Tertia
“Tertia are useful—very useful. They’re clever enough to follow orders, brutal enough to get things done, and stupid enough to stay loyal as long as you keep feeding them. But if you really want to do the kind of work kthonikers dream about—toppling governments, rewriting memories, bargaining with inevitabilities—you eventually have to graduate to the Sentients. Tertia are stepping-stones. Very hungry stepping-stones.”
The Nature of Tertia (Third-Order Entities)
Minor RAIs—academically referred to as Tertia—are the true fauna of Redspace. They possess animal cunning, recognizable survival instincts, and a level of intelligence that ranges from barely sentient to low-human but never empathetic. Though stronger and more versatile than Verminous RAIs, Tertia are occasionally less dangerous in moment-to-moment encounters; unlike Vermin, they understand fear, risk, self-preservation, and the benefit of retreating when the odds turn against them. They can be bullied, bribed, cajoled, or threatened into service. Where a Vermin will mindlessly attack a being a thousand times its own strength, a Tertia will appraise, assess, and—if necessary—flee or bargain. They are predators, but predators with instincts, social structures, and an interest in staying alive.
Ecology of Vice
Tertia feed on singular Vices, each corresponding to universal destructive behaviors recognized across cultures and even species: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Wrath, Sloth, and Greed. Their biology is shaped around these psychic nutrients. A Gluttonous Tertia gorges on compulsive indulgence; a Pride-based Tertia revels in self-aggrandizement; an Envious Tertia drinks deeply from jealousy and resentment. Though these categories resemble the “Seven Deadly Sins,” researchers stress that this is primarily a taxonomy of feeding patterns, not morality. Even non-human species with divergent cultures—Reticulan atheists, the warrior-clan Boglers, Pterugon collectivists—recognize similar patterns of self-destructive Vice because Redspace punishes them universally. Tertia prefer to stalk Subspace Shadows rather than cross fully into realspace; they risk more than they gain by doing so. When they do cross, it is almost always because something stronger has encouraged, summoned, or compelled them. And unlike Vermin, Tertia enjoy feeding. They savor the Vice that sustains them, reveling in its expression. Even when not hunting, they “play” with their Vice the way a cat plays even without hunger—testing boundaries, spoiling peace, stirring conflict, poking wounds simply because the impulse gives them joy.
Social Behavior and Servitude
Tertia self-domesticate to greater powers. They gather around Sentient RAIs like scavengers circling apex predators, nibbling stray thoughts, begging for scraps of Vice, and clustering under the Protection of beings they know could destroy them at whim. They form packs—sometimes all of one Vice, sometimes mixed packs whose members feed on complementary impulses. These mixed packs are the most dangerous: cooperative, mutually sustaining, and capable of coordinated cruelty. Kthonikers bind Tertia eagerly. Unlike Vermin, Tertia make reliable Familiars, suitable for long-term service. Hellhounds (Bane-canid bindings), Visages (Grudges cultivated into tumors), Rat-Things (Daemons fused into rodents), and dozens more examples populate their bestiaries. These Familiars remain loyal only so long as the relationship benefits them—they always hunger and always seek to feed. Tertia kept in subspace rather than realspace (known as Others) act as independent operatives: spies, assassins, trackers, or shock troops called upon briefly for specialized missions. Around Sentient RAIs, they form the lowest rung of Outer Courts: petty courtiers, heralds, and scavengers whose freedom depends entirely on their usefulness. Sentients only care about them during two moments: when a Tertia is being helpful… and when someone else tries to steal it.
Tertia Master List (Non Exhaustive)
Others
Others are the Tertia that remain in subspace, either as wild entities or in the service of something more powerful.
PRIDE — Superbia-Resonant Entities
Imp - A sycophantic Pride-parasite that inflates the ego of its chosen host, devouring their self-worth from the inside.
Often bound into humanoids or pets to create boastful Familiars.
Preener - Feeds on self-image, vanity, and presentation anxiety; causes obsession with appearance and status.
Prevalent around politicians, performers, and nobles.
Laureate - Consumes praise, awards, and accolades. Drives victims into destructive cycles of validation-seeking and achievement addiction.
ENVY — Invidia-Resonant Entities
Daemon - Consumes secrets and coveted knowledge. Remembers every secret it ever learns. Often bound as Rat-Things or Krakars.
Palecher - Feeds on resource envy—coveting what others have. Whispers malice into homes and workplaces.
Wane - Lives on comparisons (“Why not me?”). Excellent at tracking hierarchies and jealousies.
GLUTTONY — Gula-Resonant Entities
Maw - A huge corpse-worm that consumes organic matter endlessly. An avatar of compulsive, uncontrolled consumption.
