“Daemons cannot normally exist outside the warp. They must be brought through either by cultists enacting ancient rituals to the Dark gods or by possessing unguarded psykers. Daemons are cunning and deceitful and many humans serve them willingly at first, foolishly believing their lies of power. However, once a Daemon is called into realspace it can do untold damage. A Daemon is not just a destructive force, although I have known of some that can lay waste to whole cities and even worlds. Their real danger lies in their corruptive powers. Even the strong-minded can be driven mad by a Daemon’s powers, becoming no more than a slave to the Daemon’s whims. Cultists may act in helping it call forth more of its kind from the warp, or even attempt to build an empire from among the Imperium’s unguarded worlds. The result is always damnation---the worst excesses of the Ordo Malleus are as nothing compared to the eternal woe that awaits all the servants of the Dark gods. The servants of the Daemon, as well as the Daemon itself, are justifiable targets for our wrath.”
— Daemonhunter Ahmazzi
“Know this first. The daemon is a liar.”
—Daemonhunter Mazerahan
A Daemon is a warp entity, a terrible creature of thought and energy brought forth into existence by the twisted needs of sentient beings, or at least so the high masters of the Ordo Malleus say. To even think of them is to invite their attention and only the steeliest mind, the most powerful faith, is enough to overcome their utter, monstrous evil. Inconceivable as it may seem, there are those who would consort with the Daemon, for they whisper dark things in the night to those who would listen and make many promises of temporal or eternal power. They can be brought forth willingly, by the witch or by certain arcane sorceries, or they may try to force a way through into the world through the unsuspecting portal of an untrained psyker’s mind. However they become incarnate, if they achieve their goal, just one Daemon can bring ruination to all it encounters. One need not talk of the Night of Silence in Atraxian III’s capital, nor of the lost world of Abandoned Hope, which to this day is warded by the Inquisition, knowledge of its existence forbidden to all. Make no mistake, to face a Daemon is to face damnation, to court a Daemon is to embrace it.
Daemons of the Calixis Sector[]
Balphomael: Said to take shape as a great horned man as dark as the void with eyes of flame, this Daemon grants power, wealth, long-life and unnatural vitality to those hungry and ruthless enough to gain his favor. Souls are Balphomael’s only currency, worship his due and murder his delight. Old myths, occult lexicons and forbidden records scattered across the Calixis Sector make much of the “horned darkness”, and some whisper that many great and noble families owe their position to his shadowy ministry.
The Lord of Misrule: Tales of the Lord of Misrule are woven into the folklore of a dozen worlds, and the truth of his existence are shuttered in the proscribed vaults of the Inquisition. Fickle, manic and terrifying, the Lord of Misrule brings anarchy and madness in his wake. This strange figure is said to speak through the babblings of lunatics, the drunkard’s slur and the last gasps of the dying. Appearing to those on the edge of death or who suffer as outcasts, only the most desperate take up his riddling bargains and those in his service quickly come to regret accepting his aid.
Proscribed Works on Daemons[]
Two tomes relating to daemons written in the Calixis Sector’s dark past, the Occultus ad Oculos and the Folio Diabolicus, are proscribed works that deal with the summoning and binding of daemons and the creation of daemonhosts. The originals were believed destroyed by Saint Drusus’s own hand during the Angevin Crusade, but copies have survived in dark corners of the sector to this day.
The Folio Diabolicus is actually a collection of works by different authors (likely sorcerers and warp-dabblers), and contains a great deal of information pertaining to the summoning and dealing with daemons. The book is traditionally bound with human skin and penned in blood. One of its chapters details several procedures and rituals for binding daemonhosts. Others cover more traditional summoning rites, and there are also several treatises on the natures and types of daemons. One can also find a great deal of sorcerous spells contained within the pages.
- If an Acolyte reads a complete copy of the Folio Diabolicus, he immediately suffers 3d10 Corruption Points. He will not accumulate more Corruption from subsequent readings. He has the option of learning 1d5+2 psychic powers (selected by the GM) as Sorcerous Powers. The Acolyte can use the Folio Diabolicus to create a daemonhost.
The Occultus ad Oculos, on the other hand, appears to have been written by a single individual. It is written in the deepest proscribed vaults of the Inquisition that the original book was perfectly innocuous, a small, hardcover tome with no indication of the secrets it contained. The few copies found in the Sector since then have followed this tradition. Between the pages exists a detailed and strangely lucid account on the nature of the warp and its inhabitants. The book does not describe sorcerous spells or diabolic summonings, but does detail the procedures for binding warp-denizens within human hosts. Between the two tomes, the Occultus ad Oculos is far more useful in the creation of a daemonhost, however, both tomes contain the necessary information.
- If an Acolyte reads a complete copy of the Occultus ad Oculos, he suffers 1d5 Corruption Points. He will accumulate 2 Corruption Points for any subsequent readings. Whenever an Acolyte reads the tome, he has the option of gaining a +30 bonus to a single Forbidden Lore (Daemonology, Mutants, or Warp) Test. An Acolyte can use the Ocultus ad Oculos to create a daemonhost.