The Staff of Mozrak
Can a demon ever learn what it means to feel pity, grief, fear, despair, joy and the rest of those tangled emotions and feelings that plague humans? Can beings who obtain their deepest satisfaction from the suffering they inflict on others,ever embrace those very things they so passionately despise and hate about the mortal races? Mozrak,wisest of the half-demons and beloved of the Mother Godess, believed it not impossible. The Staff is both his curse and gift to his pureblood cousins.
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.
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? Responses (12)
Okey then. Like the backstory, like the power, and the thought of the humiliation such emotions might give. Like the fact that the demons can still choose to be cruel and evil. What don't I like about this item?
not too much. :)
One question I have though - how long will they think like a human? I mean, a simple 3-tap and BAM! They have emotions for eternity seems a bit too powerful to me. Perhaps the feelings wear off after a few days? weeks? months? years?
One thing I will bring up - mainly because others will if I don't - is that you should run your posts through a spellchecker before you submit it. The fact that you can spell Precarious and Lecherous, yet mispell plague and impossible suggests your posting was a bit rushed.
Anywho - nicely done all-round. I'm tossed between a 4 and a 5, but in the end, I give it
4/5.
Lol,yes,this was a bit rushed,Shadow. I started this an hour before lunch and had to wrap it up a little sooner than I'd have like,thanks to hunger pangs. I wish I had spell check,but I don't. Hopefully,I'll get it soon.
And thanks for raising that point about it being a little absurd,regarding the affected demons having human emotions forever. I modified it slightly on that score and hope you like it better now.
Aah, nice. It means there is limitations, but a whole new character can be made from a repentant demon, since they will remain emotive forever.
5/5 Very good.
Largely I agree with Shadow
Initially didn't understand Shadow's comment about the duration of the effect - but I see you've edited the post so guess you've fixed whatever he was commenting on
As Shadow says, there is potential for a character here - there may also be potential for a whole setting, so go write - I'd like to see them both
In of itself a 4 but I'm upgrading o a 5 for the potential
5/5
This has sparked a few ideas about half-demons nd demons in general, moreso that my current campaign features quite many of both...
Perhaps we might chat about it... a very good item..
A character,eh? Yes,I would enjoy creating one. And yes,Echo,I'd be delighted to chat with you about this. I've been obssesed with demons and hlf-demons ever since I discovered the peasure of tuning in to the now defunct Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I get to vote again. Yay. 5/5
I like this. A good, useful idea executed well. I misread the name a couple of times though ;)
4/5
There is just something cool about a demon facing an emotional crisis.
I like the ingeniously nonviolent nature of the weapon. Demons must quake in terror at the mere mention of it.
A very good backstory, but it still feels like it is missing someting. Maybe the activation would be someting more difficult? Or only work for a half-demon that truly loves normal people?
As a twist, the staf might have the reverse effect on celestials: they might feel the temptations and egoism they normally would not have.
An interesting, usable item.
I thought the backstory was very good too ;-)