Demosidhe

[TLDunn213]

Demosidhe 

Basic protections 

Most of these are really pretty obvious once you think about it a bit.

First and generally easiest is to drink a glass of holy water before studying about the Demosidhe and especially just before sleeping. Also keep a flask of holy water within easy reach at all times and take a mouthful when you first wake up and anytime you notice Demosidhe activity. 

I'll explain more about what that looks like in just a bit.

Some other protective measures you can take include wearing a headband made of an alloy of iron and silver. (Ferogentum)

Having protective runes and symbols engraved on it is a good thing to add but the headband will offer a fair bit of protection even without them.

A protective magic circle and pentagram combo carved into the floor of your sleeping room and painted with a paste made from equal parts salt silver and iron added to just enough holy water to make a paste works very well. Top it off with a good clear coat sealant and place your bed in the middle. And you are protected from a wide assortment of supernatural dangers.

 

Edited March 20 by TLDunn213

[TLDunn213]

Now that we've covered basic protection, let's talk about what it is that we are protecting ourselves from.

The first signs of Demosidhe activity is very vivid yet mundane dreams. Which is the beginning of breaking down your ability to tell the difference between dreams and reality. After a few weeks of this you will begin to notice that inspite of spending increasing amounts of time sleeping you are feeling less and less rested. With all your the usual effects of being tired all the time.

This is when the dreams start getting odd. Nothing major, at first, just small things. Pictures of people you don't know on the wall among the ones that belong there. Looking in the mirror and seeing your reflection blink. People you know acting in ways that are totally out of character.

Not too long after the dreams start getting odd, the hallucinations start. The same out of place stuff that was happening in the dreams. Along with people that you can only see when you're not looking at them.

Now the Demosidhe aren't trying to kill you. At least not right away. They are draining your life energy, that's why you are feeling tired all the time. But it is your emotions that they are savoring.

Lust, Anger, Fear, Confusion, ect. Individual Demosidhe have their preferred emotions. And typically act alone or in small groups. 

Once the hallucinations have started the Demosidhe are using your mind as a way into the waking world. 

Being shapeshifters they will use their abilities to create more confusion and mistrust between their chosen victim and the people around them.

Thankfully the Demosidhe aren't able to remain in the real world for long. A few hours at most. It is unclear as to what it is about the real world that limits the time they are willing? able? to  stay.

Now what I've described above is their normal and preferred mode of operations.  Near the end of the Forgotten Age as they were being hunted down in the Dream World, they changed their methods and started attacking in groups. Dragging victims into the Dream World and ritualisticly sacrificing them so as to quickly harvest and store the life energy and emotions for later consumption.

There have also been reports of trapped tomes that if opened and read resulted in Demosidhe appearing and attacking the reader and anyone else nearby. With the apparent goal of simply feeding on their victim's life energy right there.

Which would tend to indicate that a) the attempt to eradicate them at the end of the Forgotten Age was not entirely successful. And b) The surviving Demosidhe have not found a suitable or reliable replacement for US as a food source. Which means the ones that are left are Hungry and Desperate. 

 

[TLDunn213]

 

I finally gained access to the restricted section of the Archives at The Library of Ling, and after allowing for author bias, "glorious victory" vs "appalling massacre". The relating of the events themselves is quite accurate. And by having both sides recored it is possible to gain an understanding of each side's view and motivation.

One of the more important things to note is that Demosidhe vary widely in their views on the beings they feed on.

Some seeing us as little more than food and playthings. While others were seeking some form of symbiosis. With some middle ground leaning in the food direction of treating those they feed upon much the way a wise farmer treats his cows and sheep well. 

So, basically two camps prey/food animals vs beings we can partner with. The symbiosis group are the ones who lead to the development of dreamwalking and subsistence magic. Interestingly most surviving research into this branch of magic is in the reverse direction. That is to say finding ways to take lifeforce and convert it into magical energy rather than finding ways to feed on magic. Although there are some creatures that are known to do this. 

I'll have to look into any connections between magic feed creatures and the Demosidhe later.

In any event, because of Demosidhe that were willing to make a deal, there were people who were hiding the Demosidhe they were partnered with from those seeking to exterminate them.

As you can easily imagine the arguments on both sides were quite heated. "They are just trying to survive. And they give us powers." On one side, and "They are draining your life force while giving you corrupting selfindulgent dreams." On the other. With a dash of "Power to invade people's minds and dreams. By joining with them you become as vile as they are." Just to round things out.

And while there have certainly been Dreamwalkers who abused their powers. There are easily just as many stories of Dreamwalkers rescuing people from dangerous situations or delivering vital information and so on.

 

 

Edited March 27 by TLDunn213

[Snypiuer]

Are there any accounts of anyone "feeding" on or "harvesting" the Demosidhe to, simply, take their power, rather than partnering with them?

[TLDunn213]

There are forms of essence magic that would allow someone to drain Demosidhe essence and either consume it or embue an object with it so as to gain Dreamwalking abilities.

Of course this would come with it's own risk.

Those who hunt Demosidhe might mistake you for one or assume you are bonded to one depending on the type of magic that they are using for tracking them down.

And on the other hand Demosidhe and those willing to bond with them would probably be able to tell what you had done as soon as they see you using your powers. And they would probably not be happy about it. And given their ability to create very realistic dreams... Would you want to risk finding out just how creative they might be about expressing their displeasure over your having eaten one ?

So while I don't have any accounts of this being tried. I expect that at some point someone did;  and it probably didn't end well for them.

Essence Magic is an interesting topic in its own right and I'll try to cover it in more detail somewhere else; assuming I haven't already.

 

Edited March 27 by TLDunn213

[Snypiuer]

Snypiuer disregards ALL warnings and simply notes - May get "snippy" if used as fuel source.

[TLDunn213]

Well, Good luck with finding any Demosidhe, Demosidhe Essence, or Demosidhe Hunters. As one might expect. Things that are from a time refered to as "The Forgotten Age" tend to be rather hard to find. 

Slightly easier to find are spellbooks than contain Arcane spells that reproduce Dreamwalking abilities. 

Well, most of the spells are Arcane, there are at least a few variations of these spells in Divine and Infernal formats. But as those spells are rarely written down in the first place I don't expect that you will find any of those. 

Then again; Given Your "Talent" for getting yourself in to trouble...