Fiends:
All of the daedra lords, except Oblineth, have had at least some children. Those children, in turn, had children, and so on, until the Nine Hells were filled with millions of the daedra lords' progeny. These offspring are called daedra, or fiends. When the Starchild emptied the Hells and Heavens and shattered the Axis that joined them together, the fiends and celestials alike were cast into the Dreamlands, where they continued the Great War that had defined their existence for ages. Some of these beings, however, have found their way through portals into the Material Plane, either by accident or through deliberate attempts to withdraw from the War.
There are a number of races or sub-types of fiends that have existed for countless millennia; these are detailed in the first section below. Since the Great Fall, other types of fiends have arisen from the interbreeding between the fallen daedra lords and various mortal consorts; these are called Earthbound Fiends, and are detailed in the second section.
For information on the moral and ethical alignments of fiends in MK2K, see the article on Good and Evil.
These are the fiercest of the lesser daedra. Formerly servants of Revonos, they now serve as the front-line troops in the war between the daedra nobles and the celestial princes. They most often appear as enormous black minotaur-like beings with huge dragon-like wings. Balrogs cannot cast spells, but they are frightfully strong and incredibly nasty. Their skin is extremely tough, and only a few types of weapons (notably blessed or highly enchanted weapons, Elven steel, and mithril) can hurt them. They can also be hurt by magic, but their resistance to magical heat and cold is very high. The best thing you can do if you see a balrog is to start running.
The most powerful and favored of the fiends are called daedra nobles. These are the few children of the daedra lords who have shown themselves ruthless and cunning enough to be entrusted with their own minor spheres of influence. Such a sphere is always subordinate to that of the particular daedra lord the noble serves; for example, the Master of Pestilence Tallakath might have nobles beneath him with such titles as Master of Decay, Mistress of the Plague, or Master of the Suffering of Innocents.
With the daedra lords exiled to the Material Plane, the nobles are the ones in charge of administrating the Great War. They usually appear as more-or-less humanoid beings with a few distinctively inhuman features, such as tentacles, batlike wings, multiple arms, or serpentlike tails. Their powers of shapeshifting, however, allow them to take almost any form imaginable when it suits their purposes.
Dark nymphs are nature-spirits who are descended from Lilith or Talia rather than Artela. They are indistinguishable from normal nymphs in all but their personalities and intent -- dark nymphs are deceitful and sometimes downright murderous, enticing mortals into places of danger as retribution for harm against the wilderness and its creatures (real or imagined).They reproduce by seducing mortals, just like Artela's nymphs, but they have historically killed their partners after mating (though Talia has worked to rein in this tendency). They are uncommon outside of the dark forests, but in the Murk, Elderwood and the Forest of Darkness they inhabit nearly every river, tree and gully.
If a dark nymph gains enough power to influence a large area, such as an entire valley or a large section of forest, then she becomes a dread nymph. Dread nymphs are greatly feared among rangers and others who know the wilderness -- they are powerful and cunning, and they can often call on the aid of many dark nymphs and other unholy creatures of the wilds. The Murk is home to one dread nymph; Elderwood and the Forest of Darkness each have several, and there are probably others in other parts of the world.
The Dream Walkers are Nocturna's servants, tasked with watching over the Dreamlands and making sure that the Great War does not come too close to the minds of sleeping mortals. Most of them are descendants of past relationships between Nocturna and some of the gods, including Dvalin and Samekkh; a few apotheosized mortals also stand among their number. As such, the dream-walkers do not share the evil taint found in most of the other daedra. They can often be found travelling through the Dreamlands, monitoring the dreams of mortals and altering them if Nocturna wants a message to be conveyed to the person in question. Dream Walkers stay neutral in the war between the gods and daedra. Nocturna has entrusted their day-to-day activities to her consort, Malger.
Hounds are beasts of massive power, used by other daedra to track and hunt their prospective victims. Hounds are nonsentient and cannot be controlled without the aid of another daedra. When they find themselves on the Material Plane, they usually fall back on predatory instincts, hunting and killing whatever they can catch. Most of these are found and eliminated by the Lothanasi in relatively short order. Talia keeps a few kennels of trained hell hounds scattered throughout the world, primarily using them to track down individuals who interfere in her business ventures.
