The Houses
This section describes the 9 Houses, plus Free Cities and Mercenaries. Like the section on demon breeds before, it leaves out one major faction, which is actually pretty bizarre going back and looking at it. The missing faction is the Church of the Morningstar, which unlike the Abhorei demons is a major force in the infernum (abhorei live outside the Infernum).
Anyways, the descriptions of the houses is rather basic here, it's given a much more in depth treatment in the second book Book of the Tormentor. What we mainly get here is the favored skills, starting gear, bonus feat, and house mutations. Also, each entry starts with a quote, and has a picture of the houses emblem and some sample members of the house.
Starting us off is the first house, Astyanath:
Astyanath wrote:
‘I did not expect to meet an angel here.’
‘Astyanath have always been accepting of the fallen.
They welcome my kind here.’
‘But do the Cruel Ones not cause the most pain and
suffering of all the Houses? What liking have they
for angels?’
‘We suffer the most of all, and they are connoisseurs of
pain. This is a gilded cage for their entertainments.’
As you can guess, Astyanath's hat is torture and pain. They have the strongest iliaster production because of this, as well as refined forms like Agony and Sorrow (more later in the iliaster section). Culturally, the Astyanath are fairly arrogant, and good at politics. They have a small but skilled military, and also the fewest holdings of any house. They are also strongly allied with House Riethii.
Starting Astyanath get (1d4+1)x5 crowns (currency of hell) a bottle of Agony, a simple weapon of their choice, and Exotic Weapon Proficiency (stinger or flayer) as a bonus feat. (More on the weapons in the equipment section).
Their house mutation chain causes them to grow spikes from their body, allows them to still act when at negative hit points, gain a +4 bonus to torture checks (with the hilariously awful drawback of being stunned for 1d4 rounds when critted unless you make a save equal to damage dealt), gain bonuses to attack and will when damaged, and finally cause a foe to suffer pain when touched, stunning them each time they fail a will save.
House Carthenay:
Carthenay wrote:‘The profi t margin on trade in metals is eight percent.
On weapons, fi fteen percent. On drugs, twenty-nine
percent. On war, thirty-three percent. On souls, forty
percent. What does this tell you?’
‘That we should trade in souls.’
‘No. That all trade is an expression of control, and
that control brings power.’
Again, obvious, house Carthenay's hat is greed. They're the wealthiest house, and hold immense sway over the economy. They have a massive treasure horde, called the Vaults of Mammon (not really described again until the Book of the Tormentor). Their army is mostly composed of mercenaries, though their own fortresses are heavily fortified.
The Carthenay high ups are described as being rather dull in their greed (like scrooge).
They're allied with Sturrach, though it's not as strong an alliance as Astyanath/Riethii.
Carthenay demons get (1d4+1)x5 crowns to start with, and can borrow up to 100 more, but must pay that back at a 33% interest within 6 months. Their bonus feat is Iron Will. Their house mutation chain's first link really doesn't seem to do much. It gives the demon a photographic memory at the cost of 1 iliaster to activate, though it gives no real mechanics for this. The second mutation is called Shit Gold, and lets them produce 1d4 horns from any orifice. The next is called Rationed Blood, which is difficult to describe, so I'll just post it here.
III – Rationed Blood: When
injured, the demon can essentially
negotiate a repayment scheme with
its foe. Instead of taking the full
damage from an attack, the demon
spends five iliaster. It then takes half
the original damage that round. In the
subsequent rounds, the demon takes a
fraction of the remaining damage each round.
The fraction is determined by how long the
demon wishes be repaying the wound for; if
the demon wishes to pay over 20 rounds, it
takes 1/20th of the remaining damage each
round. Once the wound is repaid, the demon must
pay interest on the injury. It takes a further amount
of damage equal to the number of
rounds it repaid the injury over.
Example: A demon is struck for 50
points of damage. Not wanting to
take all this damage at once, it uses
its Rationed Blood ability. It spends
fi ve iliaster to only take half the
damage this round, and repay the
remaining damage over further
rounds. If it chose to pay over fi ve
rounds, then it would take 25 damage
in the round it was fi rst injured (half
the original damage) and one-fi fth of
the remaining damage over the next fi ve
rounds (fi ve points per round). It then
has to pay the interest, which is equal to
the number of rounds of repayment. In
this case, the repayment was over fi ve
rounds, so in the sixth round the demon
takes another fi ve points of damage.
If the demon chose to repay the damage
over 12 rounds, it would take two points of damage
every round for the next 12 rounds, then another
13 points of interest damage in the 13th round.
Their fourth mutation lets them turn stuff into gold, and their fifth mutation lets them forcibly make a covenant with opposed will saves.
