Aralis - The Dangers

When the Dark God, Talos, was imprisoned on this island two millenia ago, the Gods each sacrificed a servant to act as a Guardian. These Demons have served here ever since. But over time, they have fallen under the Spider's influence and become Corrupted, diverted from their duties and serving Spider when His influence over them is strongest.

Perceiving the Shipwrecked as a threat, they have tried many times to destroy them or take them. When the influence of the Spider has not been strong, and the Demons can remember some of themselves, they try to speak to the Shipwrecked... but what is truth, and what is lie? The Shipwrecked do not have the means to destroy them utterly, and there is great debate among them as to whether they should even try. Certainly the Shipwrecked agree that they should be freed from the Spider's control, but they do not know how to do this either.

The Shipwrecked know there are more demons than they have encountered, and that aside from the Nine Demons placed on the island by the Gods, there are several demons of the Dark God himself here. But the ones they know of are:

Spider's Demons: Widowmaker, Chaos Demon

The Nine "Guardians": Nightshade, Sorrow, Wolfhelm, Kusaru, Karenay, Forgefist,
the White Witch, Lilyth, the Ninth Guardian

Other Demons: The Prince of Skulls, Hazukashi

Widowmaker, a demon of Spider, whose evil the Shipwrecked have already felt: it was her torture that claimed the life of the Garandi Commander, Kenjiro. She delights in torment and her bite can be as venomous as the spider whose namesake she bears. She is the Dark God's foremost demon on the island, and rumors abound that she was created to take Nightshade's place as Guardian, though some feel she was meant to take Kusaru's.

If the Chaos Demon has a name, the Shipwrecked have not yet learned it. The Chaos Demon appeared in the fall of 2001 with dozens of lesser minions, and was the first "new" demon of Spider that the Shipwrecked had seen since landing on the island. He seemed to be a corrupted mix of elements and magic, and defeating him was no easy feat, as he learned to adapt to attacks against him if used in succession. Since that first appearance, the Shipwrecked have not seen sign of him.

Nightshade, a demon of darkness who once served Greymeir delights in the despair of those around her. Sultry and beautiful, she is able to weave magicks to cloud the mind and bind a man's emotions to her, and takes pleasure in the seduction of the Shipwrecked men. Her memory, it seems, has been stolen from her, and some feel that the way to cure her lies in restoring that which was lost. Others feel that, like her God, she wishes to love and be loved, and in that lies her salvation.

Sorrow, also called The Fallen Star is the Demon of Leorin and looks for all the world like a lost weeping child. He has fallen from the sky, his wings broken and burned, his sight blinded. Driven by Spider, he seeks to Corrupt the Dark Feydakin and the Clan of Darkness among the Shipwrecked. When the Shipwrecked entered the Death Dream, they confronted Sorrow once more, putting his tormented soul to eternal rest.

Wolfhelm, the demon of Viranka, attacked the Shipwrecked when under the influence of Spider (his "Alpha") and the orders of Griffin, to retrieve Daria's katanas that the Shipwrecked had recovered from Griffin. The Shipwrecked have since seen him many times. Of all the demons, he seems the most in control and has even aided the Shipwrecked at times, though he is a formidable opponent when Spider sends him against the Shipwrecked. Those he defeats in combat, he makes part of his pack. But he fell in the end during his final hunt, when the Shipwrecked entered his Vale and by the skin of their teeth, struck him down.

Kusaru, the demon of Laisha, appeared in response to the farm the Shipwrecked tried to start in their second year. It tainted the land with blight and corruption, upsetting the balance of the earth and the Elementals there. With the aid of its minions, it destroyed most of the food the Shipwrecked had worked so hard to grow, and has plagued them since. It sought to stop the Shipwrecked's attempts to cleanse the farm, though it failed in the attempt. It was the first demon to fall to the Shipwrecked, who have determined that the Guardians need to be cured or destroyed. Knowing that time was short, and given the opportunity to destroy one of the demons, the Shipwrecked entered Kusaru's vale and destroyed him.

Karenay, the demon of Zerinus, recently appeared to the Shipwrecked, a chaotic spirit of the seas and storms. As quick to laugh as to take offense, he seemed unable to remember much beyond the moment, seemingly forggeting conversation he had shared but moments before. He is also a collector of lost things, and it is said that his vale contains many treasures and items from those lost on this island.

Forgefist, also called the Iron Skeleton, is a powerful demon of Chiteng who claimed the graves of a mercenary band that was shipwrecked on this island and uses their spirits to strengthen him. Normal weapons cannot effect him, and he has the power to shatter weapons with his voice. It is believed by some that his programming has failed, and that he needs to be dismantled and remade anew - a task far easier said than done.

The White Witch, once a servant of Rhianna, who has often attacked the Shipwrecked... a demon who traps part of the souls of her victims in her mask, who plays with those that she has captured as if they were her puppets. She has claimed many of those who have been trapped on the island over time, who now serve as her Undead minions, and she has forgotten her goddess, Rhianna. When the Shipwrecked entered the Death Dream, they confronted the White Witch several times and at last destroyed her utterly.

Lylith is a demon and child of Morbeth, the God of Death. Driven insane and unable to reunite herself with her father, she seeks to destroy the al-Kaisa whom she blames for Morbeth's imprisonment on this island.

The Ninth Guardian does not serve any one of the Gods directly, but was rather placed here by them as one whose intentions they could trust, not being derived in any way from the Dark God. For the Ninth Guardian is a Deep One, from the world where Talos came, and was made into a Bone Demon by the Gods, set here on this island to be one who could never be Corrupted by the Dark God. The Shipwrecked have yet to see this Demon, and many pray that they never do.

The Prince of Skulls was once a demon of Morbeth, the demon of War. Turning from his God, he serves a new master: Talos. The Prince of Skulls sought to corrupt and control the Clan of Death by creating a prodigy through which he would rule; a son, born into the Matsumuri family. The Shipwrecked have since learned that Shuyoshi is that child. The Prince of Skulls recently arrived on the island, and sought to turn Shuyoshi to the service of the Dark God. When his son refused, The Prince of Skulls killed him in duel, but at the urging of Hazukashi, restored him to life as a Demon. The Prince of Skulls is a powerful demon, affected only by weapons, but who grows more powerful the more opponents he faces.

Hazukashi is Seishin and Shuyoshi's mother, and was the wife of Seishin's father, Matsumuri Shoko. She serves the Dark God, and is the consort of the Prince of Skulls. What their ultimate master plan, and purpose for coming to the island is, the Shipwrecked are not certain, though they know it does not end with Shuyoshi's corruption.

Can the Shipwrecked survive against them?

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