The Demonica Compendium

The Introduction

The Demons

The Hospital

The Key Players in the Demonica World

The Reckoning (short story)

People often ask me how I came up with the concept of a
demon hospital. Basically, I've always been a fan of both
the paranormal and emergency medicine, and one day,
while watching an episode of
Angel,
the idea popped into
my head. See, Angel (a vampire, for those who have never
watched the super-awesome show) got hurt, and he needed
medical attention right away. But really, where could he go? Where could any supernatural creature go?

Clearly, there was a need for an underworld hospital,
and Underworld General was born.

When I started to write the first book in the Demon
ica series,
Pleasure Unbound,
I knew right away that the
Demonica world was going to be extensive. Keeping track
of it meant lots of notebooks, computer space, and brain
space. I'm not the most organized person on the planet,
but I somehow managed to put together not only a glos
sary, but an inventory of demons.

As the list of demons grew, so did an idea...

See, I've always been a big fan of Dungeons and Drag
ons (when not writing, I'm glued to the computer and
playing the fantasy role-playing game!) and some of the
best D&D guides are the monster compendiums, which
provide backgrounds, vital statistics, and descriptions of
the monsters you might encounter in the world.

So I started on the Demonica compendium, and with each book I wrote, the compendium grew larger. Then I
decided to include information about the hospital. And
the key players.

And as readers wrote to me, asking questions about
the characters, their pasts, and their futures, I found that
I wanted to explore the world even more and give readers
some extras. So I wrote a short story to show how Eido
lon, Shade, Wraith, and Roag met... an event that shaped
all of their lives forever.

"The Reckoning" takes place before Underworld Gen
eral was even a spark in Eidolon's thoughts, and before
Roag went completely mad.

And here we have it. More of the good, the bad, and the
really,
really
ugly.

Hope you enjoy!

Note: Most demons are invisible to humans unless they
want to be seen, the humans are trained to see them, or
the humans possess either magic or some inherent ability
to see them. The notable exceptions to the invisibility rule
are
ter'taceo—
demons who, by nature, look like humans,
or who can take on human appearance. Seminus demons,
for example, are
ter'taceo
.

When any
non
-ter'taceo
demon dies in the human
realm, it disintegrates within moments unless it dies in an area specially designed to prevent disintegration, an area
built by demons, or some underground locales.

Most demons spend the majority of their lives in
Sheoul,
the
demon realm deep inside the earth. When demons die, their
souls are sent to
Sheoul-gra,
which is, in essence, a holding
tank where souls wait to be reborn.
Sheoul-gra
is also where
evil human souls are sent to either serve demon souls waiting
to be reborn, or to be reborn themselves... as demons.

All demon species and breeds can be classified by
their
Ufelskala
score
—
a number ranging from one to five
on the scale of evil, with a score of five being the evil
est of the wicked. It is important to note that the
Ufel
skala Scale
judges "evil" by a species' or breed's love of
pain, suffering, and death, but also on its awareness of
its own behavior. So a demon animal that eats its prey
alive, causing great suffering, may only score a two on
the
Ufelskala Scale,
while a demon that doesn't kill, but
instead merely torments for fun, might score a four.

Humans, for the most part, are unaware that demons
walk among them, and that is the way most demons
—
and
most humans
—
like it.

Acid Sprite
—Delicate, rat-sized, moves faster than a
human eye can track. Winged and colorful, they can be
seen by human children w
ho believe the sprites are fair
ies. They inhabit very dense, very wet European forests,
where they hunt small rodents and make the most of their
mischievous natures by tormenting human travelers. A
favorite game is to ensure that campers and hikers become
lost in the woods. While rarely fatal, an acid sprite's bite
is toxic to humans and is often mistaken for a spider bite.
Ufelskala Score: 2

Alu
—Rare, ghostlike demon who appears to humans in the shape of a black dog. It has been known to carry dis
eases such as bubonic plague and leprosy. Usually found
haunting graveyards.
Ufelskala Score: 4

Baruk
—Wrinkled, white-skinned creature that feeds
exclusively on Umber demons. They inhabit caves world-
wide, where they can hibernate for centuries until an
Umber demon moves in. Though humans rarely encoun
ter the baruk, when they do, the results are... messy.
Ufel
skala Score: 3

Bathag
—Mine dwellers, violet eyes, pale skin, silver
/
white hair. They possess power over the Earth and can
cause earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mine col
lapses. They like to live deep in gem and mineral mines, where they cause minor accidents to feed off the energy
of those in pain.
Ufelskala Score: 2

Bedim
—Very attractive, sensual humanoid race. Dark
skin, dark hair. Males keep females in harems. When har
ems grow too large for one male to service alone, harems
are often shared with friends or "rented" out in order to
keep females sated and calm.
Ufelskala Score: 1

Bone Devil
—
Three feet tall, carnivorous. lives in forests
all over the world. Eats its prey (usually deer) alive. One of
the few demon species that exists exclusively in the human
realm and never enters Sheoul.
Ufelskala Score: 2

Charnel Apostle
—A race of demon born into the Char
nelist religion, which celebrates pain, violence, and bloody
sacrifice. All charnel apostles top six feet tall as adults.
Gray skin, black eyes, and hair composed of porcupine-
like quills that extend down their back and along their
broad, flat tail. They make their home high in the Mongo
lian mountains, using their magic to conceal their exist
ence from humans.
Ufelskala Score: 5

Croix Viper
—Giant demon snakes with horns. They exist
exclusively in Sheoul unless brought aboveground by
another demon.
Ufelskala Score: 2