Imps and Gremlins (the two terms are interchangeable) are minor daedra, often appearing as wizened little grey-skinned creatures with shining blue eyes and a mischievous grin. Imps may perform small magical favors or grant wishes, but they are much like leprechauns in the sense that these "favors" are often twisted to the imp's own amusement. Some of them find work in the modern era as advisors and research assistants to wizards.
These are the descendants of Suspira and countless mortal males. They are easily the most common type of lesser daedra, and probably the most common type of outsider. An incubus is male and a succubus is female, but their general purposes are the same: to seduce mortals into having sex with them, thus draining a good portion of the mortal's energy (and enjoying themselves greatly in the process). This is how incubi and succubae feed, and when Suspira is nearby they channel a portion of that energy to their Mistress. Incubi and succubae need to feed at least once a week, though they will do so much more often if the opportunity presents itself.
These daedra can be potent undercover weapons (no pun intended): they can take on virtually any form, have an intense personal magnetism, and know every trick of seduction in the book. If one of these daedra sates itself on a single human being, that person will be drained, catatonic and useless for the next twenty-four hours. While this can be useful at times, however, it runs the risk of exposing the daedra's true nature, which can be harmful if the daedra needs to stay in the same place for a long time. Many incubi and succubae, realizing this, have taken to "snacking" on smaller doses of energy on a nightly basis, allowing their partners to remain functional the next day. Others conspire to produce orgies instead of one-on-one encounters; this allows them to take a smaller measure of energy from each participant while still being fully sated themselves.
Impregnation is virtually guaranteed with these creatures, unless magical contraception is used (or, of course, the mortal partner is of the same sex as the daedra). A human woman inseminated by an incubus will give birth to an apparently normal human child that transforms into an incubus or succubus upon reaching adolescence, and succubae impregnated by human males will give birth to similar creatures (which appear human if raised on Earth, or in their "natural" form if raised in the Dreamlands). This is the primary (and perhaps only) method by which these daedra reproduce; it is believed that incubi and succubae are unable to draw energy from each other, and thus will mate only with mortals.
Since daedra will not die of natural causes (though they can be killed when in their corporeal forms), and the incubi and succubae are both very fertile and very promiscuous, the numbers of these creatures are growing every year -- much to Suspira's delight. Fortunately, most of them are still trapped in the Dreamlands, though more arrive on Earth every year.
An incubus or succubus in its natural form resembles a very attactive human with reddish skin, red or yellow eyes, black hair, a prehensile pointed tail, batlike wings, and short, stubby horns protruding from the upper corners of the forehead. In this form they are often mistaken for tieflings. However, these daedra are consummate shapeshifters and can take on any humanoid form, maintaining it indefinitely; because of this, many of them masquerade as human while on the Material Plane. Succubae can have sex in male form and incubi in female form; they are only fertile when in their native genders, but they can draw energy from their partners regardless of the genders of the participants.
When a lesser fiend has proven itself worthy of greater power and responsibility, it undergoes a mystical process that transforms it into a marilith. Mariliths are the colonels of the daedric army. They are brilliant tacticians and can wield unholy power far greater than that of any lesser daedra. Mariliths rarely enter the mortal realm directly, but when they do it is a terrifying sight to behold.
A marilith's upper body is human in appearance but has six arms, and its lower body is that of an enormous serpent. Balrogs, wraiths, incubi, succubae, and dread nymphs can all become mariliths, but any candidate chosen must show exceptional capabilities in all respects. Lesser daedra cannot, however, undergo the transformation on the material plane, unless they are at a site of intense magical power and at least one daedra noble or daedra lord is present to perform the ritual.
Those few mariliths who reach a level of achievement that is exceptional even among their own kind are elevated to the level of nephilim. If the mariliths are the colonels of Hell, then the nephilim are the generals. They have only been seen on a few scant occasions in the entire history of the Lothanasi, and their appearance always heralds a calamity of earth-shaking proportions. Nephilim appear as towering humanoids, ten feet tall or more, with jet-black skin and surrounded by a thick aura of black smoke.
The weakest of daedra, the whisper appears as little more than a wisp of fog. Whispers get their name from their tendency to haunt mortals with half-heard voices and quiet, mocking laughter. They are excellent minor illusionists and can conjure small lights, mimic sounds and create other sorts of figments to deceive mortals and lead them into danger. The other fiends use whispers as scouts and messengers, but most often they are simply turned loose to cause chaos. Most young fiends start out as whispers, and advance to more powerful forms with age, experience and merit.
