Demons
Adam is a cyber-zombie made of flesh and demon parts integrated into a robot structure powered by a nuclear battery. He is currently being stored at the wharehouse facility at the Groom Lake Air Force Base.
Good news: Finally there's a demon. Bad news: It's pretty much a walk on. Don't expect to ever see him again.
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Anthus
The ancestry of the Anthus demon can be traced back to ancient Greece. The demon Antaeus is believed to have propagated this breed throughout the Peleponese. Thankfully Anthus demons are rare and cannot breed with mortals. They propagate by investing a spark of their demonic essence into the rotting carcass of an animal that has died in a swamp or delta. They prefer oxen, bulls, bears and other large animals.
Though not as strong as their progenitor they are nonetheless among the strongest and toughest of demons that are capable of naturalization. Nearly immortal they are commonly the enforcers of more intelligent or ambitious demons. Their own intelligence is not substandard but they do suffer from a lack of foresight.
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The origins of the common Vampire go back to the first Venetian city-states. The exact date that the Venetian sorcerers traded their humanity for eternal life is uncertain and ranges anywhere from 400 AD. to 800 AD. when there are definite records of the Nosferatu strain being active in and around Venice and Carthage. Older Vampires from this region belong to the Roman and Greek Lemure strain. Though no Nosferatu could possibly be older than 1,800 years the Vampires of this strain themselves are unaware of their ancestry. Regular claims by Nosferatu to be 2,000 or more years old can be attributed to the perceived value of age as a measure of the power of a Vampire and the young Vampire's desire to make itself respected by its peers.
One thing that does set the Nosferatu apart is the virulence of its curse. Nosferatu tend to propagate in large numbers whenever there is not an elder Vampire present to command them and keep their numbers in check. No other Vampire strain has spread so thoroughly, so quickly. The spread of Nosferatu can be traced directly and indirectly to Spanish and British Imperialism. Vampires would hide aboard ships like rats and from there pass their curse to distant shores and across landmasses.
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The Toltec or 'Aztec' Vampire strain is native to North and Central America. The first Toltec Vampires where priests who sought immortality. Their studies coincided with the appearance of mummies and zombies throughout the Mesoamerican region. While Incan sorcerers remained content with the mummification process as a means to maintain life after death, the Toltecs strove for more. Almost coincidently with the first stepped pyramids and the first Egyptian Vampires, approximately 4,700 years ago, there appeared the first Toltec Vampires. The early Vampire-gods of America could not propagate their curse like their modern counterparts, but the rituals were kept and used again and again to preserve the Aztecs greatest warriors and priests. Though severely stressed by the European invasion and the introduction of the Nosferatu as well as the decimation of their preferred blood supply, some Toltecs endured. The ancient Toltec Vampires discovered the secret of transmitting the curse through the blood and the first modern Toltec Vampires appeared coinciding with the Mexican revolution.
Though physically similar to their forebears a great gulf separates the modern Latino Vampire from his Toltec elders. The demon beast is of the same Totem animal spirit but the curse is no longer reserved for Aztec nobility. Modern Toltecs breed without regard for population stress, a factor which their elders never had to deal with. This in turn forces the competing Nosferatu to breed more of their kind until one or the other gains the upper hand and forces their rival out of the area. Sadly for the mortal population this only means that the remaining Vampires have to compete amongst themselves for feeding rights and breeding stock. The result is more Vampires until competition forces them to destroy each other. After several decades of population fluxes the Latin Vampires seem to have settled on a system of membership through proxy invitation. They maintain local gangs of Latino youths to conduct business and deal in criminal activities. These youths in turn pass an initiation period before being admitted into the ranks of the Vampires. This unchecked spread has made Mexico the nation with the highest Vampire population density in the world. Luckily the Latino Vampire seems to practice a preferrential breeding program and generally limits its curse to other Latin Americans.
The Hellhound
The Hellhound is a lowly beast demon made from the summoning of a demon into a dog host. Easy to breed they make excellent cannon fodder and even though they are easy to kill and can't stand against combined arms tactics, they still have their uses. Hellhounds that have been bred with mortal dogs make loyal, though vicious guards. Hellhounds bred with humans are called Barghest and have more mental capacity though their lack of social acceptance makes them bitter for the most part. Though generally despised, the practice of breeding Hellhounds with humans has not entirely dissappeared. Barghests are sometimes used as breeding stock for common Hellhounds to make them smarter and easier to train. Most Barghests however are too smart and independant. Some of these escape and take to a life of banditry and cannibalism. Or else fall in with other demons and join a cult. They represent little threat however as anyone with a gun can kill them easily enough.
Other variants exist, such as demons summoned into cat hosts or bat hosts. These Hellbeasts lack the inherent loyalty of the Hellhound though and are much harder to train. Generally they must be bred with successive generations of humans to achieve the desired result. Which in most cases sees the demon characteristics either ameliorate to the point where they are no longer useful or the demon attributes dissappear completely. If bred exclusively with humans the desired demon traits will dissappear along with the undesireable elements in a few generations. The obvious solution of inbreeding during the second and third generations produces problems of its own. As a consequence of the difficulty in producing a Hellbeast the prices are generally prohibitive. The one exception is in the production of sex slaves. The high cost and difficulty of producing a sex beast is offset by the high demand. An exotic or beautiful Hellbeast can command high prices.
All Images are Copyright © 2002 William Adams and cannot be reproduced without permission.
Some Characters are inspired by the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer and their use here does not represent a challenge to any pre-existing copyrights or trademarks.
Warning: This comic may include adult situations and suggestive dialogue not suited for minors.
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