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The Demons of Arkain

Do the Demons need their own Book?

  • No. The role of the Demon race in Arkain is plain and direct, there's no need for a Book.

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Yes. The part Demons play in Arkain isn't fully explained and there surely are other hidden plots.

    Votes: 12 92.3%

  • Total voters
    13
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Like in the previous thread we will be discussing our theories and share our ideas in a healthy enviroment about the Demons of Arkain.

Let's begin.

Unlike the rest of the races that populate the world, the Demons aren't native to Arkain. Demons are formidable foes in a fight, are able to overpower multiple foes and be more than a challange to the strongest of chapions or heroes. They posses great phisical strength and endurance, a cunning mind and show a ferocity like no other race on Arkain. They originate from the Void that is no longer hospitable and set their sights on dominating Arkain or conquer it for their own. Their first arrival sparked the Voidwar that shook the foundation of Arkain and were nearly successful in conquering the world untill the Empire beat them back and were forced to use artifacts of great power to create an impassable/impenetrable barrier to keep out the denizens of Arkain. Thus the Demons have established a forced domain on Arkain that seems to be tolerated and watched carefuly.
Recently the Demons have begun emerging through the world of Arkain once again, as fierce as ever and set on bringing the lesser races to their knees.

1) What happened to the Void?
It is difficult to see the Void as a lush and fertile world filled with life. Aparently wherever Demons go fire and destruction follow. It is known that the Void is no longer hospitable and that the Demons need to conquer Arkain.
It is possible that the Void isn't a world or a place that simply exists inbetween planes of existence. The Void could be a "space" that the Leader(s) of the Demons are able to expand with each conquered world (like a person expanding the size of his yard by moving the fence line further out), adding the targeted world to the Void until all life is scoured from it and a new one must be added for the Demons to continue as a race.

2) How powerful are the Demons exactly?
It is difficult to say though each time they arrive they bring enough forces to bring a region to its knees.
In a fight, a Demon is rarely alone (unless he/she is powerful or confident enough to stay alone) and is usually accompanied by several other Demons as a personal escort or small strike force. Demons are more than a challange for even the strongest of heroes (such as the mysterious Demon Champion from the cursed swamp that took a small army, Blen Greymoore, General Bloodclaw and a Wizzard to bring him down; or the Demonic Guardians in the final mission of the First Human Book that were capable of killing a few heroes).
They are able to arrive in droves and almost anywhere in an area (although the process of summoning takes time) thanks to the flexibility of their summoning portals, thus turning unprotected areas of a base or city into a severe defensive weakness where a flank attack can spell your doom.
Their "technology" and spells are based on unknown and poorly studied origins, thus granting them a great advantage in defense (strong chaos damage towers) and offense (high HP units with chaos damage and sometimes abilities) as well as being able to poke holes through dimentions (summoning Demons, Demonic Beasts or Infernals from the Void through portals or using their own power).
Demonic relics or items from the Voidwar hold great power as well, some of which is equal to the ones that created the imbassible barrier.

3) Are the Demons potentially immortal?
Its safe to say yes, they have a limmited imortality. As life-span a Demon could potentially be several hundred of years old before even showing the slightest sign of weakness from age; if destroyed they lose all of their acumulated strength and power, suffering a serious rank demonion as they are reborn again in the Void (if memory serves well, I remember from the First Human Book someone mentioning that Demons are always reborn if killed).

4) Are the Demons truly leaderless?
It's safe to say that the Demons are actaully not in the slightest bit leaderless. There's always someone pushing the orders or pulling the strings behind shadows and almost never reveal themselves. But these are just higher ranking Demons in the legions or armies that sometimes have their own agenda set as a priority.
It is possible that the True Leader(s) of the Demons doesn't (don't) exactly care how the job is done. If the Demons are nearly immortal or countless in number, it doesn't matter how long it takes to subvert a world or conquer it since in the end the result is the same and in the favor of the Demons.

