Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[NUKE9.13]

Chiaroscuro 2
Demonic Team Thread
Core Thread Link
Discord Link

PS: All updates have "TURNTURNTURN" in them, so you can search that to pull them all up.

The world is a wicked place. Malicious acts take place every second of every day, every one making the world a little darker. In fact, every evil deed creates a small amount of Evil (the tangible magical element). Ordinarily, Evil simply suffuses the world, providing all with a measure of subconscious discomfort. At times, however, the swirling currents of Evil spiral inwards on one location, forming a cluster. Brought together by the unspoken twisted thoughts that lurk in mortal minds, a consciousness emerges, and draws more Evil towards itself. A being that radiates disharmony and malice, the newly formed Demon is charged by his very nature with the mission to corrupt the minds of mortals, and to destroy Good.
Such is the seductive charm of a Demon, that those who see him fall to their knees with a mixture of fear and greed, and readily swear an undying loyalty to his cause. Within weeks, his following has swelled, the area of his birth firmly under his command, and any righteous souls consumed as fuel for his reign of terror. Now is the time to strike against his nemesis; the sanctimonious Angel who has taken form in distant lands, whose mere existence is the cause of constant irritation. His followers are ready, his powers primed; all that remains is to actually develop the means of defeating the 'righteous' rabble.


Welcome to the Demonic Team Thread. If you are a member of the Angelic Team, or are undecided about which team to join, turn back now (there's a link to the Core Thread above).

If you have familiarised yourself with the basic rules, and have decided to join the Demonic Team, then welcome aboard. No need for formalities, feel free to get started.

There will be one preliminary turn- that is, a turn without a combat phase. During this turn, you must make several decisions about what manner of Demon your team controls:

-Name: Demons tend to have harsh, sharp names, with an eldritch feel. Merely hearing the name pronounced can elicit feelings of terror in people, and may also render them insane.   
-Appearance: A Demon's true form is hideously disconcerting to the human eye, so it fills in an approximation. This can be anything: a shadowy mass of tentacles, an amalgamation of crystalline shapes, a black orb burning with unholy fire- go nuts. Note that a Demon can shapeshift fairly freely, this is just his default form.
-Base Location: Where did your journey begin? Describe the environment that your base is situated in. This will have slight mechanical effects, although don't bother trying something like "At the peak of a mountain, accessible only by a narrow, winding path"- I will forcefully balance things if necessary; you can have a base at the peak of a mountain, but it will not be strictly better than one situated in open fields (though it may influence what tactics work better).

You have until the end of this turn to decide on these things.

Right now, it is the Design Phase. You have two designs (or one High-Effort design). They will be rolled simultaneously.

Spoiler: Equipment (click to show/hide)

Demon (Choosing a name will be one of the first choices in the game): The diabolical leader of your faction, a being of immense power. There is very little they cannot do. Needless to say, they are Unique.

Mundane Units:
Cultist Spears: Being equipped with only a rusty dagger, a makeshift spear, and a wooden shield, combined with their lack of training, mean these are not elite warriors- they'd lose a one-on-one fight with a real soldier-, but they're cheap and plentiful. Like regular cultists, their dedication makes them more resilient mentally than civilians. Unit Size: ~50 Common

Cultist Archers: Cultists who have some experience with a bow are valuable assets in combat, harassing the enemy from a distance. They aren't sharpshooters, and their bows are designed for hunting, not piercing armour, but they're better than nothing. Like regular cultists, their dedication makes them more resilient mentally than civilians. Unit Size: ~25 Common

Acolytes: Cultists who have begun their exploration of the magical arts, studying under their demonic patron. They can cast any Common spells (unless noted otherwise). Their physical strength leaves something to be desired, but their mental fortitude is even greater than regular cultists. Unit Size: ~25 Uncommon

Cultist Missionaries: Cultists with a modicum of charisma and subtlety, sent forth as emissaries of their eldritch master. Unarmed and untrained, they serve no role in combat. Unit Size: ~10 Common

Summoned/Mutated Units:
You don't start with anything in this category. Feel free to ask whether a proposal is viable, at least until you have a grasp of difficulty.