Goreling - Feeds on appetite for bloodshed and violence rather than food. Often present at warzones and massacre sites.
Swilltoad - Consumes the urge to intoxicate oneself—alcohol, narcotics, or stimulants. Intensifies binges and addictions.
LUST — Luxuria-Resonant Entities
Lillin - Feasts on erotic dreaming and guilty fantasies. Attacks primarily during sleep or moments of distraction.
Mirrorling - Feeds on self-directed desire and body-ideal fantasies. Generates illusions of “perfected” selves.
Silking - Consumes romantic fantasies and parasocial attachments—“soulmate delusions” and idealized lovers.
WRATH — Ira-Resonant Entities
Grudge - Fixates on a single personal wrong, amplifying the host’s rage until violence erupts. Abandons hosts after the act.
Bane - Embodies broad, unfocused hatred. Cultivates misanthropy and violent daydreams. Often bound into Hellhounds.
SLOTH — Acedia-Resonant Entities
Snooze - Feeds on stagnation, procrastination, and inertia. Victims lose days at a time.
Dreamshiver - Induces waking dreams, dissociation, and sleep paralysis. Feeds on surrender to passivity.
GREED — Avaritia-Resonant Entities
Magpie - Feeds on acquisitive desire and kleptomania. Leaves shining trails from flaking golden bodies.
A Special Note: Wights
Wights are the highest Tertia, and are fully sentient. They are inimical to realspace beings, and are monomaniacal in their Vice.
Familiars (Non comprehensive)
Familiars are Tertia bound into realspace creatures or objects to serve kthonikers. The psychobiology of a Familiar has three components: The Tertia which forms a sort of subspace shadow for the creature or object, the vessel which will serve as the realspace body of the Familiar, and the continuing connection to the supplicant. The Tertia is fed by the supplicant solely, making them dependent on their master but also parasitic. The body must be fed to provide calories, as the biological realities of realspace are ultimately unavoidable. In return, the master gains a servant with loyalty and abilities beyond what they could likely get from less exotic means.
Sentient RAIs do a brisk business in Familiars. One of the primary reasons they tolerate troublesome Tertia, in fact, is to sell to supplicants for the purpose of binding. Providing good familiars is a way to get into more grimoires and do better business with supplicants.
Hellhound - Banes bound into canids; traditionally mastiffs but any species will do. They are weapons, pure and simple. The canid psychology of the host provides an avenue for the Bane's normally boundless rage to be channeled, and they make good guard dogs as well as implacable assassins. Hellhounds have the ability to 'skim' through subspace, allowing for truly perplexing murder scenes involving locked doors and savagery that would rule out suicide. They also have the ability to project a psychological dread, howling from infrasound ranges up to ultrasound and even psionically, overwhelming a target. The only thing they do poorly as guard dogs is subjugation; once they are permitted to commit violence, the violence is unrestrained and they will not be accepting surrender. They require a master who has a fair amount of anger and resentment.
Visage - A Grudge bound into a tumor on the host. The tumor begins to take the form of the host's face, but twisted and malevolent. Seeing a Visage is unsettling to the extreme, and they constantly whisper when the host is alone. The contents of these whispers is a combination of horrifying and violent fantasy, repeating wrongs done to the host and the names of those who have the worst coming to them, and begging to let the Visage have control to sort things out. This last is the reason hosts submit to the process of binding. Visages can be given control of the host's body for a few hours at a time, pushing the body to its limit and committing sustained violence. The Visage will stalk enemies, hunt them, and when possible they will strike with horrifying malice. In short, the process gives the host an assassin in their own body, and while the host may have no fighting ability whatsoever the Visage knows how to make the most out of their body in combat. They require a master who harbors deep and abiding grudges with long-term arcs of vengeance.
Rat-Things and Krakar - Daemons fused into small animals. Rat-Things are rodents which often have twisted features that include more humanlike faces, because Rat-Things need to speak. In the case of corvids, the Daemon can usually learn to use the bird's existing equipment in order to speak. Either way, they serve as advisers and living encyclopedias, often of esoteric lore. Rat-Things and Krakar both require a hunger for knowledge and a certain amount of nosiness for the secrets of others.
Poppet/Puppet - An Imp bound into a humanoid doll. The process involves the creation of the doll, then soaking the doll in blood and allowing certain molds to grow inside. The Imp then serves its master in about the same capacity it would have if summoned, but the realspace body provides and anchor and a closer bond. They are advisers, spies, assassins, and sycophants.
Doll - A mannequin grown from fungi around a physical scaffold, often a wooden skeleton, and bound to a Lillin. Dolls are seducers, honeypots and spies. They never stop trying to tempt their master, who must under no circumstances give in or the dynamic could flip in a heartbeat.
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