Venedaemon
Venedaemons are the daemon race personifying death by magical means.12
Appearance
A venedaemon is an androgynous creature clad in a hooded silken robe. It has claw-tipped tentacles in place of hands, and its segmented legs end in clawed, three-toed, chitinous feet. Its mouth is rounded, its three tongues are long and forked, and its face is constantly covered in a dark veil. Venedaemons stand almost seven feet tall and weigh less than 150 pounds.2
Ecology
Venedaemons typically form from evil souls who were killed by magic, or from cacodaemons who became familiars and consumed their master's soul upon their death; sometimes this consumption triggers a fusion between the cacodaemon and the master's power, transforming it into a more powerful daemon, typically a venedaemon, after weeks or months, with no memories of its previous life. This is one of the main reasons why cacodaemons are so eager to become familiars.2
Venedaemons wield power like sorcerers and thirst for both souls and knowledge; given enough time, they can master their magic and elevate their power. They know that spellbooks contain both the arcane formulae that are the key to unlock their powers, and a wealth of other information that they could sell to other daemons.2
Habitat
In Abaddon, venedaemons often live near the River Styx due to its memory-wiping properties, as many of them yearn for their lost memories in the hope of retrieving their power as a mortal from the dark recesses of their memory.2
Society
Due to their weak individual power, venedaemons typically work together or under more powerful daemons. Due to their innate magic and need for knowledge, venedaemons often serve as scholars and servants under a patron daemon that allows them to study, slowly earning power and influence in the process. As the venedaemons follow their master in its conquests across the planes, they slowly strengthen themselves from their victims' spellbooks, eventually turning on their master and gaining dominion over both dark magic and other daemons. Some venedaemons, who do not wish to submit themselves, prefer to be left alone with their research, occasionally selling their findings to other daemons.2
Venedaemons often form alliances with ceustodaemons, who hold a near-equal and particularly subservient position in Abaddon's hierarchy, and cacodaemons, whom venedaemons often help guide to capture souls and evolve into fellow venedaemons.2
Venedaemons also trade knowledge with mortal spellcasters, or hide their identity to infiltrate Material Plane academies or plunder ruins in search of power.3
References
For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.
- ↑ . “Daemonkind” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 21. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 . “The Soul Reavers” in Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Book of the Damned Volume 3, 60–61. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ . “Chapter 4: Fiendish Bestiary” in Book of the Damned, 224. Paizo Inc., 2017