Spells/Rituals:
Magic Missile: Known by many names, the simple technique of blasting your opponent with raw Mana/Good/Evil is a tried and true method of making things go away. Efficacy increases with caster's mental might, and decreases with the target's. Common

Novice Ward: A very simple magic barrier that will reduce the impact of attacks both mundane and mystical. Won't last long, but can be useful in a pinch. Common


Infiltration Techniques:
Proselytise: Cultists go forth and spread the Evil word, finding those sympathetic to their cause and slowly winning them over. Not the fastest way of gaining converts, but it keeps the cult growing. Common

[evictedSaint]

I hereby declare my support for this team.

[Rockeater]

Here

Also, what you think about runs that can cast a spell embedded in them by either someone proficient in magic or some sort of trigger like a trap

[chubby2man]

Joining the bad guys this round.

[Knightwing64]

DEMONS 4 EVER

KILL ALL 😇

[Man of Paper]

The Abyssal Jelly is a large blob of viscous, luminous, sticky fluid contained within a thin, tough, and flexible membrane. The swirling greens, greys, and golds within The Abyssal Jelly can be borderline hypnotic, and if one stares long enough they begin to see the distorted and pained faces of those the Jelly has consumed or converted. The Abyssal Jelly likes a more hands-analog-on approach than a lot of its peers, preferring to indoctrinate its worshipers by probing through the ears, mouth, and nose and leaving a smear of itself on the convert's brain.

The Abyssal Jelly set up shop at the bottom of the massive crater that signaled their entrance into this world. The crater itself digs deep into hard stone, and the surrounding area is covered by very loose earth blown out of the crater.

The Watcher is a singular massive obsidian spire jutting defiantly out of the earth. This black glass tower that pierces the clouds is in all actuality a demonic entity wishing to bring all under its watchful eye. While limited in its own mobility, pieces of The Observer can crumble off and act as an extension of The Observer itself. The Observer's shards can take many shapes, but all are made of cubic geometry (literally think cubist art - what kind of nerd makes references to art styles).

The Watcher is centered on a circular island of red clay and sand deserts ringed by white sand beaches. If somehow one other than The Observer could see it from above,the island would resemble a red eye.

Screams Into The Void is the collection of the final screams of lives taken by violent and gruesome means. It manifests itself as a rip in the fabric of the realm itself, and those who gaze into the Void must make a will save feel a deepening sense of anxiety as they stare into an inky black infinite space.

Screams Into The Void bases its cult in The City of the Dead, a massive swathe of land covered in graves, tombs, mausoleums, and chapels used by empires long-forgotten. The entire region is constantly overcast and experiences almost daily light rain or snow. Screams Into The Void can be heard echoing throughout The City of the Dead.

[Twinwolf]

The Council of Five is a single malevolent entity stitched together from five distinct personalities, taking a variety of forms depending on the situation; their preferred form is a circle of five inhumanly tall figures in concealing robes, and looking beneath shows only darkness. They whisper to foolish mortals of untold power that could be theirs, if only they help bring the Council to dominance. In battle, the Council may split up to influence several parts of the fight with spellcasting and tactics, or merge into a single many-headed beast to smash their way through the enemy lines directly.

The Council makes their abode in a network of rocky plateaus laced with a massive number of tunnels and drawing water from an underground reservoir. The tunnels in the plateau are varied and innumerable, some being large enough to build structures inside while some are small enough that barely two people can walk abreast. The plateaus are connected by dozens of bridges and some underground tunnels.

Rumor has it that the Oldest Blade was the first tool ever built in this age with murder in mind. The Oldest Blade is a sword colored rusty red with dried blood, used in milennia of murder. Drowned in Evil intent for millenia since it's creation, the Oldest Blade eventually became a demon (or played host to one; the mythology is unclear). It was sealed away so that it's Evil might never taint the world again, but as with any powerful weapon or treasure, there's always some fool looking to strike rich. An explorer discovered it, and when they laid a hand on it were overcome by the Demon within, providing it a new host. Even if this host is killed, the Oldest Blade will find itself in the hands of a new person soon enough, and grant them the full power of a Demon anew.