Wraiths are frightening beings that appear as little more than a rustle in the dark, a misplaced shadow -- before striking out with ethereal claws at the target they have been summoned to assassinate. Wraiths like killing, just for killing's sake; this makes them the most dangerous and unpredictable of the lesser daedra.
Wraiths may be hired as assassins by mortals, but they are so unpredictable (they could kill half of your own people in the process of getting the job done) that they are rarely asked to do anything, except by another daedra. In the Dreamlands they serve as behind-the-lines operatives in the Great War; if they find themselves in the mortal world they usually follow their impulses, killing without respect to a larger strategy. Some of them do develop distinctive M.O.s, however, much like human serial killers. Many hauntings have been attributed to the actions of wraiths -- in reality, far more of them than they actually cause.
When one of the lesser daedra mates with a human or other mortal, the result is a Plane-touched -- a mortal with mild supernatural talents and a connection to the forces of light or darkness, law or chaos.
When one of the daedra lords themselves mates with a mortal, however -- or with a lesser outsider -- the result is something more powerful than a normal Plane-touched. Because these individuals are born in the mortal world, they tend to be more human in form and mannerisms than the races of fiends that originated in the Nine Hells; however, they are still immortal, and as such they are considered true daedra and not mere Plane-touched mortals.
Earthbound fiends are classified by their parentage, and they generally display powers similar to those of their parents, though to a lesser degree. Revonos and Lilith did not have any Earthbound children before they died. Tallakath is generally more interested in the end of life than the beginning of it, and has not busied himself with the pleasures of the flesh.
Agemnites: Agemnos, as the Master of Avarice and Ambition, has always been a particularly self-centered individual. Being both selfish and clever, he long ago realized that any child who took after him would someday become a potential rival and try to usurp his place in the pantheon. Because of this, he has not set out to fill the world with his progeny like some of the other ex-deities. Nevertheless, he is selfish, and has engaged in a large number of trysts and affairs in the pursuit of carnal pleasures. While he endeavors to make sure the women he uses in this way are provided with magical contraception, some of them have decided to deliberately let themselves become pregnant and keep the resulting children a secret. Most of these children have grown up to have their father's business acumen, as well as a lasting resentment against him for the mistreatment of their mothers. None of these young daedra have yet succeeded in overthrowing Agemnos, but they have done very well for themselves in the business world -- well enough that some of them are beginning to plan their own sort of revenge against their father and his business holdings. The exact number of Agemnites is unknown, since they often keep their heritage secret, but Imperial Intelligence estimates that there must be dozens of them.
Baalites: Ba'al is a sensualist, albeit of a broader type than Suspira. While the Mistress of Lust is concerned with sex above all else, Ba'al samples the decadent pleasures of all aspects of life, from art to music to food. It would be wrong, however, to assume that Ba'al has no interest in sex, as he has more than amply demonstrated such an interest over the ages. As the former Prince of Daedra, Ba'al has access to a little bit of the powers of each of the other daedra lords, and he has used all his charms and talents to amass an impressive following for the Church of Ba'al. He is particularly fond of enticing people of great creativity to join his cult, and those he finds attractive he will take as members of his harem. Being chosen to bear Ba'al's children is considered the greatest honor that can be bestowed on a woman in the Church of Ba'al, as this means that one's own sons and daughters are guaranteed positions of power and prominence within the cult. The total number of Baalites in the world is estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000 -- there once were more of them, but some have been eliminated in power struggles with each other and with outside rivals (such as Suspira and Talia).
Ba'al's children are charming, manipulative, and pragmatic. They usually have dark skin in their native forms, like their father, but they can take on any appearance they wish. They have an impressive aptitude for magic, displaying a wide variety of supernatural abilities, though none of them are as strong as those of the more "specialized" daedra. There is always a great deal of political infighting between them, as they vie for the top spots in Ba'al's cult; treachery and backstabbing are commonplace, as is the use of human pawns. Some have even left the cult to seek their fortune elsewhere. Despite the discord among them, however, they are capable of uniting for common goals -- such as competing with Suspira's Church of Hedonism and Talia's Church of Eternal Brotherhood for influence over the hearts and minds of mortals.
