor psionics, including See Aura, Sense Dimensional Portal, Sense Time, Sense Presence, Mind block and Telekinesis. Vulnerable to cold, in fact, severely uncomfortable in temperatures below 80 F/ 27 C.


Mimics are monstrous hairless dogs with the power to change into most any animal. To do this they eat the animal than form a cocoon from which they emerge in 1-4 days. At will they can resume their normal appearance or a "freak form" combat mode like their natural giant dog shape with the advantageous bits of every beast it's ever copied, wings and horns, tusks, antlers, tentacles etc. 75-100 MDC. Minor psychic with See Invisible, See Aura, Sense Presence, and Mind Block.


Shock Beasts are large horned panthers with electric powers. They're actually quite intelligent, and long to be counted as members of the Host, or raised to proper Deevil. This is the most common mount for Shock Dragons. 116-426 MDC with regen and immunity to electricity. Good night vision, dimensional teleport, gnossolalia and jump 100 feet high and 200 long. Can control their electricity to a great degree, max is 3-18 MD. They can also teleport by lightning. Magic is 3 Air Magic spells levels 1-5. Psionics is boosted-range Telepathy and one power per level (no super powers, but Bleeder powers fine.)


Tiger Beasts are, depending on who you listen to, either Diabolus' first and greatest tampering with the natural order of things, or cave-Raksasha. They serve the Deevil Host, but their prickly pride won't let them kowtow to the Deevils or compete for their favor. 260-320 MDC with regen and resistance to heat and cold. Gnossolalia, boosted sense of smell, and the strength to lift close to- to a ton. Nil magic, but master psychics. Powers include See Invisible, See Aura, Intuitive Combat, Sense Presence, Sixth Sense, Summon Inner Strength, Psionic Invisibility, Psychic Body Field, Radiate Horror Factor, Mind Bolt, TK leap, TK Push, and TK accel attack.

[Ahriman238]

Redbones (Devil Sax Man)


The Devilkin who would one day be known as Redbones was always an odd one. Quiet, uninterested in shapeshifting pranks or tormenting mortals. In fact, he was caught a few times in his youth giving food, water, and comfort to prisoners. His punishment was to patrol the dungeons, mostly to give the other Deevils an excuse to beat him within an inch of his life when they caught him being nice to the damned again. There he met an old man with a magic, Rune Weapon saxophone. No matter what the Deevils did to this man, they couldn't separate him from his instrument and because they could never take his music, they never broke him. Instead they forced him to play night and day, hoping to convince him to throw the thing away in disgust. Young Redbones liked the music, and befriended the man who would whisper a few lines to him between numbers. Eventually the old man taught the Deevil everything he knew about Jazz and the Blues and lent him the sax so he could take a break. They discussed much of music, life, philosophy until the day they got caught.

Well, the young Devilkin pleaded for the old man's life, and to be allowed to continue playing. The unnamed Deevil Lord he owed fealty to was amused enough by his nerve to grant them with one condition, the rebellious Deevil would agree to be flayed alive and cursed so his regeneration would never heal him, nor would his shapeshifting ever cover his naked muscle. He agreed, hence the name 'Redbones.' A couple years later, on his death bed, the old man showed Redbones his last song and in the process opened a rift to Phase World. After he died, Redbones set out to make a new life in the Three Galaxies, where hardly anyone has heard of a Deevil. That was almost 3,000 years ago and he's made quite a name for himself as a musician and adventurer. He is especially famed in Center, which he regards as the closest thing he has to a home, and in Anvil where he's spent a lot of time assisting groups looking for the Cosmic Forge. Still he's enough of a living legend that anyone in the Three Galaxies can be reasonably expected to know who he is. He's made dozens of fortunes and given them all away to charity, preferring the simple life of living off his music in a dive bar or on a street corner, ready to hare off on some new adventure at the drop of a hat.

Redbones has all the standard powers and magic of a Devilkin with 155 MDC. His shapeshifting is sort of useless for disguise, since whatever form he takes is skinless. His magic saxophone, which he's named Dominic Shembee-Edah is indestructible and cannot be taken from him by force. It's music can be heard for three miles through any barriers. There are almost limitless effects the saxophone can create, mostly Bardic music stuff, granting bonuses to allies and penalties to enemies and virtually every stat, skill and save can be effected in some way. It can also open rifts, shatter all glass for miles, disable everyone within a hundred feet with sonic disorientation, sonic attack doing 2-12 MD, sonic attack doing 16-66 MD, jam radio transmissions, attract ghosts and entities, and manipulate people's emotions. Possession of Dominic Shembee-Edah grants Rebones an extra 270 MDC. If Redbones should ever die, he will be almost immediately reborn in Dyval with his sax in hand, which prevents his becoming a powerless Abomination somehow. A few bars and a jaunty wave and he's free of that awful place again.


Note: Redbones is the in-universe character and avatar of game designer Joseph Quigley. And yes, the entire creative staff of Rifts has one. Also Siembienda's mom, for some reason.

[Ahriman238]

Greater Deevils

Have more power and authority than lesser ones. Pretty intuitive. Already did Arch-Fiends and Deevil Dragons, so lets get to it.



The Beast



Beasts are the infernal version of Baal-Rogs, personal powerhouses and captains of the great horde. They usually get a mount equal to their station, Flying Horrors when leading vast flights, Infernal Tri-tops for the cavalry.

Beasts get 132-638 MDC. Flight is 21-84 mph with unlimited altitude and the ability to fly in space. No need to breathe, impervious to cold, resistant to fire, good regen, glossolalia, dimensional teleport and naturally, see invisible and nightvision. They can take a plain humanoid shape, a totally unremarkable member of that species, or the form of a bull. They are vulnerable to holy weapons, silver and bone. All standard spells to level 3, plus Animate & Control Dead, Banishment, Circle of Flame, Call Lightning, Desiccate the Supernatural, Domination, Energy Disruption, Exorcism, Fire Ball, Heal Wounds, Lightblade, Magic Net, and Multiple Image. Nil psionics, but likely to use whatever technology or magic items they can get their hands on.



Horror



Horrors are enforcers, less like the sadistic Arch-Fiends, more like noncoms or very junior officers. They won't hesitate to beat up an inferior Deevil to keep it in line, but their main passion is for pitched battle and wholesale slaughter.

120-650 MDC. Pretty much every fancy vision option, can see all around in the night or day, can't be blinded, see invisible and all spectra of light. Impervious to poison and nonmagical fire and cold, resistant to magical hat/cold and airborne toxins. Regen, glossolalia and dimensional teleport. Bone, silver, and holy weapons are again it's weakness. All level one Air Magic, plus Call Lightning, Turn Dead, Exorcism, Banishment, and Heal Wounds. Nil Psionics.

[Ahriman238]

Dire Wraiths



Very stealthy, immaterial and powerful psychics. Deevil Wraiths are used for just about everything where the Deevils need someone really intelligent, powerful and sneaky: spying, assassinations, recon, hauntings, and the like. Appears sometimes as a floating skull, and sometimes as a skeletal torso in rags. Wraiths love to stalk and haunt people.

55-95 MDC, and being completely immaterial Wraiths can't be hurt by most weapons, or restrained by any walls, nor do they leave any tracks or trace of their presence. Only psionics, certain magics (illusions and emotional manipulation) rune weapons and ordinary thorns can hurt Dire Wraiths. They can be kept out by magical circles or barriers, and a room can be sealed against them by placing a spring of thorns over every door and window. Nightvision, see invisible, glossolalia, hover and fly (around 80 mph) regen, and dimensional teleport. All sensitive and physical psychic powers, plus Detect Psionics, PPE Shield, Telekinesis, TK forcefield, and Mind Bolt, plus 7 super powers of choice.