The Oldest Blade was found in a massive, almost city-cized temple complex that now plays host to it's cult. Ancient edifices crumbling as the stone itself becomes laced with Evil from it's long period housing the Blade, gardens and courtyards now hold the tents and workshops of the army of Evil while ancient shrines become altars for dark rituals.

[chubby2man]

Nar-Carok, the Death of Suns

Nar-Carok, a demon of ruin and blasphemy. Perverter of life and light, sunlight is swallowed by a dark aura conceals his true, incomprehensible form. But the glimpses do enough to fuel the nightmares of men. Orbs of dark fire dance where eyes should be, teeth glitter in a devouring maw. His flesh is ruined, burned by fires hotter than any produced by mankind, scorched and oozing corruption. His voice is poison to the ear, the promise of a destructive depravity.
 
Above his form rests his crown spun forth from a dying sun, a twisting filament of living star-stuff, turned black with corruption.
 
Those who worship Nar-Carok know they are damned, have recognized the corruption in their very souls. They know the Light condemns them, but they rebuke it, reveling in their power and independence. For they worship a fallen noblity and power, the death of those that condemn them. Even the disregard of their master effects them little. Each sees themselves as an inheritor of the Demon’s power, once they prove their mettle. For theirs is a ruinous pride, that of the cultists of Nar-Carok, a pride that would see the very sun and all that is holy broken at their feet.

[Twinwolf]

Design: Hellghoul

Lesser demons can be brought into this world directly by Us, of course. The nastiest denizens of Our hellish home are always eager to make a mess of the mortal realm. But why go through the effort of bringing them directly into this world, when it's so much easier to stuff them into a pre-prepared vessel? Even Our pathetic cultists can arrange corpses, after all.

The Hellghoul is a lesser demon brought forth to reanimate corpses of the dead; human bodies twist and mangle and occasionally merge to accomodate the fickle soul of the new hellspawn. Most of those who come to this world so easily are ambitious, yet simple, making of their new bodies hulking brutes. Wielding huge clubs befitting their size and strength, the Hellghouls wade into the fray without a care for injury; after all, this isn't their body, so they feel no pain as they sweep the enemy from the field.

Rune of Flame

Runes are a means of delaying the impact of a spell beyond the cast, and this Rune of Flame is as the name suggests - a spell that will make a delayed flame. When cast, the rune embeds itself on the surface targeted by the caster; the caster can then activate the rune when they wish, creating a pillar of flame around the rune. These spells can be cast before the lines meet, allowing the casters to open the battle with a flaming surprise as the soldiers charge towards one another.

[Powder Miner]

(meant to encourage an undead direction potentially and go with Nar-Carok potentially)

Grand tells scatter across the semi-arid hills of the eastern lands, mounds where the ancient corpses of cities lay in a final rest for untold centuries or even millennia, entombed beneath the earth of ages until being forgotten by man and left to simply wait unto eternity. Some of these tells hold the wreckage of the battles of mankind, of the wars that mortal minds are capable of waging, for these ought not to be underestimated. But some of these tells hold an entirely different kind of dead city - the refuse of the great wars of eldritch beings that trample even the greatest of human civilizations underfoot or wing or mouth without a care in the world.

And one of these cities remembers. Millennia ago, the great Eudaimonic Empire ruled over much of the lands of today's world. The Eudaimonic Empire wasn't an inherently evil polity by any means, although as a great center of power and wealth it certainly was a center of politics and greed as opportunity and necessity required. Indeed, the Eudaimonic Empire considered itself as an empire of good spirit and prosperous being. But when the Angel and the Demon of that era came into being, soon they chose their sides - and the government of the Empire found on the side of the Demon. It was not long until it was crushed utterly - and its grand capital sundered.

So the city became one more of the cities doomed to fade away among the tells of the east, if perhaps the biggest, creating a gargantuan mound that dwarfs many others in size. But this city remembered. It did not remember the Eudaimonic Empire, for this city did not have a mind, did not have people - no mortal can live entombed in loam for millennia on end, that is for certain. It did not remember its wealth or its joy. Instead, the entombed city remembered only its hate - hate for the Angel that had destroyed it, hate for the elemental force of Good responsible for its downfall. A small force of Evil remained beneath the soil for hundreds and hundreds and years, a force of nothing but embers of loathing and despair and fury stewing in itself, suffusing the city, of a strength only a newborn demon would care about... and at the right time, in the right place, erosion of the tell began to reveal the city to one.

