My setting has a type of monster that takes a role very similar to lichs and vampires and is very strongly inspired by Inspired from Eberron, Abominations from Dragon Age, and Eternal from Spears of the Dawn. They are mortals, like humans or elves, whose souls have been consumed by a demon that now inhabits their bodies. It knows everything the person knew and is strongly influenced by that persons original personalty, but it has all the motivations, priorities, and ideals of the demon, as well as all the memories and knowledge the demon had before. By adding all the persons memories to their own, the demons can then pass reasonably well as a normal mortals, but everyone who knew the persons quickly realizes that they started to act very strangely and different than they used to. Usually a demon snatches a body when an opportunity presents itself or it can get a cultist to provide one (as demons can not take bodies that have not been corrupted by demonic magic), but sometimes sorcerers think it would be a great idea to become a half-demon, gain lots of power, and become immortal. (After the fusion the creature often notes that the result is not quite what the sorcerer had expected, but at that point the sorcerers desires no longer matter.)
What I've been struggling with for years is to find a name for them. Never really had anything good that doesn't make it seem like a total ripoff (even though that's what they are.
)
I've been clicking through a big thesaurus and what about
"anathema"? It means "dedicated" or "offered", with the later implied addition "to evil". In early Christianity it was used to mean excommunication.
Now in my setting there are no Gods, no hell, and no afterlife and no objective Evil. The word "demon" is just a negative term for a type of very old, rarely seen, and usually extremely dangerous spirit. That means many classic terms to describe evil black magicians don't really work. (They are not "damned" or "heretics".) But I think anathema would still work. Once the demon has taken possession of the body, it's interests and goals are those of a demon and sorcerers who did it willingly were after demonic power. The creature is now a danger to all living things that doesn't care about any traditions, customs, or laws and has no desire to integrate into human society. Their allegiance is now to the Underworld and other demons and while there is no supreme god to cast them out, they have cast themselves out. The original spirit of the person is now part of the demon and can never rejoin the ancestor spirit from which all new children of the tribe are born. (Even though memories and personalty are erased, it is believed that strength and couraged are preserved are preserved in the ancestor spirit and make future generations stronger.)
And though most people are unlikely to know the meaning of the term (I had to look it up myself), it's one that most people have heard of and know it has something to do with evil. And even if not, it still sounds ominous and negative.
(Though in this case, the a- is not a prefix meaning "anti".)
What do you think of it? Does it sound good? Is it fitting for a bronze age Sword & Sorcery setting? Not 100% happy with the name myself yet, but names usually get much better once you use them for a while.
Originally Posted by Yora
My setting has a type of monster that takes a role very similar to lichs and vampires and is very strongly inspired by Inspired from Eberron, Abominations from Dragon Age, and Eternal from Spears of the Dawn. They are mortals, like humans or elves, whose souls have been consumed by a demon that now inhabits their bodies. It knows everything the person knew and is strongly influenced by that persons original personalty, but it has all the motivations, priorities, and ideals of the demon, as well as all the memories and knowledge the demon had before. By adding all the persons memories to their own, the demons can then pass reasonably well as a normal mortals, but everyone who knew the persons quickly realizes that they started to act very strangely and different than they used to. Usually a demon snatches a body when an opportunity presents itself or it can get a cultist to provide one (as demons can not take bodies that have not been corrupted by demonic magic), but sometimes sorcerers think it would be a great idea to become a half-demon, gain lots of power, and become immortal. (After the fusion the creature often notes that the result is not quite what the sorcerer had expected, but at that point the sorcerers desires no longer matter.)
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