Pandemonium

The best Deevil shapeshifters and infiltrators, full stop. These are Lord Sahtalus' elite order of manipulators and assassins, all created through his power. It is believe there are no more than a thousand in all the Megaverse. Pandemoniums don't have a "true form" per se, they appear as an idealized member of the opposite sex of their next or latest target, as understood by that target through their own culture and personal experiences. Being expert actors and manipulators, they will assume whatever obvious personality traits they need or find useful. In this way they insert themselves into their victims lives and become indispensable. They are especially attracted to power, in any form.

160-460 MDC, impervious to poison and normal fire and cold. Nightvision, see invisible, glossolalia, regen and dimensional teleport. Aside from their special shapeshifting, they have a special "gaze of mesmerism" ability that can trap anyone who makes eye contact with them in an illusory hell that constantly refines itself as this or that element strikes a chord. This lasts til the Pandemonium releases you or 5 minutes after they've left the area. High risk of insanity for the victim, and anyone attempting to wake or help them will be perceived as an enemy. No magic. Psionics include all sensitive and physical powers, Detect Psionics, Empathic Transmission, Mind Bolt, PPE SHield, Hypnotic Suggestion and 7 more super powers. So very similar to the Wraiths.

[Ahriman238]

And we at long last come to the last of the Greater Deevils, just the Lords and a bit more background and we can get back to the Three Galaxies. I'm looking forward to it.

Deevil Serpents



A golden snake 20 feet (6 meters) long. Serpents are master tempters and manipulators, always with the overly-complex schemes. They often get heavily involved in the criminal underworld of whatever world or plane they find themselves on, and are great at getting people trapped in a web of vice and corruption. They usually prefer long-term, convoluted chessmaster plans, but they're very resourceful and can think on their feet, er, so to speak. In large army scenarios, they're the planners of the Deevil Host.

97-515 MDC, with solid regen, and resistance to fire and cold. Hawk-like vision, nightvision, see invisible, glossolalia, and dimensional teleport. Can transform into an idealized, golden-skinned and blonde human of either gender, can turn into mist. Magic is all Earth Magic to level 4, plus Calling, Compulsion, Cure minor Disorders, Domination, Energy Disruption, Forcebonds, Minor Curse, Remove Curse, Implosion Neutralizer, Manipulate Objects, Trance, Heal Wounds, and Turn Dead.

[Ahriman238]

Okay, some brief notes before we tackle The Deevil Lords one by one. We have a new general Deific Power, a curse to be specific, and a couple more unique to the Deevil Lords. The one everyone gets first.

Deific Curse: Dragon Curse- N/A, Dragons have been wandering the Megaverse longer than anyone, and so Draconic stands with Elvish and American English as one of the most spoken languages. Mind, there's a word that never made it into any Lexicon, an insult only used between two dragons happy to feud until the end of time. Any human who hears this word, even if they don't speak a lick of Draconic, have a 75% likelihood of getting offended enough to physically attack the speaker, or sever all ties with him. Any god who hears this word from a mortal will cheerfully dedicate the rest of that mortal's lifetime to making him regret his impudence. The 'curse' part is making the victim use this word in place of all other profanity.


And now Deevil Lord specific:

Agonize Follower- N/A. Torture worshipers from anywhere in the Megaverse for screwing up, or from boredom. Torturing one minion is free, after that it's 50 PPE for every thousand victims.

Bestow Warped Prophecy- N/A. Give a "prophetic" dream to manipulate people. No true future-telling, it's just what the Deevil Lord imagines as a convenience, any resemblance to actual events is either coincidental or carefully staged to lend credence to the dreams.

Corrupt Holy Water- N/A. Boil holy water til all that remians is a black tar residue. The tar isn't some evil version of holy water, or anything terribly useful. It just removes one powerful weapon of good against the Deevils.

Fragment Self- T. Create a weakened self-fragment to make a pact with a Witch or a Shifter.

Plague All Followers- T. Punish all your followers, or any specific groups of them with magical sickness.




Next, I have given you a false impression, for which I do apologize. I said Dyval was a nicely forested place with sparkling oceans and the Citadels of the Deevil Lords, and at the time that was the extent of my knowledge. It would seem however that Dyval is the multi-layered hell with 7 dimensions, each roughly the size of Australia. Each has a portal to the next ones, with the first and last levels having only one.

Dyval Prime is the garden-like area I mentioned before., Temperate forest, orchards with magical fruit (minor healing, antidotes, temporary buffs, that sort of thing) and each Deevil Lord's Citadel exists simultaneously on Dyval Prime and else where in Dyval. Neutral ground for all Deevils and their Lords.

Next is Dyzonia, a rain forest divided in two by a great saltwater river running east to west. Domain of Lord Diabolus.

Third is the Great Dyval Desert, the most dangerous in the Megaverse with frequent sandstorms and rockslides in the many mountain ranges. Home to the Harpies and Gorgons, claimed by no particular Deevil Lord.

Tundra is a third glacier, a third icy wasteland and a third conifer forest. Domain of Lady Rhada, and home to the Fenry and Ice Wraiths.

Next are the Mines, more forest borken by huge mesas. These mesas are loaded with every form of precious metal and gem, and each are named for the gem or metal obtained from them. This is the domain of Nikodeamis, and home to the bulk of Deevils and Devilkin.

Sixth is Inferno, a vast chain of volcanic islands in a sea of lava. Home to Mephisto.

Finally there's Grim Mortis, the Domain of Lord Sahtalus. This is the largest level of Dyval, and contains a darker microcosm of each of the levels, complete with minions, separated by mountains. In the center is a vast plateau 5 miles high on which rests his citadel.

[Ahriman238]

Sahtalus

Lord of Grim Mortis and Supreme Lord Dyval, Sahtalus was once considered the most masterful of tempters, but these days he simply has no time for old pursuits, there's too much to organize, too many rivals to watch. Sahtalus favors the look of an aristocratic gentleman with red skin, horns, a devil tail and hooves, but only has a "true form" in the sense that there's one he feels more comfortable in.

Sahtalus has many special minions, the Pandemoniums and Deevil Wriaths, the Fiends and Arch-Fiends. Grim Mortis is further protected by two armies, each consisting of 2 million Beasts. Most Deevil Lords insist on Beasts as bodyguards, and Sahtalus has arranged for his peer's guards to be loyal to him. His citadel, the Grim Tower, or just Grim, is a sentient construct, a black tower 4,000 feet tall.

18,000 MDC, impervious to fire, cold, and standard weapons with regen, invisibility, see invisibility, nightvision, and glossolalia. Also dimensional teleport, astral projection and flight at 75 mph, or 120 kph. Can summon 6-36 Deevils on a moments notice, and tens of thousands given a couple of hours. Can raise 300-1200 undead at one time. Full range of Deific Powers and no penalties for his evil nature. All standard spells to level 11. All sensitive and physical psychic powers, plus mind bolt, super TK, TK forcefield and PPE shield.

Sahtalus wields two fearsome advantages his peers do not. One, he is a truly great shapeshifter, to the extent that he can impersonate any God, Deevil or Demon Lord and fool 99% of their worshipers, 75% of the clergy, 45% of their angels/demons/deevils, and has a 15% chance of fooling his peers. The other is that he ages ago discovered the Tome of Dark Genesis, one of the rarest books in the Megaverse describing exactly how a being with godlike power goes about creating his own worlds/planes. Sahtalus created the 7 levels of Dyval, and since he already had the power to create life in his own image, who can imagine the extent of his hidden resources? He can also use the Tome to implode any of Dyval's levels, though he'd have to be really desperate to do so.

