| “ | Etar Patternedtombs was a mint green demon. It was the only one of its kind. A gigantic feathered ass twisted into humanoid form. It undulates rhythmically. Its mint green feathers are patchy. Beware its deadly gas! | „ |
| ~ One of nearly infinite pre-generated possibilities for a demon. |
Demons are overarching antagonists of the indie management simulation game Dwarf Fortress. They are horrendously powerful, gigantic and procedurally generated boss creatures. The existence of goblins - the main antagonists of the game - are created by demons, both directly and indirectly.
Due to the procedural generation of the world and demons in the game, coupled with the fact that many elements can be customized by the player, the strength, threat level, placement and physical form of demons vary greatly.
Demons are among the most powerful entities in the game, arguably being the second-most powerful creatures in the game, only to be beaten by angels. Their power and influence negatively affects the world's history and world generation, rather than just gameplay. A villainous historical figure also has a chance of being a demon.
History[]
As history is randomly generated when a world is generated before playing the game, the history and capabilities of the demon is different per world. Some demons may have escaped the underworld with the help of a deity, ritual and artifact slab.
Once demons are in the mortal world, they can construct vaults and gain rule over a goblin civilization. Demons may also attempt to tame any animal it can find, recruiting them to the demon's side. Demons summoned under a deity's sphere will affect the world related to that sphere. For example, if the sphere of influence is "blight", the demon will bring decomposition and rotten matter into the world. If the sphere is "darkness", it will bring literal darkness upon a region. This corruption of an area can lead to many night creatures spawning there, or more than what would normally be there, making that area much more difficult to survive on if the player chooses to embark there.
During the very early B.C. times, some demons escaped The Underworld (the deepest layer of land in the game) and made their way to the surface and became goblins, due to the way they evolve and adapt on the surface. They create their own civilizations once on land if they remain there long enough. If the player alters the game settings, demons can be trapped in the Underworld without the chance of escape, removing any goblin civilizations in map generation.
Gameplay[]
Demon sprite in the pre-release of v50 of the game.
Four possible sprites (out of many) for demons.
In the original version of the game, or if classic ASCII graphics are enabled in the premium version, demons are represented by a randomly colored "&" in gameplay. In the premium version, they will appear as black, mysterious looking creatures that can be different depending on the appearance generated for them. This is similar to how megabeasts and experiments are shown.
Being randomly generated by the game, demons can take any form, any shape with nearly any form of attack. Even forms that make little to no logical sense can be created, which include many types of different animal body parts fused together.
Not only are demons extremely large with immense strength and intelligence, but also possess a number of advanced skills as well as many immunities to things that would hinder the movement of a creature or be rapidly fatal: they are immune to traps, pain, fear, nausea, stunning, exertion, dizziness, fevers, fire, poison and take no damage from extreme temperatures. They don't need to sleep, eat or drink. By default, demons start with an "Accomplished" skill level (which is ten on a scale of fifteen) with the following skills: wrestling, biting, striking, kicking, fighting, archery, dodging and observing.
Demons receive large bonuses to every physical attribute except agility, and to the mental attributes of focus and willpower (also analytical ability, memory, linguistic ability, and social awareness, but those are less relevant). Inorganic or zombie demons are especially difficult to kill; they can be killed by bisection, decapitation, or pulping via blunt weapons (inorganic blobs can only be killed in this manner), but this is far beyond the capacities of an ordinary dwarf.
Because demons are intelligent, they can increase their skills and pick up other helpful things during the course of the game on top of what attributes demons have to start with depending on the pre-generated history the game gave them. Depending on the form they take, they can have a wide array of attacks, which could range from shooting webs to breathing fire; from spitting toxic acid to exhaling poison. Some may even be capable of flight.
Demons that come across each other are capable of producing offspring, even if they have completely different forms. Depending on the deity and sphere of influence associated with the demon, the demon may also have the power to summon intelligent and powerful undead creatures.
Demons can also be discovered if mining too far down.
Vaults[]
During world generation, demons will construct vaults soon after escaping the underworld, and angels will be left to relentlessly guard them. After constructing the vault and a slab, demons enlist the help of a deity with a relevant sphere, and the deity performs a ritual at the vault to bring the demon physically into the world. The slab used in the ritual is then stored in the vault, and various guardian angels make it their duty to defend the vault, and the slab, against adventurers.
While playing in "Adventure Mode", exploring a vault is one of the most difficult tasks for players the game can offer. If an artifact slab is found, a demon's true name is revealed. This name can be used to banish the demon back to the underworld or made to serve the player.
Trivia[]
- Demons can appear in goblin sieges as very dangerous enemies.
- Demons can also appear as morally-balanced visitors to fortresses, or even as high-ranking diplomats.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Demon - Dwarf Fortress Wiki
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 Villains 
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Enemies Immortal & Undead Night Creatures Vault Guardians Other | ||