PDA

View Full Version : DM Help I need a word that would fit becoming a demon willingly



PhoenixPhyre
2018-06-18, 07:07 PM
Apotheosis is the ascent of a soul to become a god.

So what if a soul descends into the Abyss (or the Hells) to become a fiend, not due to death and enslavement, but willingly and bodily? I'm imagining someone super powerful who has chosen to become a Demon Prince directly from being a mortal/outsider. Like in Milton's Paradise Lost, when after Satan is cast out, he rises up (down?) the infernal hierarchy to take his place on the throne of Hell.

Is there a pithy word that fits here?

Damnation is too passive and weak (you are damned after death because of what you do). I'm thinking something that a person on this path would claim with pride.

Anymage
2018-06-18, 07:13 PM
If the person is voluntarily becoming an archfiend, they probably view it as practical godhood anyways. Especially in the lead up to the event, they'd use the same flowery language that people going upstairs do.

People who aren't them are more likely to use unkind language. And once the new archfiend is properly established, it probably doesn't reflect on its origins at all unless it's trying to tempt a mortal into becoming part of its court. At which point the flowery language comes out again.

Koo Rehtorb
2018-06-18, 07:31 PM
Ascension.

Frozen_Feet
2018-06-18, 07:32 PM
Apotheosis is Greek for deification.

So demonification or diabolification. Fiendification has been used in RPG circles before as well. :smalltongue:

Hellion would be an apt word for a person who went through the act.

PhoenixPhyre
2018-06-18, 07:34 PM
If the person is voluntarily becoming an archfiend, they probably view it as practical godhood anyways. Especially in the lead up to the event, they'd use the same flowery language that people going upstairs do.

People who aren't them are more likely to use unkind language. And once the new archfiend is properly established, it probably doesn't reflect on its origins at all unless it's trying to tempt a mortal into becoming part of its court. At which point the flowery language comes out again.

Then an unkind term (other than damnation). I'm trying to come up with distinct terms for the following soul transitions (note that there are only 4 sets of planes, and elemental planes are lumped together here). Also note that my cosmology is very non-standard--the definition of "demon" is "creature that lives in the abyss, powered by consuming souls." Devils, angels, and gods all live in the Astral. There are no alignments other than a common recognition that demons are not people we want around.

Bodily transformations (due to intentional ritual and significant personal power):

* Bodily ascension to become a demi-god (full godhood is out due to setting specific issues that aren't relevant): Apotheosis. Requires a source of belief in the mortal plane as an energy source.
* Bodily transformation into an elemental entity: Transfiguration.
* Bodily conversion into a sentient undead (lich-type entity): ????
* Bodily descent into the abyss by consuming the souls of others to replace your own body (becoming a Demon Prince at best or another powerful demonic entity): ????

Post death consignment of an aspected soul (one with significant alignment to one of the planes, usually by having handled lots of magic associated with those planes) or one that is pulled by a powerful entity (god, demi-god, arch-devil, or Demon Prince) and survives the process. This is rare, but more common than the bodily transfigurations.

* To the Astral: Exaltation
* To one of the elemental: ????
* To the Shadow (undead)? N/A as this is the normal resting place for the spirits of the dead who don't end up anywhere else.
* To the Abyssal: Damnation (can also happen by being sacrificed to a demon or by engaging in blood magic too much).

Coventry
2018-06-18, 07:38 PM
"Theo" in Apotheosis usually means "god" or "holy", so swapping around the Greek roots might come up with a word you like.

"Anomoseosis"
"Antitheosis"
"Apobyssosis"
"Diableosis"

Or, to slip in an alternative that makes me smile: "Entropeosis". Becoming the embodiment of entropy. That sounds like a demonic ascension, to me!

Frozen_Feet
2018-06-18, 07:47 PM
Becoming an elemental after death could be called sumsumption - that is, the soul is subsumed by or subsumes the chosen element.

For undeath, mortification and discorporation should suffice. No need to go further than the sea to fish.

PhoenixPhyre
2018-06-18, 07:48 PM
"Theo" in Apotheosis usually means "god" or "holy", so swapping around the Greek roots might come up with a word you like.

"Anomoseosis"
"Antitheosis"
"Apobyssosis"
"Diableosis"

Or, to slip in an alternative that makes me smile: "Entropeosis". Becoming the embodiment of entropy. That sounds like a demonic ascension, to me!

I like that last one. Especially since demons truly are agents of entropy--they consume souls to survive. Their existence is destructive. Under some theories of the origin of souls, they are the eaters who will one day destroy creation, consuming the last Sparks of the Heartfire and then each other. Sounds like heat death to me.

S@tanicoaldo
2018-06-18, 09:02 PM
Transcendence.

Spore
2018-06-18, 11:05 PM
D&D complicates getting a unique word for demons, devils and daemons since they're more or less the same in Latin and Greek mythologies. You wouldn't really distinguish between devil and demon when describing a mortal anyway. But for D&D there needs to be a difference.

My Latin is too weak but I can suggest two silly ideas.

Infernialization and Abyssification :smallwink:

KillianHawkeye
2018-06-19, 12:00 AM
Malefaction
Abomination
Declension?
Degeneration
Vilification
Corruption
Transgression

RazorChain
2018-06-19, 02:57 AM
Malefication like Deification, in latin it would be Maleficatio just like Deificatio in simple language it would be Malefy just like Deify? It's practitioneer could be aptly called Maleficus

Diablery? Though it means summoning the devil or sorcery in french

Pelle
2018-06-19, 05:24 AM
Ascension.

Descension?

Beatification? Any other Russian River names that fit?