Sahtalus has magically excised all his weaknesses except the touch of iron, which most wouldn't try since that's for hurting demons not deevils, and his character flaws, namely arrogance and paranoia.



Hel

Daughter of Loki and Norse Goddess of the Dead, Hel is also Sahtalus' wife. She never exactly fit in with the Norse crowd, so leaving them for Sahtalus was easy. Like all Deevil Lords, she plans to one day usurp her husband. Unlike the others, she doesn't have naything in the works right now, she's still learning about Dyval and Deevils, the Lords and prying into her husband's secret sources of strength. Hel appears as a divine woman with red hair, two great devil/bat wings and if you could see beneath her clothes, she is a corpse from the waist down.

9,000 MDC with good regen and resistant to fire and cold. Actually she can really only be hurt by magic, psionics and magic weapons. Nightvision, see invisible, see aura, turn invisible, astral projection, glossolalia, recognize all enchantments and magic items, and shapeshift to any humanoid or animal form. See gets around by flying at 90 mph (145 kph) by teleport or dimensional teleport. She knows all standard spells thru level 5 plus call lightning, fire ball, energy disruption, healing touch, exorcism, and resurrection. She can raise 100-400 undead at one time, summon 6-36 minor Deevils or 2-8 Grater ones. All sensitive and physical psychic powers plus mind bolt, TK forcefield, and PPE shield.

Hel's special minions include a trio of Fire Giant Warlocks, each armed with a lesser RUne Weapon, and the dragon Nidhogg. Nidhogg is like a normal Fire dragon, but larger, stronger and tougher. In addition to his fiery breath he now "sweats" a rapidly evaporating poison debilitating to anyone coming within 30 feet.

[Ahriman238]

Mephisto

Considered unusually clever, manipulative and sadistic even for a Deevil Lord, Mephisto is the Lord of Inferno. There he is responsible for the imprisonment and interrogation of all demons captured in the long war with Hades. Mephisto favors the appearance of a dark-skinned human, only 16 feet tall with fangs.

12,000 MDC with very good regen and fire/cold resistant. Also immune to all poisons and drugs with no need to breathe. Nightvision, see invisible, turn invisible glossolalia, teleport, dimensional teleport, shapeshift to any animal or humanoid form, you know the drill. All standard magic through 12th level. All psychic powers full stop. Full range of Deific Powers at double price. Vulnerable to iron, and to a lesser extent to magic, holy and Rune weapons.

Mephisto has a magic mace, Juris, which strikes everything he hits with a lightning bolt doing 50-300 MD. His special minions are the Serpents, which he created and can summon 6-36 of them to his side at will.



Nikodeamis

Known the Megaverse over as a symbol of corruption and greed, Nikodeamis is master of the Mines. He likes to play the fool, enhanced by his favored appearance of a fat, bearded and exceptionally jolly man, but he's been plotting against Sahtalus pretty much from day one. Nikodeamis is a passionate collector of coins, particularly gold Dragons from the Old Kingdom on Palladium.

9,500 MDC, with decent regen and impervious to heat and cold. Nightvision, see invisible, dimensional teleport, glossolalia, teleport, sense location of ley lines, recognize enchantments, astral projection and normal shapeshifting. Has all standard magic up to 10th level plus Amulet, Sanctum, Restoration, Anti-Magic Cloud and a very special one, Metamorphosis: Dragon. All physical psychic powers, plus Bio-Manipulation, Psi-Sword, and Mentally Possess Others. Full Range of Deific Powers at double price. Vulnerable to iron and Rune weapons.

Nikodeamis is the creator and patron of Imps, and takes care to follow their complex politics and know each Imp of import. The majority of Devilkin serve him as well. He can summon any number of Imps or Devilkin to his side, or raise 20-240 undead with a gesture.



Leviathan

The Lady Leviathan claims no territory precisely, but can usually be found in the Great Dyval Desert. Levithan is the Deevil Lord of Vengeance, and she constantly thirsts for revenge against her peers for slights both real and imagined, especially Hel and Rhada. Has a real snit of anyone prettier than she, particularly goddesses, elves, and dragons. Her natural form is a very large (28 ft.) very muscled blonde woman. Her Citadel is a massive labyrinth.

9,000 MDC with good regen and impervious to fire. Normally wears 3,000 MDC armor that shocks anyone (40-240 MD) but her who touches it. Nightvision, see invisible, turn invisible, glossolalia, dimensional teleport, teleport, sense/recognize enchantment, and shapeshifting only to humanoid forms. Never grows tired, virtually never sleeps. All 1-6 level Earth Magic. No psionics. Full range of Deific Powers at double the standard cost. Vulnerable to iron, silver, and rune weapons, also weak against magic.

Leviathan has a massive magic warhammer, in which he bound 5 Greater Demons, if she throws it, it will strike her designated target 5 times then return to her hand, 20-80 MD. She laso has a short sword that does 10-30 MD. The Gorgons and Dire Harpies are Leviathan's special minions, she can summon 6-36 of them all at any time.

[Ahriman238]

Rhada

Previously ruler of the frozen Tundra, mistress of the Fenry and Ice Wraiths, Rhada has fallen on some hard times. Two centuries ago, she captured the Demon Lord Abdul-Ra, a great coup for her. But she fell in love with the demon and helped him escape. Getting caught out for this, she was in turn imprisoned and remains so to this day, in shackles that bind all her powers, in her citadel, now overrun with Mephisto's Serpents while her own minions howl piteously outside. Her only visitors are Mephisto, who promises her freedom in exchange for support when he makes his move against Sahtalus, and the occasional message from Abdul-Ra. The Deevil Lords remain deeply divided on how best to punish Rhada for her transgressions. She appears as a beautiful silver-haired woman, 14 feet tall.

9,000 MDC with solid regen and resistant to both fire and cold. Nightvision, see invisible, glossolalia, dimensional teleport, teleport, sense/recognize enchantment and magic items. All Deific Powers at double the cost, useless when cut off from her mortal worshipers and chained up. All standard spells up to level 7. Psychic powers include Sense Magic, See Aura, Object Read, Suppress Fear, Empathy, and Mind Block. Vulnerable to silver, iron, and Rune weapons.

Rhada can summon 4-24 Fenry. Or could, like all her powers it's fair useless in her prison.



Diabolus

Lord of Dyzonia, Lord of Madness, Diabolus is an insane hunchbacked troll. Still he wields immense power, and he does love to tinker with his magic and deific powers, with technology and life. In his more lucid periods, he is exceptionally dangerous for this knowledge. His citadel is half underwater, and the other half is overrun by strange fungi of his creation.

17,000 MDC with solid regen, immune to heat and cold. Nightvision, see invisible, turn invisible, glossolalia, dimensional teleport, shapeshifting with virtually no limits, sense/recognize enchantment, and sense Elementals. All standard spells and necromancy. All healing psychic powers, Death Trance, Mind Block, Sense Presence, Telepathy, and Psi-Sword. All Deific Powers at twice the normal cost. Vulnerable to iron, silver and RUne weapons.

Diabolus used his Deific Powers to create the first Horrors and Flying Horrors, and they serve him faithfully. He can summon 4-24 Horrors with ease.




Regents

If an ordinary Deevil is smart, driven and lucky enough (and starting a Greater Deevil can't hurt.) to assemble to his name two million mortal worshipers and 200,000 Infernal minions, a mystic transformation takes place and he becomes a Deevil Regent. Regents see a 20% increase to their MDC, ISP, and PPE and unlock any two Regent Powers. There's usually at least one Regent to each Deevil type, typically seen as the leader below the Lord, or at least a paragon of that deevil's type and the example other should aspire to.


Regent Powers

Arcane Power- gain craploads of PPE and one of three options. All standard spells levels 1-5, 19-39 new spells from the stand list up to level 13, OR 12-22 new spells from a different school.