The Buried Capital is a grand city of the dead indeed, with everything from small square huts of mud or stone bricks, to grand steeples and domes that reveal the architectural genius and prosperity of a civilization long past - or, anyway, it would be, if not for the fact that most of it is still entombed in a mound. Excavations continue as the cult attempts to gain access to more of the city, but the Buried Capital actually consists of ruined buildings ranging from fully excavated to sticking halfway out of the ground to just peeking out of the soil, with the terrain uneven from ongoing excavation projects of particular buildings. Some cultists live among the capital, but some villages also exist around the tell, as they have since long before the cultists arrived.

[Knightwing64]

Nar-Carok, the Death of Suns

Nar-Carok, a demon of ruin and blasphemy. Perverter of life and light, sunlight is swallowed by a dark aura conceals his true, incomprehensible form. But the glimpses do enough to fuel the nightmares of men. Orbs of dark fire dance where eyes should be, teeth glitter in a devouring maw. His flesh is ruined, burned by fires hotter than any produced by mankind, scorched and oozing corruption. His voice is poison to the ear, the promise of a destructive depravity.
 
Above his form rests his crown spun forth from a dying sun, a twisting filament of living star-stuff, turned black with corruption.
 
Those who worship Nar-Carok know they are damned, have recognized the corruption in their very souls. They know the Light condemns them, but they rebuke it, reveling in their power and independence. For they worship a fallen noblity and power, the death of those that condemn them. Even the disregard of their master effects them little. Each sees themselves as an inheritor of the Demon’s power, once they prove their mettle. For theirs is a ruinous pride, that of the cultists of Nar-Carok, a pride that would see the very sun and all that is holy broken at their feet.

+1

[chubby2man]

Each creature in a 20-foot radius Sphere centered on that point must make a Dexterity saving…

Channeling dark magics, a spell caster can summon forth and cast a Dark Fireball. Upon reaching its destination it causes a large explosion of fire. This flame is mostly similar to normal fire, but tends to burn better on living flesh (and accordingly less so on “deader” things).

[Rockeater]

Well, Runes were suggested, but I will have my take.

Runic casting

As fun and educating it is to have your spell hit someone and melt their skin or whatever, sometimes it's better to not be in the area of the spell when activating, by putting a rune on a surface or item a magic user can have the spell cast from a far by either invoking it or a trigger determined in the creation of the rune

[Knightwing64]

What about a charm spell? Something called like dark seduction that our acolytes can use to very heavily increase recruitment rate?

[Man of Paper]

The Gluttonous represent the lowest rung of an undead society: those who are permanently kept in a state just before death. The Gluttonous are mortals tainted by The Death of Suns and, being deemed unworthy of the gift of unlife, are instead cursed to an insatiable, withering hunger. This gnawing hunger breaks the mortals as their bodies weaken, resulting in The Gluttonous barely being able to shamble themselves forward. They desire food in the form of warm meat and death, and gladly seek both. The Gluttonous represent the current base of the cult's army, being extremely numerous and requiring incredibly low to no actual upkeep but are also a very imprecise and unintelligent tool.

Flavor for a zombie horde as our main unit. Instead of being brainless they just want to die so still probably won't mind being used as a tar pit.

Everybody knows those with wealth tend to have an unparalleled amount of political influence, and none are in control of more wealth than the banks. A number of vampires have come together to utilize their unlife as a means to identify, track, manipulate, and capitalize on various markets from the shadows. Their secret network of banks, the Blood Banks, are made to be some of the most secure locations available to store the wealth and secrets of even the most prestigious of mortals.

The Blood Banks make some money from secure storage of wealth, but their real income comes from extremely predatory loans of gold with incredibly steep interest rates targeting middle and lower class mortals. Material possessions can be used as collateral and are auctioned off for additional income once confiscated if the loan recipient fails to make adequate payments negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Vampire bankers.