Whimsical questions about Mystic China...

[Natalya]

Seeing as how all the demon drawings seem to be male, are there truly genders? Is it male/female (like the Yin-Yang symbol) or unisex?

What percentage would be female? Would it be equal, or are female demons a rarity?

Do demons even breed? How would pregnancy work if you are composed of Negative Chi?

Where would the power of the sexes lie? Are male and female demons equal? Are the females subjugated and primarily used as baby machines and concubines to the higher demons and Yama Kings? Or do female demons use their "feminine charms" to lead the males around by their.....well, you know.....?

How would one determine beauty/ugliness in a demon society?

[Sentinel]

I've always assumed that there were equal, or near-equal numbers of both genders.
That's where sexy girl-demons come from.

I imagine sexual politics in Hell are no different than anywhere else.

"demon-birth" might be a little weird, although I always took it that demons were formed from condemed souls who were adults at the time. So, demons can have wild sex with no consequences. I imagine demon promiscuity runs ramapnt.

I would guess that demonkind finds the same sorts of things attractive that humans do (or, whatever the parent race of the demons is: do Spluglorth have a "Hell" and a "Devil" ? If so, their demons would be more recognizable to them than to us. The demons of non-human alien races would be more like them as well, presumably).

A lot to think about...

[acreRake]

Not so whimsical answer. Infernals are energy beings that can take on whatever form they want.

[Guest]

Seeing as how all the demon drawings seem to be male, are there truly genders? Is it male/female (like the Yin-Yang symbol) or unisex?

Gender is irrelevant.

What percentage would be female? Would it be equal, or are female demons a rarity?

Not applicable.

Do demons even breed? How would pregnancy work if you are composed of Negative Chi?

No, they don't breed.

Where would the power of the sexes lie? Are male and female demons equal? Are the females subjugated and primarily used as baby machines and concubines to the higher demons and Yama Kings? Or do female demons use their "feminine charms" to lead the males around by their.....well, you know.....?

Irrelevant. Not applicable. No breeding. No.

How would one determine beauty/ugliness in a demon society?

Using the P.B. stat evidently

[drewkitty ~..~]

Seeing as how all the demon drawings seem to be male, are there truly genders? Is it male/female (like the Yin-Yang symbol) or unisex?

When I play my Rebel Infernals it the shape of the phyicale form they assume that determains what 'sex' they are at the moment. If the Infernal assumes a male form then the infernal is male, but when the same infernal takes a female form then its female. This is infered from ability to shapeshift w/o limitation.


What percentage would be female? Would it be equal, or are female demons a rarity?

Most Infernals would stay in a nutter or male form as matter of course, if you don't like the sexual herrassment in today's work place try working in hell for a day.

Do demons even breed? How would pregnancy work if you are composed of Negative Chi?

One of my Rebel Infernals got herself with kids, but that was with some fertility help from a goddess (tiger tora town). The why it works was that she was stuck in physical female form for the duration. As for breeding in chi form....asexual divison would be my best geuss...but that would reduce their power level by half so its not done.

Where would the power of the sexes lie? Are male and female demons equal? Are the females subjugated and primarily used as baby machines and concubines to the higher demons and Yama Kings? Or do female demons use their "feminine charms" to lead the males around by their.....well, you know.....?

The smarter infernals might use "feminine charms" to control/infuance other 'male' infernals, but it would be uncomon beacues if the 'male'infernal relly wanted to...he could change into a she and...

How would one determine beauty/ugliness in a demon society?

The Greater the Horror Factor of the Infernal's demon form, the greater standing they have in Hell.

As for KS's responces....they would be correct when using infernal only as NPC Munchkin fodder, they would just *poof* apper where the GM wanted them and having the stats the GM set for them.

[Guest]

As for drewkitty's responses, they would work, unless you actually did research on the subject.

[Nekira Sudacne]

All demons have Yin. therefore all demons are actually female.

[Natalya]

Interesting responses.....

Could there be gender preferences? What is the likely outcome when a demon that prefers a male form meets a demon that prefers a female form; "Hey baby" or "Whatever...."?

Do Infernals have sexual interest of any kind?

(Yes, there is an interesting gaming story behind these questions.)

[Sentinel]

Interesting responses.....

Could there be gender preferences? What is the likely outcome when a demon that prefers a male form meets a demon that prefers a female form; "Hey baby" or "Whatever...."?

Do Infernals have sexual interest of any kind?

I prefer my demons be as prone to the Seven Deadly Sins as any other creature. Lust and Gluttony are two of my favorites for demons.
(Yes, there is an interesting gaming story behind these questions.)

I'll just bet there is...

[Guest]

Interesting responses.....

Could there be gender preferences? What is the likely outcome when a demon that prefers a male form meets a demon that prefers a female form; "Hey baby" or "Whatever...."?

Do Infernals have sexual interest of any kind?

(Yes, there is an interesting gaming story behind these questions.)