Psionic Power- lot more ISP and either all powers from a chosen category, or 6 powers from one category and 6 super powers.

Combat Prowess- stack of bonuses to disarm, crit, entangle, dodge, parry, and strike.

Limited Invulnerability- become immune to one of the following: fire/cold, lightning/electricity, energy/light, normal weapons, fatigue, possession, psionics, or magic.

Superior Metamorphosis- turn to any animal, human or deevil, gain no powers in the process.

Inner Power- another huge bonus to either ISP or PPE, plus a 10% bonus on any skill checks.

Raw Power- add 460-960 to MDC.

Power of Flight- fly up to 109 mph/174 kph, even in space. Ignore vacuum.

Dimensional Master- increased ability to dimensional teleport, can teleport between levels of Dyval without effort or any chance of failure.

Mask the Supernatural- circumvent all magic, psychic or technological detection.

Empower Weapons of Destruction- charge weapons with hellfire to make them MD and double damage.

Master of Hell- summon 4-9 lesser deevils, or 2-5 Greater ones at will.


There are perhaps 40 Regents scattered around Dyval, for the moment let's concern ourselves only with those who serve as Sahtalus' generals.

Warlord Bloodfeast is a Beast among Beasts, supreme commander of the Deevil Host and wielder of the Rune Weapon Sword of Sahtalus. Twice the size of other Beasts, with flaming eyes. Wears the hides of Baal-Rogs for armor with the crimson mantle of leadership.

Malthus Mind-Slayer was once a captain for Mephisto, but jumped ship from ambition. This Arch-Fiend is now Sahtalus' spymaster, and wears a hooded robe of metallic scale mail.

100,000 years ago, Regent Dragonsin was one of the Deevil Dragons involved in striking their original pact with the Deevils. Clever, capable and ambitious, Dragonsin is obsessed with collecting as many dragon eggs as he can. He is also an absurdly capable spellcaster always looking for new spells and magic items. Last seen on Earth, in the Magic Zone.

Regent Silent Death was one of Nikodeamis' finest devilkin assassins until Sahtalus recruited him from his old master and charged him to recruit all the Deevils who swear loyalty to no particular lord.

Regent Bloodshade is a Horror who spent centuries assisting Diabolus in his labs, but could never advance thanks to Diabolus' existing regent. He was caught in a bad fight recently, and distinguished himself to Sahtalus who made him a Regent and a general, and placed him in charge of R&D.

Infinite Chaos and Mayhem are twin Pandemoniums, Sahtalus' very best free agents, so naturally he gave them the powers and minions of Regents and sent them out to keep doing what they do, make the Megaverse a very frightening and interesting place for his enemies.


Whew. COuld it be, after all this time, I'm finished with Dyval? Grab your hats everyone, next we're back to the Three Galaxies.

[Ahriman238]

First, some housekeeping for the Three Galaxies.


Tracer Guild

All the way back in Phase World there were some generic classes that just added skills and maybe some starting gear to your RCC (racial class) like the Spacer, Colonist, Runner (smuggler) Space Pirate and finally, the Tracer (bounty hunter.) You could mix-and-match these templates with species for NPCs too. Well, only that last one got any expansion so here it is.

Unlike the other groups, there is an organization for Tracers, the Guild, which spans all Three Galaxies. Like every guild or union in history, they aren't fond of independent workers and, well, their primary skills involve finding people and inflicting violence upon them. We aren't told tons more about the Guild, they have an office for the bare minimum of coordination and paperwork, a hidden base in a desolate asteroid belt of a lifeless system somewhere in Anvil. And, of course, an office in Center on Phase World, that's one of the easiest ways for people to find and hire them, but their headquarters is the secret one.

There are also two Guild legends mentioned.

First is Master Fesh, the best Tracer in the Three Galaxies. He was originally a member of any of a dozen generic shapeshifter races across the Megaverse, perhaps a Changeling or even a Pleasurer. Then the Splugorth took him for experimentation, he has very few memories from before that, nothing that would help him find his people. But the Splugorth gave him a variety of implants and bio-wizardry modifications not generally seen, including making him an exceptionally powerful psychic with all powers. He escaped and in the following decades made a name for himself as a psychic shapeshifter who can find anyone, manipulate anyone, and take anyone down with minimal effort.

The other goes by Red Lotus, a renegade female Oni ninja. Nothing to do with the Earth oni or ninja, she's Bushi Federation. Anyway, it seems she decided she'd rather be a Tracer than an assassin and had to kill the bulk of her clan before they decided to just nod and agree with her choice of career.

[Ahriman238]

And now something I'm sure the ones familiar with this game have been waiting for.


The Minion War

This is Palladium's first mega-crossover event, unless you count the entire existence of RIFTS as one. Beginning in Palladium Fantasy's Land of the Damned, continuing through the less popular Land of the Damned 2, this is the story of a war between Demon and Deevil across all space, time, and dimensions. It's then touched on briefly in the Hades and Dyval books, which serve more as reference material for each side before reaching the Three Galaxies in Dimensional Outbreak and (to a much lesser extent) Heroes of the Megaverse. More recently, this reached their superhero setting Heroes Unlimited in the book Armageddon Unlimited and Rifts Earth in the upcoming RIFTS: Megaverse in Flames. Not really planning on covering all, or even most of these but it's important to me that you get something of the context.

I haven't read or been able to find LotD or sequel, all my information here is coming from Dyval, D' Outbreak and the Palladium Gaming Forum. If I'm off-base about anything, please let me know. /commentary

So the Demons and Deevils have been rivals since at least a hundred millennia. When two meet in the wider Megaverse, they'll try and spoil each other's schemes on general principle, especially with mortal cat's-paws. There's also a lovely little wasteland in the South of Palladium (the fantasy world) called the Land of the Damned which holds the Great Rift: a super-massive canyon with a permanent portal to Hades at one end, and a portal to Dyval on the other. For at least 60,000 years both sides have re-enacted WWI in the Rift, the lines moving just a few miles either way before shifting back, pointless death (because everyone who dies is reborn at home) on a vast scale, etc. In truth, the Great Rift has always been a sideshow for the Deevils, a big red flag to wave in the face of the more martial Demons, distracting them while the Deevils pursue greater things in the wider Megaverse. They always just pumped enough troops in to maintain more-or-less the status quo, a semi-static front for the Demons to waste their fury on while they play the long game, and the home dimensions of each side remained inviolate strongholds.

All this changed with the Taut Offensive (ouch! That pun actually hurts.) which, as conceived by Modeus and High General Zukel, involved rounding up every Worm of Taut they could find, then using portals to turn them loose in every level of Dyval, a sneak attack that could kill millions, permanently since this is inside Dyval itself. With immediate follow-up from hordes of Demonic troops who would swiftly secure Dyval and kill everyone who did not swear fealty to their new Demon Lords.

Well, things didn't go quite according to plan, either the Worms were going to break free, or someone panicked, but the Worms were sent in weeks before the follow-up troops were mustered and ready. Modeus and Zukel didn't think this was a huge problem, they figured it would take at least a year for the Deevil Lords to organize for a serious defense or counterattack. In this, they gravely underestimated their enemies.

Yes, the sneak attack was brutal, killing thousands, perhaps a million, Deevils and wounding millions more. Except in Grim Mortis where Hel and the troops put down the attack thoroughly within hours, there are still pockets of Worms infest Dyval. But it didn't take the Deevil Lords long to agree to set aside their differences, just long enough for Sahtalus to purge his greatest critics and cut the fat from his general staff, replacing them with new Regents who distinguished themselves in the fighting. Then Sahtalus began his master plan to control the pacing and venue of this new war. He dispatched Regent Dragonsin with a large army to secure the Great Rift, both because he wanted to secure the largest stable portal into his realm and because it's more important than ever that the Demons be distracted by the war on that front.