House Glabretch:
The fruit in the orchards of Glabretch
are living humans. They hang from
the trees. Branches and twigs
penetrate and perforate every orifi ce
and organ, carrying life-sustaining
sap into the human body. Each human
is infected with a different cocktail of
diseases, which causes them to rot and
bloat even as they hang on the branches.
Sometimes, grotesquely, they ripen.
With a description like that, it's no wonder Glabretch is kinda the odd ball out. They're the demons that invented disease, and when they fight, it's through biological warfare. All of the other houses hate them, but also fear them due to how dangerous their diseases are.
Starting gear is (1d4+1)x5 crowns and a simple weapon. Their bonus feat is toughness. Their mutation chain focuses on durability. The glabretch gains DR2/fire (wha-?), light fortification, self healing, greater fortification, and then lastly by spending 1 iliaster it can gain DR/Holy equal to it's corruption score.
House Haimon:
[quote="Haimon]]In the heart of every Haimon fortress, there is a bell
made of a single huge skull dipped in bronze. It tolls
sometimes, in the night, but makes no sound.
This is the ninety-third secret of Haimon. The elders
of the House listen solemnly to the tolling of the bell,
but never reveal what it whispers to them.[/quote]
House Haimon are necromancers. They have the most damned souls out of any house, but they use most of them for as laborers or soldiers, not torture. They can animate a corpse by transferring a damned soul into it, creating an animated dead (not explained until the second book). They tend not to interact much with the other houses, though they occasionally send their armies to temporary allies.
Starting gear is (1d4+2)x5 crowns, and their bonus feat is skill focus.
Their mutation chain makes them resistance to influencing, then soulshaping, then the animate dead ability, then a +4 bonus to sorcery, then their final mutation lets them become undead. They no longer require iliaster, but also can't gain any more mutations (other than noble mutations as it's explained in the second book).
House Lictat:
‘Who is Lictat?’
‘The founder of our House, of course, just as Riethii
made the Riethii or Sturrach made the sons of
Sturrach.’
‘The only demon to bear the name Lictat was slain
two hundred years before House Lictat dragged itself
up from the gutter. Why do you honour it so?’
‘Perhaps a new House must make a heritage for itself
from scratch.’
‘That is a lie.’
‘So it is. Lictat himself would have approved.’
House Lictat is a recently formed house, made from a group of lesser houses banding together. There was a previous house that used to occupy their place, though it collapsed centures ago (House Jelac, described more in the second book). When they declared themselves a great house, the other houses were about to wipe them out when they were interrupted by the rebellion of Dis (more in the Free Cities section). The leaders of house Lictat are ambigious, even to it's own members.
Starting gear is (1d4+1)x5 crowns and they may take any feat as a bonus feat.
Lictat doesn't have a house mutation chain.
House Oblurott:
Oblurott wrote:‘Why eat food like a mortal, when all
the demon form requires is iliaster?’
‘You think like a Haimon, my lad!
Consider the Great Chain of Being;
the little plants and lichens thrive
on the light from the Morningstar;
the lesser spawn and the mortals
feed on them, the bigger spawn eat
them, and we eat the bigger spawn!
In doing so, we consume all that
brings strength and health.’
‘I see no health or special strength here. I
think you should reconsider your policies.’
‘Shut up, food. I’m tired of talking to you.’
Oblurott's whole shtick is gluttony and sloth. They're the only demons that regularly consume food, and actually have large scale farms to grow such food. They're all fat, and grow fatter and fatter (this is only partially due to their mutations). Despite this, they're actually rather direct when they desire something, if only so they can get back to the table quicker.
Starting Gear is (1d4+1)x5 crowns, and the bonus feat is weapon focus (bite).
Their mutation chain makes the demon fat giving them DR5/slashing, they gain +4 to fort saves, and then an ability that takes advantage of the progression of time. They cause a touched target to experience a day of growth, causing a demon to lose a days iliaster requirement, and a mortal to suffer starvation and dehydration. Their next ability projects an aura that causes anyone around them to suffer a penalty to attack and skills unless they're actively eating, and finally cause a target to be so consumed by hunger that they can do nothing but eat, attacking others if no food is available.
House Riethii:
(NSFW)
Riethii wrote:On the Seventh Circle, there stands
a place called House of Joy where the
most beautiful of the young Riethii are
sent. There, they are taught two things.
Firstly, how to reduce any being, even
the most innocent or strong-willed, into a quivering
thing of insatiable lust. And secondly,
how to suppress their own pleasure or
joy in any act. In that House, the elders
of the Riethii forge their weapons for the
next age of the war.
As you could guess, Riethii is all about lust. They're known as the seducers and are obsessed with pleasure. Their elders are actually highly jaded, having tried every form of pleasure they could think of. In addition to all this, they have a strong spy and intelligence network, and the perform a lot of manipulation and blackmail.
