> >If a Western sorceror were trying to summon demons from the
> >underwold, should he or she be treated as someone doing misapplied
> >worship to emulate the spirit-capturing abilities of a shaman, or
> >just be given special "Demon summoning" and "Demon Binding Spells"
> >that function after a portal of power has been opened?
>
> Firstly Demonlogy only works on sorcery-plane entities or underworld
> sorcerous entities.
Whilst Peter is of course right, I think that the question isn't 100% so.
If a Western sorceror engages in demonology, he will do so using sorcery. Also, "demonology" would be the Western method of dealing with demons.
However, what we think of as bona fide Major Demons are in fact mixed-nature entities from the sub-Underworld, like that disgusting Umbarong fellow in HQ.
The working game-terms definition of Gloranthan "demons" is as follows : "inherently evil entities from enemy otherworlds". Simple enemies don't always qualify.
This can include enemy worlds in the same plane, so that Daga, a theist entity, is an Orlanthi demon.
Sound confusing ? Well, Gloranthans themselves are confused by this.
Each culture has its own methods of dealing with demons, but where Peter is basically right is that only Western sorcerors have any organised methods of "demonology". Other magicians (including evil Westerners) simply engage in demon-worship ... And Western sorcerors stick to essence demons simply because the other kinds are just too damn hard to control, not to mention being even more spiritually repulsive than the "proper" varieties ...
Also, one man's pure entity is another one's demon, so that the troll god Zorak Zoran is a Dara Happan demon, and dealt with as such.
Major Demons are those that _all_ Inner Worlders, basically without exception, will find evil, repulsive, etc etc etc The basic paradigm for these is that they have mixed, but twisted, natures ; often (but not always) warped by manifest Chaos or the primaeval pre-Dark.
many exceptions exist.
> However the sorcerers do have access to an art
> known as Demonization which turns any godling or spirit into a demon
> (i.e. a sorcerous entity from the underworld). I think this process is
> long and complex and not something that can be done on the fly.
Sounds cool : but I'd guess that on anything less than a complete success you'd end up with a mixed-nature demon instead.
Just speculating, love the idea.
> As well as the obvious uses for demons, one can also learn magic
> from them (as per HQ p173 - Using Essences) and question them
> about what they know.
Yip.
Julian Lord
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