The next step was to create an even broader field of conflict, because fighting in your own homeland is not fun. So he began a massive campaign against Demon interests across the Megaverse, targeting every cult, crime syndicate and dark church, every nation and star empire where Demons rule from the shadows, every minion race, demon world, and remotely strategic position, and there are an awful lot of those. In fact, throughout the Megaverse it seems every kingdom, nation and organization is going to war with each other, or themselves, and only rarely with open involvement of either Deevil or Demon.

Finally, Sahtalus began launching raids into Hades, because there are an awful lot more portals leading there than there are into Dyval. He has filled the Forest of Pain with skirmishers and guerrillas, carried out hit and fade attacks, and generally forced Modeus to hold a third of his forces in garrison. Sahtalus has also had his some of his expert Pandemoniums infiltrate the Demon army, and reached out to disaffected elements among the Demons to sabotage their efforts from within, a series of minor strategic and logistical blunders have been making life hell for Modeus and Zukel ever since.

So that's the Minion War in a nutshell, a proxy war of everyone vs. everyone else, where each individual conflict makes sense on it's own terms, it's only when you step back that you realize that war is everywhere and usually with some supernatural hand in it. When I get back, we'll discuss what this conflict looks like specifically in the Three Galaxies.

[Ahriman238]

A brief (sort of) timeline of Demonic/Infernal activities in the Three Galaxies.

Approximately 1600 years ago we have the first reports of Demon Stars, seemingly invulnerable ghost ships. After some incidents and vanished ships they disappear into legend for a thousand years.

600 standard years ago, a mineral survey ship finds a buried Demon Star being worshiped by the locals on a volcanic moon, perpetually hidden from the sun by it's gas giant, called Monde in Anvil. A desperate distress call is given, but when help arrives there's no sign of the surveyors, or the ship, and only a crater where the surveyors reported a city built around the ship. 30 years later a Demon Star is sighted, than few more and ships start disappearing randomly for the next century.

500 years ago is the Unification War/First Great War between the Kreeghor Dominon (later known as the Transgalactic Empire) and the Consortium created to resist Kreeghor expansionism. JUst a reference point. In fact, it's almost exactly 500 years to the detente that ended it, the Lanator accords which also banned mass drivers and nukes against planetary targets.

5 years after the Lanator accords, 8 Demon Stars attack Phase World. The battle lasts 15 minutes, with Center's orbital defense and 4 Promethean battlecruisers defending, and only 3 Demon Stars survive to flee. This is the last time Demon Stars are seen for over 200 years.

280 years ago, Demon Stars start once again menacing shipping and picking off isolated colonies. After a decade of skirmishes, a lone Cosmo-Knight tracks a ship to the Black Star, what seems to be a massive black hole is actually a wormhole that spits any ship going through it to a random location in the Three Galaxies. The Demon Stars go through, wrech anything they come across, then make their way back. Worse, he finds a fleet of 300 Demon Stars and barely escapes through the Black Star. The Black Star Fleet, the largest force assembled since the Great War is called up, representing over 50 interstellar empires and spearheaded by a hundred Cosmo-Knights is able to destroy most of the Demon Stars and secure the black Star before spending the next 20 years hunting down strays. The Black Star Fleet's Manticore and Griffon Fleets are disbanded, Dragon Fleet was swallowed by a temporal anomaly, they'll probably turn up someday.

150 years ago, the Three Galaxies sees the first summoning of the demon Halthhag, who will later serve as the commander of demonic forces in the Three Galaxies. The Dark Covens will summon him up several more times in ensuing years.

120 years previous, a Pandemonium operating under the name of Corbin Decker joins Naruni Enterprises as a sales rep. Decker is a huge fan of Naruni business practices, and will eventually rise to VED (Vice Executive Director) in charge of all Naruni R&D in the Corkscrew Galaxy, making him the Deevils' greatest single local asset.

50 years ago virtually every government in the Three galaxies starts secret programs researching WMDs that can circumvent the phrasing of the Lanator Accords. Both the TGE and CCW work on new FTL technologies to create even larger FTL-capable warships, the dreadnoughts. Shadow war between two UWW Dark Coven cults, the Hand of Modeus and the Eyes of Sahtalus, over pieces of a destroyed Demon Star each side could theoretically piece together and resurrect through magic.

20 years ago, renowned CCW plasma physicist Dr. Stalvin Fecklar sets up a research station in the Thundercloud system that will one day bear his name, attempting to engineer a perpetually renewing plasma generator. After a couple of years, the station is overrun by demons who hide the station in the nearby plasma field, the station is presumed destroyed with all hands, day of mourning etc. Just 12 years ago a new fleet of Demon Stars starts emerging, based in and around Fecklar's Star.

A decade ago, Kotus Point changes from a black hole, to a white hole.

8 years before the Minion War starts, a group of Obsidian Spell Thieves break into Malcore One, the sealed library of black magic kept by the Star Elves. Only one book was taken: CORMAL, Destroyer of Worlds. Despite frantic efforts by Warlock Marines, the thieves are never found.

6 years ago the Forge War begins in earnest with scheming, embargoes, bans, sabotage and infiltrations, underscored with actual violent skirmishes.

2 years ago the UWW research base called Harkon Station, studying the largest stable Rift in the Three Galaxies, is destroyed, and the Rift sealed by unknown forces. Investigating psychics lapse into a coma before going mad, giggling ceaselessly or attacking all around them in berserk fury, muttering about "the great deceit" and "the Destroyer of Worlds." The UWW begins a massive crackdown on the Dark Covens looking for their lost book and any information on the Destroyer of Worlds, and sharing information with the CCW and TGE.

At the same time, Kotus Point emits a signal in one of the oldest galactic languages, only fragments of which are translatable. "I come" ""wait for me" "welcome me with the mightiest of fleets."

18 months ago, an unusual number of demons start moving through or staying in Center. This prompts the Deevils to also increase their presence on Phase World.

11 months ago, the CCW's Georgia Protectorate, a 5 system backwater over which much of the last war with the Kreeghor was fought, seceded from the Consortium, feeling unappreciated and discontent. Nehind the scenes, Deevils manipulated public sentiment to achieve this. The CCW Council meets to discuss the virtues of diplomacy, versus civil war or just letting them go. The question is settled when the Georgians seize CCW citizens and military property, claiming the CCW has reneged on promises of protection, and the first Consortium Civil War is joined.

6 months ago marginal lightly populated colonies in the Corkscrew and Thundercloud galaxies started going silent. Investigating ships found only debris clouds where planets used to be. No survivors exist to tell what happened, and the death toll is already in the mid-billions. The Splugorth begin raiding the UWW in earnest, seeing profit in the confusion and forcing the Warlocks to seal tight their borders.

4 months ago the Free Worlds Council (rebels against the Kreeghor dominated TGE) go on the offensive with funds, ships and top-shelf Naruni weapons provided by the Deevils. They even get a small fleet of Infernal Stars, the Deevil version of Demon Stars that are exactly the same but with all the obviously evil bits filed off or hidden away. 50 worlds are in short order liberated by the FWC or rise up thanks to their example. The Kreeghor believe the Consortium is the source of these new ships and weapons, leading to a brush war along the CCW/TGE borders throughout Corkscrew and Thundercloud.

2 months ago, the planet destroying force identified as Demon Planets. The CCW and TGE declare a cease-fire to deal with this threat, but the FWC keeps going full-throttle. Refugees fearing the Demon Planets flood to Phase World, seeking shelter in the only place known to have casually seen off demonic assault.

