The Staff of Mozrak

A half demon is truly a creature to be pitied. The result of the union of a forbidden tryst between a naive human maiden and a lecherous male demon made flesh,he faces hostility and fear from everyone. Humans see him as a fiend of hell and darkness,with his human blood counting for little or nothing. But they at least,are content to avoid thinking about the existence of such abombinations,unless confronted with it. For this reason,many half-demons are able to find shelter among them,as long as they go to great pains to disguise their mixed heritage. With humans,co-existance is possible,no matter how precarious and uncertain.

With the true demons,their vicious and cruel pureblood kin,it is not. Demons are the proud and arrogant creatures who in the begining of time,angered the gods with their proud and haughty ways and were flung into the Dark Abyss for it. They then watched with dismay as the world that had once been theirs,was given over to the inferior mortal races that were scarcely better than mere beasts. And then with fury,they continued to watch as humans,snivelling humans with their weak foolish emotions,humans who allowed themselves to be handicapped by blasmephies such as love and passion,they watched as these hairless apes rose to dominate the world.

Such is a demon's aversion to mankind. But there is one thing that their kind hates more than the race of men and that is the existance of the half-demon. The half-demon carries the proud blood of the demons and their glorious legacy,but shames it with the taint of his human ancestory. He is cursed with the same shameful feelings as a human,dishonoring the demon in him. He is a freak,an abombination that must be wiped out,lest his kind multiply and breed,further diluting the ancient demon blood.

Thus was it that a vicious band of demons calling themselves the Scourge,made it their cause to rid the world of half-demons. They were terribel and ruthless,slaughtering entire communities of these wretched beings in the most cruel and bloody ways possible. Terrified and teror stricken,the surving half-demons fled to the refuge of the wise sage Mozrak.

Though born half-demon,Mozrak had not suffered as greaty as the rest of his kind. The elder sister of his mother had had been the High Priestess of the Godess,She who loved all living things as her children,as opposed to the other gods whose preists constantly exhorted holy war and destruction against those not of their race. Thus was it that Mozrak's aunt,seeing promise in him,adopted the little changeling and inducted him into the mysteries of the Godess,raising him to be a great priest and mystic. When she finally passed into the arms of the Godess at the age of 75,she left Mozrak a wise and talented mystic.

This being the case,his unfortunate brothers and sisters beesched him to use his gifts to give them some means of protection against those that were intent on wiping out their race. And so he did. Morzak retreated into the dark cave where the altar of the Godess resided and gave strict orders not to be disturbed for any reason,but promised that he would emerge after 40 days with something that would aid them in their struggle for survival. So it was that for those 40 days and nights,Mozrak prayed and fasted before the altar of the Godess,accepting neither food or drink,reaching out with his mind to his beloved Godess and begging her to give him something that would help to ease the plight of his kind. At the end of that period of seclusion when Mozrak failed to appear,the half-demon refugees became frantic with worry and rushed into the cave. There to their horror,they found the wizened and emiciated form of Mozrak lying sprawled before the foot of the altar. As they begun to wail and howl in misery,convinced that their destruction was nigh with the death of the ony one who could have saved them,the seemingly dead Mozrak opened his eyes and whispered in a weak trembling voice ''Despair not my people,for She sends her aid in the form of this.'' Reaching into the fold of his grey tunic,he pulled out a simple wooden staff. ''When they come for you,tap this thrice. Then they will find out what it means to be half-demon,to feel as you do and their unreasoning hate will begin to question it's purpose. This I deliver to you instead of a weapon,for the Godess will not slay,but only enlighten and heal. In this humble gift of Hers,lies the salvation of our race.'' And with those words on his lips,he closed his eyes again,but for good this time,breathing his last.

Magical Properties:

When tapped thrice,any demons in the vicinity instantly finds itself having thoughts that no demon should. Like for example,''Why do I want to torture and mutilate those peasants? Is it really something that I have to do? Is inflicting misery the only way of finding satisfaction? Aren't there less selfish and cruel ways of obtaining this? I mean if I kill them,what will become of their children? They'll starve,won't they? By the Abyss,what's happened to me? I'm thinking like a... human!''

It does not necessarily make them saints however. They may
now be burdened with human emotions and thoughts,but like all humans,they can still choose to hate and do evil. The choice is ultimately up to them.

If they do make the decision to repent and turn their backs on the sinful past,the newly accquired feelings stay with them forever. But if they choose to ignore this new voice of compassion in their heads,within a few months,they revert back to the unfeeling ravenous demons they were prior to the spell put on them by the staff.