Klepnites: Klepnos is a wanderer, driven far and wide by his own whims and by a curious sort of prophetic insight that seems to seep into his head amidst the madness. He has a sense of animal magnetism about him that draws people to him, particularly those who share his carefree attitude toward life. He is capable of affection, in spite of his cock-eyed view of the world, and many of his traveling companions over the years have also been lovers. (He has also had relations with a number of women who have been the targets of his "object lessons" -- some of whom had previously been men.) The children resulting from these unions are not so mad as their father, but they retain a love of practical jokes, a wanderlust, and great skill in transformation magic -- and every once in a while they get a peculiar flash of insight, which might mean nothing ... or everything. There are estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000 Klepnites in the world today.
Nocturna's kin: Nocturna has remained faithful to her consort and true love, Malger, whom she apotheosized about ten years after the Great Fall. They have kept their family small, with four sons and three daughters over 1300 years -- unlike many of the Immortals, Nocturna and Malger recognize the potentially negative consequences of bringing too many immortal beings into the world. Their children are prominent leaders among the Dream Walkers, keeping tabs on the Great War, and doing their best to keep it from spilling into the mortal realm. Some of them also have the gift of prophecy, and their dreams and visions are given special attention by Kyia and her allies.
Oblinites: Like her sister Yajiit, Oblineth was unable to bear any children before the Great Fall -- her aura of cold, drawn from the powers of the infinite Void itself, would freeze the flesh of even a daedra lord. Being less emotional and impulsive than Yajiit, Oblineth was not as quick to rush into experiencing sex and childbirth. In time, however, she saw the joy that her sister found in raising her children, and her cold heart began to thaw. She set out to find a man to sire her children. At first her efforts were comically businesslike, but in time she began to discover romance, affection, and even love, and out of this love came children. She has only had eight of them over the centuries -- five daughters and three sons -- and they remain a close-knit family. Today most of the Oblinites assist their mother in administrating Arabarb, but one son married a Dvalinite and moved to Sathmore, and one daughter -- Mirielle, the wild one of the family -- ran off to join Klepnos and his worldwide spy network. Oblineth retains a quiet, steady love for each of her children, even though she wonders at the choices of the latter two. :)
Rage-kin: The essence of Revonos has changed hands many times since the Great Fall, passing from one powerful mage to another. Most of these individuals have used the daedra lord's essence to make themselves into dictators and tyrants, and to enjoy all the perks that go with absolute power -- perks such as a harem of consorts. As a result, many children have been born to the various carriers of the Rage-essence. The total number of Rage-kin is not known, but it is estimated to be in the thousands. These individuals tend to be brooding and vindictive, prone to outbursts of violence. They also tend to be formidable wizards and warriors. Given the way their mothers are often treated by their fathers, it is perhaps not surprising that many of these Rage-kin have led revolts against the ones who sired them. On at least three occasions they have been successful, killing their fathers and claiming the power for themselves. Unfortunately, none of these rebels have been able to resist the corrupting influence of the daedra lord's essence -- sooner or later each of them has become a monster, like their fathers before them.
Suspira's kin: Whenever Suspira is impregnated by a mortal, the result is by definition an incubus or succubus. The Mistress of Lust continues to produce new children at a steady pace, resulting in several hundred new first-generation incubi and succubae since the Great Fall.
Talians: Like Lilith before her, if Talia mates with a mortal, her children are dark nymphs; they must form a bond with a host after weaning, or they will die. But while Talia loved these daughters and recognized their value in protecting the wild places of the world, she also longed for children who could move about at will, without being tied to a particular geographical area. She didn't want her children to be tainted by the evil essence of the other daedra lords, though, so she sought another father for her children: a celestial. The identity of this individual is unknown, but many suspect that it is Dvalin himself, given the command these offspring display over the weather. Neither Dvalin nor Talia will say anything about the matter, however.
Talia's 27 non-nymph children are beautiful, graceful, and intelligent, and most of them have a wickedly droll sense of humor. They usually take on the appearance of vampires in public, making them difficult to distinguish from Talia's undead servants. When they do appear in their human guises, it's as the top leaders of the Church of Eternal Brotherhood. Few commoners realize that these people are children of Talia, and that the entire church is a front for her syndicate's activities. They change their public personas every few decades or so, creating the illusion that a succession of human leaders are taking power. The other Immortals are, for the most part, content to let Talia play this shell game, in exchange for the understanding that Talia will keep certain of their activities private as well.