作者 主题: 【Bestiary I】恶魔绪论  (阅读 14235 次)

副标题: 于是CE也完成了,好多老熟人

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【Bestiary I】恶魔绪论
« 于: 2013-07-22, 周一 22:50:24 »
恶魔绪论

  和它们守序阵营的同行,九层地狱的魔鬼以腐化和扭曲凡人的价值观并将他们慢慢转化为地狱邪恶的倒影不同,无底深渊的恶魔只为一个理由而存在——毁灭。摧残,吞噬,消灭,恶魔吸引着有着相同品位的凡人灵魂加入它们的行列并时刻准备着湮灭多元宇宙的一切善意和希望。相对来说,凡人的死亡并非恶魔的助力,因为死去的凡人不但无法满足恶魔制造痛苦的嗜好,反而会逃脱人间的苦难获得新的存在形式。恶魔寄生于凡物产生的痛苦而存在,有罪之人则会最终落入地狱成为新一代的恶魔。

  作为妖魔种族中数量最多且最具毁灭性者,恶魔并非贯穿多元宇宙的辽阔深渊最原始的居民。位面间的历史告诉我们,在第一个神祗获得神格,第一个凡间生灵吐出生命之息,甚至是物质世界还没有完全成型时,邪恶而残酷的深渊中就已经有生命存在了。

  这些被学者们称为“始生恶魔”的恐怖深渊居民,现在也被人叫作“古魔”。在它们之后,凡人诞生,有罪者的灵魂纷纷落入地狱,结合了深渊的秽恶本质以及末日荒原的邪魔领主插手,在宿命与进化的催动力下恶魔纷纷涌现。古魔的力量在新出现者面前渐渐衰退,如今它们只能蜗居在无底深渊最为荒凉而恶劣的角落中,看着深渊的新主人恶魔登上统治者的宝座。随着一个恶人的灵魂加入深渊,成群的恶魔将蜂拥而出——邪恶灵魂的力量在深渊的催化下足以生产几百个由此人的罪孽而成形,并受到其根源驱使的恶魔。

  除了混乱之源混沌初海外,无底深渊可能就是多元宇宙中最大(甚至是无穷大)的空间。如此之广阔的生存空间自然也培育了种类极为繁多的恶魔。有一些恶魔大致还可以看出类人的形体而更多的恶魔则近与扭曲的野兽;一部分恶魔在地面上伏行而一部分在水中游动;一些恶魔醉心于潜入和歪曲人类的情感与生活而另一些则只会简单的制造毁灭。虽然恶魔的品种和爱好各不相同,单它们种族的目标是专一的——为所有的生命带来苦痛和折磨。

  尽管如此,从古时就有很多凡人会考虑召唤恶魔的力量为他们服务。有一些人只是简单的追求自我毁灭,其他的召唤者则可能是因为被对力量的贪婪追求所误导。总之直到今天,仍然有人在动用禁忌的法术呼唤恶魔。一些召唤者希望通过恶魔学习古老的知识而另一些则只把它们当作杀手和守卫使唤。而对于胆敢释放自己凡人召唤者们恶魔总是怀着一种混合了憎恨与感激的奇怪情绪看待他们——一方面,如果不是这些狂人的召唤恶魔根本就没有办法自己溜出深渊到物质位面发泄破坏;而另一方面,极度独立的恶魔对召唤者的命令总是恨的咬牙切齿,它们会尽可能的扭曲这些命令。所以即使是在最为铁腕的控制者手下,一个恶魔也会以最具破坏性的方式完成任务。虽然不多见,一个缺脑筋的施法者也可能为自己在召唤恶魔时的一时疏忽而付出血的代价。在他的不经意间,一个逃脱束缚的毁灭者将为这个世界散播无穷的苦难。

  只有真正的疯子才会才会奉上自己的肉体与灵魂作为召唤恶魔的贡品,这些狂信者相信与恶魔为盟将让他们得以在妖魔毁灭世界的大潮中获得自己安全的一席之地。古老的神话中常常提到提到绝望的君主招来恶魔作为自己残部的将军,或是癫狂的试图与这些邪恶的仆从留下可怕的后嗣。而对凡人来说最为可怕的结局莫过于那些将恶魔作为神祗顶礼膜拜者,他们奉献出自己的一切只为求得万物的灭绝。


