Demons

"Match wits with a creature older than time? Match wits with a prince of the dark dominions?"

The Demons were seemingly around a lot longer than other supernatural creatures: the oldest records left by vampires or the recollections of the Returned allow for the civilization of the Demons as having been around for unfathomable years even then. This makes their predicament something of a puzzle, because every Demon is imprisoned in Limbo to a greater degree than any of its other inhabitants. Who or what imprisoned the Demons there is not particularly clear, and individual Demons advance distinct theories when asked. All Demons live forever, and many of them are frightfully old. Many of them claim to have been around during "The Great Banishment" - but in almost all cases this is certainly a lie. It's not even clear where the banishment was from. Some claim that it was the Material World, while others claim that the original Demonic home world was Maya. Still others claim that it was some as yet unnamed world that they cannot return to. What is clear is that Demons have a tremendous difficulty leaving the Dark Reflection: their Potencies are considered four higher for purposes of overcoming the Gauntlet.

Akuma

"I always get what I want because I take it."

The Akuma were never human and this fact cannot easily escape onlookers. Standing about a meter taller than a man, Akuma are also blessed with extra... parts. Rows of teeth, third eyes, sometimes even extra arms or mouths. Many come equipped with extra parts that are not analogous to any found in normal people such as horns, pincers, and tentacles. They come in colors like red and blue rather than the tan and slightly darker tan that humans are familiar with. Even the white ones are white, rather than merely a slightly paler shade of tan. These are the demons you imagine when your imagination has a bottomless budget for costuming.

Akuma need to feed on sapients in order to restore their powers. Left on their own in the Dark Reflection they foist mirror goblins into their maws with wild abandon, but they prefer the flesh of humans. While Akuma do not strictly speaking need to eat, they love doing so and their gluttonous appetites cannot be sated easily or long. Akuma are a huge social problem for mortals and supernaturals alike when they appear in the material world, for they lack subtlety in any of their dealings. Akuma are lazy bullies whose only redeeming feature is that at least their short sighted avarice makes them easy to manipulate by those with sufficient power to not be devoured right off. An Akuma has no driving passions, and is dominated by Master Passions of Rage, Hunger, and Fear.

While it is possible for an Akuma to gain power nonfatally from a victim, their love of livers and poor discipline ensure that this almost never happens. An Akuma cannot turn their Giant Size off. An Akuma's claws, horns, teeth, or whatever constitute a damage 3 weapon (including their monstrous size). Akuma have a nonstandard attribute array because they were never humans. Before their Potency modifier and their constant Giant Size, their attribute ranges are:

S: 6/11 A: 1/5 I: 1/3 L: 1/3 W: 2/7 C: 1/4

An Akuma has an Infernal power source and a Feeding power schedule.

Akuma Starting Powers

Core Discipline: Clout

• Vigor (Basic Clout)
• Clinging (Basic Clout)

Basic Powers

• Command (Basic Authority)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)

Advanced Powers

• Giant Size (Advanced Clout)
• Devastation (Advanced Clout)

Story Inspiration: Where the Wild Things Are, Legend, Urotsukidoji, Aka Oni

Asura

"And for revenge thou hast created this demon. Her domain is darkness - her purpose is wickedness."

The Asura appear as relatively attractive, if distant and cruel humans. As the only type of Demon that is not constitutively required to eat or torture people to death, they are the most likely to have neutral or positive relations with residents of the mortal world. Nevertheless, Asura very rarely behave in any manner that could be even generously described as less than unnecessarily dickish. While they gain no literal sustenance from harming people, they are often pressed into the service of powerful Ifrit to do so and just plain seem to like doing it.

Some Asura have wings that resemble those of swans or bats growing from their backs. The ones that don't have either wheels of fire or tiny clouds appear under their feet when they fly. While technically a Asura was never a human, they are close enough in appearance and capabilities that their attribute ranges before Potency modifiers are human standard.