2 weeks ago sees over 2 million refugee ships at Phase World and, for the first time in living memory, the Prometheans' facilities are swamped, communications are a mess they've had to bring in their secretive fleet to maintain order, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!

Last week another message was broadcast from Kotus Point 7 times at one hour intervals. "I am the end and the beginning. From my fires of creation I call upon you to heed my bidding. I may appear only to those who are worthy of my power. Gather, show me your strength, so I may choose to lead all into a new era of greatness." Naturally this prompted all the fleets gathered there to start butchering each other, with the CCW and UWW ships moving in self-defense and to protect all the unarmed ships full of pilgrims, and everyone else trying to remove their rivals and "show their strength." Everyone, everywhere calls home to put out the news of this Glorious Coming and/or call for reinforcements. A gravitic wake is detected revealing that something huge will come out in exactly 7 days.

Zero hour, after days of slaughter the thing emerges but it's Cormal, Destroyer of Worlds. Cormal is the first, largest, and most powerful Demon Planet, the only one that can reproduce. All Demon Planets and Demon Stars are his spawn. He is the size of our own Jupiter, and destroys a thousand ships before they realize they're under attack. Worse, he comes at the head of a fleet of thousands of Demon Stars, for the demons have decided on open invasion and conquest of the Three Galaxies. They set up the whole Kotus Point deception to destroy the largest and most powerful fleets in the Three Galaxies with one blow, and deliver a crushing blow to morale by "proving" their god, the Cosmic Forge, was a lie. The demons, under Halthhag, poured gasoline over the whole Forge War, because the way they always lose here is that everyone unites against them, so they did everything they could to cause suspicion, paranoia and conflict. It was hoped the Kotus Point Massacre would be such a show of force that it would encourage instant surrender, though Halthhag was far to clever to bet everything on that.

At the same time as Kotus Point, the Demons brazenly attack Center on Phase World. They carefully arranged for the Prometheans to be cut off from any support and overloaded with refugees. At the same moment Cormal comes through Kotus Point, a dozen Demon Stars appear and start blasting away at refugee ships and defenders alike, to incite panic. At the same time on the ground, a million demons move to seize Gateland, the Spaceport, Security and Central Control. To faciliate this, an additional 90,000 Demons come in through legitmate shipments through the Spacegates before they're shut down, and land at the Spaceport, while another half million demons flood into Gateland through portals locked open by the Promethean traitor Zanith Ving.

The battle for Center (Operation Dimensional Outbreak, to the demons) is the focus and centerpiece of this book. The Deevils are determined that the Demons not win here, leading to open brawling while Central Security requests the aid of every able-bodied fighter. And if you win, you get to hear about Kotus Point and learn everything you went through was just the beginning of the campaign.

[Ahriman238]

Cormal

The Destroyer of Worlds himself. Quick Review, Demon Planets are living creatures that eat other planets, and moons, and stars. They're FTL capable, have gravity manipulating powers that make it almost impossible to run from them, and have vast psychic/magical powers. Their very presence will render a psychic catatonic, if he's lucky enough to not wind up incurably insane or possessed. The surface is covered in MDC creepy-crawlies that defend the many redundant brains and hearts beneath the things surface. That's an ordinary Demon Planet.

Cormal is the size of Jupiter or 89,365 miles/142,984 kilometers in diameter. His atmosphere would be a soup that would kill you a thousand times over with it's pressure if he didn't have gravity manipulating abilities to make his surface just a bit hospitable. He has a grand equatorial ring made of a substance like bone or coral and secured to his surface by 4 massive spines, complete with vertebrae. On this ring, you can see fetal Demon Stars throughout their rather gruesome stages of development.

Cormal terrorized the Three Galaxies in the early Second Age, before an alliance of that age's greatest mages trapped him in enchanted slumber and for safety's sake cast that into the empty dimension they named the Abyss. The secrets of how to free and to an extent control the Demon Planet were recorded in the Book of Cormal, the tome stolen from the Elven library. From there the book went to Modeus, who was able to decipher the hidden script and passed it on to Halthhag. Cormal is still asleep, but on a subconscious level approves of Halthhag, his deviousness, creativity and oddball sense of honor. Thanks to spells in the Book, Halthhag is able to share his dreams with Cormal, who is enjoying a lovely dream of leading fleets to glory and crushing all who stand before him. If he were to wake, by taking enough damage or the book getting destroyed, he would be furious at Halthhag for using him and go on a rampage. Best case scenario he takes care of everyone's Demon/Deevil problem and "only" decimates (in a very real and literal sense) the Three Galaxies before leaving in a snit.

Cormal the Destroyer of Worlds has 100 million MDC and regenerates 1000-4000 MDC per minute, and he regenerates far faster (1000-6000 MDC every 15 seconds) while eating. He is immune to cold, radiation, fear, possession and mind control, except in a very limited sense while sleeping through the Book of Cormal. He takes half damage from energy weapons.

Cormal's normal spaceflight speed is Mach 15 (most demon planets are restricted to Mach 5) which he can maintain for three months before he MUST stop to eat. In a crisis, he can accelerate to just below light-speed and hibernate. FTL is 5 LY/hour (43,800 c) for 4 days without stopping to consume everything in a star system, including the star. Finally, he can open a Rift to travel 2,000 light-years in an instant, well it takes 2-8 minutes for the Rift to form, and it remains open for 1-4 minutes after he passes through. Such are the perils of warping space on such a scale.

Cormal has a primary maw large enough to eat the Earth and barely have to chew, with two Luna-sized secondary maws nearby, largely for catching debris missed by the first one. Each is ringed with thousands of tentacles 2,000 miles long and perfectly capable of shoveling starships down his gullet. Or snapping them in two. There are 8 massive mountains on the surface, bright yellow with purple veins and perfectly equidistant, these are Cormal's primary gravity manipulating organs. Each can shut down FTL for a quarter-million miles (which still seems awful close to get to a Jovian) and reel in starships. They can also repel objects as projectiles, but the weapon in this case has to be rather large, and it isn't a terribly precise form of attack. He can also fire massive energy bolts from any of the 80 ley line nexuses on his surface, doing 6000-36000 MD against orbital targets, but firing off too often makes him really hungry. You won't like him when he's... hungry. (hides)

Cormal possesses over 16 million PPE, there is no spell he cannot spam all day. He knows all Space and Demon Magic, and all standard spells up to level 12, plus Annihilate, Summon and Control Storm, Dimensional Portal, Dimensional Teleport, Close Rift, Mystic Quake, Shutdown Ley Line, Ley Line Restoration and Superior Teleport, for moving around the minions. All spells with arbitrarily high caster level and 200+ mile ranges. Can cast against atmospheric or orbital targets, but except for teleporting his defenders or through them, he cannot cast against surface targets.

Cormal has 1.5 million ISP, and can spam every psychic power just as well. All sensitive and healing, plus Group Trance, Mentally Possess Others, and Psychic Omni-Sight.



Like all Demon Planets, Cormal has Immune Defenders his own minions that protect him from nasty people who crash land on his surface and try to escape or harm him. They're only about half as fast or powerful while Cormal slumbers, but obey the demon's commands. All are MDC, supernaturally strong, with nightvision and see invisible. They're also immune to cold and vacuum, and take half-damage from energy weapons.

First, the landscape is dotted periodically with smaller, 5 mile (8 km) tentacles that snatch any aircraft or flying people out of the sky, bear them to ground, and restrain them with 3-4 new tentacle friends til more Defenders arrive, each tentacle has thousands of MDC.

Then you have Surface Crawlers, 12 ft. centipedes topped with humanoid torsos. 50-300 MDC, strong as hell, covered in sharp spines and can cast Fireball, Call Lightning, Electric Arc and Sub-Particle Acceleration. Usually run in packs of 8-12, but there are hundreds of millions of them.