5) How deep does the Demon's manipulation of key characters?
We all know that Demons can use manipulation tactics through the use of their abilities, tempting promisses or cunning wit. As a simple example we know that under Aridon's wishes there were several interferences of Demonic nature to direct key characters into desired positions yo furter his plans to restore the "ballance". Even prestigious veterans of the Voidwar from the Empire were secretly executing the will of the Demons and weeding out possible thorns. But how deep does this manipulation truly goes? Could it be possible that the tragedy of Redfist's first family was in fact orchestrated but didn't play out correctly in the end? Could the Emperor himself be a victim of this manipulation that made him question Bloodclaw and send Van Durce after him? Could Bloodclaw himself be a victim to the Demon's orchestration without him knowing?

6) Could the bulk of the Demons' legions be on its way to Arkain?
As we've all experienced Demon foes in the campaign they are formidable on their own, but they aren't backed up by something else that's potentially a game changer (ex.: Airships in the last mission of the First Human Book, though this example is poor since the Airships weren't that powerful I wanted to point out that the Demons could have had such support). Considering the warning given by the mysterious Demon Champion in the cursed swamp there could be something great or someone truly formidable coming to Arkain from the Void to finnish the invasion.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
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Just passing by to correct some of the statements here - no hard feelings, I just feel like getting
this straight.
I encourage discussions like this any way.

On a side note: The Demons WILL get their own campaign, that is pretty much confirmed already. :)

Unlike the rest of the races that populate the world, the Demons aren't native to Arkain.
Actually, they are. The Orcs aren't.

1) What happened to the Void?
The Void isn't the land of the Demons, the Void is the bottomless rift-like border that surrounds the lands of the Demons - the very obstacle you mentioned earlier.
The Demons actually possess lands, everything behind the Void is theirs. It is not like this is their own world, it is part of Arkain like the Kingdoms.

(if memory serves well, I remember from the First Human Book someone mentioning that Demons are always reborn if killed)
Dreadlords are hard to get killed permanently, other Demons die just like everyone else.
 
Level 22
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Their first arrival sparked the Voidwar that shook the foundation of Arkain and were nearly successful in conquering the world
I'd say conquering the world seems like a bit of an overstretch. They were very close to conquering the continent of Arkain, but the whole world? Not quite. Especially since there are more than the 3 continents we currently know ( the one the human empire is one, the continent of Arkain and the continent the orcs originated from )

What happened to the Void?
I think the demonic homeland has pretty always been this way. In short story ''Birth of a world'' when the Demon God, the one who created them died, they fell into chaos and fought against each other. Possibly a massive civil war erupted. This would explain why their lands are such a mess.

They are able to arrive in droves and almost anywhere in an area (although the process of summoning takes time) thanks to the flexibility of their summoning portals, thus turning unprotected areas of a base or city into a severe defensive weakness where a flank attack can spell your doom.
Demona aren't exactly summoned, since as Shar said they live on the continent. So the Demon Gate, in my opinion, is more of a teleportation device.
Also yes their portals are indeed deadly, but they take a lot of time and precision to make, so if you scout an area often and make some preparations expecting a possible demonic attack from that area, then the portals will not only be able to be built but their entire plan of surprising you, will end in failure.

Are the Demons truly leaderless?
Leaderless? No. Power hungry and always ready to backstab and betray each other? Definitely.
Example include the Souleater Legion promising to give the Blooddrinker Legion reinforcements, but instead, freely let the undead completely massacre them.
The leader of the Darkblade Legion having many enemies he wants to get rid of and could have sent them to help the Souleater Legion in chapter 14 A, but instead wanted the legion to fail and get completely massacred.

It is possible that the True Leader(s) of the Demons doesn't (don't) exactly care how the job is done.
The demons have never had a single leader since the death of the Demon God. If they had their legion system probably wouldn't exist, at least in the way it's now.