I think you're on the wrong track entirely. You're looking at Infernals like they're some sort of humanoid creature. They're not. They're demons whose job is to punish mortals for their sins. Obviously, within the Infernal hierarchy, there's demons who have other duties, but that's the primary task of Infernals in the Yama Hells. They're going to manifest as whatever sex would best work in the situation, not what their sexual preference is. As far as sex, it would be used just like any other tool of torture (or temptation to sin), though the demon may get some personal amusement out of using sex.

[Guest]

Of course, there's always another route you can go if you really want to make a story out of sexual relations between Chinese demons & devils. Mara (also known in China as Mo-Lo), the Devil King, rules over (and this varies) either the Sixth Desire Heaven (Heaven of Comfort Gained from Transformation of Others' Bliss) or Patala - Lowest of the Hindu hells. This region includes the hells Atala, Rastala, Tatula, Sutala, Vitala, Mahatala, and Patala itself. These are realms of ultimate physical gratification where the body is bombarded with carnal experiences. Sensory overload causes utter agony.

Either way (heaven or hell), he still does the same job...too much sex as a form of torture (ironically, there's scientific reasoning behind this, but requires heavy discussion of the pleasure and pain centers of the hypothalamus). Mara's minions (and he has many) are agents who evidently engage in a LOT of sex (for the purpose of sapping the life force of the souls sent to his location).

Anyway, the stats for some of these minions made their way into Rifts China 1, particularly the "Mo-Lo" demon lords and Mara Asura demons. Of course both would technically be truly classified as devils, and not demons, but then so would Infernals.

[Nekira Sudacne]

whats the technical distinction between a devil and a demon?

[Guest]

whats the technical distinction between a devil and a demon?

Devils are evil spirits dwelling in 'hell' whose job is to tempt mankind and/or punish sinners (thus giving them a place within the hierarchy of a particular mythos's cosmology). In the Judeo-Christian lore they are fallen angels. In Japanese mythology, they are those evil spirits of fun things like death, plague, decay, destruction, and darkness who dwell in Yomi (variously, "night-heart," "yellow stream," or "yellow spring") also known as Yomo-tsu-kuni ("Land of Gloom)*.
*Ironically similar to the Chinese hell of Tai Yin ("Citadel of Eternal Night") which existed prior to the Yama Hells.

Demons are the rest of the evil spirts who dwell in 'hell' (thus making them any agents of chaos outside a particular mythos's cosmology). In Judeo-Christian lore, any evil spirit that isn't a fallen angel is a demon. In Japanese mythology the "hell Oni" (as opposed to the ogre-type of Oni) and other evil spirits of Jigoku (the Buddhist Hell of Japanase lore...similar to both the Chinese Yama Hells and Buddhist Hells of India) are considered demons.

In Chinese mythology we get the interesting problems of the dual nature of the Taoist-Buddhist afterlife. There's two main agents of influence, the Infernal minions of the Yama Kings, and the Eight Fold Spirits of Buddhism. The Eightfold spirits consist of Devas (roughly angels), Naga (serpents, sometimes equated with dragons), Yaksa or Preta (hungry ghosts...in Japan these are considered Gaki (ghouls more or less)), Ghandarva (incense spirits), Kinnara (music spirits), Asura (anti-angels, which essentially makes them devils, though they are often considered demons), Garuda (bird spirits), and Mahoraga (great python spirits). Since both Infernals and (to a degree) Asuras are both in the punishment business, either could be considered as demons or devils.

Fun isn't it...since the Judeo-Christian idea is the opposite of Japanese and the Chinese get stuck somewhere in the middle.

Yama, the Indian lord of the dead was originally a Hindu Deity who made his way into Buddhist mythology (and from there to both Chinese, as Yang-Lo Wang, and Japan as Emma-O) is typically described as being served by red and green demons, but then so are Asuras, Raksasa, Naga, etc. So India doesn't make much of a distinction between devils and demons.

I swear, one of these days I'm just going to write a roleplaying book covering the various heavens & hells as other dimensions.

[drewkitty ~..~]

whats the technical distinction between a devil and a demon?

Demons are fallen angles that rebeled aginst God, so they were expeled from heaven to roam the earth. The Devil is a specific demon. Hell is going to be made to be a place of punishment for the devil and the demons, but also all the souls/poeple that rejected God/Christ in their lifetimes.

Angles are spirits, so fallen angels are evil spirits.....sence the spirits of dead ppl don't stay around after they die, any evil spirit, spirit guild, or other spirit that portends to be the spirit of a dead someone are actully demons pretending/lying to be something other then a demon.

Sence most ppl think that hell is where demons and devil live, then they are living in a hell on this earth for they are here amonge us.

As for the MC infernals, KS....where in MC does it talk about the subjects of sexuality and reproduction of infernals? (sence we are talking about in game char class ) I didn't see anything in the game book about those topics. So everything we say here about those topices are conjector and opinion. If there is any hint to how new infernals come about it would be through a person becomeing a Damned immortal.

My revious coments about the dicution topic were based in the informations gathered from the MC book.