Baetolori

Among all the Demon races, there is one that stands apart as by far the most mysterious, the least understandable, and most... unusual. That is the Baetolori, a species that is as difficult to track as it is to understand... largely due to their unique physiology, if one can call it a physiology at all. Because the most important thing to understand about the Baetolori is that they lack any physical form.

Yes, unique among all living beings in Empirica Sin, the Baetolori is a species formed entirely of energy and spirit - a mass of Void Energy held together by a consciousness of unknown origin. In order to live within the world, they possess hosts - in that sense they are a kind of Anima Emunct, and they are sometimes called as such.

What is unclear to many - even most demons - is how the Baetolori actually function. This ignorance is intentional on their part... but it cannot hold, forever.

Due to the nature of the Baetolori, it is almost impossible to determine with any certainty when they appeared in Empirica Sin, or which historical figures were or were not among their number. What is known is that the first confirmed appearance of this demon subspecies was in 1765, when Bayan Orly, the human leader of a local merchant band was killed in a battle with bandits just outside of the territory that would one day become Trasea. Upon the merchant's death, it said that his eyes briefly glowed blue before his body collapsed and began instantly decaying.

While this was, of course, shocking subsequent research suggested Orly had been born over 200 years prior... which, of course, made little sense for a human.

This would begin to come together a few years later. After Orly's death, his wife Karibela began exhibiting odd behavior. At first, she was mistaken for an Aedvecti Anima Emuct, and taken in for questioning by the local mayor's assistants. During the conversation - which the assistants later described as "profoundly unnerving," Karibela clarified "her" nature: that of a bodiless, genderless demonic subspecies that had taken possession of Bayan Orly over 150 years prior, and took Karibela as a host when Orly was killed.

Later, it would be confirmed that many of the Demon population was aware of the Baetolori's existence... though they had never brought this information to the world outside Incaendium.

Since them, the Baetolori have continued to be difficult to track - they can often be found through examining the unnatural lifespans of mortals, but this does not apply for those who choose a Celestial or Demonic host.

As is no doubt implicit, a creature with no physicality does not have a normal life or reproductive cycle. Furthermore, as members of the immortal Demon race, they do not naturally die. Most ideas on how the Baetolori work is unconfirmed or speculative, but this is what is (theoretically) known.

When a Baetolori "infects" - or possesses if you prefer - a host, that host's development ceases. This means they do not grow older and they do not die of or age. Their bodies, in essence, begin to trend toward a set status quo - severed fingers will regrow, hair can be neither grown out nor cut short. Instead, changes to their physical form will tend to reset over the course of one day to several weeks depending on the extent of the change. In short: they are anchored to a set physical state upon possession, and will always return to that state if possible.

However, this cannot save a body that is injured too greatly to survive despite this anchoring effect: if someone is injured but can survive long enough for the Baetolori's power to restore it, then they will survive. If the injury will kill them in minutes, for example, they cannot be saved.

When the Baetolori leaves the body of their host, all of the repairs and presevations afforded the body will undo themselves. Regrown limbs will wither and die, hundreds of years will play out on their body in seconds, etc. This is often the death of the host, though it does not necessarily need to be - if the host was only in use for a short time, they will simply regain control of their body... though that is not always desirable.

Finally, once a Baetolori takes control of a host, it is actually quite difficult for them to leave it - to do so requires a severe shock to either the host or the Baetolori themselves. For example, death is the most common cause of separation, but extraordinary magical attacks targeting the Baetolori may have the same effect, and near death injuries or extreme illness may, as well.

This is... unclear. Indeed, it is unclear whether they actually reproduce at all, or if the same population persists and the subspecies will go extinct if the originals were to be killed.

There have been unconfirmed reports of Baetolori who claimed to be relatively young, but they are often dishonest in protecting themselves, so it is difficult to be sure that this is actually true.

Oriana Tansea has posited the rather grim theory that children sired bu or born to a hosted Baetolori may, indeed, be Baetolori themselves. If so they may not realize this until the physical death of their original body, at which time their true selves would emerge from the corpse and continue on.

There are two known ways to kill a Baetolori:

First, kill the host. When the host body dies, he Baetolori must find a new host. They have only minutes after the death of the host to anchor themselves in a new one. Failure to do so results in the death of their "consciousness." Once their consciousness begins to fade, they are no longer able to possess a new host, and thus cannot save themselves. Even so, it takes up to a week for the process to complete.

Second, it is possible to directly kill a Baetolori through nonphysical attacks, e.g. magic or psionics. These attacks must be non-physical - attacks aimed at damaging the mind or spirit. The most direct method is by absorbing the Baetolori themselves in Exedis. This is very effective, as they are essentially concentrated Void energy with a spirit and a mind.

Killing via exedis is considered very uncalled for in Demon Circles, whereas a spiritual or mental attack would be considered fair game.

Baetolori abilities are unique among demons due to their unique "physiology" - they are typically stronger than average in the use of Magic, and their strong mental energy means that they are more likely than other subspecies to have Psionic abilities. Elemental Affinities are equal to that of all other subspecies.

However, Baetolori have absolutely no physical abilities of their own. They instead inherit the abilities of their host, providing no additional advantage or disadvantage.