Croucher
—Three-eyed, scrawny creatures. The size of
a small man, they live near dwelling entrances, waiting
to pounce. Though they are invisible to humans, as most
demons are, they are capable of powerful evil. They harm
by bringing bad luck to a house, thereby causing bad ill
nesses and accidents, from falling down stairs to sudden
death.
Ufelskala Score: 4

Cruentus
—Skeletal chests, thorny fingers, blunt, hairless
snouts. Extremely vicious race that feeds only on fresh
meat. They will hunt anything, including each other.
Ufel
skala Score:4

Daeva
—Harmless to humans unless threatened. Thin,
tall, and pale with lidless, glowing eyes, they appear more frightening than they are. They exist mainly in the darkest
reaches of Sheoul and come aboveground to the human
realm only at night, to gather trash for food and entertain
ment.
Ufelskala Score: 1

Darquethoth
—
Very large, ebony-skinned demons with
glowing orange eyes, mouths, and thick slashes in their skin.
They live in the hot, inner regions of Sheoul, feeding off prey
species who also reside there. A warrior race, they can be
hired for any job that promises violence.
Ufelskala Score: 4

Dree
—Hunchbacked creatures with slimy gray skin and
long tails. Loners, they live near lakes and streams, where
they can easily catch their main source of food: fish. They
are extremely cowardly, making them perfect minions for more evil demons who capture and force them to labor as slaves.
Ufelskala Score: 1

Drekevac
—Spindly, long-limbed, oversized head, fangs
as long as a human's forearm. They enter buildings
through open windows and sicken humans with their
breath.
Ufelskala Score: 4

Fallen Angels
—Fallen angels fall into two categories:
those who have entered Sheoul, and those who have not.
Angels expelled from Heaven face two choices—they can
enter Sheoul and become the most powerful of demons
and lose all hope of ever returning to Heaven, or they can
reside in the human realm and pray to someday earn the
opportunity to return
to Heaven.
Ufelskala Score: Var
ies except for those who have entered Sheoul—these
fallen angels are ranked as a 5.

False Angels
—Males and females alike are flawlessly
beautiful. Highly sexual, they enjoy pleasures of the flesh,
but they are very particular in their choice of sex part
ners and will only engage in sex with the most attractive
humans and human-appearing demons. A cunning and
easily bored species, they make life interesting for them
selves by tricking humans into thinking they are true angels, and then leading the humans astray from their
chosen religion and into another.
Ufelskala Score: 3

Gargantua
—Massive, rare demons that live in the
deepest ocean trenches and come onto land once every
hundred years to mate. Mostly, they scavenge the car
casses of large mammals and fish that sink to the ocean
floor, but they have been known to hunt squid and octo
pus, as well as to sink ships and devour the crews.
Ufel
skala Score: 2

Gerund
—Thirty feet tall, T-
rex jaws and claws as long as a man. Only a handful are believed to be in existence
still, a result of long gestation periods and high infant
mortality rates. They live underground in mountain
ous regions in the human realm, coming aboveground to
gorge themselves on humans and animals once every fifty
years.
Ufelskala Score: 3

Grim Reaper
—Very little is known about the Grim
Reaper, except that he lives in a realm of his own, inac
cessible to most.
Ufelskala Score: Unknown

Griminions
—The Grim Reaper's servants. Believed by some to function for demons as angels do for humans... escorting the souls of dead demons to Sheoul-gra.
Ufel
skala Score: Unknown

Guai
(gwah-eye)—An Asian species, approximately four
feet tall, stocky, and resembling a wild boar on two legs.
Omnivores, these demons hang out near rice paddies,
where they raid rice fields and eat the occasional snake or
rat.
Ufelskala Score: 1

Harpy
—Best described as a "winged woman," or as a cross between an eagle and woman. The size of human
women, harpies have the legs and talon-tipped feet of
eagles, and wings instead of arms. Clawlike hands extend
from the tips of their wings. Harpies are social creatures,
living in groups in large wilderness areas, feeding on
demon prey species. When females reach maturity at the
age of one hundred, they can take human form once every
ten years to mate with a human male. She will then lay
a single egg, which will hatch two years later. The eggs,
believed to impart immortality if eaten, are highly prized
by some demon species and have become a black market commodity.
Ufelskala Score: 1

Hell Stallion and Hell Mare
—Black, horselike creatures
the size of Clydesdales. These demon equines are carni
vores that spit fire and kill with razor-sharp hooves. Few
species can tame and ride hell stallions and mares, but
once these horses give their loyalty, it is given for life.
Ufelskala Score: 2

Hellhound
—The size of a buffalo, hellhounds are mas
sive black canines with paws the size of dinner plates,
glowing red eyes, and a mouthful of bloody teeth. Unlike
earthbound canines, hellhounds have catlike retractable claws, which they use to devastating effect. Their main
method of killing involves first raping their prey and then
disemboweling it and feasting while it still lives. Notori
ously hard to control, hellhounds must be handled only
by a professional—hellhounds are known to turn on their
handlers with terrifying frequency.
Ufelskala Score: 3

Huldrefox
—A seasonal and social demon that emerges
from Sheoul in the fall to raid farmers' fields that are
ready to harvest. They especially enjoy gourds. They
are a fragile, nonviolent breed, but with six-inch fangs
and clawed hands and feet, they are capable of defending
themselves when necessary and are extremely protective
of their young,
flossa,
which emerge from eggs after six
months.
Ufelskala Score: 1

Imp
—Around three feet tall, these demons are the worker ants of the underworld. By far the most common demons,
they are treated more like beasts of burden than equals.
They are thin, hunched over, with big heads and eyes
that are disproportionately large for their faces. They eat
anything they can put into their mouths. They breed like
rats, giving birth to litters of four to eight young, many of
which fall victim as meals for other species. Harmless to
humans.
Ufelskala Score: 1