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[NUKE9.13]

Chiaroscuro Arms Race
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.
-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: The diabolical leader of your faction, a being of immense power. There is very little they cannot do. Needless to say, they are Unique. Their Power is currently 20.

Mundane Units:
Armed Cultists: Being equipped with only a rusty dagger, a 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. 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. Uncommon

Acolytes: Cultists who have begun their exploration of the magical arts, studying under the Demon. 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. There are not many Acolytes in a unit. Uncommon

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 Magic/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


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, as baseline cultists are not expert missionaries, but it keeps the cult growing.

[TricMagic]

How does it go.. Ah yes, Evil always finds a Way.

High-Effort Project: Summon- Minions Brown/Green/Blue/Red

Pure little balls of Pure Evil formed from Life Energy, about the height of an average mans leg, and very numerous. Also very stupid, but they have a weird tendency to become skilled depending on what they are wearing. Wearing a knights helmet on top of their head to go with the sword, and they gain the ability you'd expect. And so on. The possibilities these creatures have is limitless. Kinda like their numbers.

Other than that, there are a few types. Brown are durable ans strong little balls of Evil Energy, perfect for fulling Evil spells, as well as being able to learn a skill near instantly by wearing the original skill user's clothes after killing them. Greens can turn invisible, are sneaky, and have an Evil and deadly poison, corrupting those struck by them, and a lot of needles on there back to go with their talons and spindly form. Blues can draw on raw Evil to Revive dead Minions, and not drown in water by being immune to drowning. And Reds are not only immune to all forms of fire and heat, but very good at throwing fireballs and setting things on fire. Cause we all love a good fire.

Minions like Looting, Killing, Fire, Killing, Explosions, Killing, Looting, and Killing. Most of this tends to go into each other, but they see death as just a small nap, as they're be back in a bit. they almost never get any smarter though, and tend to charge right back into what killed them without people to direct them at valid targets. They do at least follow orders absolutely though, since they are too dumb to disobey them.


Because references. We're demons, so we need minions. Also, they are literally meant to be meat shields, that can and will kill with overwhelming numbers.

[NUKE9.13]

Designing a jack-of-all-trades creature with four different variants that are functionally immortal on turn zero... might be a bit tricky.

[dgr11897]

Ritual of demolition
This magical ritual utilizes an emplaced circle to focus evil magic into an object, to corrupt it into a containment vessel for said magic. This turns the object it is used on into a bomb of sorts, when broken it will release all the stored magic at once in an omnidirectional explosion whose power is based on how much magic was stored in a given object. Different materials can hold more or less magic, with rarer and more valuable things like gemstones or precious metals able to hold the most. This spell can be performed repeatedly on an object as long as it isn't entirely filled with magic. This allows our less strong magic users to slowly but steadily build up large amounts of power.

[NUKE9.13]

Ritual of demolition.
This magical ritual utilizes an emplaced circle to focus evil magic into an object, to corrupt it into a containment vessel for said magic. This turns the object it is used on into a bomb of sorts, when broken it will release all the stored magic at once in an omnidirectional explosion whose power is based on how much magic was stored in a given object. Different materials can hold more or less magic, with rarer and more valuable things like gemstones or precious metals able to hold the most. This spell can be performed repeatedly on an object as long as it isn't entirely filled with magic. This allows our less strong magic users to slowly but steadily build up large amounts of power.

This would be viable, and not that hard. It isn't doing anything complicated, just compressing Evil. I'd say this would be an Easy design.

[TricMagic]

Summon: Minions- Brown

Pure little balls of Pure Evil formed from Life Energy, about the height of an average mans leg, and very numerous. Also very stupid, but they have a weird tendency to become skilled depending on what they are wearing. Wearing a knights helmet on top of their head to go with the sword, and they gain the ability you'd expect. And so on with clothes they've pilfered off their enemies corpses and from dressers. The possibilities these creatures have is limitless.

The first minion we create, are the brown minions. They've been mixed with some earth magic, making them extremely hardy, durable, and strong, matching most trained humans. They are as dumb as a bag of rocks though. They are Pure Evil though, and will follow our commands completely, so they can and will get the job done. Just don't expect them to be any good at thing that don't involve killing, murder, and fire/explosions. And Looting, Minions love Loot.


Will just make it so our future spellcasters can use them later.

[NUKE9.13]

Summon: Minions- Brown

Pure little balls of Pure Evil formed from Life Energy, about the height of an average mans leg, and very numerous. Also very stupid, but they have a weird tendency to become skilled depending on what they are wearing. Wearing a knights helmet on top of their head to go with the sword, and they gain the ability you'd expect. And so on with clothes they've pilfered off their enemies corpses and from dressers. The possibilities these creatures have is limitless.

The first minion we create, are the brown minions. They've been mixed with some earth magic, making them extremely hardy, durable, and strong, matching most trained humans. They are as dumb as a bag of rocks though. They are Pure Evil though, and will follow our commands completely, so they can and will get the job done. Just don't expect them to be any good at thing that don't involve killing, murder, and fire/explosions. And Looting, Minions love Loot.

As these minions are made of Pure Evil, they can also be used to fuel spells, with Common Spells being capable of being supercharged, and Rare Spells being able to be done with a sufficient number of Minions. As well as more Uncommon Spells. There may be mishaps however, depending on what the composition of the minion used is. Brown Minions have an affinity to Earth and Explosions. But then most Minions have an affinity toward explosions.

