Demonling and ascended ones

The idea of demonlings appeared at first in the Princess' duty comic. Among the damned souls there were one looking more demonic and stronger as well. He is supposed to have managed to survive for a long time in Hell and somehow started to mutate.

With two friends I have brain-stormed the idea for a bit and here it is :


Demonlings are an uncommon case of damned souls that have broken free and survived for a long time in Hell and have started to mutate due to the strong ambient spiritual influence of the plane they reside in.

As a result, they sport some demonic features such as spikes protruding from their skins, small horns or silted eyes. That mutation often looks chaotic and messy though, with a demonic limbs growing longer than the other one or only one eye changing for example. They start to develop a greater strength and to become tougher as well. In most cases, demonlings are not treated any differently than other souls by demons, though. If they are wandering in the open and discovered, they are most likely to be captured or eaten. In the case of a particularly strong demonling though, some clans of demons might be willing to recruit them in their ranks, either as cannon fodder or because they are interested by their future potential.
Indeed, surviving in Hell for so long is obviously very rare for a soul but there are cases of demonlings becoming full-fledged demons. The length of the process varies a lot from one individual to another, but it’s usually very long and the vast majority of demonlings won’t survive through it. At this late stage their mutation become more and more coherent and controlled . As demons, they start to forget everything of their past live as mortals.
It’s actually possible many of the current demons were originally demonlings from a very long time ago, or descended from them. It’s very difficult to verify though as such demons would have completely forgot about their past lives by now.

A similar process exist in Heaven with ascended ones.
It’s even rarer though and welcomed very differently. Once a soul show signs of Ceiciel mutations on their body, they are immediately reassured, cared for and the change is celebrated as a very positive event with vibrant ceremonies by Ceiciels to welcome the ascended one among them.  


What do you think ? ^^  
More ideas coming soon, it was a really fruitful brainstorm.

That's more or less how demons and devils are created in D&D and Pathfinder, and to a lesser extent, Angels and their other equivalents. They don't elaborate much on it but the idea is that souls give birth to specific demons depending on the kind of sins they committed in life. For example, Succubi are said to be formed from the souls of lustful and rapacious evil mortals, most likely women, while Mariliths are birthed from the most arrogant and proud evil souls, like a really sadistic and cruel kind or warlord. The only problem is that they only go into that much detail with demons, which annoys me.

Personally, I think the transformation from good soul to an Ascended One should be more specific. The idea of evil souls mutating, with the process being painful and the result repulsive make sense for demons, but not so much for angels. For example, does their hair and eyes undergo a subtle change in colors? How exactly can one tell an Ascended One from a soul when angels and ceiciels very rarely exhibit noticeable physical differences from humans apart from feathered wings? Is the process as painful and disgusting as it is for demonlings? And why exactly is it much rarer in Heaven than it is in Hell?

It's very similar to the Yokai in Nioh where you learned people are turning into Yokai due to the raging war. It's the most generic idea. I have no problem to people turning demon in hell look like a kind of adaptation to the brutal and harsh living condition and make less sense in heaven. People ascending to angel level can be possible but due to a particular accomplishment they did when they were living.

First of all, where is the "afterlife" link to Heaven and Hell located on the Felarya Wiki?
Also, hey gwada, haven't seen you around in a while!

Shady Knight wrote:

Personally, I think the transformation from good soul to an Ascended One should be more specific.  The idea of evil souls mutating, with the process being painful and the result repulsive make sense for demons, but not so much for angels.  For example, does their hair and eyes undergo a subtle change in colors?  How exactly can one tell an Ascended One from a soul when angels and ceiciels very rarely exhibit noticeable physical differences from humans apart from feathered wings?  Is the process as painful and disgusting as it is for demonlings?  And why exactly is it much rarer in Heaven than it is in Hell?

Yeah I find the demonlings good and making sense. The angelic ones...well I know people get eaten in heaven, but I always imagined that to be looked down on. At least in Heaven - in mortal realms they do eat people (but not without apologizing profusely),  but this is what I think to know. Why would there be a case for people "surviving long enough" in a realm where you're basically supposed to live for eternity in bliss?

The condition should be different...I'm not sure how else to put it. You could say, on one hand, that its because souls are reincarnated, and people who avoid that somehow are exposed to enough energies to make them slowly ascend, but then that new person might be born into a family that nurtures them to be bad, which sends them to hell, where their soul is eaten and gone forever...so much for the good life they led previously! That's what I don't like, as it doesn't really feel like a reward if you do that.

Part of the reason why I believe a soul should never be gone forever, that there's always a way to restore it. Now I say all this because I'm concerned about the ascension idea for angels. Its a fantastic idea, and I'm actually extremely happy that its becoming a thing. As someone who might have always wanted to be an angel of some kind, might eventually turn into one. I just feel like there's a logic hole here that presents a problem because heaven functions in the opposite way hell does. One consumes life, the other celebrates it. To have polar opposites both lead to the "transmutated beings" in the same way just isn't making sense to me.

I like that. Transmutated Being. Sound like a good name for these processes?

