What would a demonic colony look like?

Rechan · Aug 18, 2008

Here's the situation. My PCs are about to enter a lost colony, a village of almost a thousand people exposed to my abyssal virus five years ago.

The colony has thus been made up of petty possessed humans, captured (and possessed) lizardfolk/shifters, and petty demons.

My question is, what's it going to look like, after five years? What sort of awful, horrible things are they going to find? What are some features of the immediate area? What have the demons and possessed mortals been doing all of this time*? Could they even have sustained themselves for the last five years, given how chaotic and brutal demons usually are (with little disregard for their hosts, for that matter)?

I'm worried that it's going to come off like a ramshackle hellhole with some tumor-faced freaks and a few nasty abyssal rednecks, instead of creepy, alien, and interesting.

Before you ask, the colony is at the mouth of a river, along the ocean, in a jungle/swampy area. The native lizardfolk and shifters of the area have been fighting the demons and possessed folk, but haven't been able to succeed because the fiends just keep infecting their people/taking captives.

What I am not looking for is suggestions for combat. I all ready know what the pcs are fighting, the defenses (to an extent), and all that. What I'm looking for are tips for the atmosphere, the "So what have they been up to", and other sorts of questions that players seeking immersion are going to start asking.

*I have thought that the fiends have built a statue to Demogorgon, or some other prince. What the statue DOES, I don't know. Something freaky.

Voadam · Aug 18, 2008

Give them a purpose.

Some top leader demons enforcing the possessed and minor demons to construct some grand abomination or corrupt some captured holy item/site/being through an ongoing desecration involving mutliple demonic influences.

This gives them a reason not to devolve into chaotic destruction that destroys all the hosts and gives them reason to want more slaves for possession.

Krensky · Aug 18, 2008

Go read Heart of Darkness, rent Apocalypse Now, or read any history of the Congo Free State.

Rechan · Aug 18, 2008

Krensky said:
rent Apocalypse Now

I have seen that all ready. Actually, I wasn't impressed with it at all. So little of the movie is spent in the camp. And you really don't get the impression of the evil of it at all. Well, aside from the evil of the Americans just unloading on an unsuspecting village.

It's funny though. I did run an adventure where I turned the Apocalypse Now riverboat crew into kobolds running a river-vessel.

I also am leaning towards running "River into Darkness" later on; the GameMastery module looks to take a bit of inspiration from that.

Coyraven · Aug 18, 2008

Rechan said:
My question is, what's it going to look like, after five years? What sort of awful, horrible things are they going to find? What are some features of the immediate area? What have the demons and possessed mortals been doing all of this time*? Could they even have sustained themselves for the last five years, given how chaotic and brutal demons usually are (with little disregard for their hosts, for that matter)?

It depends on how married you are to the chaotic nature of the demons.

I have trouble thinking beyond a Lord of the Flies situation at best.

There are a couple of other alternatives:
1) The colony was built by religious peoples, and many of strong will.
The demons found their infestation wasn't as much a possession, but of a merging.

It leaves you with a cult-like environment. The colony is rigid in control, and they want to spread the faith.

Those that were overcome with the faith (i.e. fully possessed by the demon) were released into the wilds to act as shepherds for the wild flocks.

The colony would survive off of meat. They don't have the patience for farming or fishing, but have huge areas dedicated to raising pigs.

A giant altar would be fitting-- especially if it was a Wicker-man type device. Something that facilitates the process and acts as a bit of a charnel pit.

Speaking of charnel pits, they could be using them (and magic) to try to recreate the Abyss on material plane.

The cult may have little plans other than to survive and spread the faith to any who come near.

2) One of the first demons to possess a host here was more "civil" than most demons. It used its new access and strong influence to build as you call it-- a "colony" by making sure like-minded demon spawn were the only ones to survive the possession process.

Unlike #1, this group does its best to keep a minor proportion of the population uninfected. This group is typically the youngest, and used for farming, fishing, and general upkeep of the area.

The colony has finally grown strong enough for expansion, and as the pc's approach-- are building boats to send out some of their most normal looking members to nearby communities.

Maybe the pc's find that some boats have already left...

I also imagine a tunnel system under the colony- where they have put some of the more berserk demonic possessions. They have grates leading to the outside-- where they can release them upon any attacking force.

Or just have creapy tunnels filled with berserkers and even "freed" hungry cancerous growths.

Good Luck
CR

Krensky · Aug 18, 2008

Rechan said:
I have seen that all ready. Actually, I wasn't impressed with it at all. So little of the movie is spent in the camp. And you really don't get the impression of the evil of it at all. Well, aside from the evil of the Americans just unloading on an unsuspecting village.

It's funny though. I did run an adventure where I turned the Apocalypse Now riverboat crew into kobolds running a river-vessel.

I also am leaning towards running "River into Darkness" later on; the GameMastery module looks to take a bit of inspiration from that.

Well, hopefully it takes it's inspiration from Heart of Darkness, which handles the material much better then Coppola's Vietnam War adaptation. Essentially, look at the history of the Congo Free State. This was a place where Belgian soldiers collected severed right hands to buy an early end to their time in the colony.

LostSoul · Aug 19, 2008

Who are the PCs? What's their story, why are they here, what do they care about?

Merkuri · Aug 19, 2008

Have you ever seen Silent Hill? The movie's good until the end when they "reward" you with a full and complete story of why everything is the way it is, which feels extremely abrupt and artificial, but the imagery of the dark world is very creepy and demonic. I'd recommend watching that movie, or maybe playing a few of the video games that the movie is based around (which I haven't played, but my boyfriend absolutely loves).

I feel like the "darker" part of that movie might be what a village would look like if it was possessed by demons. I'm not sure it's exactly what you're going for, but it's what I thought of.

Fallen Seraph · Aug 19, 2008

Hmm... What comes to my mind:

-The environment has begun to become infected by the virus as well. So jungle plants and veins have mutated and altered, some have even begun to grasp some level of intelligence; wheezing and heaving, whispering in your ears.

-The mouth of the river has become full of swamp plants and a layer of scum similar to human skin. The demons have been dumping dead bodies infected into the river to spread the virus further.

-The buildings of the colony are made of stone, held-together by plant matter and infected material.

-Great pits holding festering corpses of people who died in being infected are left rotting and covered in the buzz of flies. They are left there to have a constant supply of the virus. The bones of those rotted away are used to decorate the colony.

Fallen Seraph · Aug 19, 2008

Hmm... What comes to my mind:

-The environment has begun to become infected by the virus as well. So jungle plants and veins have mutated and altered, some have even begun to grasp some level of intelligence; wheezing and heaving, whispering in your ears.

-The mouth of the river has become full of swamp plants and a layer of scum similar to human skin. The demons have been dumping dead bodies infected into the river to spread the virus further.

-The buildings of the colony are made of stone, held-together by plant matter and infected material.

-Great pits holding festering corpses of people who died in being infected are left rotting and covered in the buzz of flies. They are left there to have a constant supply of the virus. The bones of those rotted away are used to decorate the colony.