While not as difficult as the four-varieties version, this would still be tricky. Summoning a small critter of pure Evil is fairly simple (Normal), but the ability to absorb skills from fallen enemies would up the difficulty (Hard). Adding the ability to be used to supercharge spells would make the final level Very Hard.

E: The edited version would be Hard, yes.

[TricMagic]

Evil's Forge

A massive Forge workspace made by the Demon themselves, this forge has pure Evil seeping into every pore of weapons forged in it. the heat, the water, the air, it is all tinged with Evil. And weapons made in it will be far more effective at taking down Good-aligned forces. It will also help with producing new weapons, and getting a foothold on Evil Weapon production.

As it was made by hand to channel Pure Evil into weapons, it is Unique. All weapons made in it are tinged with Evil already, though proper work will need to be put into making true weapons of EVIL.

[Doomblade187]

The Subtle Pull

The arc of the world tends towards chaos - every demon knows this, works towards this. By taking the corruption of demonic magic and infusing it into people and magic, we turn angelic shields against them, healing magic into pain and death, a calming word into rage. It is meant to be cast by our Mages, by incantation and/or infused ritual circles. It only affects one target - a spell or a being.

[Jerick]

Demon Spell: Intrusive Possession
The caster enters the body of the target and forcibly gains control of it. This requires the subject to be subjected to a ritual involving a circle of profane symbols drawn around them in blood and the subject must be awake and aware as the spell is cast in order to fully usurp control. Strong willed individuals can force the caster out if they can beat the caster in a battle of wills. However as long as the caster remains in control they have access to all the hosts memories and abilities (though they cannot use any abilities or magics of their own until they leave the host). While possessing a host they are difficult to detect.

[dgr11897]

Telekineser
A simple, but invisible mutation to the human body, the Telekineser has had their brain infused with and enhanced by magic, granting them a measure of telekinetic ability. Lift knives, bend spoons, cause brain aneurisms in some targets, the possibilities are limitless. It does have some limitations though, namely it has limited range, and while subtler than most spells, their abilities can be detected by skilled magic users.

[NUKE9.13]

High-Effort Project: Evil's Forge

A massive Forge workspace made by the Demon themselves, this forge has pure Evil seeping into every pore of weapons forged in it. the heat, the water, the air, it is all tinged with Evil. And weapons made in it will be far more effective at taking down Good-aligned forces. It will also help with producing new weapons, and getting a foothold on Evil Weapon production.

As it was made by hand to channel Pure Evil into weapons, it is Unique. All weapons made in it are tinged with Evil already, though proper work will need to be put into making true weapons of EVIL.

Assuming that by massive you mean, like, large-building sized, and not large-factory sized, this would be Normal. Infusing weapons with small amounts of Evil wouldn't require much work, nor would setting up forging operations.

The Subtle Pull

The arc of the world tends towards chaos - every demon knows this, works towards this. By taking the corruption of demonic magic and infusing it into people and magic, we turn angelic shields against them, healing magic into pain and death, a calming word into rage. It is meant to be cast by our Mages, by incantation and/or infused ritual circles. It only affects one target - a spell or a being.

So, this would be surprisingly tricky. See, Demonic magic and Angelic magic are polar opposites. If you were dealing with Mortal magic, no problem. But subverting Angelic magic is much more challenging. Still doable, though. Stipulating that Acolytes can cast it (requiring it to be Common) would perforce reduce the efficacy somewhat, although being concentrated into a single target would mitigate that. I'd say on the upper end of Hard.

Demon Spell: Intrusive Possession
The caster enters the body of the target and forcibly gains control of it. This requires the subject to be subjected to a ritual involving a circle of profane symbols drawn around them in blood and the subject must be awake and aware as the spell is cast in order to fully usurp control. Strong willed individuals can force the caster out if they can beat the caster in a battle of wills. However as long as the caster remains in control they have access to all the hosts memories and abilities (though they cannot use any abilities or magics of their own until they leave the host). While possessing a host they are difficult to detect.

I assume this is meant to be unavailable to mortal casters, only usable by the Demon (or Lesser Demons). In which case, it would be fairly simple. The use of a prepared casting environment makes things easier. The only challenging part would be not causing adverse effects in the subject, what with a vast quantity of Evil residing within them. Likely you'd see random mutations popping up after a few days, even with a decent roll. It would be Easy.

Telekineser
A simple, but invisible mutation to the human body, the Telekineser has had their brain infused with and enhanced by magic, granting them a measure of telekinetic ability. Lift knives, bend spoons, cause brain aneurisms, the possibilities are limitless. It does have some limitations though, namely it has limited range, and while subtler than most spells, their abilities can be detected by skilled magic users.

Easy up to the brain aneurysm point- every human has some level of defence against mental/magic assault, which would include telekinesis in this case. Having the ability to overpower those defences to instantly kill someone (even at limited range) would raise the difficulty to Normal, and hike up the rarity as well.

[TricMagic]

id remove the High tag from it. And yeah, about the size of a large building, though obviously multiple stations to forge.

[Rockeater]

Will read later

[Xantalos]

Just gonna PTW here...