If the Demons are nearly immortal or countless in number, it doesn't matter how long it takes to subvert a world or conquer it since in the end the result is the same and in the favor of the Demons.
I think the demons while possibly having, maybe 10 to 50 times the population of the humans, can't let entire legions be fully massacred. They may have a fast repopulation rate, but at some point their backstabbing will result in their downfall.

How deep does the Demon's manipulation of key characters?
I'd say the current characters are pretty free of demonic influence.

Could it be possible that the tragedy of Redfist's first family was in fact orchestrated but didn't play out correctly in the end?
Maybe. If you think the orcs did it, however, then that theory won't work, since the orcs cannot be manipulated by anyone or anything.

Could the Emperor himself be a victim of this manipulation that made him question Bloodclaw and send Van Durce after him?
I'm not sure if the Dark entity that is currently manipulating the emperor is a demon. Maybe he is, so that's a possibility.

Could Bloodclaw himself be a victim to the Demon's orchestration without him knowing?
Doubt it. If he is, however, then as I mentioned above, the demons aren't doing a good job, since their backstabbing sooner or later will lead to their downfall if they continue.

Could the bulk of the Demons' legions be on its way to Arkain?
Their invasion is currently pretty much dead in its tracks. They lost 2 legions, all the territory they conquered and no one is currently interested in leading another invasion. Of course, that may change, but things right now are looking pretty bad.
 
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So the demons will get their own campaign, I'm damn surprized by this, I thought the changes of that were slim, now looks like Shar DUndred changed his mind, good news for everyone.
 
Level 6
Joined
Oct 25, 2020
Messages
55
Like in the previous thread we will be discussing our theories and share our ideas in a healthy enviroment about the Demons of Arkain.

Let's begin.

Unlike the rest of the races that populate the world, the Demons aren't native to Arkain. Demons are formidable foes in a fight, are able to overpower multiple foes and be more than a challange to the strongest of chapions or heroes. They posses great phisical strength and endurance, a cunning mind and show a ferocity like no other race on Arkain. They originate from the Void that is no longer hospitable and set their sights on dominating Arkain or conquer it for their own. Their first arrival sparked the Voidwar that shook the foundation of Arkain and were nearly successful in conquering the world untill the Empire beat them back and were forced to use artifacts of great power to create an impassable/impenetrable barrier to keep out the denizens of Arkain. Thus the Demons have established a forced domain on Arkain that seems to be tolerated and watched carefuly.
Recently the Demons have begun emerging through the world of Arkain once again, as fierce as ever and set on bringing the lesser races to their knees.

1) What happened to the Void?
It is difficult to see the Void as a lush and fertile world filled with life. Aparently wherever Demons go fire and destruction follow. It is known that the Void is no longer hospitable and that the Demons need to conquer Arkain.
It is possible that the Void isn't a world or a place that simply exists inbetween planes of existence. The Void could be a "space" that the Leader(s) of the Demons are able to expand with each conquered world (like a person expanding the size of his yard by moving the fence line further out), adding the targeted world to the Void until all life is scoured from it and a new one must be added for the Demons to continue as a race.

2) How powerful are the Demons exactly?
It is difficult to say though each time they arrive they bring enough forces to bring a region to its knees.
In a fight, a Demon is rarely alone (unless he/she is powerful or confident enough to stay alone) and is usually accompanied by several other Demons as a personal escort or small strike force. Demons are more than a challange for even the strongest of heroes (such as the mysterious Demon Champion from the cursed swamp that took a small army, Blen Greymoore, General Bloodclaw and a Wizzard to bring him down; or the Demonic Guardians in the final mission of the First Human Book that were capable of killing a few heroes).
They are able to arrive in droves and almost anywhere in an area (although the process of summoning takes time) thanks to the flexibility of their summoning portals, thus turning unprotected areas of a base or city into a severe defensive weakness where a flank attack can spell your doom.
Their "technology" and spells are based on unknown and poorly studied origins, thus granting them a great advantage in defense (strong chaos damage towers) and offense (high HP units with chaos damage and sometimes abilities) as well as being able to poke holes through dimentions (summoning Demons, Demonic Beasts or Infernals from the Void through portals or using their own power).
Demonic relics or items from the Voidwar hold great power as well, some of which is equal to the ones that created the imbassible barrier.