Starting Gear is (1d4+1)x5 crowns and the Related Knowledge feat (which I think is a new feat for this game).
Their mutation chain of course makes the demons more seductive and attractive. The first link gives them a +4 bonus to seduction, the second lets them breath out a pink mist that reduces concentration and will saves. Next they get immunity to fatigue and exhaustion, then drain strength or iliaster from a target and add it to themselves. Finally they cause anyone who has sex with them to commit a SR20 sin.
House Sturrach:
Sturrach wrote:‘What will the Sturrach do when there is no more Hell
to conquer?’
‘We shall storm Heaven and slaughter angels by the
flock.’
‘And then?’
‘Grind the mortal world beneath our heel.’
‘And then?’
‘Find new worlds to invade.’
‘War without end, then?’
‘War without end. That is the plan.’
With an intro like that, it's clear Sturrach is wrath. They have the strongest military, and once almost conquered hell (a combination of the death of their founder and his heir, an alliance of other houses, and infighting among their leadership put a halt to that). Though still strong nowadays, other houses are highly wary of them, and they're strapped for money, iliaster, and other resources.
Starting gear is 1d4x5 crowns and 3 simple or martial weapons. Bonus feat is martial weapon proficiency (which actually confuses things about who's proficient in what).
Their mutation chain grants them horns, giving them +2 natural armor, the ability to enter a combat trance (but can't do anything other than attack, not even move apparently). Then it can heal 1d4 hp whenever it deals damage, enter a war form where they gain additional mutations, and finally get spend iliaster for a 1/1 bonus to Warcraft checks.
House Zethu:
Zethu wrote:The fires of Moloch burn ceaselessly. Day and night,
the machines grind on. Once, production capacity
was limited by the weaknesses of fatigued flesh. Now
they replace tired limbs with steam appendages and
exhausted minds with spells and cogs. The lights
never go out and the machines never stop.
House Zethu's hat is science and sorcery. They have the most advanced technology and magic of the houses and a (formely) strong industrial base. Many of the inventions and devices in the Infernum were created by the Zethu, and they're responsible for reintroducing sorcery to both hell and the mortal world. They were one of the strongest houses, due to their control of the industrial city of Dis, before it rebelled and became a free city. Now they've a lost a lot of holdings and power, and are desperate to regain it.
Starting gear is 1d4x5 crowns, and 3 simple or martial weapons. Bonus feat is Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Shattergun).
Unaligned Demons:
‘What’s it? What’s it?’
‘It’s like a dead’un in visage, my sweet, but ‘sall pink
and bleedin’.’
‘I know whatsit. It’s alive.’
‘Really? How do we stops it, then?’
‘Ye just poke it. It leaks a bit more, then it falls over.’
Demons not directly affiliated with any major faction.
Start with 1d4x5 crowns and 2d6 bottled iliaster.
Mercenaries:
‘So, three crowns per demon per day; officers and
specialists get another five each and a 50 crown
bonus per head when you break the Haimon legion.
We have a bargain?’ scowled the Carthenay. Its
distaste at spending such a sum was clear.
‘You’ve got all that on you,’ asked the mercenary
demon. ‘Cos we’ve been burned before, and my
troops are half-dissolute and rowdy.’
‘You doubt the Carthenay coffers,’ scoffed the broker.
‘Look upon this and wonder,’ it crowed, and threw
open a chest. A pile of coins glittered in the russet
light of the Morningstar.
‘Right, lads! Take the coin and its head – we’ll blame
it on the Haimon and wait until the Carthenay are
desperate ‘fore we offer our services again.’
Mercenaries can be hired all over hell, though there's large city called Golgotha on the fifth circle where they gather. The city is actually ruled by an angel called Uriel.
Starting gear is 1d4x5 crowns, any weapon, and 2d6 bottled iliaster.
Free Cities:
‘Citizen Michelle Gaimon of the free dead, your city
needs you. You are to report to the Dis District Seven
Sacrifi ce Facility tomorrow morning at dawn for
some 20 hours of service. Your selfl ess devotion to
freedom is noted and appreciated by Dis City Council.
Should you refuse this duty, you shall be condemned
to Dis District Seven Sacrifi ce Facility for some 40
hours of service and your housing privileges shall be
revoked.’
Several cities in hell have recently rebelled, deposing the nobility and even the bonds of Covenants (mystical pacts between demons that ensure loyalty and obedience, and which the entirety of hellish society is based upon). By spending the better part of a year and a day in a free city, a demon's covenants are broken.
Everyone is equal in the city, even the damned (and are then forced to be tortured anyways "for the good of the city". Dissenters are executed and "citizens" are expected to proudly proclaim their loyalty to the cause. Basically, it's the French Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror.
Starting gear is 1d3x5 crowns and a simple weapon.
That's it for demon factions (except bizarrely the Church). Next up: mortals and angels!