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Evil spirits have always been part of mankind s The Dark is, in effect, the eternal adversary of
mythology. In Christianity, demons fell into two
creation (personified as God by the Third Ref-
camps. The first category were those angels
ormation Church and many faiths which came
who, upon being created, were given the choice
before), the two forces bound in an endless circle
between absolute good and absolute evil. They
of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Creation is not
chose the latter option. The more well-known
eternal, as everything must die, but it is capable
were fallen angels, servants of the Devil, who
of rekindling its flame from the ashes of destruc-
resided in the fiery wastes of Hell and who sided
tion.
with Satan in his war with God.
The creation of the universe, as man under-
The Islamic jinn, while not exactly the same,
stands it, forced demons out of reality and into
fulfilled a similar role. Born of fire, they were
what the Rephaim simplistically call the Dark
adversaries of mankind until King Solomon
Dimension.
bound, slew, banished, or converted them. Like
demons, the jinn were regarded as tricksters,
Referring to the Dark Dimension as a separate
often employing subtle means to corrupt mor-
physical place is actually a false notion. The Dark
tals.
Dimension exists in conjunction with our uni-
Passed on from the ancient Greek word verse.
 daimon (which meant  deity ), the word became
Scientists in the 21st century envisioned
 daemon in Roman Latin before changing to the
space-time like a sheet, which could be distorted
more recognizable  demon in use today among
by gravity. In truth, the sheet is more like a fine
followers of the Third Reformation Church.
weave. The strands that form the physical sheet
Sadly, the Church as a whole does not believe
are our physical universe, the one we can see
in demons, nor does it even like the term being
and interact with. On these threads sit the stars,
bandied about. Regardless of the wishes of man,
planets, and gas clouds. Even the void of space is
demons do exist.
part of the weave.
The demons of Necropolis, what few currently
Between the threads of reality are holes. These
exist, are servants of what one might call the Devil.
holes form the Dark Dimension. Although they
Despite what the Rephaim believe, the Dark is
would appear disparate when viewed as a two-
not an entity of necromantic energy it is pure
dimensional plane, each hole is linked to every
entropy (in the sense of decay and destruction).
other by a complex network of non-reality strands.
Thus, the Dark Dimension exists within our uni-
verse but simultaneously remains separate.
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One cannot simply drop into a hole in space-
time and appear in the Dark Dimension. The
Many creation stories speak of a time before
nature of the universe means that the threads
the universe began, when a great void, an endless
and holes very rarely interact.
darkness, was all that existed.
Although the word demon suffices mankind s
Within that void dwelt the demons, spiritual
needs, and raises connotations ideally suited to
servants of the Dark, who had existed long before
the nature of the unearthly beings, a more accurate
our universe was born and will likely exist long
after it ends. description would be  entropic entity. Demons
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seek to extinguish the light which banished them An unknown number are bound, caught
from the universe, and so restore things to how between their realm and ours when the black
they were before time began. hole snapped shut. Of these, many were under-
lings in the entropic chain of command, but a few
It is important to note that demons are not
were major entities.
personifications of chaos, as some humans have
described them throughout history. Demons can
be exceptionally orderly in their behavior, and
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random acts of violence are more to induce terror
and suffering or confuse enemies than a compul-
In their natural state, which can only occur in
sion to act in a chaotic, unpredictable manner.
their native dimension, demons are totally spir-
itual beings, lacking solid form. They are as much
But how did demons appear earlier in man-
a concept as a reality.
kind s history if they are trapped beyond the black
hole? In truth, the black hole at Salus is not the
However, in the physical universe they take
only route out of the hellish dimension. Indeed,
material form. Why this should be is, of course,
its link to that hellish place was an accident, a
unknown, for no scholars have been able to study
quirk of cosmic fate, if you will.
one. It is likely that it is simply the laws of the
Through the use of what has generally been universe at work to enter the realm of creation,
labeled magic, in truth a form of science capable of one must be physical.
manipulating the very fabric of universe, ancient
In the same way that Biblical cherubs are not
man could summon forth demons by reaching
chubby, winged babies, demons are not pitch-
into the Dark Dimension and creating links to
fork-wielding, cloven-hoofed creatures with little
the material universe. Without understanding
horns on their heads.
quantum physics, mages managed to draw a hole
Their forms are indeed legion, for there is no
through a thread, so to speak.
standard to which demons set their form. As serv-
ants of entropy, most are horrifying in appearance,
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and some are malleable, twisting and altering
form either at will or to some unseen, unknow-
Initial reports regarding the Rephaim referred
able pattern.
to  demons, but these were erroneous. True
demons, as opposed to the Rephaim, are rarer
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than hen s teeth on Salus, though they do exist.