恶魔领主 Demon Lords

  恶魔领主乃是深渊群魔中之巅峰存在——它们往往也是某个恶魔种类的最高领袖——尽管如此我们仍然无法计算究竟有多少数量和多少种类的恶魔领主存在。虽然它们力量极其强大(一些恶魔领主甚至还拥有神格),依然没有哪个恶魔领主足够强到一统无底深渊,最强的一些恶魔领主可能控制着几层深渊之国,而弱一些的也就仅能维持对深渊某一层的统治而已。另外,在已知的恶魔领主和上级巴洛炎魔外,还有一群被称为初级领主的强大恶魔。如果这些候补的恶魔领主蓄积了足够的力量并以此被深渊的混沌法则所注意,它或许就可能被提升为一个真正的恶魔领主。

  以下是一些在各个世界中享受着凡间生灵崇拜的知名恶魔领主,当然和其他的深渊存在相比它们只是其中微不足道的一部分。

阿巴拉克萨斯,终极魔咒之王
巴菲门特,牛头人之王
大衮,大洋之影
迪魔高根,疯狂胃囊
费拉若斯,燃烧之喉
哈根提,秘藏低语
朱庇莱克斯,无面之主
科斯彻奇,不亡冰霜
拉玛什图,恶魔女王
诺克缇库娜,影中女士
奥喀斯,不死大君
帕祖祖,风之魔王
煞克斯,鲜血侯爵
索科斯彼诺斯,柔丝之罪


剧透 -   :
Demon

Demons exist for one reason—to destroy. Where their more lawful counterparts, the devils of Hell, seek to twist mortal minds and values to remake and reshape them into reflections of their own evil, demons seek only to maim, ruin, and feed. They recruit mortal life only if such cohorts speed along the eventual destruction of hope and goodness. Death is, in some ways, their enemy—for a mortal who dies can often escape a demon's depredations and flee to his just reward in the afterlife. It is the prolonging of mortal pain and suffering that fuels a demon's lusts and desires, for it is partially from mortal sin and cruelty that these monstrous fiends were born.

Demons are the most prolific and among the most destructive of the fiendish races, yet despite what some lore might preach, they were not the first forms of life to rise in the stinking pits of ruin and cruelty known across the multiverse as the Abyss. Before the first fledgling deity gazed upon reality, before mortal life drew its breath, before even the Material Plane itself had fully formed, the Abyss was infested with life.

Known to many scholars as “proto-demons,” these wretched and deadly beings were the qlippoth. Today, because of the influence of sinful mortal souls upon the Abyss, mixed with unholy tamperings at the hands of the daemonic keepers of Abaddon and the cruel whims of fate and evolution, the rule of the qlippoth has receded. The proto-demons dwell now in the noxious and forgotten corners of the Abyss, and the far more fecund and prolific demons rule now in their stead. With each evil mortal soul that finds its way into the Abyss, the ranks of the demonic hordes grows—a single soul can fuel the manifestation of dozens or even hundreds of demons, with the exact nature of the sins carried by the soul guiding the shapes and roles of the newly formed fiends.

The Abyss is a vast (some say infinite) realm, far larger than any other plane save possibly the primal chaos of the Maelstrom itself. As befits such a vast and varied realm, the demonic host is likewise diverse. Some carry in their frames humanoid shapes, while others are twisted beasts. Some flop on land while others flap in air or sea. Some are schemers and manipulators of emotion and politics, others are destructive engines of ruin. Yet all demons work to the same goal—pain and suffering for mortal life in all its forms.

Yet despite this, mortals have sought demonic aid since the start. Be it an instinctual draw to self-destruction or a misguided lust for power, conjurers to this day continue to draw forth demons with forbidden magic. Some conjure demons for lore, while others call upon them to serve as assassins or guards. Demons view such summoners with a mix of hatred and thanks, for most demons lack the ability to come to the Material Plane to wreak havoc on their own. They depend on the mad to call them up from the Abyss, and while they gnash their fangs and rail against the commands and strictures enforced, most demons find ways to twist their summoners' demands so that even the most tightly controlled demonic slave leaves a trace of ruin and despair in its wake. More often than not, a foolish spellcaster makes a fatal mistake in the conjuring and pays for it with blood, unwittingly releasing a terrible blight upon the world as his conjuration breaks free of his control.

The truly mad call upon demons to offer themselves, both body and soul, in the misguided belief that alliance with the demonic can buy salvation and protection when the demonic apocalypse finally comes to call. Tales of desperate kings who sought to engage demons to serve as generals for their armies or of lunatics who seek demonic sires to gift them with horrific children are common enough, yet worst are those mortals who worship the most powerful demons as gods, and who pledge their lives in support of that which would bring destruction to all.
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