Spoiler:

Hmmm, for what is the difference between how souls would get to transform in heaven compared to hell … maybe they dont necessarely need to be completely different in nature.

So, what if the transformation rate and nature was directely associated with the amount of “stress”exerced on said souls?

For exemple, considering hell's nature, it is clear that most surviving souls would be exposed to great amounts of stress from having to survive in such low condition, living in constant fear and opression. Such stress could perhaps make them more subceptible to suffer changes from the environment, making the “mutation” faster than usual … but also more messy and chaotic, slowly turning them into more monster like creatures.

On the other side, heaven would be possibly the opposite, in the way that there most souls are “happy” and “relaxed” , driven to fullfill deeds they find appealing , which could lead to a slower, and in concecuence more stable and clean “ascension” as they like to call it.

Of course, that would only be the general norm, and the opposite could also possibly happen;
a calm strong willed soul in hell, who really got his mind set on the situation, could possibly slowly become a full “clean” demonling, while maybe a soul in heaven that doenst really feel at hease, could slowly grow more twisted if not paid attention.

I think that's an interesting dichotomy. Demons suffering from "mutation" while angels are given "ascension". That alone gives me a good idea of how they differ from their evolutions. A good starting place for an idea.

So glad this is being thought of, since I've been wanting information on demonlings for a while. For the ascended ones, is the mutation also grotesque or a little prettier considering the realm difference? And do demonlings differ depending on the soul's species? I agree it needs to be more specific. Still, can't wait to see the outcome! (Especially with frenchsnack's recent demonling portrayal)

I think it's a good article but I'm curious does one's magic get corrupted or ascended? I mean for example if you were an battle mage specializing in Shadow Magic you die, go to heaven and go through the transmutation into an Ascended One would you slowly gain Holy Magic and lose the shadow magic? Would it change in nature? Same for Demolins. Do they gain demonic magic even if they turn into drooling monsters? Other than that I think they are quite informative and well done.

Thanks for your feedback

I didn't know it was a process already used in D&D and Pathfinder.

Well for the Heaven side you could have the mutation being pretty much like the hell one by default : something bizarre, not controlled and due to stress. But since Ceiciels are going to take care of souls in heaven, most of the mutations happening are instead positive and controlled ones.

But if you have a soul in Heaven that somehow has fled the rest and lived in solitude, if that mutation happened to them, it would probably be just as grotesque as for demonlings in Hell.

What do you think ?

jedi-explorer: I imagine the magic type would adapt itself yes.

That's still pretty vague for my liking. For instance, say you were to draw a concept art of a human standing next to an Ascended One mid-mutation, what would the Ascended One have that tell it apart from the human? And what would it have that then tell it apart from a full-fledged Ceiciel?

In fact, this is just a personal suggestion, but I think some posting some concept arts for the Demonlings and Ascended Ones, and the other species of Succubi you suggested, on dA and seeing what they think of them would be worthwhile. We'd get a good idea of what they physically look like and you get even more feedback. Plus, it would help flex your character design muscles, which is always a plus.

Karbo wrote:

Well for the Heaven side you could have the mutation being pretty much like the hell one by default : something bizarre, not controlled and due to stress. But since Ceiciels are going to take care of souls in heaven, most of the mutations happening are instead positive and controlled ones.

But if you have a soul in Heaven that somehow has fled the rest and lived in solitude, if that mutation happened to them, it would probably be just as grotesque as for demonlings in Hell.

What do you think ?

Incoming Mary Sue more seriously Heaven is less stressful than hell or any mortal world. A demongling makes sense due to what happen to the damned soul in hell, but it's not the case in heaven even if some dangers may occurs they are not the norm but exceptions. The ascending one sound like pure soul becoming purer than pure.

Yes I badly expressed myself. What I meant is in the hypothesis a soul in Heaven would be secluded in a dark place and tormented for a long time, it would undergo a mutation just like the demonlings but with more Ceiciel elements. It's what happens by default.

But obviously this is not what happens in Heaven , so instead some mutations might occurs but more rarely, and they look a lot more harmonious too.

As for a page of concepts yeah this is a good idea ^^

Karbo wrote:

Yes I badly expressed myself. What I meant is in the hypothesis a soul in Heaven would be secluded in a dark place and tormented for a long time, it would undergo a mutation just like the demonlings but with more Ceiciel elements.   It's what happens by default.

If it happens there is a potential the soul getting negatives which means it can be throw in hell.

The problem with the ascended it's not the mutation but the progression, the demonling has a potential struggle between it few humanity left and its growing demonic nature which feeds on and strengthen the darkest side of its mind an example demongling with a short temper and easy to anger can burst in an uncontrollable rage for literally nothing.

The ascended even if it develop some angelic trait it can potentially know the same fate of a fallen angel, even if Angels will gladly accept the mutated soul I think they will put the soul in trial and train it to prevent it to join the dark side of the force. If the soul fail they can revert it to its state before the mutations occur or it cannot be purify and they throw it in hell to know the same fate of the damned soul.