Gut Crawlers swim the bloodsteam and guard it from intruders, but can pass cleanly through all Cormal's membranes to swarm out of the ground. Jet-black millipedes 9 feet long with 32-132 MDC, a nasty electric attack (4-24 MD) and scything talons. A variety of healing powers to help Cormal.

Survive those, you get the Floating Horrors, floating brains 15 feet across with spines on the top, a dozen tentacles and a hungry mouth below. Oh, and an umbilical cord linking them to the surface of Cormal at all times. 60-360 MDC, independently sapient, organizing the others. Magically they have the standard spells to level 2 plus Call Lightning, Multiple Image, Apparition, Armor Bizarre,and World Bizarre. Psychically, See Aura, Telepathy, Super TK, Auto Mind Block, Mentally Possess Others, and Mind Bolt. But the scary part is that Cormal can possess the horrors (ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL) to use HIS spells and psychic powers through them, feeding them his PPE and ISP. If you cut the umbilical, they stop regenerating and can't be used as a channel for Cormal to smite you, but otherwise remain as dangerous as ever.


At Halthhag's behest, Cormal has created a dozen castles around his surface, for the Demons. He has also created 2 Demon Planets enslaved to Halthhag's will, one each is running around the Corkscrew and Thundercloud galaxies. He has also given Halthhag a fleet of 300 Demon Stars, and over a thousand lesser vessels, easily twice what Modeus thought they'd be able to get, the Star General and the Destroyer of Worlds do have an unusual connection.

The largest Fortress is Castle Halthhag, a black and organic thing. The war room has half a dozen scrying and communication pools, the dungeons hold many prisoners and the process for creating Demon Knights. But the Castle is more, it sits on the very brain node that Halthhag uses to contact and share dreams with Cormal, and destroying it would set him back many weeks. The fortress has a quarter million MDC. It is armed primarily with 8 Hellfire cannon, which fire bolts of magma doing 2000-12000 MD and 8 missile launchers doing similar damage. Then 40 point defense/anti-tank energy turrets each capable of 40-240 MD.

Castle Halthhag, like all the other castles on Cormal and the other 2 Demon Planets, is garrisoned by 300+ fighters or equivalents, 200,000 mortal minions, 140,000 Demon Mortals, 300,000 lesser Demons, and 20,000 Greater Demons.

Halthhag has taken great care that each Galaxy contain a major fleet base, and a rampaging Demon Planet to create fear, Cormal just happens to be uniquely qualified to serve both offices in Anvil.

[Simon_Jester]

Hm. Demon Planets sound interestingly menacing. Could you go into more detail on what kind of military actions have been fought in the Three Galaxies against Demon Planets, particularly any where they were defeated?

[Ahriman238]

Hm. Demon Planets sound interestingly menacing. Could you go into more detail on what kind of military actions have been fought in the Three Galaxies against Demon Planets, particularly any where they were defeated?

Not really, no. They only appear here and in the Three Galaxies sourcebook. The impression I get is more of a legendary evil that could and should be the focus of it's own campaign. Or at the very least you get forced down, and have to fight through all the Immune Defenders to get the parts needed to fix your ship and flee. The only defeat I've heard of is the original sealing of Cormal. If you had a thousand ships with mass drivers, and each got off one shot before dying, that'd do it. If there were a lot, the Three Galaxies wouldn't really be around. Look at the panic caused by three of them!

Cormal is also not exactly typical, though his Immune Defenders are the same. Most Demon Planets have only 5-20 million MDC, a fifth his ISP and PPE, Mach 5 or 2 LY/hour for 2 days etc. Even the grasping tentacles are only half the length, 1000 miles. They're slow, as mentioned, with the FTL and laying over in each system for several days to consume all the planets and the star, the last taking a full day in and of itself.

Final scary thought. I said that the best case circumstance if Cormal woke was he'd destroy the Demons for their presumption, decimate the Three Galaxies and go? Well, first he'll teleport himself to and consume the crippled spawn he made for Halthhag, both Demon Planets, all the ships. There's a 5% chance of Halthhag appealing to their relationship and getting Cormal to spare him, by agreeing to serve as the Demon Planet's minion. But failing that, heck with that, he will go berserk and kill 10-60% of the Three Galaxies population before stopping to decide whether he wants to rule the Three Galaxies, destroy the Three Galaxies, or just go.

The combined fleets of the Three Galaxies? Can't stop him. The mightiest and cleverest mages? Won't slow him down. Cosmo-Knights? Hardly a worthy appetizer. He's Cormal, Destroyer of Worlds. He's what Unicron used to dream he'd be when he grew up. The one hope for life in the Three Galaxies if Cormal wakes, is the Book of Heroes.

What's the book of Heroes? Another campaign-center artifact. A book containing the names and life-stories of the 2,000 greatest heroes there ever were and ever will be, along with their spirits which can advise and mentor young heroes, even physically manifesting as half-strength Avatars. Oh, and the book hands out superpowers like candy to anyone worthy and willing to give up themselves (roll up a new character) but the point is someone in that book was around the first time they beat Cormal, and will know how to do it again. Maybe.

[Simon_Jester]

Go figure.

Hm. Remind me again, roughly how many capital ships do the largest powers in the Three Galaxies setting have, and what kind of weapon firepower output do they have? Measuring in MDC is fine; I'm simply curious.

[Ahriman238]

Lots of smaller polities, like the Central Alliance have less than a thousand ships total. The Consortium and Transgalactic Empire each boast ~20,000 capital ships spread across the Three Galaxies. Each capital ship's main laser battery does 2000-8000 MDC, an order of magnitude more powerful than a 200 kt nuke in setting. I believe we'd agreed that it was probably still a kt range figure, since with the orbital bombardment rules it does this damage for a 40 foot radius. Similar amount of energy, more focused. Of course, lasers are the most powerful weapon besides banned mass drivers, and Demon Planets take half damage from lasers.

The CAF (Consortium Armed Forces) boasts a further 193,000 ships, most of which would be useless for this endeavor, but some, perhaps as many as a quarter are cruisers with half the firepower of a capital ship, 1000-4000. Governments like the UWW, the Golgans, and even the Naruni (who aren't a government, I know) have 5,000 capital ships and are considered major players.

The biggest and meanest ship (discounting Mechanoids and Dominators) is still the Kreeghor Doomgiver Dreadnought, with 350,000 MDC, shields 15,000 MDC to a side and 2 main cannon which each do 4000-16000 MD. The TGE built 24, one was captured by the FWC, 3 more are lost. The biggest baddest ship available to oppose Cormal has a third of a percent his toughness and with a double blast can do almost as much damage as one of his off-hand ones.

The CAF equivalent dreadnought, the Emancipation, exists in far more limited numbers (in fact, it's a class of one) but has 4 main guns doing 5000-15000 MD per shot.

Of course, even if you could gather enough firepower in one place to destroy Cormal, you're just begging him to break out a Meteor Swarm or Ion Storm, Nebula, Summon Comet, etc. Or heck, just complement his existing offensive capability with Fire and Brimstone. You can't bring any telepaths anywhere near Cormal, so there's no one to even try and stop his reading your minds and learning your plans, or hitting key personnel on your ship with Mind Bolt or Bio-Manipulate.

[Simon_Jester]

One wonders what the Dominators think of these Demon Planets.