Asura are superficially similar to Daeva, and it is primarily for this reason that Daeva were often subject to persecution by Covenant forces about 400 years ago. More extensive investigations recognize many key differences. For example, while a Daeva is born as a human luminary and is converted into a Vampire upon death at another's hands, a Asura comes into being by coalescing out of ash in Limbo, already fully grown. Blood flows in the veins of a Daeva only when they have recently fed, while blood does not actually exist inside a Asura at all - when their skin is broken it cracks like porcelain and a fine ash drifts out.

Asura easily insinuate themselves in leadership positions in the mortal world because of their tremendous and magically augmented presence. These qualities are held in no esteem whatsoever in Demonic culture, and mere likability is treated with extreme contempt. Virtually all Asura have been made to swear total vassalage to a more powerful Asura or Ifrit. Domination, whether magical in nature or simple brute force is the currency of Demonic relationships. An Asura's power ritual is a bitter ash-eating affair that leaves their throat parched and their eyes red and raw. Asura suffer from Master Passion: Loneliness, though demonic society is actually so unsympathetic to relationships that few of them actually understand that fact.

Some Asura have enough extra disciplines to put them on a roughly equal footing with starting player characters of other supernatural types. While still being totally inhuman, Asura are by far the most player-friendly of the extra-terrestrials. It is still rather difficult roleplaying, because they were never humans, have no aspirations to ever be humans, and were at no points in their un-Earthly lives ever confused on any of those points. But still, with some work, it can be done.

An Asura has an Infernal power source and a Ritual power schedule.

Asura Starting Powers

Core Discipline: Magnetism

• Attract (Basic Magnetism)
• Repel (Basic Magnetism)

Basic Powers

• Supernatural Senses (Basic Discernment)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Clinging (Basic Clout)

Advanced Powers

• Flight (Clout / Magnetism Devotion)
• Dismissal (Advanced Magnetism)
• Summons (Advanced Magnetism)

Story Inspiration: Succubus, Disgaea, Hellbent

Ifrit

"I don't need you dead, just for you to wish you were."

By far the rarest and most terrifying denizens of Limbo are the Ifrit. They are not especially powerful physically, and indeed they are normally intangible when encountered. But they have incredible mystical powers, almost unmatched amongst supernatural creatures. Not a few of them have taken to passing themselves off as gods when they reach the material world, and yet they have never achieved much status within any of the major earthly syndicates. This is primarily because as a group they do not normally join supernatural syndicates - even the King with Three Shadows counts few Ifrit under his dominion.

An Ifrit can look like anything, and they do. But in their truest form they seem to be hideous humanoids of approximately 2 meters with craggy skin of vivid primary and secondary colors. Their vibrant hues appear like something more at home in a crayon box than a living being.

In order to feed, an Ifrit must be within a meter of someone in wracking agony. They do not have to actually consume any blood or viscera and indeed they generally cannot because they are incorporeal anywhere but the Depths of Limbo. While Ifrit were probably never living mortals, their attributes are normal for their Potency. It's not entirely clear if Ifrit ever were anything before being magical beings, no one knows of any of them coming into being, and the lowest Potency of any Ifrit seems to be 4.

An Ifrit has an Infernal power source and a Feeding power schedule.

Ifrit Starting Powers

Core Powers: Progress of Glass and Trail of Tears

• Distant Reflection (Basic Progress of Glass)
• Deny the Gauntlet (Basic Progress of Glass)
• Curse of Failure (Basic Trail of Tears)
• Pain Drops (Basic Trail of Tears)

Basic Powers

• Aura Perception (Basic Discernment)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Clinging (Basic Clout)
• Learn the Heart's Pain (Basic Names of the Blasphemies)
• Mesmerism (Basic Authority)
• Mask of a Thousand Faces (Basic Veil)

Advanced Powers

• Empty Body (Discernment / Fortitude Devotion)
• Telekinesis (Discernment / Clout Devotion)
• Mirror Pocket (Advanced Progress of Glass)
• Dark Night of the Soul (Advanced Trail of Tears)
• Conditioning (Advanced Authority)

Elder Powers

• The Smoking Mirror (Elder Progress of Glass)
• Object of Envy (Elder Trail of Tears)

Story Inspiration: Wishmaster