A mere handful escaped the black hole during
As demons begin to make their presence felt,
the Rephaim migration, and of those who reached
so the Church begins to classify them. Sightings,
Salus many were destroyed when they made their
photographs, and descriptions of power are
presence felt too early.
recorded in the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum
The majority of those remaining are in hiding,
( False Monarchy of Demons ), a sort of A to Z
awaiting a signal from the Dark to begin their reign
of the unholy.
of terror. A very small few have been ordered to
Unfortunately, demons, like man do not follow
act already, preparing the way for the next part of
simple conventions when it comes to recording
the Dark s plans for the universe. Whether or not
them. A human, for instance, can be described
the Rephaim figure in the Dark s ultimate ambi-
many ways. At one end there is man and woman,
tions remains to be seen.
two distinct physical forms.
The Rephaim are useful servants of entropy, but
But begin delving beneath the surface of these
their powers, while frightening, are naught com-
simple forms and one can be categorized by first
pared to those of the most powerful demons.
or familial name, hair, eye, or skin color, handed-
One must also dwell on numbers. The
ness, shoe and clothing sizes, height and weight,
Rephaim, while capable of reproducing near-
or even by one s profession.
mindless minions, depend on humanity to make
The Church, needing a solution if it was to
up their numbers. Demons, on the other hand,
exist in quantities simply to terrible to consider. provide any sort of useful record, decided to
They inhabited the universe before time began codify demons based on uniqueness, apparent
and have had over 12 billion years to reproduce. purpose, and major abilities.
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First, demons are recorded by apparent rank. As individuals, they should also have suitable
This doesn t refer to any known demonic hier- Hindrances to represent their personalities and
archy, so the term is based more on where the goals.
Church believes a demon should rank. These are
simply labeled Ordo Primus, Ordo Secundus,
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Ordo Tertius, and Ordo Quartus, or First, Second,
Second Tier demons are also unique Wild
Third, and Fourth Tier.
Cards, though they are weaker then their First Tier
Those in the Ordo Primus are the most power-
cousins. Generally, each of these fiends should
ful and seem to be unique individuals, while those
pose a threat to a Lance of Seasoned Knights.
in the Ordo Quartus are the weakest and specific
Attributes and skills should be in the d10 range
types of demon appear relatively uniform.
for their best traits (though again, Strength may
Within these broad categories demons are
be higher) and a d8 for lesser ones.
grouped by purpose (Propositum). Thus, demons
Edges and Special Abilities should fall between
which appear to be common footsoldiers are all
6 and 15, and again they should have a few Hin-
labeled under the general purpose of Militis Dae-
drances.
monum ( Soldier Demons ).
Further categories then break down the unholy
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hoard into specific abilities (Vires), such as being
able to teleport or move at superhuman speeds. These demons are Extras, albeit tough ones.
Like those above, traits should be a d8 or d10,
though the loss of the Wild Die means they are
not on equal footing just because they have simi-
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lar trait dice.
Edges and Special Abilities should range
No specific stats are given for demons in this
between 3 and 10. Typically, those who command
download. As mentioned above, their forms and
other demons or who have specific roles should
powers are legion. As such, the WM has free reign
be at the higher end, while tougher  goons are
to create whatever demonic forms with whatever
at the lower end.
powers he desires.
A few basic guidelines are given below, but
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these should not be treated as being written in
stone they are simply a rough indication.
The lowest tier of demons are the cannon-
fodder of the unholy armies.
Of course, not all demons fit neatly into these
categories. A powerful demon Wild Card might
These lowly Extras should be fairly weak in
only have a few Edges and Special Abilities. How
terms of attributes and skill, with a d8 as their
it uses them, and whether the GM wants it to be
absolute highest but typically using a d6.
an individual, has just as much bearing on its
Edges and Special Abilities should amount to
rank as the quantity of powers.
only 2 to 5 combined, with most having a maxi-
mum of 3 at their disposal.
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These are the demonic  princes, the most
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powerful members of their species. Each of these
fiends should pose a threat to a Lance of Veteran
All demons have one Special Ability in common,
Knights.
representing their unusual nature.
All are Wild Cards.
" +2 Toughness
Regardless of physical form or attributes (which
" +2 to recover from being Shaken
should typically be d10 or d12, though Strength
" Called shots do no extra damage (unless a
can be much higher).
demon is given a specific Weakness)
All should have around 15 20 Edges and Spe-
" Immune to poison and disease
cial Abilities (combined), including the use of
magic. " Wild Cards suffer no wound penalties
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