Decarabia

Lore

The demon’s name is bound to ancient star-worship and geomancy; unlike many infernals notorious for brute strength or carnal vice, he personifies hidden knowledge, the alchemy of stones, and the language of birds.

Decarabia’s physical form is unprecedentedly malleable. In his natural state he manifests as a levitating, massive star locked inside a glowing pentacle. The hue ranges from white-hot orange to deep dark red; the surface is etched with fluorescent patterns that evoke lunar craters, meteor pits, or the crystalline veins of raw gemstones. The back may be aquamarine or pitch-black, and in certain niches the body ostentatiously resembles a giant amphibious sea star clad in dense quinine-like scales. Centered on the front is a single colossal eye blazing in neon blue or bright yellow. Above the eye curve dark ridges that can read either as flared lashes or as organic spikes shielding the optic organ. The five points end in razor edges that function as blades; when irritated they curl into whip-tails capable of slicing stone and steel.

When social interaction—or a summoner’s will—demands, the demon morphs into an anthropomorphic shape. Pale alabaster or ashen skin stands in stark contrast to crimson or milky white pupil-less eyes; asymmetric horns, often four, may sprout from the skull, and tattered bone wings jut from elbows or forearms, carving a predatory silhouette. He either dons tight dark leather crisscrossed with straps or swathes himself in ragged bandages that veil magical decay and embedded artifacts; the hair may be long and black or short and curly, heightening the dissonance with the dead flesh.

Within the infernal host he answers to Samael, archangel of death and poisons; beneath him serve six aides and eighty familiars who often dwell in gemstones or lurk in shadows.