[Ahriman238]

Star General Halthhag



Halthhag is a clever and devious sort, gaining his position through a combination of merit and treachery. He's also one of the demons most familiar with the Three Galaxies, having been summoned there many times. He's not afraid to use technology, he knows how the people and governments of the Three Galaxies think, and how they react, a very rare thing in a demon. His only real weaknesses are that he still tends to underestimate mortals, and while he can adapt to things going wrong with his plans quickly and effectively, he tends to lose it when the wheels really come off. His minions love him, because he believes in showing loyalty and support to those who serve him well, and not wasting lives and resources needlessly, a very unusual quality in a demon general.

Halthhag is a Dysasha, a demon bear-man and distant cousin to the Raksasha. Think more warlord than evil vizier. His people mostly served the Persian Dark God Ahriman (Hey!) and were sealed away with him. There are a handful of survivors, mostly hermits who don't get involved in the politics or wars of their fellow demons, making Halthhag quite the odd man out, but as he sees it his people belong to history and the future is his for the taking. He hopes to become a Demon Lord in his own right, when the realm of Hades covers most of the Megaverse, and some of his soldiers whisper that his ambition goes even further. His control of Cormal is already something like out of legend.

He meticulously planned the invasion of the Three Galaxies. Kotus Point and the fall of Center at the same time, to crush morale and force the weaker powers to surrender. Any resistance worth talking about, he's confident, will fall apart after he crushes the CCW and TGE. The plan to take Center is really his baby, the timing carefully managed, and he will personally lead the reinforcements coming through Gateland, trusting Cormal to do his thing without much supervision. Making Center a great place for a first meeting.

Halthhag's banner and sigil is a silhouette of a black, double-headed ax before a red sun, on a black field. For reasons which will become obvious shortly.

As a Dysasha, he's a 13 ft. tall bear-man with 3500 MDC (and 880 MDC armor) and good regen with resistance to heat. He has nightvision, see invisible, very keen sense of hearing, invisibility, teleport and dimensional teleport, but only home to Hades. Because he is so popular among his demons and mortal minions, he has actually gained a single Deific Power namely Mobile Sphere of Destruction, which lets him conjure and control a floating black orb that burns through everything it touches. Halthhag has all sensitive psychic powers. Halthhag is the master of all Demon and Space Magic and knows all standard spells to level 5, plus Apparition, Animate & Control Dead, Agony, Aura of Doom, Ballistic Fire, Fireball, Barrage, Call Lightning, Lightning Arc, Power Bolt, Desiccate the Supernatural, Havoc, Realm of Chaos, Soultwist, Blood and Thunder, Steel Rain, Annihilate, Spinning Blades and Sub-Patricle Acceleration. He is vulnerable to Rune Weapons, but only the good ones.


Deep in the fires of Mt. Doom caves not far from Castle Halthhag, the Star General forged himself a great Rune Weapon battle-ax in the molten heart of Cormal, from a combination of materials including some taken from Cormal's own surface, and quenched in the Demon Planet's black blood. Halthhag had hoped to trap some of Cormal's essence in the ax and solidify his control, which didn't work exactly, but it did strengthen their connection, and gave him a cool new weapon he named the Blade of Cormal. So none of his creativity goes into naming things. Anyways, the blade is jet-black with glowing lines of still molten metal, completely indestructible in the tradition of Rune Weapons everywhere. Swung at your head, it does 20-120 MD but it can also fire 20-80 MD hellfire bolts. The ax lets Halthhag control Cormal's Immune Defenders while on the surface, and he can summon and control 2-8 Crawlers whereever he is. He can also teleport himself and up to a thousand passengers to Cormal, or any location within 100 light-years of Cormal from anywhere. If Halthhag hurls the ax at a starship, it turns into a firebolt a wile wide and doing 1000-8000 MD. The ax is then lost, but within 12 hours reappears in the caverns it was forged in, which granted, are a lot more accessible if you have the ax.

Halthhag also keeps a high-intensity laser pistol and is an expert marksman. He wears a thousand charms, amulets, talismans and techno-wizardry bits holding basically every spell or magical ability he thinks he might need someday.




Zanith Ving

This guy. You ever have that weaselly NPC you can't kill, and you can't ever get to shut up? That's this guy. Halthhag's inside man in Center, and if he loses there still an expert consultant to the Star General. He was an unexceptional Promethean Phase Adept some 3,000 years old. He wandered the universe, had adventures, saw that most of his age group had gone on to the second stage of their lives but he was rejected 5 times for being too arrogant and power-hungry. He finally snaps, deciding his people are too complacent to recognize his greatness, and determined to give them a taste of fear. He falls in with a Raksasha demon who becomes his lover, further corrupts him, and gets him in touch with Halthhag. When the invasion goes down, Zanith Ving locks open Gateland's portals to Hades and sabotages Central Security. After his escape, the Prometheans will offer a massive bounty for him, alive only because of their "ape shall not kill ape" rule that Ving spits on.




Demon Knights



Halthhag knows the Three Galaxies, he's spent quite a bit of time there, and he's crossed blades with Cosmo-Knights before, and he knows that taking over the Three Galaxies will mean coping with hundreds, perhaps thousands of Cosmo-Knights. Sure he can handle them, so can his elite Baal-Rog force, the Brass Guard, but they aren't enough, he needed a proper counter. So he decided to modify the ritual for making Demon Mortals to empower fallen Cosmo-Knights.

In theory, any mortal could become a Demon Knight, if their hatred is strong enough, but former Cosmo-Knights are strongly preferred. First, candidates are taken to the deepest, darkest dungeons of Castle Halthhag and forcibly submerged in Cormal's blood for hours or days. You can sort of breathe in the black sludge, but it's neither healthy nor fun. The anointed candidates are then chained in an upright position while the armorers get to work, covering them in plate that is both freshly forged and red-hot, and alive and painfully trying to bond with the candidate by inserting chitinous legs. At some point, the pain is too much, all humanity is lost and the new Demon Knight breaks his chains, which half of them still wear in remembrance. If there is any good in the candidate, any part that resists being reborn as a monster, they will not be able to break the chain but will be hauled off to have their souls consumed.

The Demon Knight can recall all factual data from his or her old life, but the emotions are gone save for their hatred and grudges. They forswear all kindness, compassion and honor save in obedience to their Lords. They have 223-680 MDC depending on level and base stats, with regen, plus 80-320 MDC from their regenerating armor. They are immune to cold and vacuum, and take only half damage from MDC fire and plasma weapons, with supernatural strength and endurance, enough to lift 1-2 tons and keep any activity up 10 times as long. They can fly in atmosphere at Mach 6, in space at Mach 10-24 depending solely upon level. Unlike Cosmo-Knights, they do not have native FTL capability. Demon Knights do not require sleep, and in place of food or water must drink a pint of fresh blood each day.

Cosmo-Knights are nearly immune to energy weapons, but weak against magic which is how Halthhag has always managed to beat them. To attack, his Demon Knights conjure antimatter projectiles, doing 10-80 MD at first level and 50-240 MD by max level, this counts as dark magic enough to hit Cosmo-Knights full force. Demon Knights also start with 10 spells from levels 1-4 of the standard list, plus Electric Arc, Firebolt, Fire Blast, Disintegration Beam, Demon Blade and Magic Net. Each new level they learn 3 new spells form the standard list, Demon or Space magic. They can also request that their Demon Lord grant them 2 spells/level temporarily either as one shots, for a period of time or until a specific task is done. No Spells of Legend or higher than level 13, can be granted in this manner, otherwise no limit.

Demon Knights also get a personalized weapon which grows in size and power as they do. Start at 10-40 MD, ending at 20-120 MD. Can be anything, sword, pike, half-brick in a sock, whatever weapon really works in their hands.

Demon Knights can communicate telepathically with demons over a distance of several miles, including being able to raise any Demon Star within a light-year, and any Demon Planet within 10. Their Demon Lord can send them dream-visions at any range and through dimensional barriers, but precise meanings don't always carry through.