Daemon

Daemon

(Creature)

Daemon

Fiend

Unholy

Level

Varies

Adjective

Daemonic

Images of daemons

Source: Monster Core, pg(s). 72–75

Daemons had the

NE

trait in Bestiary 70–73.

Type

Outsider
(daemon, evil, extraplanar)

CR

Varies

Environment

Abaddon

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Adjective

Daemonic

Images of daemons

Source: Book of the Damned, pg(s). 276–279

Ⅰ

Ⅱ

Daemons (pronounced DAY-mons) are a young fiendish race whose existence is tied in with the existence of the mortals they prey upon. Their insidious evil is not influenced by notions of law and chaos, as daemons concern themselves only with the destruction of life itself.

Daemons seek this destruction as it allows them to feast on mortal souls, which is the focus of their existence. They are creatures of the apocalypse and seek the utter destruction of all things, to plunge the Great Beyond into absolute oblivion. The daemons make their home on the plane of Abaddon, thought to be one of the most hostile planes of the multiverse.

History

At the dawn of mortal life, Abaddon started off empty, and remained so even as the first souls died and were judged by Pharasma. This changed with the first cataclysms in the Universe: the influx of souls leaving behind the mortal coil overflew the River of Souls and washed on Abaddon, never reaching the Boneyard. A single such soul was filled with such hatred, rage, and self-loathing than all others combined, coalesced into the first daemon and devoured otherwise evil souls to gain power. He began to twist Abaddon into something as evil as himself, and when he called fellow evil souls to him, they were unable to resist; most were eaten, while some became the first daemons. As the daemons diversified in form and grew in number, the Bound Prince created the first Apocalypse Riders as his chosen servants.

The daemons continued to consume the souls that washed up on Abaddon, and the Bound Prince taunted the gods that all souls that came to Abaddon would be devoured. Pharasma listened, and created the Devouring Court within the Boneyard, where she sent the souls damned to Abaddon, delivering them to the Riders. As the Riders saw their leader creating the astradaemons, they interpreted it as a sign of distrust and betrayed him by trapping him in the Ruined Spire and erasing all mentions of the Bound Prince from the records.

Daemons were responsible for the genesis of demons, one of the few fiendish races younger than daemons.✝ An ancient, now-forgotten Rider, who was fascinated by the qlippoth of the Outer Rifts and kept many in his realm, had the idea of combining larvae and qlippoth, which eventually culminated in the creation of the first demon. This first transformation from mortal soul to demon was felt and copied by the Outer Rifts, and millions of larvae became demons in an instant. The demons immediately conquered the Outer Rifts from the qlippoth and invaded Abaddon itself. Although it took a long time, the daemons drove the demons away and fully reclaimed their home.

The Apocalypse Riders

The leaders and greatest of all the daemons are the Apocalypse Riders, also known as the Daemons of the Apocalypse, or archdaemons. They are Apollyon, Rider of Pestilence; Charon, Rider of Death; Szuriel, the weeping angel and Rider of War; and Trelmarixian, the black Rider of Famine. Each is served by a race of daemons known as deacons who promote their interests on Abaddon and beyond.

Harbingers

Among the countless legions of daemons, a few are able to distinguish themselves and rise in power above even the deacons of the Riders. Most are subservient to one of the archdaemons, although they are also their greatest competitors. These individuals are collectively known as harbingers, and they maintain small cults on Abaddon and elsewhere, granting power to their worshipers.

Ecology

Daemons form from the souls of evil mortals who die as nihilists or in an unusually violent or gruesome way, and personify the most terrible ways to die. They also have a unending hunger for all life. While most never consider such things, a minority of daemons recognize that they are living creatures and their existence is tied to mortals, and from this paradox conclude that life itself as a curse and welcome the extinguishing of all life.

While daemons tempt many mortals into the path of nihilistic evil so that they become daemons after death, they also have a driving supernatural gluttony for mortal souls and use many means, such as cacodaemons' ability to make soul gems, to capture them. In Abaddon and other such places, daemons are the leading consumers, merchants, and abusers of the soul market, where they acquire them as a delicacy, for trade, and to empower magic. Both celestials and psychopomps consider such illicit markets to be vile.

When mortals summon and use daemons for their own purposes, daemons often try to spread fear, doubt, and despair, and also misrepresent it as the work of different types of fiends in order to increase fear and bait less effective countermeasures within the confusion. Educated mortals call daemons "riders", stemming from the Apocalypse Riders, or "soul mongers" based on their soul gem industry.

On Golarion

Daemons are particularly prevalent in the vast Meraz Desert of Qadira, where they are drawn to the ruins of the Sunbleached Tower like moths to a flame.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.