3) Are the Demons potentially immortal?
Its safe to say yes, they have a limmited imortality. As life-span a Demon could potentially be several hundred of years old before even showing the slightest sign of weakness from age; if destroyed they lose all of their acumulated strength and power, suffering a serious rank demonion as they are reborn again in the Void (if memory serves well, I remember from the First Human Book someone mentioning that Demons are always reborn if killed).

4) Are the Demons truly leaderless?
It's safe to say that the Demons are actaully not in the slightest bit leaderless. There's always someone pushing the orders or pulling the strings behind shadows and almost never reveal themselves. But these are just higher ranking Demons in the legions or armies that sometimes have their own agenda set as a priority.
It is possible that the True Leader(s) of the Demons doesn't (don't) exactly care how the job is done. If the Demons are nearly immortal or countless in number, it doesn't matter how long it takes to subvert a world or conquer it since in the end the result is the same and in the favor of the Demons.

5) How deep does the Demon's manipulation of key characters?
We all know that Demons can use manipulation tactics through the use of their abilities, tempting promisses or cunning wit. As a simple example we know that under Aridon's wishes there were several interferences of Demonic nature to direct key characters into desired positions yo furter his plans to restore the "ballance". Even prestigious veterans of the Voidwar from the Empire were secretly executing the will of the Demons and weeding out possible thorns. But how deep does this manipulation truly goes? Could it be possible that the tragedy of Redfist's first family was in fact orchestrated but didn't play out correctly in the end? Could the Emperor himself be a victim of this manipulation that made him question Bloodclaw and send Van Durce after him? Could Bloodclaw himself be a victim to the Demon's orchestration without him knowing?

6) Could the bulk of the Demons' legions be on its way to Arkain?
As we've all experienced Demon foes in the campaign they are formidable on their own, but they aren't backed up by something else that's potentially a game changer (ex.: Airships in the last mission of the First Human Book, though this example is poor since the Airships weren't that powerful I wanted to point out that the Demons could have had such support). Considering the warning given by the mysterious Demon Champion in the cursed swamp there could be something great or someone truly formidable coming to Arkain from the Void to finnish the invasion.
First things first, the Demons were creatures created by the Demon God, to fill his share of repopulating Arkain, completely empty of Arkanians and other ancient races. They were not like Orcs, they are indigenous race in Arkain.

1) The Void was just a barrier erected to prevent the mortal races intruding the Demonic heartland. That was like a giant invisible wall made from a mysterious magic.

2) The Demons were powerful. Having Chaos magic and other types of magic at their disposal made them powerful. Also their mind control skills is also strong.

3) The powerful Demons can use a spell, which they return to the safety of the lands beyond the Void when they were killed, unless certain magic was used to prevent it. One of the example of strong Demons stopped from it was Ornasion. His soul was sealed and his corpse reused to follow his new Master's bidding, while making his hate towards his former race intense. Ordinary Demons was not so lucky, as they can either be reanimated, or burnt to crisp.

4) The Demons follow initially, the Demon God's teachings. They put effort to reattach his pieces in the Demonic heartland. They built Legions, and had leaders on them. Blooddrinker had Ornasion and Lisara, Souleater had Kersidar, Lord Margazar and Ebira, Darkblade has Erganoth, Mindslayer has Vermon.

5) Their skill in manipulation was quite strong. They used trickery and promises to bolster the ranks of their thralls. Just look at the amount the Demon Slaves had, their skills were strong. Also, count many leader falling from their trickery. Larantos, Genethas and Taran Rellanir being a few of them.

6) They are indigenous in Arkain, their land was separated by the Void. They needed few thralls to set up bases behind the lines, they can wreak havoc in their enemies.
The Demon Gates were one of the 2 modes of attacking. The other is just the good old frontal attack in mortal lands via the Gate of Hell.
 
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